Page 24 of Lockout

“Do you ever relax?” she asked once she hung up the phone.

“This is relaxed,” I said.

She shook her head. “It’s done.”

I’d heard, but I nodded at her. “Good. There might be some kick back,” I warned her. The government didn’t like to let go of good people. And she was fucking good at her job. They sure as fuck had pursued me and the other guys when we’d left. Worse, they could be petty, and this Agent Hill sounded like the type.

“I know. But I have a pretty good reason not to let them convince me to go back,” she said with a wry smile.

She looked exhausted. And sad. And fuck if I didn’t want to wipe that dejected look off her face. But I couldn’t. The one thing I didn’t want for her had just happened and I knew there were other people who would be better at cheering her up than I would.

“Need anything else?” I asked her. When she shook her head, I left her apartment without another word.

I walked down the hall and knocked on a door, waiting until it opened.

Dani blinked up at me in surprise. “Hi, Lock. Hang on and I’ll wake up Smoke. He was supposed to put Hannah down for a nap and fell asleep himself.”

I smiled down at the gurgling baby in her arms. “Actually, I came to talk to you.”

Now she was back to blinking again. “Oh. Okay. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Sort of. Your sister just quit her job.”

Her mouth was working but no words were coming out. Until they did anyway. Then they came out in a rush that nearly made me take a step back.

“What? She…what! What happened? Why would she dothat? Were you with her when she went to talk to the partners? Do you know why she woulddothat?”

I figured I wasn’t expected to answer any of these questions since she didn’t even pause for breath before the next was spilling out of her mouth, so I just waited. By the time she was done, I was holding a baby while she rushed down the hall. I more or less figured it would go this way, though the baby was a twist.

Staring after her, I shook my head then looked down at Hannah. “Your mom is a little crazy. Hate to be the one to tell you.”

The baby cooed and waved a chubby fist at me.

I took it as an agreement. “Want to go do some paperwork?” I asked. When she cooed again, I shut the apartment door and carried the baby downstairs with me. I could probably knock on Syl’s door and ask her to watch the kid, but I didn’t mind hanging on to the baby while Dani comforted Keely. And I could definitely wake Smokehouse up, but this would be more fun.

“How long do you think it’ll take for your dad to find us?” I asked the baby. Babbling nonsense was my answer. “And how panicked do you think he’ll be?” I questioned when she stopped. “Do you think we should do the paperwork somewhere other than the office? Okay, you’re right, that would be mean.”

Grinning, I carried her into my office and shut the door. I bounced her on my knee as I picked up the phone to call my manager. He’d left me a couple voicemails, needing to ask me a few things about the charter we had set up for tomorrow afternoon.

As much as I wanted to be the one to comfort Keely, I knew it was a bad fucking idea. Because first, I’d set her on my lap. And it wouldn’t be long before I was kissing her. Fucking her until she was emotionless and drained wasn’t an option, but that was the only way I could help right now.

It was better that I sent her sister to her. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a stampede of old ladies heading toward her apartment any minute now. As if on cue, I heard the thumping of feet. Billie’s, if I had to guess, since they’d come from the front of the clubhouse then rushed up the stairs. No idea how she’d gotten here so fast, but these women were often a mystery to me.

They’d let her cry and feed her chocolate, or whatever women did for each other in times of need. All I could think about doing was feeding her my dick. Definitely not helpful right now.Maybe if I dipped it in chocolate first?That was a Toxic thought if ever I had one.

So I’d work, and baby sit, and that would be my contribution toward helping Keely through this. Then later, when she wasn’t on the verge of tears and the sight of her tear-filled eyes wasn’t shredding my self-control, I’d talk to her about what the next steps were.

After I took care of the LoS, and beat the fuck out of that stupid FBI Agent, we’d fix her career. I knew she was feeling a bit hopeless right now, but this wasn’t the end. Between my connections, Idaho’s, Static’s, and Cypher’s, we’d get something worked out for her. I wasn’t going to allow anything less.

I waved Hannah’s hand back and forth to entertain her as I settled back in my chair to get some work done.

CHAPTER 11

Keely

Groaning, I shoved my knuckles into my eyes. All the girls had shown up yesterday and we’d spent our time drinking wine and talking late into the night. Now my head was about to explode. My eyes were going to go first.

I pressed into them and hoped that would hold them inside my skull as it throbbed and ached. After a couple minutes, I eased off the pressure and looked around my bedroom. I was pretty sure most of us had passed out in the little living room.

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