“Be right back,” he winked and walked out the door.
He returned with a plate full a food and a huge container of water. He put everything down and turned to face me, “We need to talk.”
I threw my hands in the air. “Why does every conversation I have lately start with a variation of that statement?”
“A lot going on, baby. We’re trying to get shit sorted as best we can.”
I slumped back into the pillow. “I know, and I appreciate everything everyone is doing. I’m just frustrated and I feel like I’m missing a big piece of a messed up puzzle.”
“You’re not alone in that. And you’re right. You are missing a big piece. We all are. Unfortunately, there are only a few key people who can fill in the gaps and we can’t ask any of them right now.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Well, Duke isn’t awake yet, no one knows where your mother is or what happened to her, and it ain’t like we can go knock on Octavius’s door. Even if we could get our hands on him, it’s not like he would tell us anything,” he explained.
“Did Byte find anything with those names we gave you?”
“You know I can’t tell you that.”
“Ugh! It might be club business, but it is also my business!” I shouted, though he didn’t seem fazed by it.
“Sorry, darlin’. You’ll have to take that up with your father.”
“Whatever. What did you need to talk to me about?”
He sat down beside me on the bed and I braced myself for whatever he was about to say.
“Phoenix thinks we need to move you to a safer location.” I opened my mouth to protest, but he held his hands up and continued, “Hear me out. They know where you are and they obviously either want you back or want you dead. Since we found the tracker in your neck and removed it, we can move you to a new location without them knowing.”
“They’ll think I’m still at the clubhouse?”
“Exactly. Byte attached it to a battery pack or something to keep it running outside of a body and hooked it onto Chop’s collar.”
I gasped in horror, “No! You can’t let them shoot the dog!”
“Calm down, darlin’. They’re not going to shoot the dog. They’re looking for you, not Chop. We only did that so it would still look like you were moving around the compound. If your little blinking dot sat still in one place all of a sudden, that would tip them off that we found it.”
I still wasn’t completely sold on the new plan. “If they think I’m still here, everyone that really is here will be in danger. I can’t be the cause of someone here getting hurt.”
He chuckled, “You don’t get a say in that anymore, darlin’. This is how club life works. We’re a brotherhood, a family. When those test results proved you were Phoenix’s daughter, you were automatically under the protection of Blackwings, whether or not you wanted it or needed it. We protect what’s ours.”
“I’m not yours,” I stated matter-of-factly.
He smirked. “I’ll let you have that for right now, but you are Phoenix’s. You only have to belong to one of us for it to matter.”
“I’m not Phoenix’s. I’m not yours. I’m not anybody’s. I’m a freakingperson!” I was on my feet, fists clenched, face red, and now my side was throbbing.
He grinned. The man had the gall to grin at me. “Calm down. You’re getting hung up on the words and not the meaning. I’m not saying you’re a piece of property to be owned. By saying you’re somebody’s, it means you’re important to that person, that they care about you; therefore, the club cares about you. Now,” his grin widened, “did you just almost curse?”
Did I miss something? “Huh?”
He teasingly pointed a finger at me. “You said freaking. Correction, you yelled freaking. I’m quite proud of you.”
Was he serious? “Are you kidding me? You’re in here telling me I am in more danger than we thought and now I have to be moved somewhere else and you’re focused on the fact that I said freaking. Freaking. Freaking. Freaking. There. Now tell me where I’m going.”
He mumbled something that I didn’t catch. “What was that?”
He cleared his throat and met my eyes. “I said, ‘You’ll be going over my knee if you don’t watch that smart mouth.’”
