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“Anna and Tristan have been briefed,” he informed me. “They’ll look after Saint and Talia; make sure they’re good while we’re in our meet. Also spoke to Cass and Rockabye, who’ll keep watch, too. Not that I think they’ll even get a look-in. Seems to me your woman’s already making an impression.”

I looked up the steps to see Saint leaning down to listen to Kady gab excitedly in her ear with a huge smile on her face. Saint gave the young girl a tight hug before pulling back and laughing with her about something.

“Fuck me. They’ll be kidnapping her and taking her back to Wyoming at this rate,” Hendrix said, a warning tone in his voice. “They’re all starstruck. Had to send Diablo on a weird-assed errand; he was getting so wound up about meeting Saint that he was losing his mind.”

My lips tipped. “Still can’t believe he’s a fanboy.”

“You should’ve seen his face when he found out you and Saint were together. Thought he was gonna start bawling.” Hendrix’s stare fell on my face, and he nodded slowly as he took in my happy expression. “Good to see you happy, brother.”

I shrugged. “Good to be happy, brother.” I clasped his shoulder, looking down at JT, who slept soundly in his arms. “If someone told me a year ago that you and I would both be wifed up, you with a baby too, I would’ve gone out and brought the first straitjacket I could find for them. ”

Drix’s face flushed, and he murmured, “Don’t tell these morons, but I think I might have found a way to get Anna to marry me.”

My teeth flashed. “What the fuck are you up to now?”

He leaned down to touch his mouth to TJ's little forehead and declared, “Our convo about taking Addie in led us into a deep and meaningful powwow about adoption. I looked into it, and it turns out you’ve gotta better chance of being accepted by the agencies if you’re married.

” His face split into a wide grin. “I reckon I’ve cracked the code. ”

My chuckle was deep. “You’re a sneaky fucker.”

He turned to look at the women, who were about to disappear inside the hotel.

“A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.

Want her ring on my finger, want my last name replacing hers, and I want a shit load of babies running around the place.

Locking my woman down legally is my top priority.

I'm not saying every day’s moonlight and roses, Ice; hell, some days it's more like weeds and thornbushes. But there’s nobody else on this planet I’d wanna do this with, even when times get tough. Especially when times get tough.”

“I know what you mean,” I concurred.

“I know you know what I mean, seeing as you confessed how hard you’ve fallen on the phone not two days ago.

Why d’ya think I’m talking to you like a lovestruck fool and not the others?

Could you fuckin’ imagine the shit I’d get ripped outta me if I shared all this dewy-eyed, simpering slush with those ass clowns?

” He sniffed up through his nose like a fighter about to get in the ring with an opponent double his body weight. “I gotta rep to protect.”

“And I gotta band to sort out and a woman who, after a five-hour flight, no doubt wants to freshen up,” I relayed, heading toward the steps .

Hendrix and JT fell into place beside me. “Got Gopher to move your shit into my room. You’re ready to rock and roll,” he said as we ascended the steps to the hotel.

“Thanks, brother, but I’m not sure I’ll need it. Going to New York soon, and then, who the fuck knows?”

“You’re not leaving the club, Iceman. Already had some ideas I wanna run past ya that’ll keep ya busy.”

I twisted my neck to look at him, my curiosity piqued once again. “Shoot.”

“I will after you get your shit done, and I hand my boy off. He’s due a feed, and Iris wants to do it. Promised her she could, seein’ as she misses out on a lot with him.” His voice dropped low. “Plus, between you and me, I think she needs a break from Wilder.”

“Mother Theresa would need a break from that little shit,” I muttered as we hit reception. “He puts me off having kids.”

Hendrix grinned. “I think he’s funny.”

“I think he’s a fucking scream, bro, but I’m not sure I could live with his antics day in and day out.”

Hendrix looked down at his boy, and a soft look fell across his face. “Ours won’t be like that.” His eyes lifted, and he added one hope-filled word, “Right?”

My mind was filled with images of the club, the work, the club whores, the Friday night fights, and all the other crazy shit that went on in this place.

I thought about Blade umming and ahhing over Carina, then my mind drifted to Fender’s grumpy moping ass and how Diablo ran around threatening to chop cocks off, then went and slept in a room filled with jars of body parts lit up like a goddamned Christmas tree.

I turned back to Hendrix, and God help me, I did him the biggest solid I could, even though it involved lying through my fucking teeth .

“It’s okay, bro,” I assured him. “I’m sure our kids will turn out normal.”

I knew I’d done the right thing when I saw his shoulders relax and the look of slight panic fade from his face, even though in my head I heard Allie’s laughing voice whisper one word.

Liar.

—————

“So,” Colt began, his stare fixating on me across the table. “They’ve delivered the profile. You ready?”

I shifted in my seat and leaned over the huge round table with the Speed Demons’ patch burned into the center. “Go for it.”

My club brother picked up his iPad and began to tap. Within seconds, the walls of Church lit up with a graph of lines and squiggles, all centered around a picture of Saint and one word spelling out ‘stalker.’

“Jesus,” Diablo muttered. “That looks complicated as shit.”

“Not really,” Colt stated. He tapped on his device, and the graph turned into a list with headings and subheadings.

“It’s just the way the team set it out. Remember, when they’re profiling, they need room to add thoughts and even gut feelings sometimes.

You should be able to see it clearer this way. ”

I scanned the list, trying to take it in as Colt started talking through the bullet points.

“He’s young, between twenty-eight and thirty-six, and he has a history of failed relationships.

He’s social but finds interacting difficult, though he probably hides it well by overcompensating and being the friendliest guy in the room.

To everyone, he seems like a great person, but the mask slips now and again, and he expresses bouts of anger or resentment.

Stalkers are fueled by different things, but we think this guy has a few of the classic triggers.

He desires his target and even thinks he’s in love.

He also has a distorted sense of entitlement, which we think is a toxic personality trait, but it could also be because he’s got money and power.

Basically, he thinks he’s a catch. If the woman he pursues doesn’t welcome his advances, he’ll eventually turn what he thinks is romance into threats.

However, he always justifies it to himself by blaming the victim for their lack of encouragement. ”

“So, he’s got an inflated sense of his own self-importance?” I asked.

Colt nodded. “Exactly. The profilers also believe Saint’s met her stalker.

It could be somebody she knows, a fan she met in passing, or an exec-type whose hand she shook once at an industry party.

The language in the notes conveys a sense of familiarity.

This isn’t his first rodeo, either. He’s definitely done this before, which should make it easier to run through the list of men Saint comes into contact with.

His behavior’s too obsessive for it not to be a compulsion. ”

Something pinged in the back of my head. “How well could they know her?”

Colt shrugged. “It ranges. The profile can’t pinpoint it, but they’ve definitely met.”

“Does anyone you already checked out fit the profile?” I enquired.

He nodded. “I’ve got a few hits. The first one is Braden Hunt.”

“Where do I know that name from?” Hendrix asked.

My gut twisted. “He’s Dischordium’s manager.”

“He is,” Colt affirmed. “Braden’s also a hothead, entitled rich boy who’s had a complaint made against him from an ex-girlfriend who accused him of stalking her.

I dug deeper, and the charges appear to be bullshit made-up ones.

She was pissed he ended things with her and turned out to be vindictive as fuck. Still, we can’t rule it out.”

“I’ve met Braden a few times, and I can’t see it,” Hendrix interjected.

“I’m sure people said that about Ted Bundy, boss,” Colt responded. “I’m not saying he’s guilty; I’m saying a lot of his shit fits the profile, but then I’m sure a thousand men we know do, too.”

“Maybe we should bring Carbine into the fold,” Blade suggested. “Ask him to keep his eyes peeled.”

I jerked my grin in assent. “Agreed. Carbine may be in a rock band, but in his heart, he’s still a Demon and loyal with it.”

“I’ll talk to Cash after Church and get him to approach Carbine,” Hendrix offered. “I think it would go down better coming from his prez.”

We all murmured our agreement.

Colt’s stare met mine across the table. “Why did you ask about the perp’s closeness to Saint?”

I held his gaze. “It was just something that happened last week, and it resonated with me when you mentioned bouts of anger and resentment. Jonny lost his shit with Saint, and it came out of nowhere.”

Our tech guy began to tap on his iPad. “Jonny Jensen, aged thirty-one, born in San Diego, an only child to Derek and Lindsay. Moved to LA when he was twenty-five to be a session drummer. Joined a couple of bands after the first year, but they never amounted to much, then he joined Saint’s Rapture and hit the big time.

He’s a party boy, exhibitionist, who likes the limelight.

” Colt’s stare narrowed on the screen. “No criminal record apart from one pap altercation a year ago, which was settled out of court, but it looks like his records were sealed when he was seventeen.”

I leaned forward. “Can you get into them?”

Colt rolled his eyes. “What do you think? Gimme a minute.” His fingers flew over his iPad as if they were on fire.

He paused a couple of times, waiting for the device to catch up with him.

Images began to flash up on the screens.

A police report first, then a hospital admission form, and finally, a grainy mugshot.

“Jonny was arrested for attempting to break the terms of a restraining order served on him by an ex-girlfriend. He was accused of harassing her and her new boyfriend. The judge took pity on him and ordered him to complete an anger management program rather than give him a custodial sentence. Jonny’s dad’s a partner in a law firm in San Diego and managed to get the case sealed.

” His lips thinned. “Obviously, it’s not what you know; it’s who you know. ”

Hendrix grunted. “So he’s got a history of not handling rejection well? Plus, his dad’s loaded, so that fits the entitlement part of the profile. We all know lawyers are a special breed. Some of ‘em think they are the law. That could’ve rubbed off on his boy.”

“Seems that way,” Colt confirmed. “Though I have to point out, this happened nearly fifteen years ago, and he’s been clean since. It could’ve been a one-off sitch.”

I thought back to the day Jonny snapped at Saint. The venom in his tone shocked me, and the way he called her a cunt. At the time, it was explained as him coming down from a high, but after hearing Colt go over the profile of Saint’s stalker, alarms were wailing in my head.

“So what do we do about it?” Gambit asked.

Hendrix bit the inside of his cheek, deep in thought. “Nothing for now. The clubhouse has got cameras everywhere, and we make sure Saint is never alone with Jonny.”

“I don’t like it,” I murmured.

“Neither do I,” Diablo agreed.

A surge of heat hit my chest, and my nostrils flared. “You know that Saint’s my woman, right?” I asked, turning to the SAA. “I’ve been protecting her just fine for the last couple of weeks, brother .”

His cheeks flushed red.

“Iceman,” Hendrix said quietly. “Don’t take your shit out on the wrong person. I get it’s frustrating, but D’s just worried.”

The surge left me as quickly as it had reared up, and I slumped back in my chair. “Sorry, D,” I muttered. “I think the pressure’s getting to me.”

He nodded. “S’okay.”

But I could tell he was hurt by my outburst.

“Come outside with me after, brother,” I offered. “I’ll introduce you.”

His forehead furrowed. “You don’t have to.”

“Yeah, I do, bro. There’s no man in the club I’d rather my woman be around or be protected by than you. Brave as a fuckin’ lion and a heart bigger than anyone I know.” I grinned. “You’re a mouthy fucker too, but the good outweighs the bad by far.”

The boys chuckled, and to my relief, Diablo laughed along, too.

I shot him an apologetic smile.

He grinned back and gave me a chin lift.

My shoulders relaxed, but the nagging feeling in my gut persisted, and a sense of dread made my chest clench.

Threats were coming from all angles, and I knew something was about to go down; I could feel it in the air that I breathed because it contaminated my lungs every time I inhaled.

In a way, I wanted the stalker to bring it on because the sooner I could shoot him in the head, the sooner all danger would pass, and Saint and I could get on with our lives.

I just hoped that when the dust settled, everyone I loved was still standing.