Page 12 of Stripping Keys
I decide not to text West back and look to those in the room. “I’m heading out. I’ve got shit to do. If you need me, give me a call.”
The first thing I needed to do was meet up with Fox and the team I sent with him. They’d been on a mission, and that mission wasn’t done yet. Not until we put a stop to those behind everything else going down in Mississippi. There’s more than even Fox’s brother knows about, and none of it we can fully share with them without exposing some very important people and wreaking havoc on others who are doing everything they can to stay ahead of the game.
This life I live is all a game of chess. To stay on the winning side, you have to master the board, and that’s where I come in. I’ll use the pawns, knights, rooks, and bishops as I see fit. I holdthe king and queen for the most important roles, but they’ll be used just the same.
No one is without being useful to me in some way. Though, some are more important to me than others.
CHAPTER SIX
KEYS
Lying next to Marla, I stroke a finger along her cheek, taking in the scar running along it to her hairline. She’s out cold and doesn’t even know I’m here.
The guy she’d been at the clubhouse with yesterday saw me in the hallway and let me in her room. Didn’t question it, just said there’s more to Marla than I know.
I didn’t question him. Wasn’t worried about him. All I cared about was Marla and making sure that she knew that her stunt yesterday wasn’t going to fly.
Especially after I found out what she’d been doing for the past two months. After I used the program Calyx had given me, everything came through a hell of a lot clearer. If I’d done it to begin with, I wouldn’t have lost her as I did. She wouldn’t have disappeared from my radar for the two months she’d been gone.
Now that she’s back, I wasn’t about to let her up and vanish on me again. Not this time around. I don’t care about the bitch facade she puts on for everyone else. I told her to strip it, but I’m guessing she needs it, and that’s fine with me. She won’t be that way with me, though. I won’t allow it.
Looking at her like this, I see the woman I know her to be. Doesn’t matter that the only times I’d seen her in person, she’d been a total bitch. Here and now, I see the woman she hides. I intend to learn everything there is to know that I don’t already. It’s as simple as that.
She’s mine whether she wants to be or not.
Throughout the night while tracking her movements, I looked into all the intel she’d gotten for the club. It’d been a lot to go through. Marla had gotten more than enough for us to know what’s coming our way.
I’ve got a feeling that if those she’d dug into find out, if they haven’t already, will be coming after her as well. They’re not just the club’s enemies but hers as well.
She needs to be protected in every way possible at this point. It’s why I’m not gonna be leaving her here at the hotel. She’s too vulnerable. Pulling my phone out, I check the time. I’ve been here for three hours already, and she’s not budged.
I intended to wait until she was awake, but I still have work to do.
Climbing off the bed, I step over to the connecting door and knock softly. No way was I waking her. It opens immediately to West standing there, brows raised.
“What?”
“I’m moving her to the clubhouse,” I tell him. “Grab her stuff and bring it. You might as well come too.”
West crosses his arms and cocks one brow higher, “You think you’re just going to take her away and her not fight you on it?”
“She’s not going to have a choice,” I tell him.
I don’t care if she’s forbidden to me. I don’t care right now what my brothers will think. She’s Marley’s sister. Griz’s soon-to-be sister-in-law. She’s family to the club and needs protecting. Granted, this isn’t the reason she’s going to the clubhouse or the reason why she’ll be in my room.
It’ll cause questions with my brothers, but I’ll deal with them as they come. She’s my forbidden fruit that I’m supposed to resist, but there’s no resisting, and I’m done trying.
“Just get her stuff and follow me,” I order, turning on my heels and moving back to Marla.
“What about her Camaro?” West asks.
“I’ll take care of it after we get her to the clubhouse.” I wasn’t going to leave her car behind. I saw it in the parking lot. It wasn’t hard to figure out it was hers. The license plate gave it away. Sweet ride as it was, she wasn’t gonna be driving it anytime soon.
Marla doesn’t budge when I pick her up in my arms. Shifting her slightly until she’s got her head resting against my shoulder, I head for the door.
West is there holding it open, watching me closely, bags in one hand, the handle in the other. I step past him, and he follows right on my heels.
I’m going to have to find out what exactly their connection is. I know from past conversations, she’s mentioned West, but not in a way that would mean they were together. And if they were, they’d be in the same room and not connecting.
