Page 63 of Taken By the Biker Daddies

I shrugged. “What can I say? I’m an old-fashioned kind of guy.”

Besides, I couldn’t just sit still while the woman I loved was in danger. I had to do something. No, I was going to do something.

Wait a second. Did I just admit to myself that I loved Lauren?

“And what exactly are you going to do with all that info?” Jake asked.

“Make sure Clyde Roarke stays away from Lauren,” I answered.

Jake sighed. “Just promise me you won’t do anything reckless.”

“Don’t worry,” I told him. “I’m not so eager to throw my life away anymore.”

Not now that I’d found Lauren, who I realized I had truly fallen in love with, in spite of everything. She just took me by surprise and then completely took over me.

I was going to find that jerk and I was going to make him pay for everything he did to Lauren. I was going to keep her safe. I was going to make sure she was happy.

In the past, I fought for my country. Now, I was going to fight for my woman.

And I was going to win.

Chapter Twenty

Lauren

“I can’t believe I lost again!” I exclaimed in frustration as I tossed my phone on the pillow beside me, having lost another match in Call of Duty Mobile.

I was more frustrated by the fact that I was running out of things to do, though. I had thought there would be endless things for me to do here in Max’s mansion, but I was wrong.

I had been cooped up for three days now. I’d toured the whole house. I’d been sleeping more than I should have. I finished a TV series in the theater. I had played a ton of mobile games. I even worked out a little in the gym. Now what?

I wished either Max, Wade, or Jake were here, but they were all busy. Jake and Wade were busy with Black Storm stuff. Jake’s house was the new Black Storm HQ now so there was probably a lot going on there. Max was busy with work, which I now understood. Running a multi-billion-dollar corporation was surely no easy feat. Still, I missed them all.

I hugged another pillow to my chest, sighing. Should I call them? Probably not. I would just end up missing them more.

I should probably just try to find something to keep myself busy as well. Read a book from the library? I was never a bookworm, though. I liked browsing books in a store, looking at the covers, flipping the pages, reading the snippets at the back, but I couldn’t even remember the last book I’d read, and by that, I meant finished from first to last page.

Take a stroll through the garden? It was foggy outside, though, as it had been nearly all the time since I’d arrived. Take a dip in the indoor pool? As much as I hated to admit it, though, I didn’t know how to swim. Besides, I didn’t have a swimsuit.

I might as well soak in the tub. Oh, wait. I already did that earlier today. Wasn’t there really anything else I could do?

“Bored already?” A voice jolted me out of my thoughts and made me jump into an upright position on the couch.

I turned my head and saw a woman standing across the room, tall and slender and in a classy black and white dress suit. Her dark brown hair was swept back neatly into an elegant bun. Diamond earrings dangled from her ears and an expensive-looking watch gleamed on her wrist. Was she some kind of model for a luxury brand?

She did look like a model strutting on the runway as she walked toward me, her stilettos clacking on the hardwood floor. Then she stopped in front of me and stretched out her arm.

“I’m Irina,” she introduced herself as she offered me her hand. “I’m Max’s fiancée.”

My jaw dropped. Max was engaged? But of course, he would be. He was a Shelton, after all, which meant he probably had a duty to pass on the family last name and fortune. And of course, itwould be to someone beautiful and obviously wealthy. She must be an heiress or a billionaire herself. Royalty even.

As I looked at her, I just knew there was no way I could compete with her, not in height or in taste for fashion. I was only wearing a gray turtleneck and pink cotton pants. I thought of her obvious pedigree, my heart already sinking. Only one thing gave me hope. Didn’t Max say that he loved me?

Suddenly, Irina covered her mouth as she burst into laughter. My eyebrows furrowed. Was she making fun of me? Her laughter didn’t sound mocking, though.

She placed a hand on my shoulder as she tried to regain her composure. “Sorry. I’m just kidding.”

I felt even more confused. So she wasn’t Max’s fiancée?

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