“Need to make you aware of something.”
He went quieter than usual, which was Kane’s way of telling me he was listening.
I gave him the short version, leaving out the part where my body had been hard half the damn time she was in front of me. And how something in my chest had locked down on the word mine before I knew her favorite color or how she drank her coffee.
Kane could read people better than anyone I’d ever met, and I knew no matter how hard I tried, he’d pick up enough without me handing him ammunition.
When I finished, he asked, “You’re letting a stranger stay at The Pit?”
I grunted.
“A woman?” There it was, the faint thread of amusement under his voice.
I looked back at the building, my gaze moving to the upstairs windows even though I couldn’t see her from where I sat. “She needs a place to sleep for a bit.”
“You met her a couple of hours ago, right?”
“And?”
Kane let out a low sound that was almost a laugh. “Nothing. Just wondering if I should order a property vest now or wait until tomorrow.”
“Fuck off, brother.”
This time, he did laugh. “Send her name and description to Jax. I’ll have him start a background check.”
“Will do.”
“And Gauge?”
I waited.
“If she’s in trouble, find out before it gets here.”
My grip tightened around the phone. Whatever was circling her might be dangerous, but that wasn’t the same thing as her bringing poison into my shop. “Yeah.”
Kane heard what I didn’t say. I knew he did, because his voice shifted just enough to hear his humor. “Keep your head.”
“Always do.”
“Bullshit,” he rumbled. “But I’m sure you’ll keep it long enough to get the job done.”
I huffed a laugh despite myself. “You done?”
“For now.”
“Good.”
I hung up before he could say anything else annoying, shoved the phone into my pocket, and started the bike. The engine rolled to life beneath me, vibrating through my thighs and up my spine as I pulled out of the lot. The ride home usually helped clear my head. The road, the salty wind off the ocean, the steady pull of the machine beneath me, all of it worked better than sleep most nights.
Not tonight.
Every mile carried me farther from The Pit and the woman I couldn’t get out of my head. By the time I reached my house, my cock was hard again, my temper was high, and every instinct I had was pointed back toward The Pit.
Riley was under my roof.
Not my house, maybe.
Not yet.
