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CHAPTER EIGHT

Thyrie

A drenaline and arousal are dueling to the death in my adrenal system, right now.

It’s a crime to put the brakes on the moment I’ve been waiting since Hyram and I met, but there’s no help for it.

I was brought here to do a job, and I have to see it through.

Frankie and Teeny need me to protect them while Hyram and his MC brothers do… what they do.

I’m not bothered by the certainty that what they do will certainly be bloody and criminal.

After hearing the details of what Vance Mitchell is suspected of, and the disgusting comments he made to Frankie, I know he’s scum.

He’s earned the consequences he’ll surely face, if indeed that’s him prowling around out there.

If nothing else, stupidity has a price, and being foolish enough to stalk Frankie, not only knowing that her husband is a founding member of Ghost Born, but following her here?

That’s like escaping the belly of one beast and running headlong into the belly of another.

I hear Hyram and Malik organizing themselves, so I listen with half an ear while allowing the rest of my focus to draw out the pleasure of finally having this man exactly where I’ve needed him for days.

Tiny rocks of my hips rub my desperate clit against the rock-solid ridge of his cock behind his jean’s zipper.

His bulge is so big I can feel him, heavy and hard, against the swell of my stomach even with him pressed against my center.

I know when I finally get him inside me, I’ll feel the stretch and burn of his thickness for days.

“Thyrie, Spitfire,” he rumbles against my neck, the vibrations of his words sending shivers of arousal through me, “I’m going to carry you out of here, so if he can see us, he’ll assume we’re going to a bedroom. Then you go protect the girls while we flank and capture the motherfucker.”

“Wilco,” I confirm then chuckle at the confused look on his face when I pull back to prepare for him to lift me into his arms.

“Sorry. Old habits. Code for ‘will comply’ held over from our days in the service. Since it’s usually me and Silas, and the freelancers we hire are always vets, I forget not everyone speaks camo-grunt like we do.”

Mentioning Silas and my past in the military is usually where the rubber meets the road with guys.

Either they’re intimidated by the skillset from my military career or by the relationship I have with my male bestie.

Regardless, I won’t tolerate a partner who expects me to make myself smaller, so they can digest me more easily.

My breath catches as I wait to see how Hyram handles the reminder.

Yeah, this is a high-stress moment, so it’s not the time to fall out if he surprises me by being as shitty as the men in my past. But it’s also times like this when a person’s true colors peek through.

I’d be a fool not to ready myself for the unexpected.

“Then after tonight, maybe, you can make me a dictionary, so I know what y’all are saying,” he says. Zero snark or hostility. At every turn, my feelings for Hyram Holt are validated and amplified by the good man he is. Criminalistic motorcycle club presidency and all.

“Absolutely. Now, get your ass out there and catch a predator.”

Hyram’s chuckle at my silliness becomes a rumbly grumble of need when my legs wrap around his waist and his steps bounce me on his still-hard cock.

“Consider it done. And consider this,” his stride pauses to push me against the wall and grind himself against my needy center, “on pause until then.”

Nolan, one of the men Hyram introduced me to when he first brought me to the clubhouse, is standing guard outside the room where Frankie and Teeny are staying.

He nods at Hyram and swings open the door as we approach.

Frankie watches her brother set me down just inside the room before he pushes the door closed behind me.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, quiet enough not to interrupt Teeny’s snuffly little kid snores on the bed next to her. The tablet playing Bluey’s theme song continues bopping along, but Frankie sets it down and carefully disentangles herself from the sleeping preschooler.

“Something happened?” Concern is obvious in her hushed question.

“There’s a man prowling around. Hyram spotted him through the kitchen window while I was getting water for you and the kiddo.” I don’t lie to clients about danger, even when I know it’ll scare her. Frankie’s an adult, and she has the right to know what’s happening in her own life.

“Is my brother—” She bites off the worry, a sob catching in her throat.

Hyram wasn’t wrong when he told me his sister was the sweetest woman alive. She’s impossibly softhearted. So much so, that it’s almost unbelievable to imagine her as the wife of a motorcycle club officer. Even her daughter’s got more sass than she does, and the kid’s three years old.

“I’m sure he’s fine. He’s got Malik and Rurik with him. Probably that Malachi guy, too, since he was around earlier,” I assure her.

Soft buzzing from her silenced phone on the bedside table catches her attention, and she tiptoe dashes over to it.

“Arlo, are you on the way here?” she cries. I can’t hear the other end of the conversation, but I assume he says yes. Her shoulders drop as the panicky tension releases at hearing from her husband.

Their conversation continues as I check the room to ensure it’s secure.

The only point of entry is the bedroom door, and we’re on the third floor.

I already know there’s no likely way to scale the building to get through the window.

I go back to where Frankie paces while she talks to her husband.

The roles have flipped, and now, she’s the one assuring him that she’s safe and not to worry.

Once they’re off the phone, I confirm with Frankie that he’s on the way and will be here soon.

Knowing how far Darrow is from Lexen, I don’t doubt the man is breaking land speed records to get here.

To keep her mind—and yeah, okay, mine, too—off what’s undoubtably happening somewhere on property, I turn on some mindless cooking competition reality show and sit down on the bed beside her.

A big part of me wants to be out there with Hyram and the other guys, making that dirtbag pay for what he’s done, but I force myself to hold my position and guard Frankie and Teeny. No matter what, I’ll keep them safe until her husband and Hyram give the all clear.