Page 9 of Captured Pawn
“Will you get off my ass? I told you I’d handle things… and I will.” I tried to keep the anger out of my voice. I’d learned long ago my brother always won shouting matches. Now, once fists got involved, the outcome was guaranteed to go my way.
“Oh, like you handled things with Matt Locke? Or better yet, his baby sister? I saw how well you had her under control this afternoon,” he taunted.
My brother’s face never registered the aggravation I felt pouring off him, but then again, I knew him better than anyone else. Beneath that cool gaze as he sipped his bourbon, I knew he was seething for revenge against the damn Bishops as much as I was.
“Give me a fucking break, will you? Matt was my best friend. He asked me to do one favor for him. That’s all this is.”
“One favor usually means helping someone move a damn couch, not babysit a little girl.”
Clearly Nathan hadn’t been paying attention earlier or he’d know Sophie Locke was definitely no little girl. She was all woman, as my dick would testify.
“Like I told you earlier today, it won’t be for long. Once we get the goods on the Bishops, they’ll back off. We can leverage it to get back on top in this century-old rivalry of ours and then I can send Matt’s sister packing back to her boring little life.”
“Fine, but I’m worried about what you have planned for her before she returns to that boring life of hers. We don’t need drama around here. If things are gonna get messy between you two, you need to take that shit to the beach house,” my brother argued before taking a draw from his Cuban cigar.
“There won’t be any drama,” I asserted, sipping my own whiskey. The burn hadn’t even cleared my throat when the pounding on Nathan’s study doors started.
Pops didn’t wait for my brother to answer, barging in, huffing and puffing for breath.
“We don’t want to be disturbed,” Nathan groused.
Nathan may have spoken, but Pops addressed me. “I think you’ll want to see this, sir.”
My internal alarm bells were going off. “Were the Bishops stupid enough to approach The Compound?”
“No, sir. It’s just…” A drop of perspiration ran down his cheek before he spit it out. “She’s escaped.”
What. The. Fuck.
Nathan couldn’t resist commenting. “Hmmm, seems like we have a little drama.” I knew better than to look at him, especially after he chuckled.
I downed the last swallow of booze before pushing to my feet. I’d need the buzz to keep from giving in to the temptation to whip that sexy ass of hers as soon as I found her.
Pops was almost running to keep up with my long strides as I headed for the door of the study.
“I thought I told you guys to guard her room.”
“We did. It looks like she jumped from her balcony,” Pops answered. “She got all the way to the outside wall before the perimeter alarms were triggered. The security cameras picked her up as she was trying to scale over the western wall. I sent one of the guards to intercept right before I came to get you, sir.”
I was all the way to the door when Nathan got in his parting comment. “Let me know if you need any tips on how to handle that little drama of yours, brother.”
I knew exactly how my older brother liked to handle his women, and to be honest, my tastes normally ran along the same dark lines as his. As I took off at a jog toward the security office, I had to remind myself that Sophie Locke was not a woman.
No, that was wrong.
She was definitely all woman.
She just wasn’tmywoman.
But that didn’t mean she got a pass from consequences. I had given her clear orders. She ignored them. That meant there would be repercussions. I was not used to being ignored… disobeyed. It didn’t sit well with me.
The security office was near empty, with only one guard remaining to watch the video feed.
“Where is our errant guest, Tom?” I grilled.
“On the west side of the property. Looks like she’s climbed one of the orchard trees and is trying to climb out on a branch that will get her over the outer wall. She’s a spunky one, you have to give her that,” he said, admiration in his voice.
“Oh, I’ll definitely be giving her something, that’s for sure,” I answered before asking, “Do we have any handcuffs hanging out here in the office by chance?”
