I groan. “Over there.”
She practically runs over to the bedside table, yanks open the drawer, and pulls out a condom. Then she comes back and kisses me as she tears open the foil. “Someday, I want to feel that piercing without anything between us.”
My heart rate slows in my chest. What is she saying? Is she saying she wants more of this? More of me? A someday beyond the short-term future in which the roads are too bad for her to leave?
I don’t ask. I don’t want to know. I’m not a forever guy. I break faces for a living, doing the most I can to keep my contacts in law enforcement happy—happy enough that they don’t look too closely at everything else I do to make a living. There’s no room for long-term in that situation. There’s only room for my brothers. The next score. The next ride.
“Fuck me,” I tell her, and she rolls the condom over my cock before she lowers herself onto my lap.
Bracing her hands on the back of the couch, Violet rides me violently, pounding the back of the couch against the wall, her head thrown back. Her bare toes push against the backs of my calves, and it seems like she’s coming in seconds, not minutes. I watch her work out her pleasure against me—rough and needy—and I don’t need more than a couple of seconds before I’m shaking beneath her, my climax chasing hers.
She is sweaty and looks stunned when there is a rough pounding against my bedroom door.
“Shadow. We found something.” The voice that comes through the door is Savage, our sergeant-at-arms. His booming words sound as serious as a heart attack.
Violet’s body stiffens, and we both go cold.
“Get dressed,” I tell her. “I’ll handle this.”
She lifts herself off my cock, and I dispose of the condom in the bathroom and get back into my clothes.
Violet is already dressed, sitting on the couch, shaking.
I take her in my arms.
“Whatever we find, you’re gonna have to be ready to deal with this. I’ve got you. I know you’ve got this. You with me?”
She swallows and licks her lips, but her eyes never leave mine. “Okay. Okay.”
I yank open the door to find both Savage and Viper in front of me. Savage nods at Violet, but Viper just stands there, gritting his teeth so hard a vein pops in his forehead.
“We found this.” Viper is holding a small black thing shaped like a hockey puck.
“Bastard’s good,” Savage says, turning and immediately taking off down the corridor. We’re not going into the main room, but we’re heading to the opposite side of the compound—the offices.
I reach my hand behind me and take hold of Violet’s while we walk toward the office I share with Blade, the treasurer. Violet’s hand is weak in mine, but I keep a tight grip on her until the four of us are inside my office with the door shut.
The compound has only two designated office spaces—one that Phantom uses full time, and another with two desks and two laptops that Blade and I share. Most of our business isn’t done behind a desk, but it comes in handy to have a private space to talk at times like this.
I motion for Violet to sit in a chair, and she does, looking from Viper and Savage and then back to me. Her hair is mussed from fucking, but all the glow and satisfaction are gone from her face.
She’s pale.
A fist clamps around my heart, and my gut twists into a knot. I want to kill the man who’s making her feel like this. This worthless piece of fucking shit who can’t take no for an answer and leave well enough alone.
I’m furious, but I need to control my reactions. I’m surprised by how brutal I feel.
Any threat to Violet—even the idea that this worthless squirt won’t let her go—sends my vision to a dark, dark place.
I’m not at all surprised that they found something.
Of course, that asshat Clive was tracking her movements.
What surprises me is how completely invested I am in making this right. In making him pay for what he’s putting her through. How completely invested I am in freeing her and making sure Violet James never, ever feels unsafe again.
Now I just need to know what he knows, so I can be prepared.
“What do you know?” I ask, glaring at the device. “Tell me everything.”
