“And who might you be?” Satori questions him and stands up like he would actually have a chance against him. Satori is a decently-sized man, and has a solid physical build, but he’s like Ant Man, comparatively. Viking only smirks and takes a stepcloser to him, as if he’d love nothing more than to put Satori in his place.
“He’s with me, mother fucker.” Grease then steps up behind Satori and pockets his hands. While Viking looks amused, Grease looks anything but. His face is stern and his lips are pressed into a fine line, showing his clear disapproval of the situation. The two biker men crowd Satori like a sandwich, and I can’t help but smirk. Damien may not be here to keep other men from touching me, but it’s nice to know that they will. “And it looks like you’re bothering the lady.”
Before Satori can get another word out, Zeke pops back in like a jack-in-the-box and grips Satori by his shirt. He drags him away, and just when I think they’ll fight again, he just walks away with his hands raised. Viking laughs, like he’s not surprised that Satori would back down so easily, and Grease turns back to me with furrowed brows.
“You good, mama?” he asks with a serious tone.
“Yeah, I’m fine. We were just talking, and I guess he got carried away.” I try to justify the situation, even though it almost makes me sick. This is the MC’s biggest event, and I don’t want to cause problems, regardless of the bugs now crawling under my skin. I look over to Viking and nod my head a little. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.” He nods back and then jerks his head away, signaling to Grease to keep it moving. As they walk away, Grease turns to me and lazily continues to step backward.
“Let me know if you need anything.”
“Yeah, I will. Thanks. You too.” I nod back at him as Zeke steps up beside me again.
“What the fuck was that about?”
I don’t look up to him. My eyes are now set on Satori as he mingles with Kade and a few of the men. Kade looks relaxed as always, like Satori’s presence doesn’t affect him, but the otherguys tense up some—as if they don’t really like him. And that’s saying something, because a couple of them arehisguys.
“I don’t know. He just wanted to show his appreciation, I suppose,” I say with a slight hint of sarcasm.
“Then why do you look like you could shoot him?” Zeke asks me. I finally turn my head to meet his gaze, and he’s staring down at me curiously. Something about that conversation rubbed me the wrong way. I’m just not sure why. His comments about Kade seemed like a slip-up, and I doubt he would intentionally insult his friend out in public. Especially to me, when I’m already so wary about him. It felt like he assumed that I already knew something I didn’t, and perhaps I should find out what that is.
“I’m not sure yet.” I look over to Carter as Zeke sits down next to me, and I’m shocked when he sets a cheeseburger down on the table.
“Eat,” he demands.
“I will in a second,” I reassure him, not willing to fight with him while he’s riled up like this. The moment Carter meets my stare, I gesture him over. Ser pouts as he stands up, but he just ignores her and walks over. I chuckle softly as he steps up to the table. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Always. What’s up?” he asks genuinely.
“How deeply have you looked into Kade?”
His brows scrunch in interest, and I can see Zeke leaning closer to us in my peripheral.
“What makes you think I was looking into Kade?” Carter asks indifferently, but we both know he’s lying. Carter is secretly as paranoid as the rest of us, and even I know the extent of his searches.
“You’reyou, that’s what. You always look at everything and everyone,” I retort. Carter glances around subtly and then looks back at me.
“Pretty deep.”
“And?” I ask softly, and he just shrugs his shoulders.
“There isn’t much on him. He lived a pretty normal life out in Texas, and then he moved to Washington about eight years ago. He has no criminal record, and any computer traces I found of his look pretty legit. Why do you ask?”
“Something Satori said, but I just wanted a different input,” I reply honestly. Carter just nods once, like he understands exactly what I’m thinking. I’m glad the four of us understand each other as well as we do. They have the same connection with Damien, and it’s partially how they work so well together. It’s like there’s a hivemind between us all, a mutual understanding of sorts, and I’m thankful for the connection.
“I’ll keep an eye out.”
“Thanks.” I grin at him before he turns to walk back to Serena. I’m glad they’re spending more time together, but it’s not like it was before. They still have an awkward wedge between them. I wish they would just get over themselves and start having sex again. They were bothwayhappier then.
“Do we think Kade has anything to do with D going missing?” Zeke asks, and I don’t miss the edge of anger in his words.
“Not yet. I just want to dig a little deeper into Sahara’s past, if we can.”
Zeke just tilts his head from side to side and then glances back over in Satori’s direction.
“That’s going to be hard to find, considering they seem so tight-lipped about it.”
