Spawn Chapter 2

The past three days since Troian booted Lash out of the hospital and had them place a security guard outside her room had been hell on him. For me, it had been a different kind of pain. I was seriously jonesing for another look at and to spar with Hotcake. I hadn’t broken my promise to myself about investigating her, even if it was damn near impossible to resist. The one thing I did do was get into the hospital’s employee listing and find out her last name. It was Jordan.

The urge to go further into their HR files was so strong I found myself starting to type and had to get up and walk away from my computer. No, I wasn’t going to do that. I needed to learn about her for myself. However, that resolve was tested in church, and now, as I sit at my desk, working in the DMV system. All because the little minx helped Troian escape the hospital. I was typing away as Lash and a few others stood there watching me.

“Can you get a clearer picture of her license plate?” Lash asked.

I wanted to roll my eyes and ask him, Are you for real? Don’t you know me? But I didn’t. He was stressed enough. He didn’t need me to be a smartass. So, instead, I said, “Yeah, give me a minute.”

As I worked my keyboard, I couldn’t help but mutter under my breath some of the tamer things I’d like to do to Kimera when I found her ass. I knew they might hear me, but I didn’t care.

“Spank her ass. Over my knee.”

Several minutes later, I grinned as I told Lash I found her. “I have her address. How much you wanna bet she took Troian to her house? She lives outside of town.”

When he stood up and thanked me, asking me to send him her address, I shot his idea down. I stood up, too. “Oh, no, I’m going. Me and little Hotcake have some talking to do,” I said.

I saw them exchange amused glances, but the only one to say anything was Crusher. He questioned the hotcake remark. All I said back was, “Yep,” and I kept heading out to my bike. The ride wouldn’t be terribly long, but I found myself anxious to be there. Sure, I wanted to get Troian back for my brother, but it was more because I wanted to see Kimera.

Not long afterward, we pulled up in front of the small house where the nurse lived. I took it in. The first thing that struck me was how isolated it was. Instantly, I didn’t like it. Anyone could come here and do God knows what to her. No one would hear her screams. The house was a small, white-siding cottage. There wasn’t a garage, and I could see her car parked alongside the house. Surrounding it were a lot of trees, especially behind it. There wasn’t a clear line of sight. Anyone could sneak up on this place.

As we approached the front door, Lash said softly to Crusher, “I need you to go around to the back in case there’s a back way out. Hide there until I get inside.”

“Sure thing,” was his reply before he took off. We’d told Colt to stay in the SUV. He was here to transport her if need be, not to stand guard. At least not unless we found we needed him to.

I approved of Lash sending Crusher to the back. Knowing how upset Troian was with Lash the other day, I wouldn’t put it past her to run, even if she had to crawl. The woman was stubborn. I stood behind him as he knocked on the door. After the third unanswered knock, he called out, “We know someone is in there. Your car is here. Troian, baby, I just need to talk to you. There are things I need to explain and things you need to know. It’s not safe for you.”

Silence greeted him. I raised my brows. It seemed like we might need to do some breaking and entering. It wouldn’t be the first time. He waited another minute or so, and then I pulled out a lock-picking kit. Yeah, most of us had one of those. You’d be amazed at the skills one picked up. Before I could get the door unlocked, we heard swearing and yelling from the back. It was Crusher. Lash took off running.

I kept jimmying the lock. I could hear them talking since they were so loud. “What the fuck is going on? Why did she scream, and why are you holding her?” Lash growled at Crusher.

The rest became muffled as the door opened, and I went inside. I wanted to catch Kimera. I wondered why she wasn’t out there in the middle of it. I was confident she wasn’t since I didn’t hear her. A quick walk-through showed me she wasn’t there. Was she outside after all? I walked out the back door to find out. A quick scan showed she wasn’t there either. I frowned. I marched over to the three of them. Troian was being held in Crusher’s arms.

“Where is she?” I asked.

“Who?” Troian played dumb.

“You know who. Your new friend who helped you leave the hospital against medical advice. The one who could lose her job for that shit,” I snapped. I was upset Kimera wasn’t here, and I knew I was taking it out on Troian, but I couldn’t seem to help it. Disappointment was crashing through me.

“Hey, don’t you dare threaten to get her fired! She didn’t do anything wrong. I was the one who decided to leave. She was just nice enough to give me a place to get back on my feet. If you cause trouble for her, I swear to God, I’ll—” she stopped telling me off abruptly.

It looked like she was trying to think of more to say. She was so irate-looking that I had to fight back a full-blown laugh. My lips twitched, though, as I responded to her. “And just what’ll you do about it if I do?” I asked with an amused tone.

“She might not be up to doing anything, but I sure can,” came the reply from behind Crusher. My whole body tightened with awareness. I knew that sultry voice. When Crusher swung around to face her, I saw Kimera. I avidly ate her up with my eyes. A once-over was all I got before I realized she wasn’t alone. Standing next to her, alert with his ears up and watching us as if he was ready to eat us, was a large dog.

I recognized the breed. Although most people would assume it was a German Shepherd, it was actually a Belgian Malinois. It was tall and probably weighed at least eighty pounds, which would mean it was most likely a male. He was beautiful with a fawn-colored coat. I loved dogs. Kimera was glaring at us and had a hand on the dog’s head.

“Hold on, let’s not do anything crazy. I’d hate to hurt your dog, but if you give him the command to come after us, I won’t have a choice. We’re not here to hurt anyone. I just need to talk to Troian,” Lash told her. Kimera didn’t act as if she was worried.

“Why don’t you have your friend there set Troian down and let her come to me? If she decides to talk, then we can all be civilized and move inside. However, if she doesn’t want to, then you’ll need to go. If you hurt my dog, I’ll put holes in you.” That’s when I discovered why she hadn’t been too worried. She pulled a gun out from under her shirt.

“What the hell are you doing with that?” I snapped at her. All I could think was she was handling a deadly weapon and, like many people, had no idea how to use it properly. Those people were the ones who ended up shooting themselves or others by accident.

“What kinda dumbass would I be to be a woman who lives alone and goes walking in the woods with her dog and doesn’t have a gun? I don’t know what bimbo idiots you’re used to, but I’m not one of them,” she responded with a roll of her eyes. I could hear the unspoken duh at the end.

“You can’t get us all before we disarm you,” Crusher said. I wanted to smack him. Way to instigate her, dumbass, I wanted to snap.

“No, but I can get at least one, if not two of you. Wanna find out which ones it’ll be?”

Her confidence, along with her gorgeousness, made me tune out what Lash, Troian, and Crusher were saying. I only had eyes and ears for the woman before me. As I watched her defend one of ours and stand there with her dog, a new name came to mind. She objected to Hotcake. I wondered what she’d think of She-Wolf. Not that I planned to find out right this second, but I’d hold that back and surprise her with it later.

I momentarily zoned back into the conversation to back up what Lash had said to Troian. I reiterated what I told her in the hospital. I was the one to investigate her, and she should be mad at me. She quickly assured me she was mad at all of us and then ordered Crusher to put her down. He was still holding her. After Lash nodded to him, he did so. She didn’t waste time limping over to Kimera. I shifted slightly. This brought up her dog’s ears more.

“Babe, let me check your foot. What did you do?” Lash asked. I could tell he was worried.

“Don’t call me babe, and I can have Kimera look at it. How did you know I was here?”

“I’ll answer that if we can go sit down and talk like civilized people. It’s too exposed out here,” he said.

“What do you expect? Someone to shoot me with a sniper rifle from a tree?” Troian asked.

“Don’t fucking joke about that! You have no goddamn idea what you’re dealing with. It’s worse than we imagined.”

I was surprised when Kimera bent forward to whisper in her ear and Troian considered whatever she said for a minute, and then whispered into Kimera’s ear before turning to us.

“We’ll talk, but when I say it’s time for you to leave, you do it. Don’t take this to mean anything has changed between us. And Spawn…” Troian paused until I glanced from Kimera to her. “Don’t you dare do anything to get Kimera in trouble at work. She doesn’t deserve her life destroyed. One of us is enough.”

“Troian, sweetheart, I know you aren’t able to believe it yet, but we’re not the enemy. We want to make it up to you for what we did and how it hurt you. As for your friend here, I’ll behave. Well, I will as far as doing that, anyway. Her job is safe.” I couldn’t help but smirk. I knew it would aggravate my she-wolf. I was right. She glared at me and gave me the bird. Troian snickered, and Crusher, Lash, and I all laughed. I winked and blew her a kiss in reply. Kimera pointed to the back door.

After Troian took a couple of steps, Lash was at her side, demanding, “Let me carry you, please.”

“No, I can do it. Go.”

I knew he wasn’t happy about her refusal, but he didn’t fight her. He stayed next to her while Crusher and I went ahead of them into the house. Kimera and her dog brought up the rear. It was a risk to turn our backs on her with that dog and gun, but something told me she wouldn’t hurt us unless we gave her no choice.

Troian took a seat once she got inside. The rest of us didn’t get a chance to say anything before Kimera walked off to get stuff to take care of Troian’s foot. She left her dog with us. The dog stayed close to Lash’s woman and eyed us the whole time.

It was Crusher who voiced what we were all thinking. “That damn dog looks like he’d love nothing more than to eat one of us. Who do you think he wants the most?”

I should’ve known Kimera would pick that exact moment to come back, and she’d voice her opinion. “My pick is Spawn,” Kimera said with a smirk aimed at me.

It didn’t bother me a bit. I loved her snarky remarks and sassy mouth. There were so many delicious things I could think of that would calm them but never tame them. “Hotcake, you can threaten me all you want, but it won’t do you any good. I’m called Spawn because I’m related to the Devil. You know, Spawn of Satan. I can control your hellhound over there,” I informed her with a smile.

“Keep telling yourself that. Toro will take a chunk out of you if I tell him to, so behave and don’t piss me off more than you already do. That means stop calling me Hotcake.”

Ah, Hotcake really must get to her. There was no way I’d stop, but I’d add more pet names and endearments to it. My smile got bigger as she fussed over Troian. Well, we now knew the dog’s name and that it was a boy. When she was done and had cleaned her hands, she brought us all a bottle of water and sat down. After she did, Troian told Lash, “Tell me what you think I need to know.”

“You know that we dug into your background and family. We were trying to rule out that they were involved in hurting you.”

Troian interrupted him. “Yeah, and you needed to prove that I was involved in my cousin’s dirty criminal activities. Oh, and that my amnesia was faked.”

“Jesus, we’re never gonna get past this if you can’t stop bringing that up! I know we fucked up. That I did. Christ, every time I open my eyes and don’t see you in our bed or house, I know it. I’m fucking sorry, but that’s not what we need to worry about. It’s what else we found out since your accident,” Lash said.

“And what would that be?” Kimera asked.

“That her family, the Gusevs, aren’t the people she thought they were. It wasn’t only your cousin Andrik who was involved in the prostitution ring. We’re positive it was all five of your male cousins,” he told them.

“And what are you basing that on?” Troian asked.

“What my family told me,” Crusher said out of nowhere, his expression grim.

“Your family? What do they have to do with this?” Troian asked.

“You know my mother is Russian. Well, most of her family is still back in Russia. I do have contact with them, although not a lot. My father wasn’t involved in their business, so when my mom married him, they lived here and outside the family circle.”

“What was your family’s business?” Kimera asked.

“My family is Bratva,” he blurted out.

I half listened to them talk. My attention was taken with Kimera, who was pretending to ignore me, but I saw the pulse beating in her neck. She was more than aware of me. After telling them Crusher’s mother’s family was Bratva, Lash picked Troian up and sat her on his lap. She tried to fight him, earning him a growl from Toro. He ignored the dog and told her to settle.

It wasn’t until I added to the conversation that there was a more violent response from Troian. “We’re waiting for actual confirmation, but I think the reason you were beaten and left for dead is Andrik was convicted based mostly on evidence, not witness testimony, although there were a couple of people who did testify. That usually means an informant on the inside. We think you were that informant, and at first, no one knew it. Somehow, they found out and tried to kill you for putting him away and ruining a very lucrative business for them,” I said.

Suddenly, Troian flung herself forward in Lash’s arms and vomited. He swore, and Kimera got up and went to the kitchen. She came back with a bucket and mop. It had been sitting in the corner of the kitchen. I hazard a guess that earlier, she had been cleaning. She ordered Troian to sit while she cleaned it up.

“What caused that?” I asked.

“I saw images. I remember a flash of a man’s face, then pain in my head. It was nighttime. Then voices and being beaten and kicked. I didn’t see them, but it was men’s voices, and I begged them to stop.”

I took out my phone and brought up the five photos of her male cousins. I handed it to Troi and asked her if any of the men on it was the one she saw in her head. It didn’t take her long to identify Zandro. Lash explained who he was and why it was too dangerous for her to be outside the compound because they’d be searching for her.

“Why? They dumped me. They think I’m dead,” was her quick response.

This led to him explaining how one of the authors she edited for had reported her missing, and the police went to question her so-called family. As she cried, he reassured her we wouldn’t let them hurt her, and we’d take her back with us where she’d be safe with fences, guards, and cameras. That’s when Kimera surprised the hell out of me.

“Troian, I want to tell these guys to go screw themselves, but they’re right. People like that are too dangerous to take the chance on them not finding you. Even if you go somewhere else, there’s no guarantee they won’t find you. I can try to protect you, and Toro will help, but I’m not here all the time. I have to work. I have a suggestion if you’re willing to do it. Oh, and if these guys can stay off my nerves.” She said the last part as she gave me a challenging chin lift.

I snorted. “Let’s hear your bright plan, Hotcake,” I teased. God, sparring with her was like foreplay.

She bared her teeth at me for calling her Hotcake again, but she didn’t say anything about it. She surprised us. “I’d like to come with Troian. I can help her and make sure she recovers like she should. Toro will come too. He’s a trained guard dog. He’ll be added protection for her. He’ll tear anyone apart who tries to harm her or anyone else I indicate isn’t a friend. He can be there even when I’m at work. Plus, I have a gun, and I know how to use it. If they somehow find a way into your place, I have no trouble putting them down like the vermin they are.” Disgust was evident in her voice.

When none of us said anything, Kimera suggested we talk about it while she helped Troian to bed. We could see she was tired and in pain. I wanted to laugh when Kimera said when she got back, we could tell her all the reasons that would be a no, and she’d make us see how full of shit we were. As soon as the door to the bedroom was closed, Lash turned to Crusher and me and asked, “What do you think?”

“I think that woman needs a spanking,” I grumbled, although I wasn’t truly upset.

“And let me guess. You’re not talking about Troian, and you’re just the man to give it to her,” Crusher teased me.

“Damn right, I am. She’s got more balls than sense, but in this case, I think she’s right. If she comes, it’ll get Troian back home, and the dog will be extra protection. We can keep an eye on her to be sure they don’t find out she helped Troian,” I told them.

As much as the idea of Kimera acting as protection went against my grain, if it got Troian back and my Hotcake there, too, I’d take it. We could keep them both safe. We debated it a little more and then came to an agreement, which was a good thing since Kimera returned seconds later. Lash tried to go into the bedroom, but she held him off.

“She’s almost asleep. Let her get some rest. She’s overdone it. We can talk out here. Sit,” she ordered.

They’d barely started to talk when my hackles went up at her mention of not trusting us. She didn’t blame Troian for it after what we had done, so I defended the club.

“Now, that’s not exactly fair. Yes, we checked into her, but it was the right thing to do to ensure everyone’s safety.”

“How about I go digging into your life and do it because I think you’re lying and can’t be trusted? And then I’ll blithely tell everyone I know that you’re okay to be with? That wouldn’t bother you or hurt you? Think before you answer,” she warned me.

She had a point, but only a small one. I shrugged. “I can see how that might upset me, but Lash and she are in a relationship. You and I aren’t.” She didn’t hear my very softly uttered, “Not yet.”

She kept going to explain how she’d gotten Troian to agree to go temporarily, but only if she and Toro went. I had no issue with that at all.

Lash said they could stay in his house as long as Toro didn’t try to eat him every time he saw him. I wanted to object to her staying with him and Troian. I had a house. She should stay with me, but I wisely kept it to myself. There would be time to make that happen after we got her there. Just like I knew my brother would find a way to convince his woman to stay.

There was a burning question that I had to ask her. “Why’re you involved in this?”

“What do you mean, why am I involved?”

“You don’t know her. You met her once for a couple of hours, at the most, in the recovery room. She’s not your friend or a family member.”

“Does someone have to be a friend or family in order to do something you know is right? Or for me to care that they’re safe and not being hurt by someone? Or maybe I should sit back and assume she has a bunch of family who give a damn about her and will step in,” she snarled back.

“Who hurt you?” Crusher asked. A brief flash of surprise on her face was all we got before she blanked her face. She pretended not to know what he was talking about.

That set off warning bells in my head. My pledge to not dig into her life got harder to keep. Crusher kept pushing it. “Either someone hurt you, or you’ve seen shit. I’m willing to bet at least one man was the cause. Why else get involved this much and have a dog like that?”

“I have a dog because I love animals,” she defended.

“You can love animals but not have a trained guard dog. Those don’t come cheap,” I added.

She stared hard at me. “Go stick your nose in my shit and see what happens, Spawn. I have a guard dog because I’m a woman who works odd hours and lives alone out here. I’d be stupid not to protect myself in more ways than just my gun. I can’t hide behind a fence with weapons and people at the ready. Some of us have to live out in the real, scary, and dangerous world.”

Lash shut any more talk of her motives down. She seemed alright with it and offered to get packed. She relaxed until Crusher mentioned Colt. She got uncomfortable again. “There’s more of you here?”

“Just one of our prospects. He brought the SUV. We didn’t know what condition Troian would be in and figured she wouldn’t be up to a ride on the back of my bike,” Lash explained.

“Send him back. We’ll use my car. I can’t be without it anyway. I have to work.”

“It won’t hurt to have him stick around in case you end up needing to take more stuff with you. We’re not sure how long this will last, so bring plenty,” I told her.

“Make him come inside and wait,” she demanded.

“He’s fine in the car. He’ll entertain himself,” I assured her. There was no reason to bring him inside.

She stood up. “Either he comes inside where Toro and I can keep an eye on him, or you all go.”

“Goddamn, why the hell are you so damn paranoid, woman? He’s not gonna go busting in here at gunpoint and decide to kidnap and rape you,” I snapped. I hated mysteries. I knew immediately that my choice of words was wrong. She turned pale and swayed on her feet. I shot to my feet and put my arms around her. Her damn dog growled at me, but I ignored him. No way would I let go of her. Not when she reacted like this.

“Call off your dog, babe. I’m not hurting you, and I don’t plan to. You couldn’t be safer than with me. I just want to know what made you react like that. We’re not men who hurt women and kids. Yeah, we fucked up with my brother Lash’s woman and hurt her emotionally, but that wasn’t intentional. Tell me why you went pale and swayed. Did someone do that to you?” I asked.

She didn’t answer me right away, but she signaled to Toro to relax. When she did answer me, I heard the lie. “I’m fine. My blood sugar must be low. That’s all. If you’ll let go of me, I’ll grab a snack. Would you guys like something? Oh, and how about your prospect? Is he coming in, or are you all leaving?” I stared at her as she stared back at me. It was a battle of wills. What broke it was when Lash called Crusher “cuz.”

She turned her head to glance at Lash. “Cuz? You’re blood-related, or is that another biker term I don’t know?”

“We’re second cousins on our dads’ side,” Lash explained. “Hey, let me ask you something. Did you happen to get Toro from Flynn Farms down in Tennessee? Seamus and Laura?”

She pushed on my chest, and I reluctantly let go but didn’t move too far away. She looked surprised. “Yes, I did. How do you know Laura and Seamus?”

Finding out we knew the Flynns and were good friends with their daughter and her man seemed to reassure her.

“How long have you had him?” I asked. Maybe if I knew that, it would help me figure out why she was so defensive and had reacted the way she did to my earlier remark.

“Three years. I got him not long after I moved here,” she told us as she headed into the kitchen. We followed. She got stuff out for sandwiches and then told us to help ourselves. Her tension reappeared. I saw it because she kept eyeing the front door. I pulled out her chair at the table, which earned me a weird look. Trying to make her relax, I spoke up.

“Relax, he’s gone. Didn’t you hear the SUV leave? I promise there’s no one from our club lurking around outside,” I assured her gruffly.

“Nothing says he couldn’t have been told to go down the road then sneak back on foot,” she responded.

Crusher took his phone out of his pocket, pushed a few buttons, and then presented it to her. “Here, you can see that I didn’t tell him that. He’s really gone, darlin’.”

She read it and then nodded. I opened my mouth to question why she thought he would do that, but Lash cut me off with a question about her being a nurse. This led to a casual conversation over our lunch, and then we cleaned up the mess while she began packing. I used the time to think about what could be behind her behavior. The thoughts that came to mind weren’t good ones. I swear to God, if someone hurt her, I’d skin them alive before I killed them. As soon as she left the room, I whirled around to glare at Lash and Crusher. “There’s something not right going on here.”

“You mean more than just with Troian?” Lash asked coyly.

I rolled my eyes. “Duh, yeah, that’s what I mean, asshole. You know it is. The way she reacted to my snide comment about kidnapping and rape and the fact she carries a damn gun and has a dog that’ll eat your ass. Someone either scared her or actually hurt her. Shit, I need to figure this out,” I muttered. I’d kill for one of my computers right now. Wait, I promised I wouldn’t do that. Shit!

“Spawn, chill. You can’t go diving into her past. You heard her. Why not see if we can gain her trust and then ask her? I agree it might be something ugly or maybe she’s just cautious like she said. Either way, if you’re interested in her, she’s not gonna like it if you go digging into her past,” Lash warned me as if I needed it.

I was not sure yet how comfortable I was with anyone else, knowing how far under my skin Kimera already was, so I tried to dismiss Lash’s remark about my interest in her. “Who said I was interested in her?”

This earned me a snort from Crusher. “Brother, you almost pissed on her, for God’s sake. She’s got your attention. Don’t lie. Now, if it’s because you want to get your cock wet, forget it. That woman isn’t one to go around sleeping with men to scratch an itch.”

“I’m not just looking to—” I halted. Damn, sneaky bastard. They laughed at me, which made me give them the finger. “Yuck it up, bastards. I’m not saying anything will come of it, but she’s got my attention. There, now let’s get this mess cleaned up and this show on the road.” Thankfully, they let it go for now.

We had the kitchen cleaned in no time. Once it was, I escaped. “I’ll be back. I want to make sure there’s nothing outside that needs to be secured.” I went out the door before they could say anything.

As I walked around the outside of her house, I not only identified areas where her security measures could be improved, but I thought of various reasons why she was so distrustful. None were good reasons. I tried every window and found them locked. Her front and back doors had deadbolts on them, although why they weren’t engaged when I got inside, I didn’t know. Even her car, when I tried all the doors, was locked. True, she didn’t have a garage to put it in, but most people didn’t think to lock their vehicles on their own property. In addition to that, a trained guard dog and the way she handled the gun, which was competent, made my alarms grow louder.

After I made it back inside, she came out a few minutes later with a packed bag. I chided her for carrying shit when she had the three of us to do it.

“Hotcake, don’t be lugging shit around. You pack, then we’ll carry that shit and load it into your car.”

“I told you, don’t call me Hotcake, and I can do this. I’m not a weakling,” she protested.

“It has nothing to do with your strength. It’s manners. Women don’t open doors, carry stuff, or pull out their own chairs around us. Give me your car keys so I can unlock it and put this in there.” I held out my hand.

When I confessed that I had tried the doors, she asked, “When did you do that?”

“While you were packing. I checked to see if there was anything outside that needed to be secured or needed attention.”

“And you thought my car did?”

“No, I was testing out a theory, and you proved it with the locked car.”

“And what pray tell would that be?”

“That you’re overly cautious, and one day you’ll tell me why.”

“Don’t bet on it,” she muttered as she smacked her keys in my hand, turned her back on me, and walked back into her room.

I grinned at my brothers. “She’s wearing down,” I told them.

They cracked up laughing. She kept packing, and we kept hauling the stuff to the car. We were at it for close to an hour on and off before Troian rejoined us. She was moving slowly and looking sleepy. She asked what she could do after verifying we were still going. When Lash tried to tell her to rest, she told him off. Whatever he whispered in her ear got a reaction out of her and Toro.

Toro squeezed between them and gave Lash a look that shouted, move or else. My brother did it, but not without telling the dog off. “Listen, you little cockblocker, step off,” he told the dog. Crusher and I laughed.

Kimera just looked curious before suggesting she help Troian get freshened up while we entertained ourselves. Crusher teased Lash about being twisted up by Troian. I knew how he felt. Kimera did the same damn thing to me, but I found I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I felt more alive than I could recall being in years, maybe ever.

This led to Lash cursing Crusher with the same thing when he found a woman. It became apparent quickly that Crusher was delusional. He thought his future woman would fall at his feet, begging him to take her, and they’d live in bliss for the rest of their lives. This made us laugh. I had to say something to that.

“God, I can’t wait to see how wrong you are. When she puts you in your place or on your ass, we want to be there and record that, so you can watch it again and again and know how full of shit you were for saying this. Why would you get someone like that when none of us have or will? That’s not our kind of woman. We need ‘em with fire.”

“You wait. I’ll get an angel who’ll never go against my advice when it comes to her safety, health, or happiness,” he replied. Lash and I were still laughing when the women rejoined us. They gave us curious looks but didn’t ask.

After getting them in the car, we got on our bikes. I took up the rear position. It would allow me to protect them from behind while the others did it from the front, and I’d be able to prevent them from taking off just in case Kimera got that bright idea. There was no way I was letting her get away from me.