Page 13 of Lockout (The Vikings MC: Tucson Chapter #11)

Lockout

S hoving off the side of the building where I’d been leaning, I studied Keely’s face as she walked out of the law offices. It wasn’t good news. I didn’t need her to say anything.

Her beautiful face was carefully blank as I fell into step with her and we crossed the road. She didn’t say a word as we entered the parking garage and walked toward her car.

Scanning around as my eyes adjusted to the dim garage, I hit the key fob to unlock the door. I’d been watching everyone passing by on the street while she talked to her bosses. If anyone was following her they were doing a damn good job of concealing themselves.

I was sure that Hangman knew where she was, but his crew was waiting, hanging back, to be told what to do about her.

Especially now that she was under our protection.

They weren’t just going to barrel in and try to take her from me.

He knew better than that. They knew our reputation.

For now, they were doing exactly what we were, planning.

He was still in D.C. at the moment, according to Riptide.

He was probably going to send his Phoenix crew to take care of her.

Which wasn’t going to fucking work, but he didn’t know that yet.

Glancing over at her, I started the car. “You going to say anything?”

That full lower lip trembled as her eyes darted away from me. A quick shake of her head was all the answer I got. I pulled out of the garage and started toward home. I wanted to pull over and drag her into my lap, console her as she cried.

Before I allowed her to come and live at the clubhouse, I’d had Rip do a thorough background check on her.

More than the usual. I knew how hard she’d worked to get where she was.

That was why I’d refused to be the reason she walked away from it all.

That was how resentment built up between two people.

“Want me to kill them?” I asked.

Her watery laugh made my lips twitch. It wasn’t a full smile.

How the fuck was I supposed to do that when she was nearly in tears beside me?

If I wasn’t there, she’d be sobbing in her car, alone.

But because I was with her, she was holding back.

Her beautiful deep blue eyes were glistening with tears that she wouldn’t allow to fall.

“Very funny,” she sniffed, pulling a tissue from her purse and dabbing at her eyes.

As if I was fucking kidding.

She was in lawyer mode today. She’d damn near knocked me on my ass when she’d opened her door this morning.

The pants she had on were tight and perfectly tailored.

And the blouse was modest, long sleeved, and exactly what a young professional should be wearing.

It made me want to rip off all her clothes and dirty her up a bit.

Mess up that neat bun her hair was in. She could keep the high heels on while I fucked her though.

Those killer heels were too sexy to let her take off.

She sniffed again and peeked over at me. “You were kidding…” When I didn’t answer she gaped at me. “Lock-”

I shrugged a shoulder. “Sure, I was kidding, Keely.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why don’t I believe you?”

Because I wasn’t kidding.

“Where to?”

“Home,” she sighed. “I need to call Agent Anderson and officially resign from the civilian contractor’s position.”

It was going to be a rough day for her. She wasn’t a woman who quit anything. And twice in one day she was going to have to admit defeat and resign from a position.

We made the rest of the drive in silence, but once we got back to the clubhouse, I went into her apartment with her. When she gave me a curious look, I just sat down on her couch and made myself comfortable. I wasn’t going to make her go through this alone.

She didn’t argue. Another clue of how devastated she was.

She didn’t normally do what I told her to without at least a little push back.

Now she was doing everything I demanded.

It was understandable. These fuckers were out to get her.

She was displaced from her home because of it.

Now she’d quit her job. And was quitting the task force.

She was floundering. Still, I wanted to get the fire re-lit inside of her. I didn’t like seeing her so docile.

Until then, I’d be there for her in whatever way she needed. We both glanced over at the door as a noise broke through the ringing coming from her phone. I motioned for her to put it on speaker as I stood and went to the door.

I wasn’t surprised as I opened it and Auron came trotting in like he owned the place. The canine had a sixth sense about what people needed. He padded over and hopped onto the couch next to where Keely sat.

“Miss Bradford.”

“Hello, Agent Anderson.”

I smirked as she put on what I liked to think of as her lawyer voice. Static did the same damn thing anytime he went into work mode. There was a cadence to her words as she explained to Anderson that she was going to have to back out of working on the task force.

The heavy pause once she stopped speaking had me tensing up. I hadn’t sat again. Instead, I was pacing back and forth in front of her.

Her right hand was buried in Auron’s fur as she held the phone with the other.

“That’s…unfortunate,” Anderson finally said.

“I understand it’s last minute,” Keely told him. “But I’ve got…family…issues I need to deal with.”

“Breaking an employment contract with the U.S. Government isn’t as easy as-”

“I’ve looked over my contract,” she said, interrupting him. “I’ve fulfilled my obligation to the government and am within the grace period to opt out according to the newest contract I recently signed. I’m taking that opportunity to decline continued employment.”

I could all but hear Anderson gnashing his teeth together on the other side of the line. He wasn’t thrilled about this. But too fucking bad. I paused my pacing to wait to see what he’d say. To see if I needed to step in.

“We’re sorry to see you go, Miss Bradford,” Anderson said at last. He knew he didn’t have the fucking authority to do anything else. “You’ll need to contact HQ and get everything rolling with them.”

“They’re my next call,” she assured him.

“Agent Hill will be sorry to see you go.”

That dickhead was going to be furious because he just lost his fucking little scapegoat.

If Agent Hill thought he was getting away with putting my woman in trouble, he had another fucking thing coming.

But he’d have to wait. First, I needed to deal with the LoS.

Then, I’d go visit that scumbag piece of shit and fuck up his world.

For now, I listened as Keely said her goodbyes. Then she jumped straight into the next phone call and it was all about terminating her contract with the FBI.

“Do you ever relax?” she asked once she hung up the phone.

“This is relaxed,” I said.

She shook her head. “It’s done.”

I’d heard, but I nodded at her. “Good. There might be some kick back,” I warned her.

The government didn’t like to let go of good people.

And she was fucking good at her job. They sure as fuck had pursued me and the other guys when we’d left.

Worse, they could be petty, and this Agent Hill sounded like the type.

“I know. But I have a pretty good reason not to let them convince me to go back,” she said with a wry smile.

She looked exhausted. And sad. And fuck if I didn’t want to wipe that dejected look off her face. But I couldn’t. The one thing I didn’t want for her had just happened and I knew there were other people who would be better at cheering her up than I would.

“Need anything else?” I asked her. When she shook her head, I left her apartment without another word.

I walked down the hall and knocked on a door, waiting until it opened.

Dani blinked up at me in surprise. “Hi, Lock. Hang on and I’ll wake up Smoke. He was supposed to put Hannah down for a nap and fell asleep himself.”

I smiled down at the gurgling baby in her arms. “Actually, I came to talk to you.”

Now she was back to blinking again. “Oh. Okay. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Sort of. Your sister just quit her job.”

Her mouth was working but no words were coming out. Until they did anyway. Then they came out in a rush that nearly made me take a step back.

“What? She…what! What happened? Why would she do that ? Were you with her when she went to talk to the partners? Do you know why she would do that?”

I figured I wasn’t expected to answer any of these questions since she didn’t even pause for breath before the next was spilling out of her mouth, so I just waited.

By the time she was done, I was holding a baby while she rushed down the hall.

I more or less figured it would go this way, though the baby was a twist.

Staring after her, I shook my head then looked down at Hannah. “Your mom is a little crazy. Hate to be the one to tell you.”

The baby cooed and waved a chubby fist at me.

I took it as an agreement. “Want to go do some paperwork?” I asked.

When she cooed again, I shut the apartment door and carried the baby downstairs with me.

I could probably knock on Syl’s door and ask her to watch the kid, but I didn’t mind hanging on to the baby while Dani comforted Keely.

And I could definitely wake Smokehouse up, but this would be more fun.

“How long do you think it’ll take for your dad to find us?” I asked the baby. Babbling nonsense was my answer. “And how panicked do you think he’ll be?” I questioned when she stopped. “Do you think we should do the paperwork somewhere other than the office? Okay, you’re right, that would be mean.”

Grinning, I carried her into my office and shut the door. I bounced her on my knee as I picked up the phone to call my manager. He’d left me a couple voicemails, needing to ask me a few things about the charter we had set up for tomorrow afternoon.

As much as I wanted to be the one to comfort Keely, I knew it was a bad fucking idea. Because first, I’d set her on my lap. And it wouldn’t be long before I was kissing her. Fucking her until she was emotionless and drained wasn’t an option, but that was the only way I could help right now.

It was better that I sent her sister to her.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a stampede of old ladies heading toward her apartment any minute now.

As if on cue, I heard the thumping of feet.

Billie’s, if I had to guess, since they’d come from the front of the clubhouse then rushed up the stairs.

No idea how she’d gotten here so fast, but these women were often a mystery to me.

They’d let her cry and feed her chocolate, or whatever women did for each other in times of need. All I could think about doing was feeding her my dick. Definitely not helpful right now. Maybe if I dipped it in chocolate first? That was a Toxic thought if ever I had one.

So I’d work, and baby sit, and that would be my contribution toward helping Keely through this. Then later, when she wasn’t on the verge of tears and the sight of her tear-filled eyes wasn’t shredding my self-control, I’d talk to her about what the next steps were.

After I took care of the LoS, and beat the fuck out of that stupid FBI Agent, we’d fix her career.

I knew she was feeling a bit hopeless right now, but this wasn’t the end.

Between my connections, Idaho’s, Static’s, and Cypher’s, we’d get something worked out for her. I wasn’t going to allow anything less.

I waved Hannah’s hand back and forth to entertain her as I settled back in my chair to get some work done.