Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

SABOTAGE

Swear to fuck, if I don't get some time alone with Ryann soon, I'm taking her ass somewhere neither of us will be found. At least for a few days. With everything going on between her mom and brother, his club, and Nevaeh's family coming in, it's been hell.

The only bright side of this is that both Ryann's and Nevaeh's got on fine, their families being back in their lives didn't faze them in any negative way was good. The fact they both share something in common notwithstanding. I'm just glad they all left this morning at the first light of day. Warrant made me promise to look after his sister, as if this was something he needed from me. I don't need to give assurances for something I intend to do anyway. Her mom, as cool as she is, I knew she didn't want to leave, but she gets Ryann needs to be able to slowly get used to them again.

Same with Nevaeh's family. They need to chill and give both Nevaeh and Ryann time to get over the fact they'd cut ties when they didn't want to return to their old lives.

With them gone, it allows me to have her a bit more to myself. I get they'reall good people, but I'm as happy as fucking can be that they're gone. The other part wishes they were still here so my woman would have a distraction.

It's been four days since going after Ryann and bringing her back home. Three days since I got inside her again, and each day since I've woken up to her at my side. Other than at night, I haven't had the chance to get her alone for more than a few minutes here and there. We've been out dealing with all the bullshit swirling around the club.

Pirate hasn't been able to find anything new on Bishop or the broker. He was able to shut down the website hosting the auction. With that not being able to happen, it buys us a few more days to track down the ones responsible for taking the hard drive and planning to sell the women.

However, if we don't get this shit handled soon, I'm gonna lose my mind. Mostly because I want to have time with Ryann and not worry about anything else.

It doesn't help things with finding out Fawn's pregnant. She's my daughter, and knowing the struggles going through her mind are also fucking with me. There's no way it can't screw with me. She might be an adult, but her experience with her and Viking's first child was enough of a scare for all of us. Even if it was us finding out about it after the fact. I didn't like the fact Fawn went through a pregnancy alone the way she did, and in the end, called her cousin to be there for her when she lost everything.

"You okay?" Ryann asks, her gentle voice bringing me out of my thoughts as she wraps her arms around my neck.

I blink and tilt my head back in order to be able to see her face as I meet her gaze. "Yeah, gorgeous, I'm good. Why you askin'?" I twist in my seat, curl an arm around her, pull her around, and sit her on my lap.

"You're sitting here alone, looking like you're deep in thought," she answers, cocking her head slightly, her fingers sliding up and into my hair. "What're you thinking about?"

"About stealing you away for a couple days' worth of peace." I grin. "Think about it, I could take you somewhere where it's just us, and no one will bother us. I can keep you naked the entire time."

"Don't you have a house that we could do that at?" She giggles while leaning back against the table and staring at me.

"Yeah, I've got the house, but that don't mean people won't stop by," I tell her, giving her a shit-eating grin. "Still, we can go there whenever you want." The very idea of her being in the house, my house, sends my imagination haywire. On multiple occasions, I've thought about doing many things to her sweet body. About fucking her throughout the house.

For two years, I've thought about it anytime I'd seen her and gone home alone. From the moment I saw her, and got to know her, I knew I wanted her right where she is. Her body enticed me and drew me to her. Granted, the most intriguing thing about Ryann has to be her mind and the way she's able to push through and overcome the hell she's been through. Though I know she's got a habit of hiding the demons that haunt her. She's good at it, but I see the truth. Always have been able to.

That being said, I haven't and never have been a choir boy. I fucked plenty of pussy, but each time I sunk my dick into someone else, I thought about her. I didn't see a chance for us to get together. Be where we're at now. It didn't seem possible to me. I also had my own shit going on in my head.

Cathay fucked me up all those years ago. I might not have loved her, but she'd given me a daughter, and I'd intended to do right by her. That didn't happen, and I told myself I wasn't gonna go there again with another woman. However, Ryann got under my skin, and there was no way I could keep away from her.

The day I called, she didn't answer, her car was found in a ditch, and she was gone. Yeah, it still has the power to fuck with me. Sure, it wasn't that long ago, but it's going to fuck with me for a while. Hell, I don't think I'll ever be able to forget the feeling of knowing she was taken from me. If she hadn't been able to get away from the fuckwad Roy, I could've lost her forever. None of us knew anything about him. He was a wildcard no one knew a damn thing about.

Something triggers in my mind at that, and I straighten in my seat, tapping Ryann's ass. "Gotta talk to Viking and Ice, gorgeous."

"Okay," she says, climbing out of my lap and watching me closely.

I get to my feet, draw her in my arms, dip down, and claim her lips with mine. "Do me a favor and stay in the clubhouse. Don't go outside until I come back. Can you do that for me?"

"Yeah, Sabotage, I can do that," she agrees with no hesitation and nods. "Come find me when you're done with whatever it is you need to talk to them about."

"You got it, baby." I kiss her lips once again and give her a squeeze.

Ryann smiles, and I let her go. I swat her rear and go in search of Viking and Ice. I find them in Viking's office with Pirate and Mayhem.

"What's going on?" I ask, rapping my knuckles on the door as I step in.The four of them look in my direction, all of them looking pissed.

"We're just going over some information Pirate found along with what Mayhem came across," Viking answers, shaking his head slightly. "You need something?"

"Yeah, something came to me a few moments ago, and I think it's something worth looking into," I tell 'em and close the door. The last thing I need or want is someone, not a member, to overhear.

"What is it?" Ice asks, cocking a brow.

Moving closer to them, I sit my ass on one of the chairs next to Pirate, who looks up from his laptop. I lean forward and brace my elbows on my knees with my hands clasped together. "You know as well as I do things aren't adding up. We're not finding the broker or this Bishop character. We know Nevaeh was connected to the broker because of her family and him being her uncle. We know Peyton is connected to all of this through her sister."

"They haven't threatened Peyton again," Ice says, interrupting me.

"True, but we can't discount it. She was a part of this same as Ryann, Nevaeh, and Fawn. Fawn's part, though, is because of her psycho mother and aunt."

"What are you getting at?" Viking demands, watching me closely.

"Ryann was taken both times by Roy. We didn't know anything about the guy. He was a wildcard. A dead one, but he was one all the same. If she hadn't gotten away this time around, we wouldn't have found her," I explain. "There's got to be more than just him as a wild card."

"He's right," Pirate agrees. "Makes sense. Connections to them never added up. Not completely."

"Swear this shit is like a puzzle, and none of the pieces are wanting to fit," Mayhem mutters.

"This shit feels never-ending," Ice grumbles. "So, what do we do now? Figure out who the hell the wild cards are?"

"Pirate, the asshat who took the hard drive from Wolfe Oil Industries, you said he was hired by Drystan to obtain it?" Viking straightens in his chair behind his desk. His hands balling into fists.

"Yeah, Clad works for Drystan. I looked into him and found he was just a bottom eater in the chain and does whatever job is thrown at him. He's been in the wind, though, since taken the hard drive. Figure he at least had enough smarts to get the hell out of Dodge before it was too late for him to do so."

"If he's in the wind, did he take the hard drive with him?" Mayhem asks, rolling his head from side to side. "He take off with it?"

"Clad's not that smart," Pirate denies. "If I'm right, he gave it over to Drystan and took off."

"What we need to do is look past Drystan and Bishop, see what other connections there are between the girls and them," I remark, popping my neck."Drystan's Nevaeh's uncle, hated his brother, but I'm willing to bet there's more to it. Why take his niece to hurt his brother?" It's a question that's been bugging me since finding out the truth about how Nevaeh came to be taken from her family.

"You think there's more at play, don't you?" Ice demands, voice deep, low and dark.

"Don't just think it. I feel it in my gut. There's more to all of this." I just can't put my finger on what exactly that something is. If it's Bishop. Or Drystan. Or just the fact that each of these girls was taken and sold. They came together because of the similarities they share in features to Fawn, but they'd all been taken and used before they were ever sold. All of them except for Peyton. She's the only one who was sold directly. "What do we know about the women who came before Peyton, Nevaeh, and Ryann?"

"You mean the ones that were used, abused, and killed?" Pirate asks, brows furrowed.

"Yeah," I confirm.

"I'll have to look, but I should be able to find out easily." He grunts and looks back to his laptop. "If I can find the sellers for those girls in the files, we can maybe find the connection. Find the wildcards that connect them."

"We'll have to worry about looking for that later, Pirate," Viking growls. "As much as I want to, we need to deal with the present situation."

"Hate to say it, but Prez is right," Ice agrees. "Though I say we need to figure out what other wildcards we could be looking at."

"We should get Maverick to talk to Nevaeh, see what she might be willing to share with him," Mayhem suggests.

"Doubt she'd know," Viking states, shaking his head. "Besides, what would be the reason for them wanting Gianna now?"

"It's a direct threat. Not just to War, myself, or Maverick," I remark. "With them taking the hard drive, it makes it direct rather than coming at us through the shadows."

"Agreed," Ice grunts.

"I'll come back when I have something else," Pirate states, getting to his feet at the same time someone knocks on the door.

Mayhem moves to it and opens it to find the prospect standing there looking pale. "What is it prospect?" he barks out.

"Sorry to bother you, but we have company," he says, looking at each of us, meeting our eyes, "a lot of it."

My stomach tightens, and my gut twists. Whoever is here is someone none of us are going to enjoy visiting.