Chapter 10

Iwas happy to usher Karina's parents to the door once they'd finished their visit. It seemed like the meeting had been good for her, but it had clearly exhausted her as well. She sagged into my side, so I swept her into my arms and carried her to our room.

When I laid her down on the bed and ordered her to rest, she halfheartedly protested but fell asleep a minute later. Figuring she would rest easier if I held her, I removed her clothes, undressed myself, and climbed into bed. But before I could wrap myself around her, my phone vibrated on the nightstand. Grunting in annoyance, I leaned back and grabbed my cell. It was a text from Mac. Fuck.

Mac: My office.

Me: Be there in five.

I pulled the covers up over Karina and carefully scooted off the mattress so I wouldn't wake her. This whole situation caused her too much stress, which wasn't good for her. Especially if my boys had done their job and knocked her up.

After dressing in jeans, boots, a black T-shirt, and my cut, I left a note for Karina telling her to rest. Since her vest hadn't come yet, I ordered her to stay in the room until I returned. Then I headed down to meet with my prez.

Scout, Dax—our sergeant at arms-–and a couple of our enforcers were all in the office with Mac when I arrived.

"Waiting on Knight," Scout informed me. I nodded and shuffled over to the wall to lean against it. Knight showed up seconds behind me, and Mac told him to close the door when he walked in.

"My friend in Phoenix has a contact in Bickle's organization," Dax informed us. "He sent a date and time for Bickle's location. He's meeting with a potential drug distributor, so depending on how Cash and Knight want to handle this…" He trailed off because we all understood his meaning.

Mac scratched his beard as he contemplated, then glanced at me and Knight, who had come to stand next to me. "Take Dax and at least three other brothers with you," he told me. "Handle your business. Quietly and cleanly. We don't want any of the other assholes that Timkins will name to get wind and disappear."

I nodded, and Mac turned to Knight. "Before you head out, take Kiara to the clubhouse. Bridget and a couple of other old ladies will come to keep your women calm and distracted. We'll have more than enough guards on them, so they'll be safe."

"Don't forget to call Dash," Scout added. "Give him a heads-up that you might need a cleaning crew after you take care of Bickle."

"Will do," I said as Knight grunted his own agreement. We discussed a few more details, then I headed out. Just before I exited into the hall, Mac called my name.

"Yeah?" I responded as I pivoted around. He threw a piece of leather at me, and I easily caught it. When I realized what it was, a grin split my face.

"How'd you find one so damn fast?" I asked incredulously.

When the brothers started dropping like flies, falling fast and hard for their women, Mac had ordered a stash of Silver Saints "Property of" vests to keep at the compound. Then all we had to do was send it out to be embroidered, and we had it back in a few days. But Karina didn't have a typical figure, and Mac hadn't had one that would fit around her big, sexy as fuck tits. Kiara had a very similar figure, and they'd given her the only one that worked for their body type.

Mac told me he'd order more, but it would take a couple of weeks and then several days to add her name to the property patch. It had only been two, so I was almost speechless when I held up the leather vest that read, "Property of Cash."

"Called in a favor," he grunted as he stood and gathered up his wallet and keys. "Figured you'd want one on her when you left to deal with Bickle."

"I owe you," I told him.

"Yes, you do," he agreed, his tone completely serious, but a smirk played on his lips. "Go be with your woman. I'm going home to mine."

Karina was still asleep when I returned to our room, and though it wasn't very late, I undressed and joined her in bed.

I didn't sleep. I just held her curvy body and thought about what I would say to her. The meeting was set for the next day in the early evening, and as much as I wanted to shield her from all of this bullshit, she'd had enough people in her life lying and keeping secrets from her.

It was nearly midnight when she stirred and turned her head to look back at me with a sweet, sleepy smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sleep the rest of the day away."

I kissed her forehead and tightened my arms around her. "You obviously needed the rest."

"Well, I'm awake now," she murmured, then yawned.

Chuckling, I buried my face in the crook of her shoulder. "Do you need help getting back to sleep, sunshine?" My arm was curved around her waist, and as I asked the question, I glided my palm up to cup one of her heavy, round globes. Then I trailed my lips along her shoulder and grinned when a shiver wracked her body. She moaned, and I gently squeezed her breast while bucking my hips as she pressed her ass back into me.

"Yes," she breathed when my other hand slipped between her legs.

"Yes? You need help going back to sleep?" I crooned as I dragged my middle finger up her slit and circled her clit.

"You," she gasped when I entered her with two digits. "Need you."

"Always, sunshine. You'll always have me," I promised.

By the time she passed out again, I'd worn her out with three orgasms and managed to fill her unprotected womb twice more.

* * *

"I won't be long, sunshine."I sat on the couch and bent over to pull on my boots and tie the laces.

"Where are you going?" Her tone surprised me, so I glanced up and almost laughed because she looked so fucking adorable. She tried to look intimidating, but her small stature, curvy body, perfect face, and natural allure made it hard to take her anger seriously.

"Got to go to a meeting," I told her as I finished up with my boots.

We'd awoken slowly that morning, and I devoured her sweet pussy for breakfast. Then I picked her up and took her into the bathroom with me for a shower. When we were done, I had dried us both off and gave her a pat on the ass, telling her to get dressed.

She must have picked up on my tension as I pulled on my clothes because she kept glancing at me curiously. When I mentioned that I had to go out, her eyes had narrowed suspiciously.

Again, I was tempted to lie to her so I could shield her from anything that might cause her pain. But that would put a bigger wedge between us than her simply being angry because I put myself in danger by going to meet with the enemy.

Finished, I stood and picked up my cut from the table and shrugged it on. Then I walked over to the couch and grabbed the vest Mac had given me the night before. She stood beside the bed with her arms crossed and glared at me. I sauntered over and helped her put her arms through the holes and set it on her shoulders.

"You go anywhere outside this room and you wear this, got it?"

Karina's eyes had gone from narrowed to wide and round. "Is this…?"

I took her hand and led her into the bathroom, turning her just enough that she could see the back of the vest in the mirror.

"Property of Cash," she read. Her voice trembled, and I whipped her back around to see what was wrong.

Fuck.It never occurred to me that she wouldn't want to wear my brand. But instead of finding her upset, she beamed at me and threw herself into my arms.

I took her mouth in a deep, possessive kiss, holding her to me with one hand on her juicy ass and the other splayed over the writing that marked her as mine. When things were about to get out of hand, I forced myself to let her go and kissed her forehead.

"I've gotta go, sunshine."

"You found him, didn't you?"

I sighed and nodded. "Crashing a meeting and having a word with the motherfucker."

"I'm going." She stated, as if she really believed I would ever let that happen.

"Not a fucking chance in hell, Karina," I growled. "Your ass is staying right here where I know you'll be safe."

"I want to face the man who ruined my life," she growled right back.

"Sunshine, I love that you're strong, courageous, and independent. But I also know you aren't stupid, and you need to consider what's about to happen without emotion fogging your brain. You think I could concentrate on anything except you if I let you come with me? I need to be focused. This man is deadly. I won't risk losing you or letting you spend your life with some other fucker because I got myself a bullet in the head."

Karina's expression filled with fear, and while I hated to scare her, I needed her to understand the reality of the situation.

"Do this for me, sunshine. Stay here and let me protect you. Besides"—I placed my hand gently on her soft stomach—"I know you'd never endanger our baby."

Karina's mouth formed a little O, then she shook her head and sputtered, "I'm—I"m not-–I can't be pregnant!"

I grinned and gave her a quick, hard kiss. "I've been fucking you bare every chance I got, sunshine. I'm willing to bet you"re knocked up. But if you're not, I'll just keep trying until I put a baby in your belly."

I took advantage of her shock and kissed her again, then guided her over to the couch and handed her a pair of sneakers. "Kiara will be here any minute. You can hang with the other old ladies and get to know your family while I'm gone."

"Pregnant?"

I laughed at her stunned expression. I wasn't sure she'd heard anything I said after that part of our conversation.

A knock on the door interrupted us, and I shouted for them to enter.

Kiara popped her head in and grinned. "Ready?" she asked Karina. "We've got plans to get into all kinds of trouble and drive our men batshit crazy."

I rolled my eyes and kissed Karina's forehead again before I stood. "Be good," I ordered before walking out the door.