“Yes, Spitfire,we.”
She let out a relieved breath.“Good.I thought maybe Bulldog tossing my keys at me like that was his way of telling me I’d been here long enough.That it was time for me to go.”She paused and closed her eyes as she took several deep breaths and tried to regain her composure.“Kevin is still out there and I’m afraid of what he’ll do if I go back to my apartment.”
“Babe.”Bishop’s tone was patient.He didn’t say anything more but stood so her knees touched his hips and waited until she opened her eyes.“I was going to tell you last night, but you were asleep.When you woke me this morning the way you did, damn.Your lips around my cock made me forget what I was supposed to tell you.”
“What’s that?”she asked.
“You’re safe.It’s over.”
“Over?Kevin is going to leave me alone?”
“You’ll never had to deal with him again.”
Winter narrowed her eyes.
“Something tells me there’s more you’re not telling me.”
“There are going to be things I can’t tell you, Spitfire.Times when I expect you to trust me and do what I tell you to do.It’s not because I don’t care, it’s because I do.I want to make sure you’re safe.That nothing happens to you if I can help it.It also means I’ll keep things from you so they can’t be used against you.”
She was quiet for a moment, watching him and thinking.
“That’s where you went last night.I hope you didn’t kill him because of me.His following me wasn’t worth you killing him or risking prison.”
“Okay, couple of things there.Number one, yes, you are fucking worth it.Worth prison and more.So yes, what he did to you, his scaring you like that, was totally worth what he got.But that’s not all.Hammer found that six other women had disappeared after being tied to him.After questioning, we believe there’s a chance the one before you is still alive.Ashes and a crew headed out this morning to look for her.We don’t know exactly where she is but we have a good idea.They’ll find her and if she’s alive, they’ll get her the help she needs, whatever that is.”
“Oh God.Six?Are you sure?”
Bishop nodded.He wouldn’t tell her the details they’d gotten the fucknut to admit to, but it was bad enough that Ashes had included Doc, the club medic, in the crew that went to find the woman.
“We also got enough information from him that the police will be able to find the bodies of the other five.Hammer will get it to them in a way that doesn’t implicate us.”He knew how Hammer would do that but he wasn’t going to share it with Winter.The less she knew about it, the better it would be.
“So, their families won’t be left wondering what happened to them?”
“There will always be questions, baby.But at least they won’t have to wonder if they’re out there being hurt now.They may not ever know the details or what happened to the fucker who did it, but they’ll know their girls are gone.That’s something.”
Winter nodded.She could see what he meant, but they couldn’t let those families know that Kevin had killed them and he’d died for his sins because that would bring the law to looking at the Sons.
“I’m glad I’m safe.And knowing what he’s done, I’m glad he’s gone.But what does that mean for me and why Bulldog gave me my keys?I felt like he was telling me it was time to go, without actually saying it.”
Bishop shook his head.
“I know that was not his intent.I don’t even have to talk to him to know that.I can check if you’d prefer to find out exactly what he was thinking but I know he was not telling you to leave.”
Something about his tone, or the passionate way he spoke, set her at ease, though there was that tiny voice in the back of her head that said Bishop was wrong.Bulldog wanted her gone.Bishop held no tension in his body, though he searched her face and looked desperate to make her believe him.
“How?”
Bishop licked his lips and looked away.There was something he was hiding from her.
“I kind of already asked Bulldog to get you a property cut,” Bishop said, his voice so low she wasn’t sure she’d heard him right.
“Excuse me?”
“I hate seeing this on you.Not because it’s yours and it keeps you safe, but because it’s not mine.I hate that you wear something that’s not Sons and that you don’t have my name on your back.”
“You’re claiming me?”Winter lifted one brow at Bishop.
“I’m trying to.”
