Chapter 8

"She fits you," Mac said gruffly as he stroked his beard and stared at the door our women had disappeared through.

"Yeah, she does," I agreed with a grin. "How soon do you think we could get her a vest?"

Mac grabbed his cell and hit a button, then waited. When the other person picked up, he grunted, "Scout, stop by Rider's office and have him check our inventory of property vests on your way here." He listened, then grunted again and hung up.

"Thanks."

Mac nodded. "Cash dropped off the files last night. Only managed to get through a small chunk. Scout rounded up a few brothers to help us get through them faster. I want to know who this asshole is. I understand that your first priority is protecting your woman—"

"Damn fucking straight," I growled.

Mac tossed a look that clearly said to shut the fuck up. "Like I was saying, I understand that your first priority is protecting your woman—as it should be. But we aren't going to stop with just her. This guy clearly needs to be taken down and his operation dismantled. Just from what I've learned so far, he's got his fingers in everything from human trafficking to drugs to weapons. I'd be willing to bet my cut that he makes a habit of finding weak people in the right places that he can exploit and keep them doing his bidding through blackmail and intimidation."

The next two hours proved him right. Timkins hadn't managed to break all of the coded information, so our knowledge had holes. Still, we had a lot to go on. Hack took the files to run through a program he'd built that would organize and catalog them into a database for us to use, particularly for his web crawlers.

"Cash, take Doc and go nose around, see if there is any chatter about what might happen with Bickle's kid when Timkins doesn't come through for them. If there is a jailbreak, or whatever, planned, I want to know about it." Cash nodded at Mac and left.

"I called a couple of our informants from some of the…less than upstanding clubs nearby," Scout announced. "Grey's gonna take a handful of prospects and send them on meets with them while he does his thing with the computers in the van."

Mac handed out some other assignments before finally looking at me. "I'll keep you updated. For now, go take care of your woman. Better get her used to MC life since it's her future. Besides, I know you're slammed with Christmas orders."

I wanted to argue, to tell him to give me something that would help move this along and ensure Kiara's safety. But he wasn't wrong on either count. I was a little backed up at the studio, and ensuring Kiara understood an old lady"s life and fit in here was important to keeping her.

That made me wonder how things were going with Bridget and Erin. I hadn't intended to be away from her for so long. I hoped that since we hadn't been disturbed—other than Bridget dropping off Mac's breakfast and a plate for me—it meant Kiara had hit it off with the girls.

When I exited Mac's office, I made a beeline for the kitchen. I was anxious to see my girl, and I doubted I'd last more than a few minutes before I was dragging her sexy ass back to bed. Just thinking about her delicious curves had my groin tightening.

Since breakfast was long over, I didn't expect to find Kiara still in the kitchen but decided to check there first. As I'd suspected, they were no longer there, but none of the current occupants had any idea where they'd gone. They weren't in the lounge or the activity room, or the kids play area. Figuring she might have lain down for a nap—she hadn't had a lot of sleep the night before—I took the stairs two at a time to the room we were staying in. When she wasn't there either, my mood plummeted. Where the fuck was she? I knew Erin and Bridget wouldn't let her wander alone even though she was wearing my vest, so they had to be together. But no one seemed to know where that was. Until I checked the garage and found Rylee, Nova's old lady and a talented mechanic, rolling out from underneath a car.

"Have you seen Bridget or Erin?" I asked impatiently.

Rylee grinned as she wiped her hands on a cloth. "Are you asking about those two or the knockout blonde with them?"

I mentally snapped at her for not just answering my damn question and trying my patience, but if Nova lurked anywhere near, he'd break my jaw if I did it out loud.

"Any of the three," I grunted.

She laughed and pointed at a door that led from the garage bays to the back office of Silver Ink. "Nova mentioned that your lady is quite the talented artist. Apparently, Patriot has taken an interest in her."

I hadn't been aware that Kiara was an artist, and I felt a wave of fury that someone else was appreciating her talents before me. I was even angrier with myself for not knowing every single thing there was to know about my woman. This wasn't rational, considering the time we'd been together, but nothing about Kiara and me was rational.

I was also aware that Rylee was purposely egging me on, but fuck me if I could keep from letting it get under my skin.

Nova ran Silver Ink, and he and Patriot were the best tattoo artists in the business. If they thought Kiara was talented, that was huge, but I'd have to learn to be happy for her about that another time. Right at that moment, I was too busy trying to fight the urge to kill one or both of my brothers. Each one was as gone over their old ladies as I was over Kiara, but that logic wasn't having much luck penetrating my jealousy.

"Thanks," I grunted as I stomped over to the door. It slammed against the wall when I yanked it open and marched through the back and out onto the main floor, where several stalls had the equipment needed to ink someone's skin. The last stall was bigger and held a large design table and walls with corkboards for ideas and partial or finished sketches.

Kiara sat at the table, bent over a pad with her hand moving a pencil quickly over the page. Bridget and Erin sat across from her, looking like proud mama hens. Patriot was seated around the corner of the table, close enough to be able to watch carefully but far enough away to be respectful of her space and her old man. I had to admit, albeit begrudgingly, that I had no reason to pick a fight with him.

Irritated, I walked up behind Kiara, interrupting her flow when my shadow fell over her sketch pad. She glanced up with a frown, but when she saw me, her entire face lit up, and her irritation dissolved into a beautiful smile.

"Hi!" she chirped as she swiveled her stool around and rose just enough to kiss my cheek.

"That is not how you greet your man, baby," I muttered right before I took her mouth in a deep kiss that left her breathless and in a daze of passion.

Smirking, I turned her around and tucked her into my side before leaning forward to examine her drawing. "Wow."

My exclamation seemed to shake off the fog, and excitement infused her expression. "Do you like it?"

"It's beautiful, baby. I had no idea you were an artist."

"Well"—she shrugged—"we haven't known each other long. I'm sure we'll learn everything there is to know about each other soon enough."

"We can check what you sound like when you come, what your sweet pussy tastes like, and how fucking gorgeous you look spread beneath me with my cock buried inside you off the list," I whispered in her ear, making her blush hard.

"She helped me with a design I've been stuck on for weeks," Patriot informed me, clearly impressed. "When I asked her about the design for another client coming in next week, she drew this."

The drawing depicted an intricate gemstone tattoo that looked sort of like a shoulder epaulet. It started with a large jewel on the top of the shoulder, then layers of beaded strings swagged over the shoulder and down the arm, all dripping with jewels. About halfway down was another large stone in a setting that made it look like an antique brooch, then a few more swags of beads and jewels until the design ended at the elbow. Even in a black-and-white sketch, the jewels looked as if they were sparkling on the skin. I could only imagine what it would look like in color.

"Incredible," I praised, giving her a light squeeze.

Patriot reached for the drawing, and I quickly snatched it from his grasp. "Mine," I growled. Then I lifted Kiara off the stool and took her hand, guiding her out of the shop and taking her back to my studio. I couldn't help grumbling about her using her art to help Patriot instead of me. Apparently, I wasn't quiet enough about it because Kiara burst out laughing.

When we entered the studio, I guided her around the work tables and large machines until we reached the same area where I'd first shown her the proof of her father's dirty dealings. I hoped to make happier memories here so she would want to be with me while I worked.

"I think it's super sweet that you want me all to yourself, Shane," she giggled. "But I doubt you make things like this." She pointed at the bejeweled drawing.

"Is that so?" She raised an eyebrow at my smug tone.

I walked to a cabinet where I stored finished pieces and retrieved an oblong box before returning to the table. I opened the lid to reveal a dagger, and Kiara gasped in awe. "You made this?"

I nodded, practically preening under her approval…like a jackass.

"The pommel, handle, and crossguard are antique silver-plated cast metal." A detailed swirling design engraved in the metal incorporated rubies and sapphires into many of the curls. "The blade is spring steel since this is a medieval reproduction." On it were elaborate, black-colored medieval designs engraved from the hilt down to the central ridge.

"It's breathtaking," she whispered as she took the dagger and studied it from different angles. I noticed she was careful not to touch the blade, impressing me even further. When bare fingers touch the blade, some of the natural grease/oil of the skin is left on it. This grease was slightly acidic and would corrode it if left uncleaned. Just one night uncleaned would leave a corroded fingerprint on a sword or dagger.

"I took an art history class that spent some time on weaponry," she admitted with a soft laugh.

I grinned and leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest. "You couldn't be more perfect for me if you tried."

Kiara's cheeks flamed with pink, but she smiled back at me with sparkling blue eyes. I loved seeing her so happy, especially after the devastation she'd been hit with the day before.

"I have a client who wants a set of Katana swords for his father. Would you like to help me with the design?"

Kiara jumped up and clapped her hands excitedly, then plopped back down in her seat with skin flushed from the roots of her hair down to where it disappeared beneath her sweater.

"You're cute as fuck," I told her with a chuckle. Then my smile turned devilish. "But you're also hot as sin." I swept her into my arms and stalked across my office to the staircase, jogging up to my apartment. We'd sleep at the clubhouse for her safety, but first, I was gonna worship her sexy curves in our bed.