Page 41 of Lockout

“She’s down for what will happenafterthe plan,” Kit explained.

“Fucking,” Isla supplied in a helpful tone.

“Jeez,” I muttered and sank down in my chair. My face was on fire. “Can we please talk about something else?”

“I still want to know what the plan is,” Jordan said.

“You’ll see,” Toxic said with a wink. He walked off before the girls could pry any more information out of him.

“Ground rule for tonight,” I said, giving everyone a mock glare. “No more talking about me and Lock.”

“Spoil sport,” Gwen said with a laugh.

“Fine, we’ll give you a break,” Jenny said while the group nodded.

“Thank you,” I huffed. “I’m going to put on a new shirt.”

The party had been going for a couple hours now, and everyone was well on their way to wasted. I didn’t want to miss whatever Lock had planned for Static and Idaho’s patching in, so I hurried upstairs to my apartment.

I changed into a new shirt, then went into the bathroom to wash my face and neck. Whatever had been in Kit’s drink had dried a little sticky. I stared into the mirror for a few moments. “Just kiss him tonight. It’s not that hard.”

It’d almost happened after our…date? I wasn’t sure what that had been but he’d paid for lunch, so in my book, that was a date. Never had a date that involved flying around in a helicopter but we weren’t going there right now. I was choosing to believe it was a date. Then Butcher had interrupted. Which was probablybetter because we’d been standing outside in the middle of the club’s property. Not the best place to initiate anything.

Drying my hands and face, I fluffed my hair a little and stepped out of my apartment. Then froze as I saw a man I didn’t recognize pinning a woman against the wall. My mouth fell open because there weren’t that many single women here tonight. If that was one of my friends she was going to be in deep shit with her old man. Then I shook my head. No way. They were all so madly in love with their guys, they wouldn’t even look at another guy.

“Excuse me,” I said.

They both looked over and I let out a sigh of relief when I saw who the man was kissing. Then I stared in shock, because I recognized the man. Standing there, making out with Sylvia, was US Attorney Jack Rainer. “Hi, Syl.” I said. Then gave him a large grin. “Rainer. How are you?”

Sylvia gave me a smile that was equal parts guilt and satisfaction. “Oh. Hey, Keels. Um…You know Rainer?” She motioned to the man who was still pinning her to the wall.

“We’ve met,” I said, trying to keep my grin from getting too big. It was just so nice to see a beautiful, amazing woman like Sylvia find a nice man. And Rainer was a damn good man.

All I’d have to do was sic the guys on him if he got out of line. But when you needed help there was no one better than Jack. Besides, no one was going to hurt Syl with any of us around. We all loved her so much. She was a part of our family, and because of that we’d protect her.

“I should get back down there,” I said, flashing Syl a look that told her we’d be discussing this later.

She blushed and gave a slight nod as I walked past them and back down the stairs. The music hit me like a wave of energy and I let my eyes scan all the people as they drank and talked. It was crazy that I was involved in all this now. It wasn’t all that longago that I’d spent most of my nights in my quiet house, studying for whatever case I was working.

Now I had this huge group of people who cared for me enough that they were helping me with a very dangerous situation. I wouldn’t give them up for anything. I loved being a part of the club, even if I wasn’t an old lady. Whatever happened with me and Lock, I was keeping these people. They were my family now.

CHAPTER 18

Lockout

Igot Rip’s attention and motioned for him to turn down the music. As it lowered everyone turned and found me with their gazes. They all began to circle around as I motioned for Static and Idaho to step forward.

Static had a huge grin on his face, while my twin kept his expression neutral. They’d already taken their oaths to the club in front of me and the other officers early this morning.

“Thank you all for joining us,” I said, raising my voice so everyone could hear. “It’s been a long time coming that we officially make Static and Idaho a part of this club.”

“We weren’t before?” Static joked. “What the hell was I cleaning all those toilets for then?”

The crowd laughed.

“That was because you look great head down, ass up,” Toxic called out, making everyone laugh again.

I shook my head with a grin on my face. This was why I loved my damn brothers so much. No matter what was going on, they always found a way to lighten the mood. Rip had wound his way through the crowd and was standing next to me. He handed over two sets of patches.

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