Page 33 of Shadow Touched

He folded his arms across his chest andstared at her. She met his gaze unflinchingly. Determinationglinted in her eyes, and he threw up his hands.

“Fine!” He dug out his cell phone and handedit over to her. “I have some ear buds you can use. Listen to musicor something.”

She took the cell. “You have a smartphone?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I have one?”

“All the television shows I watch usuallydepict bikers as having burner phones.”

“We do have those for club business, but Ido all my banking on this one. And I stream.”

She grinned. “What’s the code?”

He told her before heading toward his desk.Opening a drawer, he took out the earbuds and handed them to her.“Don’t listen in.”

“Oh, don’t worry. This will keep mebusy.”

Suddenly, he had a sinking feeling heshouldn’t have given her his phone. A few minutes later, a knockrapped on the door, and he bid the visitor to enter. Thorn walkedin, but came to a halt when he caught sight of Leia.

“I thought we could talk privately,” Thornsaid, giving her a pointed look.

“She’s got earbuds and my phone.”

Thorn frowned and glanced at her one moretime before shutting the door behind him. For an hour they talkedabout everything Brim had missed during his absence. Thorn laid outall the decisions he’d made.

“Sounds like you didn’t need me at all,”Brim said.

“Stop talking bullshit,” Thorn said. “I’vehad more headaches these past months than in my entire forty-fiveyears of life.”

Brim grinned. “Welcome to my world.”

“Speaking of which, had a guy named BrunoMcKeighan trying to make a deal for rights through ourterritory.”

“Who?”

Thorn shrugged. “Said he was part of theMcKeighan Clan. Irish mob.”

“No,” Brim said immediately. “Conflict ofinterest.”

“With who?”

“Remember Slade from The White Death?”

“Yeah.”

“His wife is head of the DiLucaBorgata.”

Thorn blinked. “No shit?”

“No shit.”

“Wow, I didn’t even know the bastard wasmarried.”

Brim shrugged. “Our loyalty is to The WhiteDeath, and therefore by extension, we will refrain from any dealwith their rival.”

“Say no more,” Thorn said.

Brim cocked his head. “You doing okay?”

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