Page 39 of Magnum, Volume 1

I shook my head. “I put a cold twelve-pack in the den. Anyone wants more than that, they can go get it. You don’t wait on them unless I tell you to, and I haven’t given that order.”

She blew out a breath, nodded, and lifted her laptop. “I can type faster than I can write, so this is the easiest way to keep notes.”

I shook my head. “We don’t keep digital notes about club activities. I have a notepad and pen, if you feel like you need to take notes, but please don’t do so on your laptop. You’ll eventually get back online, and…” I shrugged. “Basic operational security, for us.”

She stared at me a few seconds before saying, “I keep a whole lot of secrets. I’ve gone to jail for keeping them.”

“I’m aware, and it’s one of the reasons we’re trusting you, but I need you to follow club rules for this.”

She blew out a breath. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll take this back upstairs, and I have a notepad I can use.”

One of the things I respect about Mad Dog is his ability to cut through the crap and get shit done. An hour later, we’d agreed:

Assuming we could get enough intel to feel confident in doing so, we’d infiltrate the Virginia property during a fight weekend, when activity is happening and the fighters will be there.

This would not happen in two weeks, but likely ten weeks out — though this was dependent upon us getting actionable intel.

Skippy and Ember would head to Virginia for recon. What didn’t get said around Storm was that they’d strap a camera on Skippy’s raven and he’d fly around the governor’s mansion as well as the fight property.

Meanwhile, Storm and I would continue to scour what we could get to online, to try to find another location, the food vendors, and anything else we could dig up.

We’d meet again when Skippy returned to figure out our next steps.

Ember had, indeed, brought her Drake Security partner, Sloan. He’s a former Navy SEAL, and Dementor has told me in the past that the two work well together. When Sloan found out what Ember was helping us with, he’d volunteered his services as well. He apparently knew Gears’ brother, but I wasn’t clear on whether that’d happened while they were in the military, or after.

My Stormy girl held her own in the meeting, asking intelligent questions, making some really good suggestions, and remaining quiet when she didn’t have anything to offer.

Every supernatural in the room could smell damage on her, and a few of them gave me an appraising look, but every one of them knew I wouldn’t take advantage of her. They knew I wouldn’t play rough unless she wanted it, so no one took me off to the side to make sure.

When the meeting broke up, I offered to take the group out on the boat, and we all made our way down to the water with a huge cooler full of beer.

Storm and Ember seemed to hit it off, which means my girl talked to Dementor quite a bit, too.

She also talked to Sloan, and I didn’t like that, but quickly realized I was just going to have to be okay with it. Sloan is single, but the eagle shifter wasn’t hitting on her. There was nothing there, so why the fuck did I want to growl at him and tell him to back the fuck off? It didn’t make sense, so I focused on driving the boat.

- - - ❖ - - -

Storm

I liked Ember from the start, even before I found out she used to compete in roller derby.

Also, I got serious owned-and-owner vibes from her and Dementor, despite the fact they didn’t say anything that should lead a rational person to think they’re in a power-exchange relationship.

She made a huge container of margarita mix before we went down to the boat. I’d watched her make it with tons of tequila, and couldn’t believe she wasn’t sloppy drunk when it was halfway gone.

I was drinking beer with the men, making sure I didn’t go past slightly buzzed. The alcohol helped relax my swollen, inflamed asshole, and made my aching feet and legs not hurt so bad.

Nothing was going to help my oversensitive, raw, overfucked pussy, though.

“Are you good here?” Sloan asked while the bikers were being extra rowdy, and I got the feeling he didn’t want Magnum to know he was asking. “I can put you somewhere else that’s safe, if this isn’t working out for you.”

I stared at him a few seconds, wondering why he thought I might not be okay. Nothing came to mind, so I told him, “I feel safe here. Magnum and Skippy get us online so no one can trace back to us, with alarms to show when they’re trying. Means I can keep up with my research and don’t have to drop it, or depend on others to finish what I started. Bugs me I can’t go with Ember and Skippy, but I can’t, so I’ll deal with it. I hate having to hide out, but this is kind of like paradise, you know? Could be a lot worse.”

He watched my face like he was reading it, and he nodded a few seconds after I finished talking. “Okay. I believe you. If for some reason this isn’t working for you, let me or Ember know.”

“I don’t want to leave.”

He smiled. “Happy to hear it.” He looked around and then back to me. “Have you noticed the route Magnum has taken? Careful we don’t get within a hundred yards of any lakefront residence? He’s making sure none of their security cams pick up your face.” He tilted his head. “I know you think the hat and sunglasses will keep you safe, but the government has new facial recognition algorithms that’ve changed that. If for some reason you need to leave his safety, go overboard on your contour to make yourself look like a horribly unfortunate ugly girl before you put the sunglasses and hat on. Also, tuck something between your teeth and lower lip, to push that lip out. Walk like someone else, and use your left hand more than your right.”