Page 28
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
Oriana
“ B ut which is your absolute favorite?” I chuckle as Sasha kneels on the floor, her finger tapping against her mouth as she tries to make a decision. In front of her she has every one of her Disney princess dolls laid out side by side. Their pretty dresses and hair immaculate, as only just taken from the box. Sasha cares for her dolls like they're real and, when playing with them, treats them like delicate glass that needs to be handled with great care. If they get a little ruffled she will spend the time needed to straighten their dresses, and put in place every hair of their glorious tresses.
“Ariel,” she eventually says. “No wait, Elsa is my favorite.” Her hands fall to her side and her shoulders drop, and her head tips to one side. “Aww, I can’t decide,” she huffs, her little foot giving a single frustrated stomp against the floor .
“I guess that answers the question,” I reach out, pulling her gently back into my lap. With the tip of my fingers, I start to tickle her around her neck. Her shoulders crush up and her infectious giggles fill the surrounding air. “You love all the princesses.” Her body wriggles around, her laughter punctuated with short, sharp squeaky breaths. I stop with the tickles. Sasha twists herself around until we’re face to face. With a soft hand on each of my cheeks, she looks me right in the eye.
“I love you, Mummy.” My heart bursts with pride. Sasha has started calling me Mummy, yet this is the first time she’d not added Orio at the end, her nickname for me. It shakes me up, but despite the twinge of guilt towards her paternal mother, I can’t deny the feeling of delight, too.
“I love you tooooooo,” I let my fingers flutter over her ribs and her giggles fill the room again.
I love Sasha as if she was my own and my life, here with her and Stone, is complete and utter bliss.
The front door opens with a whoosh of air. Speak of the devil, Stone is kicking off his boots at the door and making his way towards us.
A single look of my man and my heart is beating double-time. God, I love his broody eyes, rich dark hair and thick beard that stupidly seems to extenuate his plump lips that I could spend the rest of my days kissing the fuck out of.
He shucks off his cut and lays it over the back of the sofa before making his way around it and over to where we’re sitting on the floor. He locks his gaze to mine and gifts me with a smile that would melt even the modest of ladies’ panties off. But those bitches have no chance because he’s mine, and mine alone.
“Hey baby girl,” he drops to his knees in front of us and kisses the top of Sasha’s head. “Darlin’,” I’m up next and his lips come to mine, bestowing me with a searing, lingering kiss full of love, lust and a promise of more to come. “By the sounds of it, my ladies are having fun.”
“Daddy Gabe,” Sasha swiftly bounces from my lap to Stones. “Mummy was tickling me.”
I internally cringe, not knowing how Stone will take the dropping of my nickname. He’s always insisting that Sasha never forget her actual parents and we speak of them freely, and have pictures on display, so I’m a little unnerved as to how he’s going to respond.
“Mummy was, was she?” Our gaze meets, and the emotion I see in his eyes is pride. He smiles and winks, and I let out the breath that I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.
“Have you seen all my princesses?” Sasha, still sat in Stone’s lap, dramatically sweeps out her arm. Her body twists and flips backwards so suddenly, that if it hadn’t been for Stone’s strong hold on her, she’d have back flipped on to the floor.
“Wow, I didn’t realize you had the whole Disney collection.” He fakes a gasp and does a few more wows as she proudly sits upright on his knee. “Sasha, sweetheart, I’ve got to work tonight, so how about you go upstairs to your room and grab a book? I’ll read you a story now, as I’m not going to make it back before your bedtime?”
“Okay,” she places her hands on his cheeks and bestows him with a kiss, the same way she had done to me. On her feet and skipping towards the stairs, I quickly move and take her place, curling into Stone’s lap.
I thread my fingers into his hair and rush his lips to mine. Instantly, the heat between us ramps up to boiling point as our teeth and tongues clash in need of connection.
“Oriana,” Stone murmurs against my lips. “I have little time. Smoke has called Church.”
“How long?” I ask between devouring his mouth.
“We have about twenty-five minutes.”
“And you want to read story books?” I titter, resting my forehead against his. “If you’d be giving away precious time to anyone else other than Sasha, I’d have had to kick your ass.” I plant a firmer kiss against his lips. “But for our beautiful child, you’re forgiven.” I go to stand, but he pulls me back into his embrace.
“I’m sorry. Things look to be ramping up with Dunne and the Death Valley Irish.”
“You have intel?” I ask him. He gives me a quick sharp nod, but the way he avoids my eyeline tells me there’s more to it. If I am not mistaken, there’s an element of guilt in his expression.
It’s not normal for a brother to divulge information to his woman, however Stone does. He trusts me, so why is he holding back this time? “Where did it come from?”
He swallows hard before lifting his gaze to mine.
“Tenley.”
“I’ve got it, Daddy,” Sasha comes careening over with one of her arms wrapped around a colorful book.
“Sasha, sweetie,” I catch her attention before her bottom hits the floor. I take the book from her, place it on the couch and take her hands in mine. “You get comfy here,” I pat the seat beside the book, “While Daddy Gabe gets you a juice box and a cookie, okay?”
I don’t wait for an answer because Sasha never says no to her favorite treats. Grabbing Stone’s hand, I drag him into the kitchen.
“I thought Tenley’s involvement was done with?” Stone had told me that Tenley had provided Smoke with information on Paddy Dunne; still, as far as I was aware, that’s as far as it went. “What’s going on?”
“She’s… sort of… been speaking to Dunne. They might have gone out on a date a couple of times.” He reaches for me. I duck out of his way.
“She’s what?” Turning my back to him, I walk a few paces before swinging back around to face him again. “You’re telling me she’s dating this man? The one who is responsible for the death of your brother and his wife?” I’m whispering, so I don’t alert Sasha. The anger is clear. “Why on earth would you do that?”
“Baby, it wasn’t my call.”
“Smoke,” I choke out, shaking my head. “But you agreed to it.”
“Oriana, it’s not that straightforward. It went to the vote, and the decision was made.” He takes a tentative step closer, and when I don’t try to stop him, he takes the rest until he’s near enough to put his hands on my hips. “It was an opportunity that we couldn’t ignore. Tenley had already crossed paths with Paddy Dunne. He made it clear he was interested. It was a way in.”
“I don’t like it, Stone. She could be in danger. ”
“We’ve got eyes on her most of the time. I’m sure she knows what she’s doing.” He pulls me in for a reassuring hug. “We’ll talk later, I promise, but for now, grab me a juice box. This is going to have to be the quickest story telling of all time, otherwise Smoke is going to be on my ass.”
With Sasha tucked up in bed and fast asleep, I fire up the coffee machine and make myself a strong black mug of stimulant. The conversation with Stone about Tenley’s involvement is far from over, and I’m determined to be alert when he finally comes in.
I curl up on the couch. The T.V. is playing some reality show about blind dating but after a few minutes my mind strays to Tenley.
What the hell does she think she’s doing? She’s a reporter, not a fucking spy for the CIA. In the past, it wasn’t unheard of for Tenley to take risks. She was a handful as a teenager, always looking to break the rules in search of the next shock factor. Now, looking back, I realize that part of that was a backlash from her insecurity, anger and the need for attention from our father. But now, she’s a fucking grown woman and should know better.
I’m raging right now, the need to face her, voice my outrage at her dangerous and careless stupidity is uncontrollable.
I grab my cell phone from where I left it on the arm of the couch and punch in Cub’s number. There’s a good chance that he’s unable to take my call, although it’s worth a try.
“Oriana, you okay?” Cub answers on the second ring.
“Are you free? Sasha’s in bed, but I got something I need to do.”
“Sure,” he replies. “Smoke, Stone and the rest of the brothers are still at it, and might be for some time yet. The other prospects will still be around if they need anything.”
“It won’t be for long.” I knew I could rely on Cub, and at least I know that if Sasha wakes up and I’m not there, she’ll be fine. He and Sasha have a kind of brother, little sister vibe going on that’s adorable, and Cub has a protective streak when it comes to her. “I’ll need my car if that’s okay?” I request.
“No problem. I’ll grab Rex and he will take you wherever you need to go.” I don’t want an escort, but I know the guys are under strict instructions that I’m not to leave the grounds unaccompanied. “We’ll be up in around ten.”
After cutting the call, I quickly change out of my lounge pants and swap them for a pair of jeans. I grab my jacket, slip on a pair of boots and pace the space in front of the main door, waiting for them to arrive. I’m not sure who I’m angrier with. Smoke for putting Tenley in such a dangerous situation, or my stepsister for going along with it just to snag a fucking story for the newspaper.
When a rap at the door pulls me out of my internal ranting, I plaster a smile on my face and open the door to find Cub and Rex. I look past them and I’m happy to see my car that they’ve brought up for the journey .
“Hey, thanks for this,” I greet them, my attention back to them. “Before we go, Rex, there’s a box on top of the wardrobe in my old room at the back of the house. I tried to lift it down earlier, but it’s heavier than I thought. You wouldn’t mind getting that for me, would you?”
“On it.” Rex quickly bends to untie the laces of his boots and kick them off. I’m thankful that all the guys stick to my boots off at the doorway rule. The floors in here might be hard-wearing, but they’re still a nightmare to clean.
“Oh, was that Sasha?” I tilt my head as if I heard a noise from upstairs. “Oh damn, if I go up to her, she’ll bombard me with a ton of questions as to why I’m dressed to go out. I’ll never get out of here.”
“Hey, leave it to me.” Cub, already in stocking feet, heads for the stairs. “You go do what you need to do. I got it covered.”
As soon as they’re both out of sight, I grab the spare key for my car from where I’d already stashed it in my jacket pocket, and quietly sneak out the door.
Rex has already got the car facing down the slope that leads past the clubhouse to the gates so when I get myself situated in the driver’s seat, I put the key into the slot, but instead of hitting the ignition button, I take it out of park and put in into neutral mode, letting the car freewheel down the hill. Once out of ear shot of the cabin, I power it up and put it into drive.
On the gate tonight is a new prospect. He’s a young stocky guy with hair shaved close at the sides, a narrow tuft running from his forehead down to the nape of his neck. He can’t be much older than eighteen with his youthful, acne-covered face. I can’t help but think that the punk haircut, lip and eyebrow piercings is his attempt to make himself look older and more badass. I’m just hoping that as he’s relatively new to the club, he’s clueless to the restriction that Stone has put on me when leaving the compound.
As I pull up beside him, I give him a nod and a wave. At first it doesn’t look as though that’s going to be enough, but I hover over the button that brings down the window. Surely, he must realize that if I’m already on the premises that I can’t be that much of a threat.
Suddenly he seems to recognize me, and he gives me a quick salute before pressing the release button, and the gates begin to slide open. I pull through them slowly so as not to seem suspicious. Once out, and a few down yards down the street, euphoria hits me at pulling off my devious escape plan, I gun it toward downtown Reno.