Page 9 of Property of Indiana

“Shut the fuck up and go track down Sphinx. See if he’s onboard,” Rip growls. “Send Slayer in here while you’re at it. I need to fill him in on our course of action.”

“You got it, pres,” I say, feeling like an asshole, but Rip gets invested in our prospects and someone needs to remind him from time-to-time that they’re still at the bottom of the totem pole.

Walking through the clubhouse’s bar, I spot Slayer at the pool table. “Yo, VP. Rip wants to have a word with you in his office.”

He salutes me with the neck of his beer bottle before laying down his pool stick. “Better be good, this pot was high and I’m winning.”

“Club business,” I spout and his attitude changes. Guess he thought Rip wanted to shoot the shit but now that he knows it’s about the club, he’s all business.

I grab another bottle of beer from behind the bar and bid my brothers goodnight. This has been a long damn day and now, I need to figure out a way to let Zoey know she belongs to the club. Along the way, I look for Sphinx, not finding him, I figure he’s bedded down for the night and send him a text letting him know I need to have a word with him first thing in the morning, then I message Rip and let him know that I asked for Sphinx to come see me first thing tomorrow.

I get a thumbs up in response and chuckle. Since Rip learned how to insert emoji’s our messages have gotten less wordy.

CHAPTER

FOUR

ZOEY

As I walkinto the living room after taking a quick shower, I stall in my steps when I notice Elodie’s face glued to the front window. This is a new development, something so outside of her normal that it has me freaking out.

“Baby girl, what are you doing?” I ask, stumped because after standing back and observing, my concern has ramped up. Does she have an imaginary friend? Believe it or not, if she did, that would actually rein in some of my anxiety.

“Icer’s outside making silly faces at me,” she giggles, placing her fingers in her mouth, stretching it as wide as it’ll go and sticking her tongue out while crossing her eyes.

“What?” I ask, swiftly making my way over so I can peer over her shoulder. Sure enough, he’s outside the window comically making faces at my girl. This is not the man Harrison told me about earlier today. He’s a contradiction from the hardnosed man that was described to me. “Why is he here?” I wonder out loud.

“He’s here to play with me,” Elodie explains in a ‘duh’ tone.

“Of course he is,” I mumble, shaking my head. It takes a few minutes for me to gather my wits before stomping over to the front door, turning on the porch light, unlatching and unlocking everything before swinging it open and stalking out onto the front porch. Crossing my arms across my chest and tapping my foot, I look at him waiting for an explanation.

Now, here’s the weird thing about how this is playing out, usually this annoyed look I’m giving him has Elodie breaking out into a cold sweat, but Icer, he simply grins at me like a Cheshire cat.

Dropping my arms, I tilt my head to the side, scanning his facial features while trying to dissect him, but when his demeanor never changes and I can’t get a read on him, I decide to ask, “What on earth are you doing lurking in my front yard, Icer?”

I’d expect a sheepish look from him when I begin my interrogation, but no, his face grows hard and solemn when he explains, “I know.”

“You know,” I whisper, my head dropping as I immediately understand what it is he claims to‘know’.

Not in shame, but because I’m too damn tired to take a walk down memory lane. Especially one where the sidewalk is so damn cracked and weeds are growing through them that I don’t have the brainpower or energy to do any sort of landscaping. That shit is just going to have to grow wild and free for the night.

Clearing my throat to dissipate that thread of thought, I continue, “That doesn’t explain why you’re here, Icer, lurking in the shadows.”

“I’m here to make sure that for tonight, you’re safe,” he justifies. “If Indiana recognized you on sight, and we were out in public today where there were many spectators, there’s no telling who else identified you. I will not allow those Onyx bastards to lay another finger on you.” The last part of his statement was done with a growl. He then adds, “And they’llnevertouch my princess!”

It took days before we went shopping for me to gain enough courage to step outside my doors, and what he just said has me backpedaling. My jaw drops as my heart rate speeds up. I can’t seem to find words to counter what he’s said because it’s true, I was all over that shopping center today and anyone could’ve seen me and remembered me.

“It’s been years, Icer,” I finally manage to choke out. “There’s no reason for them to want to track me down.”

“Isn’t there?” he presses, his head nodding in Elodie’s direction.

“Then they’d have to admit what part they took in my rape,” I divulge. “They wouldn’t want to incriminate themselves.”

“Men like that don’t go through legal channels, Zoey. They lie. They cheat. They steal,” he says with emphasis. The steal part of his argument is what has me hyperventilating.

“They wouldn’t, would they?” I gasp out.

“What’s stopping them?” he contends. “Jerome’s father is the sheriff; Patrick’s mother is the district attorney. Are you getting where I’m going with this?”

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