Page 30 of Ryder's War

Ryder's muscles tensed. He'd been waiting for Abby to make hermove, but speed was everything in their world. Sometimes, the difference between life and death came down to seconds.

Ryder cursed under his breath. “Who’d she call?”

“You fucking know who,” Cork deadpanned.

Ryder scowled at the floor. “Devil?”

“You better believe it, brother.”

Behind him, Tiffany sat up, and Ryder glanced over his shoulder. She mouthed “What’s going on?”but he just shook his head and got up from the bed. Club business wasn’t her business. “What did they talk about?”

“Not much. He gave her some directions, trying to get access to our wireless system. Peb has that lockeddown. We disconnected the call anyways,” he said, giving Ryder a modicum of relief. “Should we go in and take the phone?”

Ryder shook his head even though the guy couldn’t see him. “It would be all t0o easy for her to pick up a signal that’s not our wireless and get a call out. Let’s see if she’s smart enough to do that, and if so, what they talk about next time.”

In their world, sometimes the best trap was the one your target thought they'd spotted. Let her think she was being clever. It might reveal more than just intercepted calls.

“Will do. I shoved the conversation to your tablet.”

“I’ll have a look at it. Buzz me if anything else goes down.”

Tossing his phone onto the nightstand, Ryder grabbed his tablet.

“Abby actually called the guy that wants Darkness dead?” Tiffany asked. Ryder should have known she would have figured it out. “I honestly didn’t think she’d do that.”

Glancing up at his exhausted love, Ryder admired how beautiful she was when she was freshly fucked. Her hair was a complete mess, her mascara was smeared at the corners, and her face was still flush from her hairline to her plump littlebreasts. When she pulled the sheet up over them, Ryder snapped out of his lust-induced trance.

Clearing his throat, he murmured, “You’re a good soul, babe. People with kind hearts always look for the best in others. Unfortunately, while you’re looking for the best, you’re missing all the stuff that makes them evil.”

Tiffany pulled back slightly, clearly trying to process his words. She was cute when she was confused.

He reassured her teasingly. “It’s okay, sweetness. You have a suspicious fucker like me for a husband. I’ll be sure to look out for all the nasty shit you don’t see coming.”

“We’re not married.”

“Give a man a goddamn minute, will you, doll. Besides, you’re wearing my cut. It’s the same damn thing in my world.”

“I’m not pushing. I’m just happy for the opportunity to spend time with you and share your beautiful body,” she said with a sultry smile that made him want to climb back into that bed and get inside her again. Make her scream.

But he had shit to do that required his attention.

Loading up the video, Ryder murmured, “Aww, that’s all kinds of sweet. You go aheadand catch some sleep, baby girl. I’ll be along right after I have a look at this security feed.”

Snuggling under the blanket, she sighed, and Ryder smiled to himself. He loved being with a woman who loved him for him. Most of the women he’d spent time with had their hand out, constantly wanting spending money and gifts. Tiffany not only never asked him for anything, but she’d also spent a nice chunk of change on Ace to get him some face time with the pretty redhead he’d been slowly becoming obsessed with. She was beautiful, sweet, loving, and treated his brothers with respect. A man couldn’t ask for better.

That was the information he kept clearly in mind when he reviewed the video feed of the demon responsible for spawning his club president’s little one. Watching Abby amble over and pretend to check on the baby as she slipped Darkness’ cell phone into her shirt literally made him ill. She curled back up in the recliner and pulled the blankets up around her. A person would have to be totally ignorant to think the camera wouldn’t pick up the light from the cell phone shining through the blanket. It was faint but noticeable.

Ryder shifted over to the text messages she sent and scrolled through them. There were a fewthings that caught his notice. She called DevilHoney Bear. How many drug mules referred to the handlers forcing them into service with endearments? He’d have to guess that there weren’t that many. The two of them were definitely a team and probably banging nasties on a full or part-time basis. Nothing else even made sense there.

Next, they identified the club’s internal network and attempted to guess the password without success. When Devil began suggesting ways for her hack the server, Peb had cut them off. Abby then carefully went back, deleted the messages, and dumped the virtual version of the trash can, making retrieving the information more complicated. They were both idiots. The Blind Jacks were much more tech savvy than most. Still, any moron should know that most cell phone companies kept call and text histories.

Shutting off the tablet, Ryder went back to bed and pulled Tiffany’s back against his chest, spooning her, and forced his body to relax. It took longer for his mind to get on board though. Something was definitely off here, and he needed to figure out what it was before his brothers started ending up dead.

~ Tiffany ~

Drifting halfway between the dream world and reality, Tiffany felt a large, warm body snuggle up behind her. One huge arm tugged her back against a wall of muscle. It was the last bit of security she needed to finally let go of her weakening grasp on the waking world.

Her mind swirled with images of her life before that fateful day Ryder Staunton came into her life—memories sharp as broken glass, each one cutting deeper than the last. The past had teeth, and sometimes it refused to let go.

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