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“I’m sorry this is happening. Please, don’t leave me now. I need you by my side, always,” I whisper to her.
“You can’t risk your life, Maceo. If you die, I’ll die, whether it’s by Esteban’s hand or a broken heart,” she whimpers.
I groan at the thought of my little pixie dying of a broken heart without me. This woman slays my soul time and again. I make the one promise I know I shouldn’t. “I promise I won’t die.”
Josephine sniffs but stops crying. She rotates in my arms ‘till she’s facing me, and she pushes me on my ass where I hit the ground with a huff. She crawls into my lap and straddles me before throwing her arms around my neck, leaning her head against my chest. My arms lace around her body, holding her snugly against me.
“You promised, now you have to keep it,” she murmurs, kissing the spot where my heart is.
I nod. “I know.” And I will do everything in my power to hold that promise. I want a long life with this woman. I want a family with this woman. I want to burden her with my soul. But if it did come down to it, I would gladly lay my life on the line to save my pixie from death. It’s what you do when you love someone, you sacrifice for them, and sometimes you pay the ultimate price to ensure their safety.
We’re interrupted by a convoy of my men rolling in on their hogs. I pick her up and she wraps her legs around my waist. I carry her inside to my bedroom where I set her on my bunk, tucking her into bed. She may not recognize it yet, but she’s crashing. I want her comfortable while she slips into a long sleep after the adrenaline subsides. Slowly, her eyelids close and I lean over to kiss her soft lips.
Once I’m confident she’s asleep, I leave the bedroom and close the door behind me. My crew is waiting in the garage for me to address our new issue. Opal stops me before I make it outside.
“Atlas, you’re going to take care of this right?” Opal asks with worry, and by ‘this’ she means Esteban.
I give her a hug for reassurance. “I will handle it, and I will make sure no one else on our crew is harmed,” I say. She’s asking me to take out Esteban and not assign it to one of my other men, like Gauge. I don’t mind getting my hands dirty. I clean up my own messes.
In the garage, I find all my men waiting to hear what I will order when it comes to Esteban. Gauge comes up to me before I address the rest of the crew. “We need the men, Atlas,” he tries again, more firmly this time, his green eyes almost pleading with me.
I nod begrudgingly. He’s right. We need men. Lorenzo is offering assistance with ‘no strings attached,’ whatever the fuck that means. Maybe he does care about Josephine and hopes to walk away the hero in this, or maybe he doesn’t want Esteban taking over his territory with new merchandise. Either way, he’s offering help. I’d be a fool to turn him down. “Set up the meeting.”
Relieved, Gauge nods and looks over at Chase, who nods back before returning to his computer to send Lorenzo a message.
I clear my throat and all my men stare at me, waiting expectantly for some grand plan. “Ravens,” I address.
“HOOYAH!” they shout.
“We’re going up against my arch-nemesis again. Esteban has made contact with Josephine today at the MC clubhouse build site. We’ve lost sight of him and have no clue if he’s in the city or state. We’re going in without info. Not the ideal situation, but not one we haven’t done before. It’s time we stop our defense and go into offense. We need to make the first moves from now on. Once we have a location on him, we go in. We’re going to be working hand in hand with the devil for a spell ‘till this situation is resolved. Lorenzo Bianchi has offered men and firepower. We will take his men. We don’t touch any of his stolen goods. We use our own weapons. There’s only so much I’m willing to take from the fucker.”
A murmur of approval ripples around the garage. None of us want to get our hands any dirtier than we have to.
“Chase,” I address him specifically, “I want you to inform the Feds Esteban has been seen here in Fort Collins. See if we can be granted access to their database. Maybe they will be generous with us for once. Contact Detective Quire from local law enforcement and update him as well.”
Chase nods and grabs his cell, heading outside to make the call to the FBI and Luke.
“Punk, you will take Eagle, Stage, Flay, and Triple and supervise the build site—one of you must be with Josephine at all times. Gauge is setting up a meeting with Lorenzo to assign tasks to his crew. Chase will continue to monitor all things here with help from Butch. Reaper, I want you to stay on surveillance for Jacob Klein—he hasn’t been removed as a suspect from the break-in at Josephine’s condo. After Brass and Ziggy finish up the recon job in Aurora, Brass will work security detail and Ziggy will work with Chase. I will be with Josephine at all times until the threat has been removed,” I say with authority before clapping my hands. “Meeting adjourned.”
“HOOYAH!”
Exhausted, I go to Punk and give him the keys to my SUV. “Hades trusts you. I need you to go fetch him. Take Opal or Ebony and have them pack up a bag for me and Josephine. We’re staying here until we handle the situation.”
Punk takes the keys and nods. He whistles at Ebony, who is sitting outside in an Adirondack chair soaking in the sun. She hops up and bounds over to him. He snakes an arm around her and helps her up into the SUV before taking off.
Rolling my shoulders, I make my way back to Josephine. She’s sprawled across the bed with the covers kicked off and her jeans tossed on the floor. I run my hand down my face and groan.
My girl likes to sleep in her skimpy panties and tank tops. How the hell am I supposed to control her subconscious behavior while we stay here with my men? I can’t stop her from stripping naked in her sleep and expect my brothers not to ogle her.
I look again at my sleeping beauty and know that if I was in the position of any of my men, I would be drinking in her image. She looks like a fucking goddess in her sleep, her lithe body on display, her soft lips slightly open, and her ash-brown hair sprawled out like a fan across the pillow.
Fuck, I’m getting hard.With a groan, I adjust myself through my jeans but realize it’s fruitless.
Unable to resist, I strip out of my clothes, down to my boxer briefs and crawl in next to her. I pull her body against my chest and rest my chin against the back of her head, breathing in her citrus scent.
I yank the flat sheet up to cover us, but Josephine immediately thrashes around until it’s off of her—not having air conditioning will make you run warmer.
No covers it is then.I’ll punch any of my roommates who look at her if I have to.
