Page 53 of Twisted Road

Again, it was Czar who answered. His tone was gentle, very soft and careful. Keys appreciated that he was feeling his way with Lyric, not trying to run over the top of her. He had to see she was neurodivergent. All of them were familiar with a woman, Rikki, who lived on the same property as Czar. Czar’s wife, Blythe, referred to Rikki as a sister of the heart. Rikki had rescued Lev, Czar’s birth brother, from certain death. She was autistic and well respected in Sea Haven and Caspar.

Keys appreciated Czar’s caution, but he was beginning to find that place inside him, the one that wasn’t so nice and would never be nice unless he was talking to his woman. He didn’t mind being the scary one, the one apart, as long as he could protect Lyric from any threat coming at her. That included whatever his club brought.

The more this went on, with Lyric in the spotlight, the more he felt her sliding away from the real Lyric, letting the mask settle over her. Once she was there, pulling her back was going to be a bitch. He’d brought her to his family, hoping for a quick debrief and then an introduction to the women, always much safer and more welcoming than all of the Torpedo Ink brethren. Even Alena and Lana could be harsh and shut down.

“Women or children are kidnapped and they need a place to hold them prisoner while deals are made for them,” Czar explained. “Often there’s an auction, they’re sold to the highest bidder. Sometimes the buyers want them trained a certain way as sex slaves. No one can hear them scream if they’re secreted in those caves in the mountains. You’re thinking in terms of a cave with dirt and leaking water. There’s a network of cave systems that run throughout the mountains, and they’ve been renovated to be exactly what these people need to hold and possibly train their prisoners to become the sex slaves they will be used as.”

“I still don’t understand how I can help you,” Lyric said. “I’ve told you what I believe to be true about Sid, but I don’t know any of those who live with the militia well. I’ve never been in the caves and didn’t know they existed.”

She was definitely withdrawing. Keys tightened his hold on her hand when she tugged to get it back. “Babe, look at me.” He gave her the command softly, but very firmly. He needed her to see him. To rely on him.

Lyric didn’t so much as turn her head toward Keys. She stubbornly held herself away from him. He knew why. Sid wasn’t personal. Declan and the Russian were very personal, and Lyric knew the conversation was heading in that direction. She was identifying him with his club, not with her.

He refused to relinquish her hand, holding it tight against his chest. “Baby, I know you’re uncomfortable with this subject, but if you have any information regarding the Russian or the militia, it would be very helpful.”

“I don’t,” she said. His woman could be extremely stubborn once she made up her mind—and she’d made up her mind.

“We’re not looking for personal details, Lyric,” he said patiently. “If the militia is running the human trafficking ring up in those mountains, we need to know.”

“I have no idea.”

There was silence following her statement. She’d made it abundantly clear she was finished with the subject.

“Okay,” Czar suddenly conceded. “Thank you for your help. I know giving one’s opinion instead of knowing facts can be upsetting.”

Lyric glanced out the window and made a slight move as if she might head toward the door. Keys tightened his hold on her. He needed to keep Lyric with him. She’d gone through too much, and she wasn’t used to being around so many people she didn’t know.

Routine was important to her. Structure. She planned everything out step by step. She didn’t like the unfamiliar, and when confronted with it, she retreated back into her head. She functioned from a safe distance.

“We finished, Czar?” he asked.

“Not quite, Keys. It would be good if Lyric would tell us as much as she can remember about Yaman Kuzmin. If we know what he did to her, we most likely can pin down the school he attended in Russia. Each school taught their students slightly different techniques when it came to torture.”

Czar’s tone was matter-of-fact. Every single one of the club members was far too comfortable with torture and killing. They’d lived with it from the time they were toddlers. That was the world they lived in.

Lyric had a soft heart. She’d had bad things happen to her, but she hadn’t turned to violence to solve her problems. She was a runner. She withdrew into her head and then into the wilderness. Just as they went after their enemies, patiently planning a way to take them out permanently, Lyric planned her getaway. Keys was fairly certain she was doing so now.

She didn’t answer Czar; she simply shook her head, keeping her gaze fixed on the window. “I need to go for a walk, Keys.” Her voice was low, but she made the declaration in her sweetest false tone, the one she reserved for her clients. She gave him a vague smile without looking past his nose.

Keys resisted the urge to strangle her. He allowed her fingers to slip from his. She went straight to the door of the clubhouse and walked out.

“You’ve got trouble on your hands,” Czar pointed out.

“Yeah, like all of you, she’s not convinced that I’m going to stick with her. We talk about parties, and she knows she’s going to have to face women I’ve fucked. There’s no getting around that. She knows it and so do I. It isn’t as if she didn’t see me with multiple women. She took a chance coming here, but she’s got one foot out the door.”

“It doesn’t help that we’re pushing her,” Czar said. “Blythe tells me we can be insensitive.”

Keys kept his gaze fixed on Lyric as she walked through the open gates of the compound and turned along the street heading toward the ocean. At the last moment, she turned and followed the sidewalk toward other businesses and buildings in Caspar.

“She has to learn to trust me,” Keys said, meaning it.

“Have you given her reason to trust you?” Czar persisted.

Keys considered the question. He had done a lot of things that would prevent Lyric from trusting him as a partner, but he’d also laid his life on the line multiple times for her. That should have bought him some faith.

“We’ll work it out,” he assured Czar. “She’s new at relationships just as I am. We’re finding our way.”

Czar nodded. “The sooner you’re able to get her to talk about Yaman Kuzmin, the better. And make certain she’s going to be okay when we invite Trinity and Rampage to the club. We have to be cohesive.”