Page 16 of Baratta's Darkness

I leave him at the steps to his plane but as I am walking back to the car he shouts, “You better have a good excuse for Blood; he is protective of his little sister.”

I head back to town but decide to stop at the clubhouse first. Blood happens to be the one to meet me at the door.

“What are you doing back?” He wants to know, but I don’t owe him any answers.

“Is Timber available?” I demand from him, “Take me to your leader.”

I can see that he really doesn’t want me there. However; since I asked for Timber he has no choice but to escort me to the President’s office. After knocking on the door, he lets Timber know I want to speak to him before he rounds on me himself.

“Leave Fiona alone!” he says through gritted teeth.

“Not going to happen.” I reply before walking around him to greet Timber. I get a small bit of childish satisfaction from shutting the door in his face.

“You have cameras in this town?” I ask before Timber even has a chance to greet me.

“Yes, why?”

“I want eyes on Fiona’s apartment and Poison Pen at all times.”

“Is there a problem?” he sits up straighter; I have his complete attention now. Since Fiona doesn’t want the club to know, I have to be creative about my reasons. I just wish that woman was not so stubborn.

“She is a single woman that gets off work between midnight and two a.m. Do I need more reason than that?”

Timber runs his hands through his hair. “You are right. You would tell me if there was a problem wouldn’t you?”

“If I could, I would.” I hedge a little. He sees right through me, but also knows I won’t give him more than that. Noticing the time on the clock behind him, I make my exit but just before going through the door I call back, “Oh yeah, I will be staying in town for a while.” I can hear him cursing all the way from the parking lot.

I get back into town with enough time to swing by the hardware store. I plan to upgrade Fiona’s locks and security on both the apartment plus the shop. Then I go by Hay’s Den to pick her up.

There must be aclass this morning, as I see a few motorcycles parked on the street and Mina’s car in the lot. Making my way inside, I hear yelling and cheering. Curiosity makes me walk back to the main part of the gym, where the boxing ring is.

Nothing could surprise me more than what my eyes see in the ring. Fiona is wearing nothing but short shorts and a sports bra with her hands wrapped. The surprising part is the big guy in the ring getting his ass kicked by my girl. I’ve met Austin before and he is nothing to joke about. He’s a former MMA fighter, almost as big as me.

Mina, Bella, Hayden and Miranda are yelling and cheering her on. I reach for Bella’s shoulder to ask her what is going on, but before I make contact Blade is standing between us. “Do not touch my old lady!” I raise my hands and step back. “I was only going to ask her about this.” as I gesture towards the ring. “I would never hurt a woman.” I assure him.

“What is going on is Fiona is kicking Austin’s ass.”

“But why?”

“Because she can.” Mina interrupts, “Now shut up so we can cheer for our girl.”

Stepping back Inod my head to the side signaling for Blade to follow me. As soon as we step out I ask him, “Are you going to be with the ladies through lunch?”

“Yes, on self defense days they all go to Bella’s after class, why?”

“Can you do me a solid and keep an eye on Fiona, until I get back? I have a few things to do.”

“Yeah I got you man. Even if you don’t see them, there is always someone watching our females.”

I nod my thanks before heading back to Fiona’s building.

When I get there, I find a manila envelope taped to her door. I’m not worried about breaking in, since I’m going to replace the locks anyways. So I jimmy the door open.

I pour the envelope out on her table. There must be a hundred pictures here and they are not all from the last two days.

On top of the stack is a picture of her at the Inkers expo, then one of her on the balcony where we met. As I go through them it is like the story of her life for the last two years. Every single picture has the word MINE written in black and red sharpie on it.

Scooping the pics back into the envelope adding the two previous ones she received, I look around trying to find the perfect place to hide them before I get to workfixing the locks.

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