Page 21 of Echo

She twisted her neck, and I raised my head to gauge her expression. She looked stunned but pleased, making me grin. “You want to take me to the Hounds of Hellfire clubhouse?”

I nodded. “You’ll be safest there. And I want you with me.”

“But isn’t that like…secret or something?”

Laughing, I kissed her nose and shook my head. “It’s not exactly secret. More like…exclusive.”

“But I thought only club bunnies and old ladies got to be in the clubhouse.”

I rolled my eyes and scooped her into my arms. “You’ve been reading too many of those novels, baby. First, there are no ‘club bunnies’ around our MC. Not since several years before King took over as our prez. And Stella would kick all our asses if someone even tried to suggest it.”

Violet giggled as I bounced her a little while strolling back to the bedroom and into the master bath. She didn’t bring up the second half of her statement again, and without a property patch to give her, I left that subject alone for the moment.

We showered and dressed, then scarfed down our now cold breakfast before hopping on my bike and riding to the compound.

Blaze stood by the hallway that led to the offices when we walked inside, talking quietly with Ace and Ink. He stopped when he spotted me and jerked his chin, a silent order to follow him.

I nodded, then turned to Violet and walked her over to one of the couches in the lounge. “Got club business to deal with. You want me to take you to my room so you can lie down or read?”

She smiled and shook her head, dropping onto the couch. “Nope. I’m good here.” She put her feet up and fished her e-reader out of her purse, then shot me a content smile. “Take your time.”

The sincerity in her voice astonished me. How had I met the perfect fucking woman for me? I didn’t deserve Violet, that was for sure. But nothing would stop me from keeping her.

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her I loved her, but it was definitely not the right time. Instead, I stalked over to her and gave her a hard, hot kiss before heading to King’s office.

King, Blaze, Wizard, Ace, Ink, Shadow, Kevlar, and Cross were all at the conference table to the right of the door. I grabbed one of the other chairs and sat, halting their hushed conversation.

“Wizard?” King prompted.

Wizard pushed a folder in each of our directions, then leaned back in his chair and tapped the keyboard of his laptop, which was perched on the table in front of him. “That’s pretty much everything we know about this group. There’s also a chart for the hierarchy and an info sheet on each of the key players.”

He continued to share what he’d learned, with Ace jumping in from time to time. Idea after idea on how to finish things swirled around in my head, and from the thoughtful expressions on everyone’s faces, I had a feeling they were similarly occupied.

Finally, Wizard ran out of steam, and the questions started. We tossed out suggestions, analyzed some of the data more thoroughly, and worked the problem from every angle to find a solution.

“Hold up,” Shadow murmured, staring at one of the sheets of paper in his hand. “Jean has been married six times?”

Wizard nodded. “Younger men. No prenup.”

“She was already filthy rich when she started this shit?” Kevlar blurted, tossing his folder on the table with a disgusted huff.

“Yup.”

“She does it for the thrill, then,” Shadow surmised.

“Fair assumption,” King agreed, his gaze locked on Shadow. “You think it would work?”

“Would what work?” Ink asked, his eyes darting back and forth between the two of them.

“Maybe,” I grunted, catching on to their train of thought once I digested Shadow’s words. “Only if there is a compelling reason for her to get back in the game.”

“The fuck are you threenottalking about?” snapped Blaze.

Shadow scratched his chin, then set down his folder and tapped his finger on it. “If we want to take down the entire organization, we have to get Jean. Not just the underlings because she’ll just hire new ones.”

“We need to catch her in a con,” I added.

“Exactly.”

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