15. ~Brianna~

15

~Brianna~

I woke slowly to warmth.

An arm was draped over me.

Just one?

I remembered Mason carrying me in here last night to the master bedroom they'd sweetly assigned to me.

I'd been utterly boneless after our intense fuck session out in the snowy woods.

They'd stripped me of my wet clothes and then settled me under the covers wherein they'd all climbed in and surrounded me with their warmth.

The soft clacking of keys caught my attention and I turned toward the source to see it was coming from Levi and his laptop.

He was sitting up in the bed with his arm draped over me.

"Morning," I spoke.

He dragged his gaze away from the screen and his whole face lit up. "Hey, Wildflower. There's those beautiful eyes gazing back at me."

He was sitting on top of the covers in a maroon tank and his go-to black cargo pants, typing one-handed again while his other was on me. He couldn't be within reach of me and not be touching me in some way.

"I'm real, lovely," I assured him, getting that it was partly what it was about. "Right here."

He moved his hand and slid it to my cheek. "I know you are. In every way."

I grasped his hand on me, telling him earnestly, "And I'm not going anywhere."

He put his laptop down on the nightstand next to him. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Even when it's time to leave this safehouse?"

"I'll still be with you guys."

"Even if I fuck up again?"

"Still with you."

"Even if—"

I pressed my hand to his mouth. "No. Matter. What."

I felt his smile against my palm.

"Want to know why, lovely?"

He nodded and muffled a confirmation into my hand.

I sucked in a breath to steady myself for what I was about to put out there, what I'd wanted to for a while. Gazing at him, I uttered, "Because I love you."

A whole slew of emotions flitted across his face.

Surprise.

Awe.

Excitement.

But most of all, pure happiness.

He eased my hand down and held it between us. "I love you too, Brianna . So fucking much." He stroked my hair reverentially. "Everything begins and ends with you, Wildflower."

"It does for me too."

"Fuck. You have no idea how long I've waited to hear that."

In the next second he had me squealing as he rolled on top of me.

His palms came down either side of my head, caging me in deliciously.

My whole body pulsed at his closeness, his heat, the sexy intensity coming off him.

"Uh uh," he said, gazing down at me. "Not that." He leaned in, teasing me as his warm breath fanned over the side of my neck causing goosebumps that had me trembling in the best way. " This."

He brushed his lips over my throat and then he was planting soft and sweet kisses over my cheeks, my head, on my pendant, my forehead, making me giggle.

It culminated with a cute one to my nose that had my heart squeezing for him.

He eased away, pushing up on his hands. "As much as I want to sink into you, my Wildflower, I have no doubt that you're sore from last night. And I need to finish working."

He pushed off me and I sat up, but before disappointment could settle he wrapped his arm around me and tucked me into his side.

He grabbed his laptop with his free hand and settled it on his lap.

"How's it going with that?"

He sighed. "Well, as you know I finally managed to access Royce's backup server a couple of days ago after he disabled the original one I'd hacked into. He's been trying to track Lynch's movements too without alerting the fucker. It strongly suggests they're not on friendly terms, especially when coupled with Kyle Trass hiding and using a false identity. It could've been him not wanting to get pulled back into Lynch's shit—he regretted what went down with our kidnapping—but now it seems like a hell of a lot more than that. So, anyway, Royce has managed to pick up an additional three locations than I had already marked that Lynch has been at in the last few months. But it's still not enough. He can't nail him down either."

"We need to discern some sort of pattern then."

"Exactly. That, along with more chatter and sightings. So that's what I'm doing. I'm also running my own developed facial recognition software but it's going to take time due to the massive ground covered through all these sightings. I've written a program that will bring all of this together and be able to predict his movements going forward. Once I acquire a little more data. I've also sent a message out through the underground as Royce Humphrey pretending there's an urgent need to meet with Lynch. That's a long shot but still worth a try."

"Wow, that's beyond, Levi."

He grinned. "It's what I do, baby."

I grinned back then told him, "I'll bring Vixen in on this. I have a handful of them in similar underground circles. I'll have them work on acquiring the additional data you need."

"Perfect. Thank you. But are you sure you want to activate more of your girls while you've got the Peter Hall mission in progress?"

"It'll be fine." I kissed his cheek. "Speaking of that mission, where is Mason? And Colt?"

"Colt's working on finishing that song he started up here, the one he's really excited about. Mason is on the phone with one of his Hex lieutenants. Apparently there's been an attempted insurrection of some sort since we've been gone, our absence being used as a window to take advantage where they'd never normally have the balls to do so."

"Wow, that's the last thing we need."

"Don't worry, he's got it handled."

"You're sure? Because I can help."

"Believe me, I know you can. But, yeah, Mason's got this one."

"Ok. And thank you, Levi. You didn't say anything about Vixen until I was ready to reveal it."

"Of course. I never would. The fact I know every little thing about you was borne from my majorly invasive—what you'd call stalkerish—methods, so it wouldn't be fair to reveal what I'd learned for myself to others. It's always up to you to be ready where that's concerned. Not my call."

"And you like being the one who knows me inside out?"

"Maybe a little. But I'm also happy we have our foursome functioning so well, that we've grown really close, and that you're putting your trust in my brothers too now."

"Yeah, I am too."

A familiar buzzing on the nightstand beside me cut through our heartfelt moment. I reached over and snatched up my phone to find a text there from a surprising sender.

Tommy: How's sophomore year at Stonewell U going, B?

I frowned.

"What is it?" Levi asked, reading the mixture of surprise and suspicion in my expression.

"I'm not sure."

Brianna: Long time, no talk. Randomly on your mind, was I?

Tommy: Saw an interesting set of photos the other day.

Brianna: That was weeks ago. Also, you don't have social media, so how did you come to see anything before it was all then pulled?

When there was no immediate response, I shook my head. "Unbelievable."

I settled against Levi and held my phone between us so he could see.

"Bastard's watching you, baby. Or your father is."

"With the laser-focus you had on me, how would you have missed that?"

"They could be doing it through a constant on campus, like a professor. They could have gotten to a student in one of your classes and had them report back."

"Jeez. I'd hoped my father had let go of that overbearing type of watch. You'd think for a man all about loyalty and honor, the promise he'd made me to do so would actually mean something." I shook my head to myself. "Then again, I'm not really surprised. Wishful thinking makes fools out of us all."

"No, baby. Not always. It's vital to have hope." He stroked my head. "To wish, to dream."

I smiled up at him.

Unfortunately, another text came in, cutting through our moment once again.

Tommy: I know you're fucking Roman Knight's heir.

Levi growled low in his throat. "Did he talk to you like that when you were together?"

"No. He's pissed about something. More than me being with somebody else. He should've got over that two years ago when we parted ways."

Brianna: Who I fuck stopped being your concern a long time ago.

Tommy: Big girl language, yeah? He been teaching you that?

"Motherfucker," Levi rumbled dangerously. "What's the number?" he said, easing from me and shifting his weight, his fingers flying over the keys of his laptop in the next moment.

I reeled it off to him.

He cocked an eyebrow. "You didn't even have to look in your contact list, just know your ex-boyfriend's number off by heart, hmm?"

I rolled my eyes. "Please. You know I have really good recall."

He grinned. "I know, just teasing you to lighten the mood that the shithead ruined."

"Don't worry, I've got this," I said, a moment before I responded with another text.

Brianna: Don't be a pussy. Get to your reason for contacting me.

Tommy: Your old man.

Brianna: What about him?

Tommy: Knew you wouldn't respond to his calls or texts, so he's hit me up to do it. Stop what you're doing with Knight. All of it. You don't and that freedom you've had is gonna take a turn.

Brianna: Is that a threat?

Tommy: He doesn't want you getting hurt or going down that road again. He's raging all over the fucking place. Smashed up one of the diners after Roman Knight left and filled him in. The fuck he's gonna get involved in that Lynch shit again, turned the smarmy fucker down flat. Knowing you're going the other way has him worried and pissed as fuck. Stand down, B. Fall in fucking line.

Levi eyed the text, his eyes sparking with that dark fury.

Instead of doing the obvious and moving to handle it, he simply told me, "Give it to him, baby."

I smiled at his faith in me.

More than that, it was a major deal for him not to step in, because he was extremely protective of me and possessive—aside from with Mason and Colt when it came to me—yet here he was with his response serving as a bolster to remind me that I was empowered now and no longer under the thumb of overbearing men treating me like a porcelain doll.

The boys all recognized that now.

But those from my old life still didn't. They actually never would. I had no illusions about that.

Brianna: I won't back down. Do what you need to.

Tommy: You're making a mistake.

Brianna: As you will be if you come at me. Pass that along to my father like the little messenger bitch you've become.

With that, I grunted and put my phone down on the nightstand. "Fuck," I groused, shoving my hands through my hair.

"Nicely done," Levi said, stroking my hair.

"Thanks and—why do you have that dangerous glint in your eyes?"

His eyes darkened too. Oh no.

"Levi, what's wrong? You know, aside from the obvious that just happened?"

"He doesn't know how to cover his tracks properly. I was able to track his phone. He's not with your father, not at any of his businesses, or Curt's home residence. He's not at his own apartment either. Where he is right at the moment of contacting you just now is at the same industrial estate that I tagged Osiris at for a brief period."

"What? No. That can't be."

"Give me a few moments and we'll have confirmation."

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Accessing the security cameras of several buildings within the area, like I did last time to confirm Lynch being there."

As he was doing that, I mulled over the explanations aloud, "He could've gone there trying to get a lead on Lynch for my father. He might be lying about my father not wanting to get involved with it all alongside yours."

"A possibility," he said, while focusing on what he was doing. "Although, why would he be so adamant about keeping you out of it if they were already down there working the leads too? They'd believe they could get to him before we had any chance. After all, your father severely underestimates you. And to the outside world I'm just a reckless fucker and people don't know I have the means to really do a lot of damage."

"He wouldn't work with Lynch. We were together. There was a bond there. Not like what I have here with you, Mason, and Colt, but it was still personal, you know?"

"I do, baby."

He didn't look the least bit convinced. "But?"

He sighed. " But when your father abandoned the club and shut it down so suddenly, it left his club members adrift. A lot of them were pissed that he did that, actually raging about it."

"So you think Tommy might have gone to work for Lynch out of spite or something?"

"Possibly out of necessity to make a living. Lynch pays his guys well to keep them loyal. It's fake loyalty if you ask me, but still. It could also be out of power. Losing the club, there would have been that void there, one he could have been desperate to replace with a different kind of power instead of a brotherhood."

I grimaced. "I hope not. I really hope not, Levi."

"There's another option too, but it will be brutal for you to hear."

"Doesn't mean I don't need to hear it."

I shifted my weight, curling my legs up under me as I faced him.

He stilled on typing away and looked at me, pain for me all over his beautifully rugged features.

"He could have been working for Lynch all along. He could have facilitated what happened to your car that led to the kidnapping. He had an inside track to you, being your main assigned club protection back then. After we were freed, he allowed your hero worship of him to become more when it shouldn't have. He also kept you weak and in denial about what had happened, treating you with kid gloves. It may not have been out of care for you. It could have been coming from his role with Lynch to ensure you didn't become a threat or vengeful after what had happened. He couldn't break you when we were in captivity so it stands to reason that he'd be concerned that somebody who resisted all that he inflicted upon them would be classed as a very real threat to him, especially considering with you being connected to what used to be a formidable and brutal motorcycle club."

"God," I choked. "That's… the idea that it was all an awful manipulation… I can't… no. It can't be, Levi."

"But there were red flags when you were seeing him, yes?"

"Honestly, I wasn't looking. Not at all. Like you said, I was in major denial."

"Exactly. He didn't know the real you. It's not a stretch to posit that you didn't know the real him either."

"Maybe."

He took my hand. "Listen, that's just worst-case, just considering a bunch of options. Don't put any stock into it until we really figure it out."

"There's one way to narrow it down right now."

He nodded, of course getting it easily. "Call your father." He stroked my fingers. "It's been two years, are you gonna be okay doing that? I can do it for you if you want. Mason too. Even Colt, he's a real charmer, even over the phone."

He actually had me chuckling despite the subject matter. "I can picture it with Colt now. No, I've got it."

I snatched up my phone and scrolled to my phone book, to a number I hadn't accessed for a really long time.

I sucked in a steadying breath as Levi gave my fingers a bolstering squeeze. And then I dialed.

It picked up on the first ring, startling the crap out of me.

"Baby girl," my dad's gravelly voice sounded down the line. "Is that really you, Brianna?"

I swallowed hard and forced the words out, "Yeah, Dad. It's me."

"I can't fucking believe it. First Roman, now you. After all this time."

"Dad, I—"

"I'm sorry."

"You're… what?" He never apologized.

"I'm so fucking sorry. Your mom… what happened to you… this coming back around now… it's all my fault, being so power-hungry… it cost me what meant the world to me… cost me everything I loved."

"It's too late for apologies."

"Brianna—"

"No. I mean, we're beyond that."

Hearing his voice again was different than the last few times he'd tried to contact me over the years and I hadn't picked up and had instead just listened to his voicemails.

Before Levi had come back into my life and changed things, awakening me and helping me to kill the fear of admitting to the awful past we shared, I hadn't been able to stand entertaining anything from my past.

Not even my dad.

Part of me had blamed him.

The decisions he'd made as club president had been partially responsible for me being taken. He'd made some bad calls when trying to find me too, which had led to my mom going it alone, and her subsequent brutal murder right in front of me.

But now, talking to him, I could stand the pain.

Because that wasn't all there was now.

And because I could admit it and take it, I could also see beyond it, see all the other things regarding my dad and my past that weren't associated with those dark and twisted days Levi and I had spent being held captive by those demons.

"You mean that?" my dad asked, the need for it to be the case bleeding into his voice.

"I do. This won't be my last call." I sucked in a breath. "But for right now, I need to know something. Did you refuse to work with Roman Knight?"

"It was going that way until he told me that you were involved. I told him, of course I'd back you in any way I can, even if it could only be indirectly and from a distance. Why?"

"Tommy told me otherwise. He warned me off doing this, laid down a threat on your behalf."

"Brianna, I haven't been in contact with that shithead since I beat him down two years ago after I found out he'd been messing around with you."

I started. "You knew?"

"Intel reached me, yeah. Gotta say, you covered it up real well. It took the information being handed to me on a silver platter and laid out all undeniably for me to learn about it."

The realization hit me and I swung my head toward Levi. "You told my dad about Tommy and me?"

"Shit, yeah, that was me." He held up his hand quickly. "I honestly forgot to tell you during our revelation session, that's all. It wasn't important compared to all the rest. Sorry. I mean it, not telling you wasn't intentional. There's a lot of intel I acquired back then, a lot I passed on to key individuals over the years too in order to further my quest against Lynch, and to protect you. Passing information onto your dad was my way of protecting you from that fucker ex of yours. I recognized that he was keeping you weak and furthering your denial of who you really are."

"Fuck, Levi," I breathed.

"You believe me, right?" he asked, urgently, so worried that I wouldn't, that it would mess up what we had.

Especially this special day where we'd actually exchanged our I-Love-You's.

These moments of vulnerability from him, the raw emotion, it told me all I needed to know about his true intentions.

Love and care.

There was nothing nefarious in his intent toward me.

In his mind, he was doing what he did for me, for us.

He'd already come a long way with it, toning things down and recognizing the wrong way to do that now, but it would still be a work in progress for a while, given that he'd been doing things the same way for so long.

The point was his intent and that he was trying so hard.

"Yes," I said, rubbing his arm. "I believe you."

"Put me on speakerphone with Roman's heir, baby girl," my dad sounded from the phone, where I'd forgotten to put my hand over the receiver because of the realization about Levi passing on intel to him.

I eyed Levi in question and he gave a nod.

I put it on speakerphone. "You're on, Dad."

"Thanks. Knight, I had a real good talk with your old man. He's trusting you to keep your word with this mission, yeah? You got it in the bag?"

"I do."

"Are you treating my daughter well?"

"Always. It's impossible for it to be any other way when it comes to her."

I beamed out at him. Wow.

"Damn, that's a hell of a response. Good on you. Keep it up or there will be hell, and you know I can bring it. Roman told me you've been researching the fuck out of my daughter and everyone connected to her."

"I know what you're capable of, yes. Cards on the table, I'm also a lot more than I seem."

"Roman made me aware."

"Good, because that's what I'm bringing to this mission. The same with Brianna. She's more than she seems as well. A fuck of a lot more."

"I know that now."

"You do?" I cut in.

"You think I don't watch over you and check in here and there? I've downloaded all your apps."

"You… you have?"

"They're fucking amazing. I'm real proud of you. And what Levi's getting at… I'm sorry I didn't see you had that hard edge and killer instinct in you before. You being my daughter clouded a lot and the way the club worked clouded the rest, you know?"

"I do, yeah."

"But that's all over now. I'm not that same guy, don't see shit the same, Brianna. I promise you that much. I know what you're worth. I see you now, all right? To prove it, I'm not gonna stop you from doing what you need to do here where Malcolm Lynch and his bitch-ass followers are concerned. I've got you. All the way. Roman and me are working together on this."

Wow. I couldn't… I couldn't believe it.

"She's absorbing it," Levi spoke, when I couldn't summon the words.

"I get it, gonna take some time."

"No doubt. So, where Tommy's concerned, this contact he's just made with Brianna wasn't authorized by you?"

"Sure as shit wasn't. I'll drop my protection so you can see into my phone and whatever else you need to prove it if you want."

"I'll take you at your word."

"Yeah, Roman said you're good at figuring people out… even over the phone like this. It's their tone and conviction or lack of it, right?"

"And patterns in their speech and word choices."

"Damn, that's really something. When this shit is over and my baby girl is up for seeing me again, come along and teach me that shit, yeah?"

"It's a deal, Mr. Walker."

"Call me Curt. You've already earned it, empowering my baby girl again, doing this together to give her the peace she's needed for way too long."

"She empowered herself. I just reminded her of who she really was, that it wasn't all pain to reconnect with it."

"All pain… fuck… never should've gone down like that."

"Dad," I finally managed. "Can I let you go for now?"

I couldn't keep the emotion from my voice for the life of me.

I could hear it in his too.

"Yeah, I get it."

"I'll call you again soon. Really soon, okay?"

"Means a lot. Can't wait. Watch each other's backs, all right?"

"Always," Levi told him.

"We will," I added.

I hung up then and put my phone down.

The second I did, Levi's arms were around me, holding me to him. "It's all right. That was a lot. You handled it really well."

"We'd been estranged for two years."

"I know. Now a barrier has been broken through, it'll be different. Because you're different. Actually, both of you by the sounds of it with him."

A small chuckle escaped me. "Yeah, I can't believe it."

"I guess it just goes to show that even people who seem so cemented in their ways can find the strength and impetus to change for the better."

"It would seem so."

"What's up in here?" Colt's voice came from the bedroom door.

We eased apart just as he pounced on the bed, then settled himself on his side with his hand propping up his head. "Well? I'm sensing some big-time emotion." He eyed Levi. "What did you do?"

"Nothing, fucker."

Colt gave him a suspicious look. "You sure?"

"Yes. Fuck," Levi exclaimed, offended.

I laughed at their teasing banter. "It's all good, Colt. I spoke to my dad for the first time in ages."

"Oh, wow. How was that?"

"Intense. And… really nice."

His eyes lit up and he rubbed my legs over the covers. "Amazing, cutie."

"Yeah, it was."

"She's still processing it," Levi said, wrapping his arm around me. "How's the songwriting going?"

"Awesomely. Almost done already."

"Wow, that's gotta be the fastest you've ever written from start to completion."

"Well, I was inspired." He beamed out at us. "By our foursome."

We didn't get to discuss it more, as Mason burst in, looking out of sorts. "We have a problem."

Levi straightened and instinctively tightened his hold around me. "Our joint strategy to quell the insurrection didn't work?"

Mason waved his hand. "That's sorted. And, for the record, your idea for a show of force worked wonders. The rebellion was completely stomped out, they're running scared and extremely apologetic."

I smiled at Levi proudly, then at Mason.

The two of them were actually working well together and taking each other's suggestions, being open to it all.

Colt caught my eye and we grinned happily.

Until Mason stepped up to the bed and told us, "The safehouse may have been compromised."