Page 13 of Master's Rise

They all take pizza as they walk by.

Seren’s smile hits me hard again. “I'll clean this up. Go see their reactions so you know if they’ll be happy here. I’d want to know too.” She’s not wrong.

I kiss her cheek. “You’re right. Thanks for getting that.” I get the hell out before I have her taking back her dinner offer.

Raid is opening the first door in the hall. I hear Amos laugh. “This is me, Brother. I hope the other is you.” It must have the kitchen. The Brother is always watching the cooking channel.

Stepping through the door, I whistle. “They have two bedrooms.”

“Fucking sweet, Boss,” Banks says walking to the front window. It’s a big apartment for over a store. I hope the other is the same size. The hardware store is deep so it could be.

“Where does the hot chick live?” Amos has my head snapping and eyes on his.

Punchinghot chickright out of his head is my first thought. My body reacts by tensing up. He takes a step back.

“Her name is Seren and she has a house down the road. Her father had this done for her as income in case the store went belly up. He died recently.”

He nods and finds somewhere else to be. “You claiming her?” Raid asks.

It’s a valid question so I answer. “She is under my protection and every Brother should know that. I’ll let you know about claiming her when it happens.”

“Got it, Boss.” His answer relaxes me.

Banks walks to the door. “Let’s go see my place.”

Raid laughs following him out. Amos stops me when I turn. “Cort, I meant no disrespect to you or Seren.”

I throw him chin. “Being honest, I didn’t realize she meant something to me until you said it. I just met her so I can’t say what that something is, but I’ll keep everyone in the loop.” After Courtney and walking, I need to show them the trust that I broke. “She’s got multiple threats and a stalker. Our Brothers better not add to her threat list.”

He walks out with me following. “From here, we can watch out for her. We’ll need the intel on the stalker.”

I love my Brothers. “I need to get Raid to his house first. I want to get Web, Falcon and Hade in on the threats. She filed a report but it hasn’t gone anywhere. We can grab dinner and go over it.”

He pulls his phone. “I’ll give them a heads up. I need furniture.” He’s got to be dreaming of a big table for his kitchen. He’ll be cooking for the Brothers by Monday.

I laugh thinking of the cowboy as we walk into the second apartment.

Raid laughs too. “We got a place for furniture.”

This is nice too. It has a more modern look to it. “This is definitely you, Banks.”

Banks turns with a killer smile on. “Yeah. I love it. It has a balcony with a grill. Come look at this.” He walks away with Amos following.”

Raid stops me from trailing them. “Seren has your protection from the Brothers or for other reasons?” He’s too fucking observant.

“We’ll go over it at dinner. I’m going to see if Rex can meet us. She has a stalker and multiple male threats. I don’t know what I’m feeling around her, we just met, but I like what I’ve seen and heard. I know I don’t want her hurt.”

He nods. “No one wants her hurt, Cort. I’ll get Jinx to cover her while we’re out. We have two Brothers scheduled in town tonight and Web’s got one on his team watching surveillance. We need to pull the other Brothers waiting in.”

“We’ll talk about that too. They need pictures for furniture.”

He laughs. “Yeah. I’ll tell them.”

I call Rex. He’ll meet us there. We need a steak house here.

~*~*~

The cowboys are happy to see us. Jr. asks how I like the house.