Page 19 of Phoenix

I bent over and took her mouth hard in one last burning press of lips and tongue, then headed into the bathroom for a fast shower.

By the time I got out, she was dozing again, curled up on my side of the bed like she belonged there. Because she did.

A smile curled my lips, and I marveled at the happiness bursting inside me. I’d thought I was happy with my life, but now that I had Lindsay, I realized that I hadn’t been living. I’d existed. She brought joy into my life with her musical laughter, sassy mouth, and that hot as fuck body.

I dressed quickly in a black T-shirt, leather pants, my cut, and boots. Then I walked back over to the bed and leaned down to kiss her temple.

“Baby,” I murmured softly in her ear. She stirred and blinked at me sleepily, looking tempting as fuck. “I gotta go.”

She tried not to pout as she slowly nodded, making me smile. “Fucking adorable, know that?”

Lindsay raised an eyebrow and sniffed. “No woman wants to be called adorable when they’re naked in a man’s bed.”

A laugh burst from my chest, and I shook my head with a grin. “Relax, baby. You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen. And cute as hell. Somehow, I got lucky enough to have the whole package naked and wrapped up in our bed.”

Pink dusted her cheeks again, and she looked pleased with my answer.

I crossed to the closet, grabbed my extra cut, and laid it on the bed beside her.

“If you leave this room, wear this.”

She blinked. “Are you giving me a dress code?”

“I’m giving you a fucking warning,” I said flatly. “This is nonnegotiable. You wear this cut, and nobody’s gonna touch you, look at you, or even breathe wrong in your direction. And if I find out you disobeyed me, we’re gonna revisit that spanking.”

She smirked, dragging the vest toward her with two fingers. “Yes, sir.”

I gave her ass a light smack, a promise and a warning. It wasn’t hard, but not soft either. Just enough to make her eyes go wide.

“Don’t tease me, baby,” I warned, my voice low and rough. “You’ll lose.”

“I’m not afraid of losing.”

I tangled a hand in her hair and held it tight, staring into her eyes with dark intensity. “You should be.”

Then I kissed her once more, slow and firm, before smacking her ass one last time and stalking out the door.

Time to get this shit handled and get back to my woman.

Paul’s apartment was a shitbox—no surprise there. Three of our enforcers, Racer, Hawk, and Savage, were already inside, tossing the place upside down. Before I joined the search, I scanned the front room, but nothing jumped out at me.

“Found anything?” I asked, stepping around a broken coffee table leg and what looked like week-old takeout. Fucking hell. This guy was a waste of the world’s oxygen supply.

“Bunch of junk,” Hawk muttered. “Loose receipts, bills, and other random papers, but nothin’ helpful. No ledgers. Nothing that gives us a clue to whatever shit he was involved in.”

“Wait,” Racer called out. He held up a thick spiral notebook. “Found this tucked behind the water heater.”

I took it and flipped it open. There were pages full of handwritten numbers, all in columns. No names or addresses. Nothing obvious. Just digits and symbols.

“Could be codes,” Savage suggested.

“Could be tracking something.” I frowned, scanning the pattern. “Deviant’s gonna want a copy.”

We took photos of the whole thing and sent them to the tech genius. Then I secured the notebook in my saddlebag before heading out.

By the time I got back to the clubhouse, it was late afternoon. I cut through the side door and followed the sound of soft laughter to the kitchen. I recognized that sweet sound.

There she is.

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