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“You’re not going to be a disaster,” he said, hands tightening on me.“And in case you’re confused, there are two of us and we will work it out together.If you want to be a designer, baby, you’re never going to be short of work.Do you have any idea how hard it is getting designers in the zone?Fucking nightmare.Jace has a whole section he wants to rework at the club.It’s not all like the strip, you know.Sure there are rough parts, but there’s also some swanky places.Most betas would be surprised.They see the strip, but that’s not the half of it.”

“How much more is there?”I asked.

He smiled.“I’ll show you, baby.Just as soon as we get back.”

We washed up in the shower room, slowly, because I could barely hold my weight and Ryder had to do most of the work.

Then he opened up the door.

Clothes arrived, along with a takeout coffee that I practically inhaled.Once I felt alive enough to emerge, he carried me out.

I didn’t remember much of the place, but I remembered the workshop.Jace, Dane, and other men I didn’t recognize were waiting for us, ready to load up into a blacked out SUV.

“Is that… Is that Derek’s car?”I asked in a hushed whisper, seeing the sleek, black BMW changing to midnight blue at the far end of the garage.

“Don’t mind it,” Ryder said.“Compensation for our stay.”He put his hand on the back of my head as he ducked into the car.

“Sloane’s chewing my ear out,” Jace grumbled from the front passenger seat.

“Is she okay?”I asked, snuggling close to Ryder, not even caring that I was nestled on his lap in the back.Judging from the tightness of his hold and his low rumbly purr, he wanted me right there too.

“Anxious,” Jace said honestly.“But she’ll be better once we’re back.”

Dane lowered his window, then called out to the men in the shop.The big roller doors rattled open, and we drove out into the dark, wet night.

“How are we going to get in?”I asked.

“The same way we got out,” Dane said from the driver’s seat.

A few blocks later, a ramp took us down into an underground garage.Only it wasn’t an underground garage, it was a tunnel.

“Gun it,” Jace said.“Time to go home.”

* * *