Page 10 of Lockout

“No. If they haven’t caught on that she’s here yet, I don’t want to have them catch wind of us looking for them.”

“Got it, Prez.” His gaze drifted over to where Toxic and Keely were talking. “Question.”

I gave him an unamused look. “If it’s anything about her, other than this shit with the LoS, then don’t bother to ask.”

He rubbed his chin. “Yeah, okay, Lock.” He waited until I’d almost relaxed then continued, “But you know they’re all going to notice that hickey on her neck, right?”

My head jerked as I looked over at her. Fuck me. I’d been too distracted with trying not to jump the poor woman to notice that there was a hickey. Toxic’s eyes were glued to it as he nodded at something she said. Goddamn it.

His eyes flicked over as he felt my gaze and the smile spreading over his face made me want to punch him. There was no fucking way they were going to leave me alone now. And ifthat dick didn’t stop grinning, I was going to wipe it off his face. “Must have gotten it before she got here,” I said.

“Uh huh,” he said, turning his head to spit into the grass.

“Let’s get out of here before the fucking LoS decides to show up,” I muttered. But at this point I’d take a shoot-out with those fucks over the badgering I knew I was going to get from my brothers. Well, some of them. A couple had the good sense to leave me the fuck alone. Toxic, Hush, Rip, and my brother weren’t those few. And now apparently Butcher. Toxic really needed to stop turning him into a real boy. I liked it better when he had no clue about the emotions running through people.

“Sure thing. Dibs on the bike,” he called out and Toxic cursed.

“Take it easy,” I warned him. If he put one scratch on my motorcycle I was going to kill him. Didn’t matter if everyone else considered him a scary bastard. I knew his weaknesses. I knew all of their weaknesses. And I could be a merciless fucker when I needed to be.

I didn’t even look as he went to get on my machine. It wasn’t fucking right that anyone else was riding her. I didn’t like it. Motioning to the car, I told Keely, “Get in.”

When she didn’t argue, the knots in my shoulders loosened a little. My massage therapist was always bitching that I kept all my tension in my shoulders. It was so fucking bad I’d been forced to hire her to begin with. Asking for help wasn’t exactly in my wheelhouse. Not for myself anyway. I had no problem asking for help for the club, and the others.

I stared straight ahead as I pulled out and went a different way back to the clubhouse just so I wouldn’t have to see that asshole on my bike. Keely’s eyes were boring into the side of my head. “You have any make-up in that purse of yours?” I asked. I made the mistake of looking over at her and meeting thosedeep blue eyes of hers. Fuck, it was almost like I was drowning. I glanced away.

She blinked and stared down at the purse at her feet. “Yeah. Why?”

“You have a hickey.” No point in beating around the bush.

She gasped and yanked the sun visor down to look into the little mirror. Then she groaned. “And Toxic saw it.”

“Butcher, too.”

“Well, now everyone is going to know. Why bother hiding it?” she asked with a shrug.

“Up to you.”

She dug around in her purse and pulled out a little jar of something and dabbed it on her neck. When I arched a brow her way, she shrugged again. “Why give them physical proof?”

I chuckled. I didn’t point out that the make-up hardly covered it and there was going to be proof anyway. A sense of rightness settled in my chest. Having her close finally eased that edginess I’d been living with for nearly a year. I’d tapped her fucking computer but still hadn’t realized she was in trouble. It hadn’t been enough. But it wasn’t like I could go to D.C. and keep an eye on her in person. Not with my family here and everything that had been going on. She was here now. That was all that mattered.

Now I just needed to keep her safe. From the fuckers following her and from myself. One was going to be damn difficult. The other, hopeless.

CHAPTER 6

Keely

“Keels!”

I laughed and caught Billie in my arms as she launched herself at me. Staggering backward at the force of her slamming into me as she wrapped her legs around my waist, I tried to keep us both upright.

Strong hands on my shoulders helped me stay on my feet. I swallowed hard, remembering that those hands had been on my body—in my body—not all that long ago.

Don’t think about that.

It was going to be super inappropriate for my nipples to be hard and my panties damp while I was hugging my best friend. “Hey, B,” I said as soon as Lock took his hands off me.

She squeezed me tighter, ignoring the tension in the air between me and Lock. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming home?”

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