Page 7 of Cruise

He cleaned up his area and lowered the car. He still needed to test drive it before he sent it out of here. He’d donated the time and the MC had covered the cost of parts. One of their new prospects had noticed while waiting for the MC kids that one of the teachers had bad brakes. When they checked into it, they’d found she was caring for her younger siblings and didn’t have the money for brakes.

Today’s job was a prime example why he loved this MC. Not only would the teacher have a reliable car, Regina had made sure they were covered with food at their house and also given them gift cards for the club’s diner. He wouldn’t be surprised if Regina ended up inviting them to a Sunday dinner.

With Willa here, he’d need to talk with the club about a permanent place to live. He loved his brothers but he wanted a place that was all their own. He could see a barbecue grill in the back yard and a place for them to invite people over. War and Remi had a new house centralized on the compound along with Winnie and Bear. Of the five houses the sisters all originally lived in, three houses were permanently assigned but two of them were in flux.

Cruise wondered how Slice would feel about Cruise permanently moving out of the clubhouse. The times were less frequent now but there were still nights one of them was fighting nightmares. Whoever couldn’t sleep knew to wake up the other and they’d hang out together. How would that work if Cruise was in a house and Slice was at the clubhouse? He loved Willa and wanted everything with her but he couldn’t desert his best friend in a time of need.

He'd worry about where they lived later. Right now, he wanted the captain to get here so they could take care of him. Willa deserved to be free. He wanted to destroy the captain’s hold on her life. She’d already lost enough. Cruise would have likedto meet Willa’s dad and ask him for his daughter’s hand in marriage because that’s where they were heading.

He wanted it all. The woman, the ring, the property cut, the house and maybe a dog and kids. He wanted whatever Willa wanted. If she didn’t want kids, he’d be fine without them. There were enough little rugrats around to love on as a favorite aunt or uncle.

“Hey, Regina said to bring you this since you missed lunch.”

Cruise chuckled. Sometimes, he felt like she was reading his mind. Slice had wandered into their break room and Cruise followed. By the time he’d sat down and eaten half his sandwich, a couple of the other guys had wandered in. Cruise studied Locks. As one of the originals, he’d welcomed Cruise. Now that Cruise had Willa and was thinking about family, he wondered how Locks had done it. He and his wife had run a bail bonds company all while having five girls. Now the girls were women and ran the bail bonds company. How did he survive those early years wondering if his girls were safe? Though with the story he heard about what Remi had done to War in the ring, he was sure those women had no problem taking care of anything.

“Scoop just texted and the tracker has moved but is still at least two hours out. I really thought with his obsession with Willa that he’d be here by now.”

War was voicing exactly what Cruise had thought. None of that had made sense.

“Hey War, what did you do to tick off Remi this time?” Locks asked.

“Nothing. She and I are getting along great.”

“Then why did I see her and Jesse carrying a cattle prod out of the garage and loading it in an SUV?”

War jumped up. “That woman!”

War placed a call. “Check your computer to see if your wife did anything. Locks saw Remi with a cattle prod. I’m guessingthey’ve decided to deal with it on their own. And track my wife’s phone.”

Cruise tossed his trash away while they waited for Scoop to answer. He opened his locker and pulled out his shoulder holster, gun and cut. He slipped off the coveralls he’d put on to work on the car’s brakes and slid his cut on.

“All of the women’s phones are at the gym. Just in case he’s not here yet, I don’t want to spook him. No motorcycles. Code Phoebe. Let’s go.”

Cruise let the men run toward the vehicles but he’d been running this compound each morning. It would take him less time to run through the compound. Slice followed him and they slowed as they got close to the gym. He was so worried about Willa he couldn’t even think what Code Phoebe was.

“Older blue sedan. That’s how the prospect described his car. War was right with the Code Phoebe. Something is off.”

Slice’s words had Cruise’s heart pounding in his chest. Despite knowing the women were capable, he was petrified something would happen to his woman. He looked back at Slice and motioned to cover him. He ran across the parking lot and paused near the front door to the side. He’d wait for Slice to be here to cover him and then he’d go in.

Chapter Six

Willa wasn’t sure she would have been able to send the text to the captain without the amazing women at her back. She’d told him she wanted to talk and she heard he was looking for her. His reply had been where and when. She’d replied with the address then directed him to come alone. Remi had believed he would think she was all alone too. They’d darkened the lights and cleared a large area for Willa to work within. Sarah had disconnected a couple items so even if he flipped the switch the other lights would not come on. They wanted him to believe she was alone.

Willa stood with her back to the door, listening for the sound of it opening. She waited as he walked in. She kept reminding herself, she wasn’t alone.

“You’re a hard woman to find. I’m going to enjoy teaching you a lesson.”

Willa breathed deep before turning. The sisters had coached her on what to say. They wanted his confession before he received what he deserved.

“A lesson like what you did overseas? That type of lesson?”

“Yes. Though I plan on making sure you don’t get away this time.”

The bark of his voice scraped along every nerve she had making her want to run and hide. But she wasn’t going to. She deserved to stand up.

“You forced me when I turned you down.”

He chuckled, “You women are all the same. You want it but always fight. I enjoy a good fight. It’s time we finished ours.”

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