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When he re-entered the bedroom, I sat up, and our eyes locked.
“You’re awake.” Tension lingered in his body and shadowed his eyes.
“I’m awake,” I answered cautiously. “What are you doing?”
He broke eye contact as he walked to his dresser and picked out a T-shirt. “I have things that need my attention. I need to step out for a bit.”
His words were vague enough to leave room for multiple possibilities concerning our future, but they only managed to compound my worst fears. I knew I should let him go. I wasn’t his responsibility, and it was only fair. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t let him walk out that door thinking the worst of me. The problem was, I didn’t know how to fix it.
“I thought you took the whole week off.”
“I did,” he answered. “But something’s come up, and I have to go.”
Desperation drove me to my feet, luring me into his orbit. I reached out and touched his arm, but when he looked down at me, his face was devoid of emotion. I couldn’t read him, and it scared me. I needed words, thoughts, emotions. Some kind of reaction.
Leaning up on my toes, I grabbed his face and tried to drag it to mine. He kissed me, but the burning passion had turned to ash.
“Stay,” I begged against his lips.
Pain flickered in his eyes, and he shook his head as he gently peeled me away from him. “I can’t, Birdie. Not today. You need to rest anyway. Trouble will be here to keep you company.”
“I don’t want to rest anymore,” I protested. “I’m done resting. I’m fine now.”
“You aren’t fine,” he clipped out. “You aren’t fine at all.”
Those words hit me like a bucket of ice water, and I couldn’t stop the armor I thought I’d left behind from slamming back into place. He just confirmed everything I’d suspected. There would be no acceptance of what I’d done or who I was.
He couldn’t even look at me anymore.
“WHO WANTS TO START?” KODIAK asked, glancing at the evidence stacked in the center of the table like a land mine.
The small army of bearded brothers I’d assembled had crammed around the table in the hotel suite I’d rented as they waited for their marching orders. Beside me, Lucian remained quiet as he eyed them individually. This wasn’t an easy concept for him to grasp. Trust was not something either of us gave freely, especially when it came to protecting his family. But this wasn’t just about Gypsy anymore. More than anything, it was about Birdie. She was the one at risk of taking the fall, and I’d burn down the world to save her if that was what I had to do.
I trusted every one of these mangy fuckers in this room with my own life, and they wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.
“Before we get to that…” Lucian broke the silence. “I need to ask each of you to reflect on anything you may have witnessed during the times you provided surveillance of Gypsy and Birdie. Was there anyone who might have been paying a little too much attention to the women? Regardless of how insignificant it might be, if anyone at all comes to mind, I want to know about it.”
“Fuck, man, I don’t know.” Kodiak scratched at his beard. “Every red-blooded male in a ten-mile radius was watching those girls. Can’t say that I blame them.”
I shot him a warning glare, and Lucian shifted beside me. “Be careful what you say about my wife.”
Kodiak held up his hands and shrugged. “Not starting shit, I’m just stating a basic fucking fact. I think all my brothers would agree.”
“It’s true,” Razor chimed in. “It would be difficult to identify one person who was more interested than all the others. Both women drew a lot of attention every time I saw them.”
Lucian scrubbed a hand over his jaw and shook his head, clearly frustrated. “Ace, what about your guy in security?”
“He’s compiling some footage,” I answered. “But we’ll need a lot of time and a lot of eyes to wade through all of it.”
Lucian nodded. At this point, we both knew the casino footage would be our best option, but it didn’t mean either of us liked it. The thought of any of these guys watching Birdie now felt wrong. She was mine to protect and mine to look at. But time wasn’t on our side, and I didn’t have a choice. Using the facial recognition software would narrow down the frames of each instance Birdie was captured on camera in the major casinos, but my buddy only had access to a select number, not all of them, so there was no guarantee we’d ever find anyone watching her on film.
Whoever was trying to blackmail her was someone from her past. Someone in California who knew she was in Vegas. But it didn’t mean the mystery asshole was in Vegas too.
