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Cherry took my hand and pulled me to the end of the bar, stopping to grab the suitcase that still sat behind it. “Shay, we’re headed up for the night.”
Shay nodded her head as she poured a beer from the tap. Cherry linked her arm through mine and walked us toward a set of wooden stairs to the left of the bar. We went up in silence and oddly enough the sounds of revelry dimmed as we climbed, making the party seem farther away than it actually was. When we reached the top, there was a long hallway lined with closed doors like you’d see in a hotel corridor.
“You sure you’re going to be OK with Hunter? If not, I can ask Valentina to convince Ryder that you’d be better off in my room.”
Stifling a yawn, I waved her off. “There’s no need to do that. Hunter doesn’t bother me.”
Well, he did, just not in the way she meant. That, however, was something I wasn’t ready to share with my sister. These feelings and urges were new for me, and I wanted to have something that was mine. A piece of me that didn’t belong to anyone.
“Here we are,” Cherry said, stopping before the hallway branched off. She took a key out of the pocket of her jean shorts and unlocked the door. “I’m kind of excited to see Hunter’s room.” She giggled. “It’s like seeing a unicorn or bigfoot.”
“What do you mean?”
She walked in, setting my suitcase down just inside the door, and looked over her shoulder. “You’re the only one who’s ever been allowed in Hunter’s room.”
“What? Surely, he’s had other women up here.”
It hurt to say it, but I’d never been one to lie to myself.
Cherry’s wide eyes, a mirror of my own, looked around in awe. “Nope, just you. He even cleans his own room.”
Hunter’s room reminded me of a military barracks. The plain wooden queen-size bed had an army green blanket that was tucked tightly underneath the mattress, the corners folded perfectly. The matching wooden desk in the corner only had a laptop on it, the mouse beside it perfectly centered.
On the far wall sat a dresser with a green leather chair next to it. The chair had nothing draped over its arm nor any items shoved underneath it. We could probably white glove the place and not find a spec of dirt anywhere, which was surprising considering most men were pigs.
Cherry walked over to a door and threw it open. “Huh.”
“Do you think we should look at his stuff?” I asked even as I walked behind her and peeked over her shoulder.
It felt like a violation of his trust, being that I was the only one he’d ever allowed in here, but I was insanely curious. You could tell a lot about a person by their closet.
“Silly, it’s your closet now too. He’s the one who insisted you stay in his room, and you need someplace to put your stuff.”
One pair of boots sat perfectly centered in the middle of the closet floor. On the bar, jeans and black combat pants were hung neatly from thick plastic hangers. A lone box sat atop the shelf above it. When Cherry reached for it, I grabbed her arm.
“Oh, no, you don’t.”
She looked over her shoulder and gave me her best puppy dog eyes. “You know you’re dying to see what’s inside the box. It’s the only personal item in his room.”
She was right. There were no pictures, knickknacks, or papers left out anywhere. Still, I wasn’t about to violate the man’s privacy. Yes, that was a little hypocritical of me considering I planned to rifle through the club’s computers, but that was different. At least, to me it was. Hunter’s personal effects wouldn’t set my sister free.
“Maybe he doesn’t let people come into his room because he doesn’t want them going through his stuff?”
“Party pooper,” she said with a sigh. “I’ll admit, when Hunter first set his sights on you, I was shocked. Around most people he’s detached, but with you he seems, almost…”
“Territorial?”
That was the only thing that made any sense, though I still wasn’t sure why he would be fixated on someone like me. I was nothing like any of the women I’d seen downstairs. Not that I was going to complain about only having to deal with the attention of one man as compared to the entire club. That lessor of two evils motto was what led me to agree to Hunter’s terms.
“I was actually going to say human, but that works too.” She turned around, her bright smile almost overshadowing the mischievous glint in her eye. “Though, now that I think about it, you two might be perfect for each other. You’re both highly intelligent, emotionally stunted, and entirely too serious. Maybe getting laid regularly will do wonders for you both.”
“Cherry!”
In the distance, the late afternoon sun glinted off the single spire that rose from the roof’s center. Marek was running late for our meeting, making Cannon restless. He had long ago worn a path in the grass, making hiding useless should Piotr’s men care to actually do their job and check for threats beyond the back fence line. Patience was not his forte, so I wondered how he proposed to deal with the boredom of babysitting my brother. At this point, I was tempted to pin him to the tree with my knife, just so he’d remain still for a minute.
He stopped and lifted the binoculars he held up to his face. “Why is your boy still hanging around?”
It would be useless to point out to Cannon that Marek was not my boy. He was paid well to help me secure the Braterstwo, and while he hated Piotr, I was under no illusions. There was only one way out of the brotherhood, but even the threat of death didn’t always insure loyalty. Which was why I’d reminded Marek that he owed me one for keeping his secret.
