Page 2 of Ruthless Obsession (Royal Bastards MC Chicago, IL Chapter)

He must’ve doubled back.

I whip the car into a U-turn and speed down the block behind the house.

Still nothing.

He’s long gone.

I slam my palm against the steering wheel, jaw tight.

If I hadn’t gotten so distracted watching her kick him in the damn balls—hell, I felt it in mine. I’d have been ready. I loved the way she stood up to the asshole. And watching her hold her own? That did something to me.

Lights off, I ease back into my original spot across the street and kill the engine.

In the morning, I’ll ask the girlfriend when Toby’s supposed to return.

For now, I’ve got time to kill.

I call up Chaz “Psycho” Roberts.

He’s our tech guy. Quiet, brilliant, and lethal behind a screen.

We went to college together. I trusted him with my family’s business before he ever stepped foot in the clubhouse. Then he started showing up, hanging around, proving he could ride and handle shit when things got bloody.

Don’t let the messy blond hair and calm gray eyes fool you. He looks harmless.

But when he snaps, he doesn’t just lose it, he enjoys it. Psycho lives up to the name.

“Hello?” he rasps.

“Psycho, it’s Ruthless. “I need information on this asshole now.”

This bastard’s not slipping away twice.

He yawns through the line. “Give me a sec. I’m getting to my computer.”

I glance at the house across the street. Still dark.

Keys clack on his end as he pulls up records.

“Ruthless, this guy moves real clean. He’s got real estate scattered across the country—Chicago, Arizona, Texas to name a few. All under different names and LLCs.”

“Webbs and Flock followed him to a place in Evanston,” I say, rattling off the address. “Is the house in his name?”

More typing.

“Nope. It’s registered under a shell company—Walgans Enterprises.”

Figures.

“I want a surveillance cam up on that tree across from the property by eight a.m.”

“No problem,” Psycho replies.

“Good. Now dig deep. I want everything you can find on Toby Fawson. Bank records. Associates. Arrest history. Hidden properties. All of it.”

“You got it,” he says.

I end the call, eyes still locked on that quiet, dark house.

∞

I woke up Webbs and Flock and told them to haul ass to my location. I need them to search the house while I talk to Toby’s girlfriend. If she even is his girlfriend. The way they interacted last night looked pretty damn intimate.

Standing outside the car, I sip a Red Bull.

“Psycho, after you finish installing that camera, mic the house and set up a couple more cameras inside.”

“On it, brother.”

I turn to Webbs and Flock. “Hit the back. After she opens the door, go in through the rear and sweep the place.”

“Got it,” they reply one after the other.

Webbs and Flock circle around the side of the house while I climb the front steps and ring the doorbell.

“Who is it?” she calls from inside.

“Mavis.”

The door swings open. Her scowl deepens, and for the first time, I get a full look at her face. Mahogany skin, heart-shaped, and gorgeous. Last night I only saw her side profile.

“So now I get to put a face to the creep who sat outside my house all night,” she snaps.

“What?” I raise a brow. “Creep?”

Before I can react, her fist slams into my nose.

I kill people for a living. I’ve taken hits from grown-ass men twice my size. But this? I wasn’t ready for the woman who clearly didn’t take shit from anybody.

Blood trickles from my nose. I mutter a curse under my breath and wipe it with the sleeve of my shirt. Then I grab her wrists in one hand and pull her into my chest. Her breath hitches, then her chest rises and falls against mine. Big, angry brown eyes lock on me.

I scan her long, shiny black hair, pouty plump lips and my dick hardens in my jeans.

“I’m not that piece of shit boyfriend of yours. I don’t hit women,” I say backing her into the house.

She tried to knee me in the balls. I blocked it.

“Calm down, sweetheart.” I smirk.

“I don’t know what you want with Toby, but I want you to get the hell out of my house,” she spits.

“I came to ask a few questions about your sick, twisted boyfriend, but since you decided to come at me swinging, I’m taking you with me.”

“What? No the hell you ain’t.”

I yank a zip tie from my pocket and pull her hands behind her back crowding her once again. She’s forced to crane her neck to look into my green eyes. I tighten the zip tie around her wrists.

Her breathing changes. She isn’t just mad. She’s aroused.

She doesn’t even know it yet.

I stare at her. My heart does this weird stutter in my chest.

“Are you twisted like your boyfriend?”

She pushes against me, trying to pull away. “Toby’s not twisted.”

"So why did he hit you?"

A brief sadness flickers in her eyes before they become steely again. "Just let me go. I was planning to leave this morning anyway."

I sense my brothers watching us.

"Mavis, she was on her way out." Flock raises a messenger bag.

The woman shivers at the knowledge of the other men in the room behind her.

“Good. That means she’ll have something to wear besides those tiny-ass shorts and that t-shirt around the Royal Bastards clubhouse. I don’t share. And I don’t let my brothers stare at what belongs to me.”

“Since when?” Webbs remarks about my sharing.

She’s not to be shared.

Her eyes narrow. “My brother is Prez of the Chi Hellraisers MC. He hates the Royal Bastards MC.”

The feelings mutual when it comes to the Chi Hellraisers. Bad blood runs deep between our clubs.

I lean into her ear. “The way your nipples pebble against my chest I can tell you don’t hate me.”

Standing tall, I hold up a finger. “I know how you move. I’m securing your ankles.”

“No,” she says, panic creeping in.

I crouch down to secure her ankles. She tries to wriggle out of my grip.

Psycho chimes in. “Mavis, we’ve got company.”

I hoist my captive over my shoulder and glance out the window.

“Is that a rocket launcher? Fuck. Back door,” I roar.

We tear through the house as the rocket slams into the front window. The blast shakes the walls.

Flock throws the back door open just as the explosion erupts behind us.

I cradle her in my arms, her terror sinking into my chest like a blade.

She’s mine now. No one’s taking her from me.

I launch off the back porch as the house goes up in flames.

Glass rains down around us as we hit the ground hard.

I will kill Toby. Even if it’s from the grave.