Page 10 of Toxic Biker

We enter the bar, still hand in hand, and I immediately notice Powerhouse, Whiskey, Blow, and Angel all surrounding someone. I manage to catch a glimpse of a pastel polo shirt between their shoulders, knowing they’re keeping him from leaving the bar on purpose. After Blow’s ol’ lady pulled a fast one on him, being a Marshal and all, the brothers have been extra leery over any face they don’t recognize showing up at the clubhouse. Can’t say I blame them; I’ve had my guard up as well.

“Seth?” Lacey calls, picking up speed to run to him. I tug her back as my brothers part, allowing me to see the person they’re crowding around. “Wait, who…?” she trails off.

I stop in my tracks, tugging her to stand behind me. “Need you to go to the room, stay there until I tell you it’s good to come out.”

“I’m not going back in there. I want to know what’s going on.”

My brows skyrocket at her argument. She could be in danger with this guy showing up, as I doubt his presence is anything but random; however, it doesn’t seem to click with her. She’s lived in la-la land for far too long. Her innocence will end up getting her killed in my world. Just another reason to push her out of it and back to where she came from.

Leaning in, I bring us nose to nose and rumble the order once more. “Told you to go to the room. Last I checked, that isn’t fucking Seth standing over there. What if he’s here to get a look at you? To find you and hurt you? I told you I’d help, but you have to listen to me, baby doll, or this won’t work.”

“You’re telling me that guy could take you all on if he wanted to hurt me? That I should be scared over what he’ll do to me versus what you could do to him?”

A few brothers snicker and I shoot them a scowl in return to egging her on. They don’t need to be listening or looking at her, period, she’s mine to care for. “Fuck no, but that’s not the point. Shit happens and I’m trying to keep you safe.”

Her hand moves to my scruff, her thumb runs over the top of my cheek under my eye where my tattoo is as she sweetly whispers, assuring me, “You won’t let anyone hurt me. I don’t have to be scared anymore when I’m with you. I’ll sit at the bar so I can hear, but not be too close to him, okay? I know you can protect me, that I’m safe with you.”

I swear it’s like she strokes the beast inside me to the point I’m practically a fucking purring kitten where she’s concerned. I don’t like it. I need to have a handle on myself and not be bent to her will when she sees fit. Any cracks I allow will only make life harder when shit hits the fan. I’ve already learned this the hard way, so why in the hell do I give in to her and agree? With a nod, I place a tender kiss on her forehead and step back. Watching as she takes the stool at the farthest end of the bar like she promised, like my good girl I know she is.

I turn on my heel and head for the uppity fucker in the peach polo shirt. “Who the fuck are you, pumpkin ass motherfucker? The fuck you doing rolling up on an MC demanding to see people? How’d you hear my name? You have a death wish?” I pepper the questions, doing it on purpose to overwhelm him so he doesn’t have time to think up any lies on the spot.

His hands shoot up in surrender, soft and uncalloused like he doesn’t work much for a living. Cushy motherfucker. I already don’t like him just from seeing how soft he is. It’s a woman’s job to be soft, not a man. We do the hard shit, so they never have to, at least that’s the way it should be.

“Look, bro, I’m not here to cause any problems. I work part time with Seth at the firm and have an idea of what he’s into.”

“I’m not your bro,” I hiss in his face.

“I was dropping some papers off in his office when I saw all the messages on his desk saying his sister had called for him multiple times. I saw you at his apartment earlier when I stopped by to see if I could find him. Figured he was on a bender or something, maybe needed an IV infusion and was gonna offer to call my usual nurse. I followed you back here and wasn’t going to come back, but then I realized you must be his biker friend he told me about,Plague.” He points to the patch with my road name and nods, confirming to himself.

His word doesn’t mean shit to me without any information though, it only sounds like he’s nosy, not valuable, and I have no time or place in my life for meddlesome rich fucks trying to spend a night on the wild side. “And? What did he have to say about me?”

“Nothing bad or anything. Just about how you two grew up together and that if his new investment panned out, he planned to see if you were interested.”

What the hell was Seth up to? And to openly plan to involve me? He must not have had any idea of what he was really getting involved with. The overly smart-dumb ass Seth…it doesn’t sound like a careless move he’d typically make, so it must be bigger than I’m realizing.

Preppy continues. “Once I realized who you were, I figured out that his sister was probably with you because you both were looking for him. I can tell that’s her; I’ve seen her at the company parties.”

“We are looking for him. Why are you involving yourself in his private business? What do you get out of this?” Does he want to die? Because if he looks at my woman again, he may get his wish.

“Because…” he pauses for good measure and it takes everything in me not to shake him, or punch him in the tip of his ugly, too-thin nose, demanding he talk. “I know where he is.”

“Where’s my brother?” Lacey questions as soon as the words leave his mouth, and I shoot her a frustrated look. She needs to let me handle this; I don’t want the wrong people finding out a single thing about her. My brothers are no doubt loving this side of me they’re not used to seeing. I don’t do chicks, just fuck them and move on, the same as most of them. And, no bitches ever catch my attention like Lacey does and I know if this bozo wasn’t here, my brothers would be knee slapping like a bunch of amused assholes at my expense.

“Last time I saw him, he was supposed to be taking a meeting with a client.”

“How’s this help us?”

“Because that client owns the biggest nightclubs in Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Amsterdam, and London.”

“So, he could basically be anywhere in the world then. Real helpful there, genius,” I mutter, running out of my tiny bit of patience I was attempting to reserve for him. Maybe I’ll just shoot him in the gut and chop his balls off to feed the dogs like Angel had suggested earlier. The idea is beginning to hold more appeal with each second I’m forced to wait for this clown to give up any details.

My brothers stare down their noses at the imposter, the lot of us looking intimidating to someone like him, clean cut and snooty as we’re all covered in ink and leather. I’m surprised this guy hasn’t pissed his pants by now with the chilly reception he’s garnered from the group. Rather, he’s acting like this is another day in the park, which tells me he’s used to dealing with all sorts of people at his job or wherever. I still don’t trust him around Lacey. Period.

Or really anyone with her safety, for that matter, and it’s throwing me off, caring about a woman I’ve tried not to think of for the past five years or so. She’s a huge distraction. An added obsession I clearly don’t need, that’ll pull me further away from my mother’s impending death, but I’ll fall into it, regardless. No one knows how serious shit has gotten with my mother, they only know she’s sick. She’s always been sick, but they don’t know how close she is to knocking on death’s door. The reaper is coming for her and there’s not a fucking thing I can do about any of it.

Except with Lacey, I have a chance to protect her, something I can’t offer the other woman in my life that means something to me.

“The owner lives in Dallas. I’m sure Seth’s headed there to party and hasn’t made it back yet.”

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