Page 46 of Jackal

Nodding, I said, “Okay, Prez. I’ll ride with you.” I owed it to Raven to let Hawk be the man he was meant to be, and to be sure I protected him at all costs. I wouldn’t have had that conversation in front of the others, but I was still worried about him.

“I’ll see you in a while. Go spend some time with that little lady.” Hawk walked the opposite direction, so I headed back to the bar to see if Shivana was there.

She’d been staying in my room all week but going to Cindy’s to shower and check emails. She’d been applying to more jobs while waiting to hear back on the ones she’d already interviewedfor. She mentioned doing therapy remotely. It wasn’t what she wanted to do, but I hoped she’d at least put some feelers out for those jobs.

This woman wasn’t meant to be caged, but right now the thought of her commuting and being out in the public made me nervous. She told me the jobs she was going for didn’t put her in front of people often, and the teams she’d work with were small. But the kind of people that could take out Raven on a major highway wouldn’t be bothered by a few extra casualties if it meant somehow getting to us.

She was new around here, but they had her once. I had to consider they may know everything about her now and could be watching her. She wasn’t convinced. Lacy was nervous about leaving the clubhouse after everything that happened, so maybe she’d put a bug in her ear to lay low for a while. Once this shit was behind us, I’d walk into the CDC myself and ask to speak to the director about a job for her if that would make her happy. I just had a feeling I couldn’t shake and although it hadn’t been long, I already couldn’t imagine what I’d do if something happened to her.

“There you are,” Shivana said as I pushed the door open and walked inside. She wrapped her arms over my shoulders and pulled me down for a kiss. “Hungry?”

“Oh, I’m hungry for something, but I don’t have enough time to properly eat it.”

Her brows shot up, but she grinned. “I’m sure you’ll still be hungry later. You’re going out again, right?”

Nuzzling my nose over hers, I answered, “Yeah. Not sure what time I’ll be back.”

“Well, the good thing about still looking for a job is I have zero sense of time and no current responsibilities. So, you can always wake me. But get creative.”

My cock twitched in my pants. I could think of some great waysto wake her up.

“Oh, I know you guys are all ‘it’s not safe,’ blah blah blah, but we have to schedule tours for the wedding venues. So I’m going to do that. You can escort us.”

My brow furrowed. “I’m not sure now’s a good time.”

Her grin melted away into a grimace. “You can’t stop living because of threats. If that was the case, nobody would go outside. Ever. Do you know statistically you’re more likely to get hit by a car than be shot?”

“I ride a Harley, so yes, I know that. But this is diff–”

She pushed my chest and tried to escape my hold. “It’s always different. But it’s not. Seriously, I’ll buy a car online and drive away. I’m trying to be cordial and give you a sense of control, since you seem to need that, but you can’t tell me what to do.”

My jaw ticked. Still holding her in place, I looked around. Not that many guys were hanging around yet, but I still didn’t want to have this conversation in front of them. “Let’s go outside.”

“I can just get louder. I’m serious. No offense to the bunnies, but I amnotone of them and you can’t hold me hostage. So are you gonna take us or not?”

She was trying to wiggle free of my hold but didn’t make any progress. Instead, I pulled her closer and leaned in her ear. “Lil Bird, are you throwing a tantrum?”

She tilted her head away from me. “Stop trying to be all sexy.”

Loosening my grasp, I gripped her chin. “I don’t want to fight before I leave. Can we table this and circle back tomorrow?”

“I’ll remember. You’re not blowing me off,” she said, not even looking at me.

“I promise, we’ll talk about it and we will figure something out. But I gotta leave soon and I don’t want to go with you like this.”

Those big brown eyes finally looked up at me. “Why are you so nervous? What are you going to do?”

Clearing my throat, I shook my head. “Nothing to worry about.But you never know. So can we squash this and eat?”

Her lips thinned. “Fine. But the secrecy isn’t really helping your argument.” Before I could remind her of what we talked about, she put her hand up and said, “I know. Need-to-know-basis, but I can still be annoyed.”

“I wish you wouldn’t.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, are you going to kiss me or not?”

Without missing a beat, I thrusted my fingers through her hair and crushed her lips with mine. Her body melted against me, her muscles relaxing and her body responding to my touch.

Pulling away, her eyes fluttered open. “Not fair,” she said.

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