Chapter Twelve

They stayed until just after midnight, although Brim knew the party would continue on into the wee hours of the morning. Once upon a time, he'd been the one to keep the drinking and fucking going, but he'd reached the point where he didn't like hangovers and the meaningless sex was empty.

When they were back in his house, Leia bid him a demur goodnight then disappeared into the guest bedroom. He wished she was going to sleep next to him, but he promised her the night to herself. Part of him understood. They'd just met. He'd kidnapped her. Yada, yada, yada. Yeah, there were issues between them. Didn't make his longing for her any less. He took a quick shower and headed to bed. The sheets were slightly musty from disuse, and he made a mental note to wash everything tomorrow.

He didn't sleep much because every time he closed his eyes he thought about Leia. About how he had pleasured her against the tree. How her kiss drove him crazy. Finally reaching a breaking point, he grabbed his dick and began stroking it, needing some type of relief. He closed his eyes and pictured Leia, laying in his bed, naked, as he worshiped her body. His hand pumped faster, squeezing from the base of his cock to the tip and back down again. He could practically hear her moans. He'd lap at her cream, make her scream with pleasure until he couldn't stand it anymore. He had to have her, have to sink into her heat, her wetness, riding her until he came, pouring himself endlessly inside her tight channel. The image was so real, so potent, that he cried out as his jizz shot out of his cock to coat his hand. Euphoria glazed over his brain, relaxing him enough to fall asleep.

The next morning, they woke up and caught a quick breakfast at a diner before heading to the clubhouse. Men snoozed all over the place, some even naked with women draped over them. Leia kept her gaze averted as she followed him.

"Thorn wants to talk to me," he announced as she took up residence on the leather sofa in his office. The cushions had permanent indentions where people had sat over the years, and some of the leather was flaking off at the corners.

"I'm staying."

"This is club business."

"And your life is my business. I'm staying by your side. You told me to, remember?"

He folded his arms across his chest and stared at her. She met his gaze unflinchingly. Determination glinted in her eyes, and he threw up his hands.

"Fine!" He dug out his cell phone and handed it over to her. "I have some ear buds you can use. Listen to music or something."

She took the cell. "You have a smart phone?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I have one?"

"All the television shows I watch usually depict bikers as having burner phones."

"We do have those for club business, but I do all my banking on this one. And I stream."

She grinned. "What's the code?"

He told her before heading toward his desk. Opening a drawer, he took out the earbuds and handed them to her. "Don't listen in."

"Oh, don't worry. This will keep me busy."

Suddenly, he had a sinking feeling he shouldn't have given her his phone. A few minutes later, a knock rapped on the door, and he bid the visitor to enter. Thorn walked in, but came to a halt when he caught sight of Leia.

"I thought we could talk privately," Thorn said, giving her a pointed look.

"She's got earbuds and my phone."

Thorn frowned and glanced at her one more time before shutting the door behind him. For an hour they talked about everything Brim had missed during his absence. Thorn laid out all the decisions he'd made.

"Sounds like you didn't need me at all," Brim said.

"Stop talking bullshit," Thorn said. "I've had more headaches these past months than in my entire forty-five years of life."

Brim grinned. "Welcome to my world."

"Speaking of which, had a guy named Bruno McKeighan trying to make a deal for rights through our territory."

"Who?"

Thorn shrugged. "Said he was part of the McKeighan Clan. Irish mob."

"No," Brim said immediately. "Conflict of interest."

"With who?"

"Remember Slade from The White Death?"

"Yeah."

"His wife is head of the DiLuca Borgata."

Thorn blinked. "No shit?"

"No shit."

"Wow, I didn't even know the bastard was married."

Brim shrugged. "Our loyalty is to The White Death, and therefore by extension, we will refrain from any deal with their rival."

"Say no more," Thorn said.

Brim cocked his head. "You doing okay?"

Thorn waved away the concern.

Suddenly, Brim knew his friend wasn't okay. "Is it that woman?"

Thorn sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Fuck. I can't get her out of my head. Everything reminds me of her."

"I'm sorry, man."

Thorn sighed. "Yeah. Me too. Anyway, the last bullet point on my list is about Knuckles."

Brim tensed, but tried very hard to appear casual. "What about him?"

"He disappeared in the dead of night about two weeks ago."

"On a run?"

The V.P. shook his head. "Nothing was scheduled. The only thing he said the day before was that he had a personal thing to do."

"And he never returned?"

"No."

"Do you know what the personal thing was?"

"No clue," Thorn replied.

"Have you tried tracking his phone?"

"He carries a burner phone."

"Mac, Kix's hacker, said he can download the data from a burner phone. He owes me a favor."

Thorn's eyebrow rose. "What type of favor?"

"I took Leia to meet my mom," Brim explained. "While we were there, I helped them defend their territory against some assholes invading their town."

Thorn frowned. "Turf war?"

Brim shrugged. "Not anymore. I wouldn't worry too much about Knuckles. I'm sure he's just shacked up with some chick."

"I don't know," Thorn muttered. "Something doesn't feel right."

"I'll call around, see if he's gone to visit another club. I'm sure he'll turn up."

Brim gave a reassuring smile to Thorn before glancing at Leia. She might have the ear buds in, but he knew she listened to every word. They both knew that Knuckles would never be seen again.

He and Thorn talked a few more minutes about club business before they wrapped up the meeting. Once they were alone again, he faced Leia.

"He's gone."

She slipped out the earbuds and held them up. He grabbed them and tossed them onto his desk. She continued tapping on his phone for a few more minutes.

"Hold on," she said.

"What are you doing?"

She didn't answer but a few minutes later, she finally held it out to him. Brim took it and as he walked back to his desk glanced down at it.

He paused. "What did you do to my phone?"

She blinked up at him. "You don't like it?"

"There's a unicorn as my screensaver."

"Yes," she said brightly as she stood up to stand next to him. "There're also hearts. See? Right there."

She pointed to the corner of the screen.

"How could I miss them?" He scrolled through the phone, trying not to lose his temper. "How many games did you download?"

"Four? No, five. It was actually six, but I didn't like the last one."

He turned off the phone. "Come on. We're headed into town."

"Why?"

"We're getting you a phone."

"But I can just use yours—"

"Nope. Absolutely not. You forfeited that privilege with the unicorn."

"Oh. Then you're really going to hate all the pictures I assigned to your men."

A devilish smile lurked at the corner of her mouth. Instead of kissing her senseless and then spanking her ass, he turned on his heels and left his office. She bounced behind him, and he swore he heard a giggle.