I’m pretty sure in a fight to the death, Whisper would win, and I’d stand on the sidelines with my pom-poms cheering him on.
“Thanks so much for your permission,” my uncle says, each word dripping with anger.
There’s another creak and the door swings all the way open. I jump, ramrod straight, trying like hell to seem casual and disinterested.
“Oh, hey, Uncle Whisper, is Uncle Chuck around?” I ask, sounding way too sunny and eager.
He stares at me for a few seconds. Trying to gauge how much I overheard.
“Hey, Char. How you been?”
“Good. Except, I think I lost my cell phone last night.”
“Sure. We always find a few every weekend.” He lifts his chin at me. “How’s that boyfriend of yours treatin’ you?”
“Teller?” My voice squeaks. Maybe if I sound like he’s not all that important to me, they’ll lose interest. “Fine, I guess.”
One corner of his mouth twitches as if he knows I’m full of shit. “Check with your uncle. He might have seen it,” he says smoothly. If there’s one thing these assholes know how to do, it’s lie with ease. And while he might have just challenged my uncle at the table, outside the chapel he’ll protect and stand by his club no matter what. “He’s in there if you want to talk to him.”
Before I can answer, he reaches back and knocks on the door. “Mer, your niece is here to see you.”
“Come in,” my uncle calls out. As if he’s some sought-after CEO instead of a shifty-ass criminal.
Merlin’s at the table with Hudson, Keeper, Tiki, two other members whose names I don’t remember, and one guy who isn’t wearing a cut.
“Hey, Uncle Chuck. I think I left my cell phone here last night.” The more I think about it, the more likely it seems one of these assholes lifted my cell phone from me. I’ve never lost it before.
My gaze strays to Hudson, who had the perfect opportunity. He won’t meet my eyes, which makes me think I’m on the right track.
Asshole.
“Oh,” Chuck says in a bored tone. “Someone turned a phone in.” He holds up my phone. “This it?”
“Yup.” I snatch it out of his hand, afraid to touch it, knowing they defiled it somehow. “Thank you so much, Uncle Chuck,” I gush in the most syrupy tone I can muster up.
“How you doing, princess?”
Barf.
“Still sleepin’ with the enemy, Charlotte?” Keeper asks, earning a glare from my uncle.
I raise an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
He ignores my icy tone. “If you’re datin’ bikers now, we got plenty of eligible Knights. You shouldn’t be with a King.”
“Uh, I’m not with him because he’s in an MC.” I’m with him despite his MC ties—I keep that to myself though. No reason to go scorched earth on the insults yet.
Chuck seems ready to blow. God forbid he can’t keep control over a situation.
“You need anything, let me know, Char.”
“Will do.”
He nods, dismissing me and I’ve never been so happy to get the hell away from him.
In my car, I take several deep breaths. My phone sits on the passenger seat taunting me. I have no idea if they’re listening right now. If they’re recording everything or if it’s triggered by my voice. How am I going to explain this to Marcel without tipping off my uncle?
That’s right. I plan to tell him everything as soon as I can.
It’s not even a question.
I already know where my loyalties lie and they’re not with the Wolf Knights.
I went straight to Charlotte’s house after my talk with Rock. I’m waiting on her front steps when she pops out of the alleyway.
I stand and meet her on the sidewalk, grabbing her by the hips and kissing her hard.
She pulls away before I’m finished with her. “Hey, Teller,” she says with an edge to her voice. Strained.
Something’s wrong. She rarely uses my road name when it’s just the two of us.
“What’s up?” I lean in to brush another kiss over her lips, but she jerks her head back. “What’s—”
She stops me by pressing two fingers against my lips and shaking her head. Intrigued and only mildly alarmed I follow her inside.
“What’s—”
She cuts me off again, pressing me up against the door. Holding me there with a hand to my chest, she leans over and grabs a small pad of paper and a pen.
Christ, it’s distracting when she leans over, pushing her ass into my crotch while she writes something down. My hands curve around her hips and I grind myself against her.
Ignoring my not-at-all smooth moves, she turns and thrusts the paper in my face.
My uncle bugged my phone.
I snap the paper out of her hand and read it again. Yeah, it doesn’t say anything different or provide more detail.
Plucking the pen out of her hand, I scribble down: How?
She lifts her shoulders.
“You want me to order a pizza, babe?” I ask.
Another shoulder lift. This time she adds a what the fuck face.
“I’ll go down the street and grab it, okay?”
“Uh, sure.”
Stay here. I write down.
Shit. I want to tell my club about this as much as I want Wrath to punch me in the balls while saying “I told you so” a couple dozen times.
Z’s the one who takes care of our tech stuff and I think he’ll go easier on me, so that’s who I dial.
“’Sup, brother?” he answers on the second ring.
“I need you.”
All ease vanishes from his voice. “What’s wrong?”
“Charlotte…it will be easier to explain it to you in person.”
“Is she okay?”
“Yeah, but I’m at her place. Can you come here?”
“Sure. I’m at CB now. Give me a few minutes.”
It occurs to me after we hang up that I didn’t give him Charlotte’s address, but I’m not all that surprised when Z shows up half an hour later all on his own.
He slips his bike into a small space in front of Charlotte’s. She joins us outside. Her fearful eyes meet mine, and I kiss her cheek to reassure her. “It’s okay. Z knows more about this stuff than I do.”
“What’s going on?” he asks as he approaches, taking the two of us in slowly. “Hey, Charlotte,” he says, giving her a friendly chin lift.
“Charlotte thinks her uncle bugged her phone. Can you take a look at it?”
It takes a lot to ruffle Z, so he barely skips a beat. “Where is it?”
“Inside.”
“Why do you think he bugged it?”
She hesitates. “I lost my phone and went to look for it at the clubhouse. While I was searching, I overheard some things.”
Z watches her with narrowed eyes in a way I don’t particularly care for.
“Can you be more specific?”
“Not out here, bro,” I mutter, slapping his arm.
Charlotte motions for us to follow her inside. The three of us pretty much fill up her living room. Z checks the place out. Not in a judgmental way.
Well, he’s not judging her. It’s more of a why-you-letting-your-girl-live-here once over.
He holds out his hand, and Charlotte slips him the phone. Without speaking, he flicks it on and wanders over to the couch, dropping down, completely absorbed in searching for the app. After a few seconds, he motions me closer. “What are we doing?”
“Don’t know.”
“I think we should feed them some false information and see what happens.”
“All right.”
Z stares at me for a few more seconds. “What do you want to do?”
He’s asking if I plan to report this to the club. I definitely should. This isn’t a secret I should ask Z to keep. “Can we keep this between us for now?”
“Yeah, brother. I won’t say anything. But think on it.”
And by think on it he means come clean with the club soo
n. “I will,” I promise.
He lifts his chin and addresses Charlotte. “You mind getting a new phone?”
“No. Of course not. Did you find it?”
“Yeah. It’s off right now, but I’ll need to examine it more to make sure they didn’t tamper with anything else.”
“Okay.”
I’m proud of the way my girl doesn’t argue with Z or even question him. “I use that phone for work, though. If I go get a new phone set up can you forward the calls to it?”
“Absolutely.”
She grabs her keys but hesitates by the front door. I should go with her, but I need to talk to Z.
I approach her slowly and take her arm, leading her outside. “You okay running to the store yourself?”
“Yes. Of course.” Her gaze darts to her front door. “Is he going to tell the rest of your club?”
“Not yet.”
She bites her bottom lip. “I hate causing trouble for you.”
I lean in and press a kiss to her forehead. “What did I tell you?”
She nods and gives me a quick kiss. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
I watch her leave before going back inside.
“Where you at with her?” Z asks as soon as I shut the front door.
“You heard me this morning. I’m with her.”
He watches me closely for a few beats. “I don’t see anything else on here. Clumsy attempt to bug her. I’m not sure if they’re really that stupid and lazy or they’re trying to throw us off of something bigger.”
“Great.”
He stands and motions me closer. “Hear me out before you get all pissed off.”
Naturally that raises my hackles. “I’m listening.”
“Let me place a few cameras.”
“Are you fucking serious? First thing she did was tell me. And you want—”
“Ease up, bro. Think about it. Is she trying to gain your trust by telling you about this, only to fuck you over harder later?”
“No.”
“Then you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
“It’s a shitty fucking thing to do.”
He humors my attitude because we both know I’m going to agree to whatever he suggests. Especially since he’s sticking his neck out by not taking this to the club right away. I trust Charlotte and I want my club to trust her too.
Z tries a different tactic to convince me. “Think of it as a security measure. This place is nowhere for a girl to be living on her own.”
“Fuck off with your fake-ass concern.”
Despite some dickish behavior lately, Z’s normally pretty chill and easy-going. It takes a lot to push him to Wrath levels of scary. Instead of getting pissed-off, he seems to find my outburst amusing. “We both know you’re going to say yes. Why you makin’ my life harder?”
“You’re a dick.”
“I know, brother.”
“Where?”
Rather than rubbing my nose in my reluctant agreement to his plan, he opens the door and points to a heating grate opposite the entrance. “View of the front door.” He steps inside and points to another grate in her living room. “That’ll give me a straight shot down the hall into the kitchen.” He points to a spot in the opposite corner. “Front door from the inside. That’s it. Not trying to be a fuckin’ creeper, sticking them in her bedroom or bathroom. Just want to get a sense of whether Merlin or any of his crew stop by on a regular basis.”
“I’ve stopped over unannounced a bunch of times and only people I’ve ever run into are her brother or her best friend, Mercy.”
“She hot?”
“Shut up.”
“You sure the brother has nothing to do with the club?”
I snort because maybe it’s time for Z to meet Carter. “Yeah. His uncle’s a dick and treats him like he doesn’t even exist. He’s got no love for the club.”
Z lifts his hand, absently stroking his fingers over his chin. “He ride?”
“No.”
“Doesn’t matter. He still might be able to help us out.”
Not wanting to encourage that line of thinking, I ignore the comment. “When?”
“Whenever you say. You got a key?”
“Yeah.”
He nods as if he’s proud we’re at the key-exchanging stage in our relationship. “She work nine to five?”
“Longer usually.”
He makes a face as if he doesn’t approve. And good God, if we’re all cavemen, Z’s the cave-maniest of us all.
“Is she taking time off or going back to work tomorrow?”
“She’s supposed to meet up with her friend in the morning.”
“All right. Good. So tomorrow, we’ll set it up.”
Still pissed, I grumble, “Thanks for including me in your B&E.”
“Want me to ask Rock instead?”
“Fuck no.”
“Then shut your mouth.”
“Asshole.”
He follows me into the kitchen and I pull two beers out of the fridge, handing one to him and we both sit at the table.
“You seem at home here,” he observes.
I shrug.
“This where you’ve been spending all your time?”
“Where else?”
“Seems you’d find her a better place.”
I pick at the label on the bottle before answering. “I don’t think she’d appreciate me telling her where to live.”
“This keeps getting serious, you movin’ in here?”
“As long as I’m with her, it really doesn’t matter.”
His eyes widen. “Bro, her whole apartment could fit in your bedroom at the clubhouse.”
“Yeah, I don’t think Wrath’s gonna be okay with her living at the clubhouse.”
“He’ll come around.” He sits back and watches me for a few seconds. “How bad you think this is gonna get with Merlin?”
At the moment, my opinion of Merlin couldn’t be lower. But I try not to let what he did to Charlotte bleed into my opinion on a club issue. “Not sure. He’s an asshole. I know that. Been after her from the jump to either get info on the club or drop me. Keeps trying to scare her away by telling her I’m dangerous,” I explain.
“Is it like a daddy’s girl kinda thing? He doesn’t want to see his niece with anyone? Or specific to you?”
It’s pretty fucking obvious Merlin doesn’t give a single fuck about Charlotte’s well-being. “It’s about me being from another club. He doesn’t give an actual fuck about her.”
The front door opens and slams shut. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in and out of there so fast,” Charlotte says in a rush as she hurries into the kitchen. “Hey, guys.”
She automatically hands Z her phone, and he wanders back out to the living room to do whatever he’s going to do.
I stand and pull her into my arms. “I’m sorry, Charlotte.”
She wraps her arms around my waist and rests her chin on my chest, staring up at me. “I’m the one who’s sorry for having such an asshole for an uncle.” Her teeth sink into her bottom lip and her gaze shifts to the hallway. “I need to tell you some of the stuff I overheard. Z should hear it too.”
My jaw clenches. What the hell did her uncle say?
“What’s that, sweetheart?” Z asks, strolling into the kitchen and setting her new phone on the table.
He shrugs off the glare I throw him for the ‘sweetheart’ and focuses his gaze on Charlotte.
She pulls away from me, and gestures for us to sit at the table. “Do you need anything?” she asks Z.
He taps the side of his beer bottle. “All set. Thank you.”
I pull out the chair next to me and she takes it. “Okay. So when I got there they were discussing my relationship with Teller, obviously.” She rolls her eyes, making Z laugh.
Reaching over, I place my hand over hers.
“My uncle was certain he could get information from me about your club.” She turns to me. “Whisper stuck up for you. Said you weren?
??t dumb enough to share stuff with me.”
“Go on,” Z says, sitting up.
“Chuck—Merlin—wanted to know if they squeezed any information out of someone named Loco? About Ironworks. They said they couldn’t because he’s too loyal to Rock.”
“That’s how they said it?” Z asks.
She blushes and looks away. “Not exactly.” She gives us the exact words, and Z chuckles.
“Rock will love that.”
“Who else was there, Charlotte?” I ask.
“Besides Whisper and Chuck?” She pauses to think about it. “Keeper, Tiki, Hudson, a couple guys whose names I don’t remember and one I didn’t recognize at all.”
“Not a full club meeting,” Z says.
“Interesting.”
“Supposedly this Loco guy is scared shitless of you,” she says, raising an eyebrow at me.
Z bursts out laughing. A small smile tugs at the corner of my mouth. That’s not a story Charlotte needs to hear.
“That’s it. Oh, he gave Whisper shit for being in business with Wrath. Seemed disappointed he didn’t have any information about whatever your club’s into. Whisper said MC business was never brought into the gym.”
“Whisper stood up to Merlin?” Z asks.
“He was pretty pissed that my uncle’s trying to stir up trouble for no reason and cautioned them not to bug my phone.” She nods at Z. “He warned them you’d search me for something like that.”
Z snorts but doesn’t deny it.
“It was so much to take in, and I was scared shitless the whole time.” Charlotte taps her finger against her chin as if she’s trying to remember another nugget of information. “Oh! Jesus. This was the most important part.” She shakes her head as if she’s frustrated with herself and I put my arm around her shoulders.
“You’re doing fine.”
Z glances at me and nods as if he’s impressed.
“Whoever went to speak to Loco is from another club and they’re trying to patch over to the Wolf Knights. Chuck’s using that as some sort of test. Told them to go back and this time wear their colors in Ironworks so Loco takes it more seriously.”
“Jesus Christ.” I lift my gaze to Z. “Has to be South of Satan MC. That’s why he’s been cozying up to them.”