AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Another thump from behind the door to Wylde’s office, followed by another enraged yell, and I’d decided enough was enough. Putting my shoulders back I met Roman’s gaze with a steely one of my own.
“Open it. Then clear us a path from here to his apartment.”
Roman studied me for a long moment. I was afraid he might refuse my order -- and it was nothing but an order. Then he gave a slow nod. “You heard the lady. Make a hole.” He pulled out a key and unlocked the door before stepping back himself.
I waited until everyone was gone before taking a deep breath and opening the door. The smell hit me first. Was that Indian food? Stale coffee and dirty sock smell was next. Followed by onions. The trash was mostly contained to one corner of the room, though that was rapidly filling. And Wylde? The man looked like a maniac. His hair was on end, his face a mask of rage. Dark circles under eyes that were red-rimmed, probably where he’d been rubbing them, told the story of how hard he’d been working and how focused he was.
“Wylde, please come with me.” I held out my hand.
“I can’t, Dani. I have --”
“It can wait.”
“NO!” He roared at me before closing his eyes and taking a breath. I couldn’t help but jump. “I have to find this fucker before he does something else! I cannot lose you, Dani!”
“You won’t, Wylde.” I kept my voice calm but firm. I didn’t want him to get his back up, but I needed him to know I meant business. “You’ve been at it for a week and a half. How much have you slept?”
“Catnaps here and there. Mostly I just rested my eyes a few minutes at a time.” He was making an obvious effort to calm himself, but his eyes were restlessly moving over the eight or nine monitors on his desk and mounted on the walls in front of his desk. This was more like the basement command center I’d expected him to have.
“That’s what I thought.” I looked pointedly at my hand still stretched out to him. “Please, Wylde.”
“Dani --”
“I’m not taking no for an answer. Now, please.” It was the voice I generally used with the girls when I wanted them to do what I said without argument. Generally, for them to go to bed when they were engrossed in a movie, or a game, or anything other than the fact they needed to be in the bed to rest for school the next day.
Surprisingly, it worked on cranky, sleep-deprived bikers too. Wylde stood and took my hand. Not without a bit of grumbling, but I called it a win.
“Is everything important you need on your desk?”
He stopped and narrowed his gaze at me. “Why.”
“Because when we come back in here next time, I’d like to be able to breathe. The trash needs removed, and I don’t want someone mistaking something you need for trash.”
“No one goes in my command center.”
I nearly smiled at him but knew that would put his back up and he’d buck me. Instead, I kept my tone and my features firm and even. “This is happening, Wylde. The room is going to be cleaned. The floor vacuumed. No one will touch anything on your desk. What about the couch? Is there anything there that you’ll need later?”
He stared at me a moment as if weighing how far how he could push. I could all but see him formulating and discarding ways to get around me. Finally, he sighed before walking to the couch and picking up two stacks of notebooks and printouts. He picked up a plastic tote and dumped out the contents in the corner with the other trash and put the stack in the tote along with a couple of other stacks. The tote was now full to overflowing, but he had everything he needed on or under his desk in less than five minutes.
“There. That’s it.”
“Good. Come with me.”
Surprisingly, Sting stood outside the door to the office well out of the way, but making a presence. I laced Wylde’s fingers through my own before stepping through the door into the hallway.
“Sting, could you please ask someone to clean Wylde’s office while we’re gone? Everything he needs is on or under his desk. Don’t let them touch that. Everything else needs picked up and taken to the trash.” I smiled up at him, trying not to sound too much like I was giving orders in the middle of a biker club. And to the president, no less. “I’m not trying to order you around or anything, but I’m asking. I need to stay with Wylde to make sure he takes care of himself for a couple of hours.”
“Not a problem, Dani. I’ll have the prospects get on it. We’ll have it cleaned and… uh… aired out when you get back.” Yeah. The smell wasn’t pleasant.
“We appreciate it.”
“You appreciate it,” Wylde grumbled. “I don’t need a break. And I don’t need my office cleaned. Don’t want no one fuckin’ around with my shit.”
“Honey, not only do you need your office cleaned, if you don’t take a shower in the next ten minutes I’m not going to be able to stand to be near you.” I gave him my best exasperated look, frowning as fiercely as I could. “And if you don’t get at least a couple hours sleep, you’re not going to make any more progress and you’ll end up breaking something important.”
“An hour.” He stuck his chin up, looking for all the world like a grumpy toddler. While I’m sure I wasn’t the only one making that comparison, I was pretty sure Wylde wouldn’t appreciate me stating it.
“Whoever this is isn’t going anywhere, Wylde. You’ll be better able to find him if you’re fresh. You’ve not had a break since you brought us back here.” When he opened his mouth to argue, I plowed on. “You’ve got to rest. Take a shower. Have a decent meal. Sleep for a few hours. When you get up, maybe you can look at the problem from a different angle and get the answers you need.” When he opened his mouth again, I put my hand over his mouth. “Do you love me?”
