Page 25 of Deuce

“Then we need to be careful around the father.You can ask her about tapping into the camera feeds if there are any.We need to know exactly what kind of security system the house has.Anything else we need to know?”

I cleared my throat.“I like her.”

That got everyone’s attention.Eight pairs of eyes zeroed in on me.

“Figured that out right fast.”Rattler had been silent up to this point.

“Explain.”Ace crossed his arms.

“Pretty simple.She’s cute, she’s feisty as hell, and she doesn’t take shit from anyone, including me.But she’s also smart.She knows she’s in a bind, and she knows when to accept help.Plus, she feels protective of her gun toting, ‘knows where to hide the bodies’ father.I’ve only known her since she landed herself at my feet yesterday, but I can see a future for us if I don’t fuck it up.”I glanced around the room.“So hands off.”

“You told her yet, or is it a secret?”Shadow had a smirk on his face.

“‘Knows where to hide the bodies’?”Blast, our munitions master, picked up on that one pretty quick.

“Her description, not mine.”I shrugged.“Think she was just trying to make a point.”

“You being a biker isn’t an issue for her?”Ace narrowed his eyes.“How much have you told her about our club?”

“Not much.Told her I used to be a SEAL and left the rest out.”

He nodded just as my phone vibrated.Pulling it out, I gave it a casual glance, expecting an update on the lunch.I did a double take as a picture of a strange man opening the door to Sophia’s house filled the screen.What the hell?The text was from Tiny.

House is empty.What do you want me to do?

Detain the fucker.On my way.Warn Thor to keep the girls out.

I clenched my fists, choking down a rush of anger.“Gotta go.Some guy just broke into Sophia’s place.Tiny’s going to hold him till I get there.”

Ace nodded.“Rattler and Beast can back you up.”

I didn’t bother to answer, heading for the door double time.Might be getting some answers sooner than we thought.

I pushed my bike to the max, ran a few stop signs, and pulled into Sophia’s place in half the time it had taken me to leave it.I parked my bike and ripped the helmet off my head, tossing it onto the seat.

The place was quiet, the back door not quite closed.I’d talk to Tiny about that later.“Tiny!”

He didn’t answer right away, which given my current mood pissed me off even more.

I stepped through the open doorway and opened my mouth to holler again when I caught a blur of movement out of the corner of my eye.

Years of instinct and training kicked in.I dropped to the floor and rolled.The baseball bat whistled through the air and made a sizeable dent in the wall where I’d been standing seconds before.

Son of a bitch.Asshole must have taken Tiny out.Hopefully not permanently.

I twisted sideways, sweeping a leg out to take the asshole down, but he danced out of the way.I leapt to my feet and got a good look at my assailant.

Guy probably had twenty-five, thirty years on me.Grizzled beard that looked like he’d used a dull knife to hack it off short.Lots of muscle though, and he still had the fucking bat.

I’d committed the one cardinal sin of urban warfare.I’d let my emotions dictate my actions.I’d outpaced my backup, and I’d walked through that door without considering whether there might be an enemy behind it.

Rookie mistakes.

A quick glance around told me there wasn’t anything close at hand I could use as a weapon.

My opponent gripped the bat in both hands and took a step toward me, his eyes blazing with murderous intent.

I took a step backward.Now that he’d lost the element of surprise, it was a standoff.I didn’t want to kill the guy.Dead guys don’t answer questions, and I had a lot of them.

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