Chapter 23

TWENTY-THREE

brAXTON

B eing dug in while waiting for parts usually brings me peace of mind, but since I lost her, it's giving me a fucking itch in my brain that I can't scratch.

In a short time, I got used to her being on my bed with a book and a smug little grin as she read the spicy bits. She became a present figure in my life. Now, she's gone. Of course, I tell myself she's not gone forever, but it doesn't help.

She returned to me, said goodbye, and gave me something money could never buy. No, only loyalty could buy what she'd given me. She's become something precious in my life—something I want to be present in the world for. I already feel the need to dig in less and less. Her proximity soothes the things that used to bother me.

I want her back, and I know Miles has contact with her. He'd have given her a burner phone to contact us. Half of me wants to beat his ass until he gives me the number. I need to hear her squeak and moan for me. Hear her small sigh before she drifts off to sleep beside me. I need her presence in my red dungeon.

She's done more for me than she knows and is out there now, trying to take it a step further. I know she will be working for her father, but I feel we put her in danger.

If he'd do that to an innocent woman, make her disappear so cleanly even Father couldn't find her, what could he do to Aella?

I'm ready to burst out of my skin when Miles comes down the stairs.

"Hey man, you good?" he asks, and I swivel in my chair to meet his stare.

I shake my head. "I need to call her. You got her number?"

He sighs and sits on the edge of my bed in her spot.

Get out of her spot!

I clench my teeth.

"We don't need to contact her, man. She needs to contact us when it's safe. We never know who is around her, you know?"

"I don't like this, Miles. I feel like we've put her right in the path of danger. We shouldn't leave her alone."

He nods absently as he considers my words. "You want to follow her?"

Do I trust myself enough to follow her?

I bite my lip. Thoughts of her on the hood of that Lexus, my cock buried inside her, my hands on her head, slamming her down on me as her cries painted the surrounding night flicker in my mind .

"What's that?" Miles asks, standing and coming closer.

I turn to my screen, shaking from the thought. "What's what?"

He turns my chair, leaning over and looking at me. "That look that was plastered all over your fucking face. Like a little boy that just got back from Disney World…" He gasps and steps back. "You fucked her, didn't you?"

I can't help the honest chuckle before I clamp my hand over my mouth.

Miles grins from ear to ear. "You dirty asshole. It's about fucking time, though. Wait…when did you… Did she come back here?"

His face twists into something angry. This face would've deterred me from fessing up when we were younger. Not anymore, though.

"She came back. She was safe, though. She told me how she watched for people following and shut off her lights as she turned into the property. She wanted to say goodbye to me."

Miles thrusts his hands into his hair. "She can't keep doing that, man. If you can't control yourself, you can't be the one following her, either. I'll get Sully on her."

Sully's the most lethal tool we have in our toolbox. I want him to be the one on her.

Though, I can't deny I'd love to sneak in her fucking window and ravage her pussy in the middle of the night when she thinks she's alone. Take her illusion of safety and make it mine.

"Sully needs to be the one following her. I'm not focused around her. "

Miles shifts on his feet, and I can tell he's uncomfortable.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Well, it's just that I know we both have feelings for her, but I don't want this shit coming between us. It's not worth it."

I growl as I stand to face him. "She's more than worth it. I don't have any issue with how she feels about you, Miles. You know there was a time when I couldn't help my feelings for you…" I trail off, knowing I said too much.

When we entered our teenage years, hormones raging at full throttle, I realized I was different. I couldn't stop looking at his lips and wondering what they'd feel like. He'd become my home more than this place. Once our mom was gone, he was still there when my life was upturned. He took her spot, held me when needed, and told me things would be alright. He always had my back.

There was a time I tried to make more out of us than there was. I made things strange between us for weeks until it was forgotten.

"I thought you said we wouldn't discuss that again?" he says, and I register the raspy way he'd said it and look up at him.

"I know, but we're grown men now. What's it going to harm? There was a time when even the idea you were my brother couldn't keep me from thinking about you, Miles. You're a good man. She'd be lucky to have you in her life because I'm lucky to have you in mine. In any capacity. I've always had different ways of thinking and looking at the world. I see how you two feel about one another. Who am I to take that away? Relationships don't always need to be so one-dimensional, do they? Conventional isn't how everyone lives. Why should we?"

He looks at me as if he's seeing me in a new light, but he isn't. The same red bulbs hum from above, and he gapes as if trying to decide what to reply.

"We leave it up to her, then," he says.

I nod. "We leave it up to her. Listen, I'm sorry I brought it up…"

He cuts me off by raising his hand in the air. "It's not a big deal. Don't worry about it. Hey, Aella said you want to get a diagnosis. Have you felt that way for a while?"

I bite my lip and shake my head before I drop back into the safety of my chair. "No. I just hit a point where I needed to know recently, and when she made it seem so effortless to get answers as if it was no big deal, I realized I was putting too much importance on it. I don't need to fear it because it's a heavy label. I can get my answers and begin a journey to understand myself better. For me. Not for the world."

He nods and then claps me on the shoulder, but the touch feels like it's something more than it is. I hope I'm not reading into things again.

"We'll do whatever you need during that process, Brax."

"Thank you."

Our eyes stay locked through the red lights for a moment before he takes a breath and pulls his hand back, breaking the moment to shreds .

"You find anything on Vito Murphy and his gang of ass hats?" he asks.

I turn back in my chair and look at the screens for clarity.

"I'm working on it. What exactly are you looking for?"

"Anything to get them the fuck off our backs about his sister," he replies.

"Blackmail. I like it."

He laughs softly. "Sometimes it's the most effective. And hey," he turns back from where he was headed out of the basement, "if she calls, I'll let you speak to her."

I swivel towards him again, a stupid grin plastered on my face. "Alright."

He looks between my bed and the spanking bench, and I know exactly what he's wondering, but he is keeping it inside his head.

"We didn't fuck here."

He meets my eyes, questions lingering on his face.

I grin devilishly. "The hood of her car."

He laughs. "Under the stars, huh? Always the romantic," he jokes as he turns and heads up the stairs.

I hope she felt it was magical when I was left sitting alone. Part of me knows I was probably too rough with her. There had been no way to check on her after she drove off.

I hate not having her here. Even when she's with Miles, I know she's here, and it gives me this sense of calm in my veins I haven't known in a long fucking time.

"No, man, I'm telling you, I'd beat your ass on a straight!" Kylo slurs at Lutz and throws his beer cap across the room. It rattles, and my eyes drift to watch it skitter under the pool table.

"Fuck you, bro. No, you wouldn't. Just because there was one curve on the way here, do you think it hindered you somehow? An expert rider could've still held the lead!"

I roll my eyes at their constant back and forth. They're drunk and shouldn't have been on their rides to fucking begin with. When Miles finds out, they'll both be in deep shit.

I rummage through my toolbox, scowling when yet another of my socket wrenches is gone. "Who the fuck has my 3/8-inch socket?" I shout over them.

They grumble before Lutz goes to his station and grabs it out of his box for me.

"Stop touching my shit. We pay you plenty to replace what you're missing," I growl when he slaps the cold metal in my hand.

He ignores me and goes right back to arguing with Kylo.

As my eyes drift across the yard before I return to the bike, I see something moving beyond the tree line.

I stiffen and watch it. What looks to be a person darts behind a tree, and I stand, dropping my wrench into the box with a loud clang .

"What's up, man?" Kylo says, knowing if I'm startled, something's the matter.

"We've got company. And they're on foot," I murmur, pulling my piece from my waistband and making for the outside.

Having a bunch of drunken idiots at my six isn't ideal, but I know they're all sharper than a fucking tack, even while inebriated.

"Fan out, fellas. Seems we've got something fun to do tonight, after all!" I shout, taunting whoever is in the trees.

Kylo snorts a laugh before he calls out, "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty! Come out and play; we don't bite. Hard!"

I narrow in on a shadow before me and smirk. Stalking loudly through the wooded area separating the property from the highway, I hold my weapon as I rush them.

The shadow turns and runs for the road, tripping over a fallen branch and falling flat.

I halt over them, one foot on either side.

A female scream rips through the night as Kylo stops, shining a flashlight down over a woman in leather.

There's a Jackal signet on her breast when Lutz drops to a crouch and straightens out her lapel.

"Now, what do we have here?" Lutz tuts.

An explosion sounds behind us, where the clubhouse is beyond the trees.

I look back down and lock eyes with the woman. "Bait. That's what we have, boys."

Kylo snarls and gets her onto her feet as I back up. "Too bad they won't see you looking this pretty when we return you. Your insides won't be as silky as your outsides when I'm through, but we have to do what we have to do, hm, pretty girl?"

"Fuck you," she spews, but there's fear in her shaking voice.

Kylo drags her with him toward the clubhouse, and I'm not looking forward to seeing the damage when we step out of the trees.

"How did they find us?" Lutz asks, coming up to my side.

"That's what we're going to find out," I reply, pointing toward Kylo and the woman. "Go search the property, corner to corner. Make sure they're gone."

He nods. "Yes, sir."