Page 19 of Rattler
“Thanks, sweetie.”Mom smiled at him.She wrinkled her nose when she caught me watching them.“Mind your own business.The sandwich will be ready in a minute.”
Jake winked at me, and I struggled not to laugh.
“This should keep Shadow happy.”Mom handed me the plate with the sandwich on it and a few pickles arranged artfully at the side.“Tell Shadow he’d better eat every bite, or he’ll have to deal with me.Last time I sent him up a plate, it came back with all the carrot sticks still on it.”
With the plate in one hand and holding the kitten against me with the other, I headed back upstairs.Did Shadow even like carrot sticks?I had no idea.Not the kind of thing guys talked about.I had a feeling Mom and Jake had been grandstanding to give Shadow more time to dig into Lily’s ex.
Shadow was muttering away to himself when I entered the room.The display of symbols dancing across the screen meant nothing to me, so I placed the sandwich down on the desk in front of him and cleared my throat to get his attention.
He glanced up at me, his expression distant.“What?”
I ran a hand down Scrapper’s back, drawing Shadow’s attention to it.“I’m just going to take the kitten to my room, then I’ll be back.”
“Sure.”He turned back to his computer, effectively dismissing me.
I headed back down the hallway, Scrapper purring like a well-tuned motor in my arms.Reaching my room, I quietly opened the door.Lily was in bed where I’d left her, the sheets pulled up to her chin so that only her head was showing.Her soft, even breathing told me she was still fast asleep.I padded over to the bed as silently as I could and placed the little kitten on the other pillow.He immediately scampered over to Lily and curled up inches from her face.
I’d never had a kitten as a pet, or a cat, for that matter, but I imagined he was safe enough there.I grabbed the Do Not Disturb sign from the side table.If I hung it on the door, no one would randomly open it.Not the usual reason for a sign like that to be hung on a bedroom door in an MC clubhouse, but it would do the trick.I didn’t want the little guy to get loose.
I’d known Shadow long enough not to interrupt him when he was working, so I entered his room as quietly as I could and sat down.
He pivoted to address me.“There’s something fishy about this guy.He’s not mafia, and I don’t think he’s got anything to do with the Mexican cartels running drugs into this country, but I need to dig deeper.”
I frowned.“If he’s not cartel or mafia, what’s the issue?”
He shook his head.“I’m not sure, but something isn’t adding up.I got a bad feeling in my gut.You okay with me taking some more time?”
“Sure.”Not like I had a lot of choices here.I needed to know what I was up against.“How long do you think it will take you?”
Shadow picked up the sandwich, taking a bite and chewing it thoughtfully.He swallowed.“I’ll let you know when I have an answer.Meantime, keep that woman out of sight.And get me that DNA swab, just to be safe.”
I raised my brows.“You’re doubting she’s who she says she is?”
He shook his head.“No, I just want to confirm her identity.Makes it easier to figure out what her ex’s agenda is, if he has one.Could be he’s just a civilian asshole who likes to beat women and has enough money to make the local law look the other way.”
“That would be my ideal outcome.”Especially if he didn’t have any close family connections, which seemed likely given the little Lily had divulged.No close family means no one dug too deep for answers if he had an unfortunate accident or disappeared when boating in bad weather.
Shadow crunched on one of the pickles.“Can’t guarantee that.Go get the DNA swab and leave me alone to work.”He glanced up as if remembering I outranked him and added, “Please.”
“Let me know when you have something.”I turned and left, heading down the hall to my room.I’d left Lily alone for long enough.
Chapter Five
Lily
I opened my eyes to the sound of Scrapper’s contented purring.The little furball was curled up on the pillow inches from my nose.Good thing I wasn’t prone to allergies!Mom must have brought him up while we were sleeping.
Reaching behind me, I felt nothing but sheets.Rattler wasn’t in bed, and I rolled over to see where he was.There wasn’t anywhere to hide in the room, and the open door to the ensuite let me see that he wasn’t in there either.
I untangled my arm from the sheets and checked my watch.I’d been asleep for less than an hour.A pang of loneliness washed through me, and I tried to squash it.We’d barely met, and the man had a life, places to go and no doubt there were things to do that had nothing to do with me.The fact that he’d let me stay in his room was huge.
Flipping the sheets off, I stretched.I was naked, which made sense, but I really needed to get decent.I wasn’t sure how this whole clubhouse thing worked, and I didn’t need anyone other than Rattler seeing me without clothes.
Picking my backpack up off the floor, I dumped the contents out on the bed.I really hadn’t put any thought into packing it when I’d left.I had underwear, socks, and leggings, but absolutely nothing resembling a top.Great.The one I’d been wearing desperately needed a wash and I cringed at the thought of putting it back on.I picked out a thong and matching bra and donned them along with a pair of black leggings.Now what?This tiny scrap of lace that passed as a bra wasn’t the kind you could pretend was supposed to double as a shirt.
A dresser against the wall caught my attention and I padded over to it on my bare feet.The top drawer yielded an array of T-shirts, and I gingerly picked out a gray one with a Harley logo on it that looked like it might work with the leggings.Rattler wasn’t a small man, and what was probably a figure-hugging shirt on him looked like a short dress that fell to mid-thigh on me.With the leggings under it, it made a respectable if somewhat unstylish outfit.
I hoped Rattler wouldn’t be too upset with me for borrowing his shirt.I repacked the clothes in the backpack and headed into the bathroom to find the clothes I’d discarded before taking a shower.I could rinse them out in the sink and hang them to dry on the shower rod for now.When Rattler got back, I’d ask him to run me back to town.Surely there’d be a Goodwill or secondhand store there where I could pick up a few outfits with the money I had left.
