Page 14 of Ink

“No fucking way are you going back to stay at that house, Annika,” I growled, shoving my fingers into her long, dark blond strands and using them to force her head back so I could look her in the face.

“I have nowhere else to go,” she murmured distractedly.

The heat creeping into her ice-blue orbs nearly caused me to lose my concentration and kiss her. I released her hair and cleared my throat as I guided her head back to my chest.

“You’ll stay here,” I declared, the finality in my tone making it clear that there would be no arguing.

“Okay,” she whispered.

5

ANNIKA

Icouldn’t believe I had just agreed to stay at a motorcycle club compound for the night. Maybe even longer, depending on how bad things ended up with Uncle Alec

My only excuse was that I was overwhelmed by learning what my uncle had been up to. Or at least that was the story I was sticking to because I wasn’t ready to admit that a certain biker had brought my dormant libido roaring to life, which may have swayed my decision.

Being snuggled up against him wasn’t helping either.

Wincing, I mumbled, “There’s just one problem with this plan.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t have anything with me.” I cringed as I thought about all the mementos I had at home. “And I don’t like the idea of my uncle doing whatever he wants with the things that are most important to me. If he stole $50,000 from my trust, what’s to stop him from rifling through my jewelry box and stealing all of the stuff my mom left me?”

“Is he there right now?” Matteo asked.

“I’m not sure.”

“You got a security system with cameras? I can ask Wizard to hack into them to see if he’s there,” he offered.

Resisting the urge to ask him why his club had a lawyer, financial expert, and apparently also a hacker as members, I slapped my forehead with a groan. “Oh my gosh, why didn’t I think of that myself? I have a door camera I can access on my phone.”

He dropped his arms and stepped back—making me feel oddly bereft—so I could pull up the app on my phone. I was relieved to see that my uncle had left the house only fifteen minutes ago.

“Perfect,” Matteo muttered. “If we’re fast, we can grab your stuff before he gets back.”

He led me outside to my Jeep—I was a little shocked that it had made it here so quickly—and opened the passenger side door for me. “It’s better if we take your car. That way, if your uncle shows up and sees it in the driveway, he won’t wonder what’s going on until we’re on our way out the door.”

“Good idea,” I agreed.

“Gimme the keys. I’ll drive.”

With my emotions in turmoil, I was in no condition to be behind the wheel, so I handed the fob over without any arguments. When he was in the driver seat, I gave him the address to my childhood home. Although it was on the other side of town, it only took about fifteen minutes to get there.

As we turned into the driveway, I pulled up the door camera app again to make sure Uncle Alec hadn’t returned. “Looks like the coast is clear.”

“Good,” he grunted. “Let’s move fast so you can get everything you need.”

I raced inside and headed straight for my bedroom. Glancing over my shoulder, I asked, “Can you go to the kitchen and grab the recipe book in the drawer next to the stove? It’s got all of my family recipes in it, and I have so many memories of my mom and grandma attached to it.”

“Will do,” he agreed. “Anything else you want from downstairs?”

I thought for a moment before answering, “Only the photos of my parents that line the stairs and the one over the fireplace.”

“I’ll get them all,” he promised.

I barely knew Matteo, but my gut told me that I could trust him to live up to his word. “Thank you.”

---