Page 9 of Lockout

“I’m not going with you,” she snapped, giving up her hold on the thongs before they snapped in two.

Tossing them into the suitcase, I turned and stared down at her. “You’re not staying here alone, Keely. Which means I’m going to have to post guys here day and night to guard you. That means there is less security at the clubhouse.”

She’d already said she didn’t want to put any of the families in danger. So spreading our protection between here and there was sure to get her to come with me. It pissed me off that she wouldn’t just trust me to protect her.

She sighed and shook her head. “I won’t stay here.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I scowled at her. It was that, or shake her for being stupid. And if I started shaking her, I’d end up groping her. And I’d just proven where that would lead. “Where would you go?”

“Cabo? Fiji? Somewhere warm,” she said in an indecisive tone.

“Not happening. Look,” I said when she opened her mouth to argue more. “We’ve already had a run in with these fuckers. It doesn’t matter where you go. They’ll follow. It’s only a matter of time before they show up on our doorstep for what we’ve done. This just gets the fight over faster. And you’ll be here where I can keep an eye on you.”

Her eyes softened at that. “It’s not your job to keep an eye on me, Lock. I don’t want you to think that I’m ungrateful, but I can’t put you in that position.”

“You’re not,” I told her. “I am. Finish packing, or I’ll do it for you.”

She hesitated, then finally nodded in agreement. “Okay.”

I walked out of the bedroom, needing a few minutes away from her before I started kissing her again. Trying to keep my self-control around Keely Bradford was an exercise in futility. Still, I needed to try.

It didn’t matter that I wanted her. I had since day one. But I’d had too many damn families to take care of to focus on myself at the time. Too many enemies coming at us. I hadn’t been about to let them down. By the time both the mafia and Fremont were wrapped up, Keely had accepted this position in D.C.

Didn’t matter that it was temporary. She was leaving. And I wasn’t going to be the one to stop her. To make her put her dreams on hold. It hadn’t been my place to ask her to stay. Not for me. Maybe I should have. Then she wouldn’t be in trouble now. Shaking my head, as though to erase those thoughts, I huffed out a breath. She didn’t deserve a man who was going to hold her back from her dreams.

My brothers had been hounding me for months now about going to get my old lady. They didn’t seem to understand that I couldn’t figure out how that was going to work between her and I. Even now that she was home, it was temporary. She had to go back. The feds weren’t just going to let her stay here. And what if she decided to go back and stay permanently? I was only too aware that temporary positions, like the one she was in, had a way of becoming full-time all too easily.

She had a bright future ahead of her. A career she’d built brick by brick. I refused to be the reason she didn’t take an opportunity. So, I’d watched her walk away. Fucking killed me to do it, but I’d stayed here in Tucson while she’d flown off to D.C.

Was there something between us? Fuck yeah there was. Was she smart to tell me to stop back there? Smartest thing she everdid. She was inside of me now. Had been since she’d first showed up at the clubhouse. Catching sight of her that first time had been like a blow to my chest. She’d shot me a megawatt smile and that had been it. I’d wanted her then. Did even more now.

But I wasn’t willing to detonate her career, and I didn’t foresee any of that changing any time soon. She deserved the chance to spread her wings. I was trying to give her that. Not that I was willing to explain any of this to my brothers. Opening up and letting others take on my burdens wasn’t exactly a strong suit of mine. Never had been. I did much better carrying the worries and woes of others than admitting I had them myself.

Glancing over as she walked out into the living room, rolling her suitcase behind her, I grabbed her keys off the hook in the kitchen. “Let’s get going.”

“What about your motorcycle?” she asked, eyeing her keys. As if on cue, a rumbling engine pulled up outside. She went to the window as the doors slammed and looked out. “What are Butcher and Toxic doing here?” They were in one of the club’s cage rides.

“Taking my bike home so we can bring your car. Come on.” We weren’t going to talk about the fact that I was letting the goon squad ride my bike home. If they mentioned that later I might kill them on the spot. Sharing wasn’t my thing. I was territorial over my shit. And my bike was number one on the ‘don’t touch it’ list.

Taking her by the elbow, I directed her out the door then locked it behind me. I nodded at my brothers. “Thanks for getting here so fast.”

Toxic and Butcher exchanged glances when they saw Keely. Toxic was doing his best to bite back a grin. It wasn’t good enough. Fucker’s smile was spreading over his face.

Running out of the clubhouse the way I did, barking at these two assholes to meet me over at Keely’s in twenty minutes, wassomething I wasn’t going to live down. I’d have asked anyone else, except they’d been the only two around.

That was another good reason that she stopped me. They would have interrupted us and I would’ve never heard the end of it. As it was, Toxic was making himself a giant pain in my ass about Keely.

“Hey, Keels,” Toxic said, giving her a hug. He shot me another huge grin over her head.

I flipped him off.

“Any sign?” I asked Butcher as he walked up.

“No. No one is surveilling the house,” he said with a shake of his head. “Not physically anyway. Electronically? You’ll have to ask Rip.”

“He’s already looking into it for me,” I said in a low voice, as Toxic kept Keely distracted by putting her suitcase in the trunk of her car.

“Want me to ask around?” Butcher asked, arching a brow.

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