The word love made my breath hitch. And why did it cut like a knife for someone to say he didn’t love me?
“Katya?”
“Huh?”
“Are you sure you’re alright?”
Threading my fingers through my hair, I nodded. “Just tired. Long day, lots of emotions, and too many drinks.”
She cupped my shoulder, her warm eyes searching my face. “Okay. Well, get some rest. I’m going to go before Niko pokes his head back in.”
I gripped her wrist gently. “Hey, Niko is a good brother, but he’s not the best man.”
Her brows went high. “I mean, I have a vague idea of who your father and brother are. It helps to be blissfully ignorant,” she said with a slight chuckle.
“No, not that. That’s not what I meant. But…” I sucked in a breath. What could I say about Niko without making him sound awful? “He’s not the commitment type.”
Her smile softened and her brows went down. “I see. While I appreciate the heads up, I can’t say that I ever gave him any thought that way. He is your brother, after all.”
Cocking my head, I grinned. “Well, he can be quite dashing. I wouldn’t be upset with you for thinking–”
She gripped my hand in hers. “Katarina, I can assure you, I just never saw him that way. And I think all the ladies at the restaurant know of his… prowess? But I appreciate the tip. Now, there is absolutely no reason I can’t have some fun with a biker or two while I’m here.”
“Klara!” I teased as I pulled her in. “You’re so bad. But we’ll see what we can do,” I whispered in her ear.
“Okay, okay. Let me go before he gets nosy. Get some sleep,” she said as she pushed my hair behind my shoulder.
“You, too. I’ll find you in the clubhouse in the morning.”
I walked her to the door and waited until she was arm in arm with Niko before closing it. Looking around, everything was back in its place and there was nothing to keep me awake.
Except still being so upset. Sighing, I turned off the lights, walked down the hall to the room, and shut the door. As I pulled out my pajamas, I looked at the bed.
Still hurt and angry, I decided I didn’t want to share a bed with him tonight. Once I changed into some silk shorts and a matching cami, I grabbed his pillow then pulled a blanket fromthe closet and headed back to the living room.
I placed the blanket down on the sofa, and the pillow on top, so he could see it once he walked inside. Hopefully he’d get the message. After I went back to the bedroom, I locked the door for good measure in case he didn’t see it or chose to ignore it.
Sliding into bed under the covers, I rubbed my feet together then tossed a few times. After several turns, I let out a deep breath, landed on my back, and smacked my hands down beside me. My mind was racing and it was the first time in a couple of weeks I’d slept alone.
Maybe if I just lay in the dark, eventually I’d pass out.
Chapter 28
Hawk
They took Sugar’s box to Keys’ room and I met them there. At first glance it wasn’t much to go on, but there were some old bank receipts, account info, a few pictures, some trinkets, an address book, what looked like an old log or journal, and two phones that were dead, but Keys had every phone cord since the invention of cells.
I opened the address book, but my mind was still reeling about earlier. Flipping mindlessly, I finally put it down. “Coop, look through this. See if any names jump out, any cross references, you know the drill.”
Keys was fishing out the phone cords to charge thephones. “I’ll get these fired up and pull the data. It may take a few days, depending on how old they are and how much was deleted.”
Keys told me a long time ago, deleting things did fuck-all. There wasn’t really a way to delete anything so much as move it to a less obvious place. Most hackers worth their salt could recover anything except physical paper.
Heading to the door, I stopped before I left. “Get some shut eye. We may have a busy few days ahead.”
They both nodded, but neither made a move to get up. Instead, Keys kept looking for the cords. Coop opened a document on one of the screens in front of him, labeled it “Address Book,” then opened the pages. Shaking my head, I left them to it. If it wasn’t for the tension with Kat, I’d probably be still at it. But I didn’t want to go to bed with this unresolved.
Walking back through the bar, the place was still humming. It was winding down and some of the bunnies were working on their evening plans, but it wasn’t rowdy.
