Page 8 of Stripping Keys (Devil’s Riot MC Tennessee #6)

CHAPTER SIX

KEYS

Lying next to Marla, I stroke a finger along her cheek, taking in the scar running along it to her hairline. She’s out cold and doesn’t even know I’m here.

The guy she’d been at the clubhouse with yesterday saw me in the hallway and let me in her room. Didn’t question it, just said there’s more to Marla than I know.

I didn’t question him. Wasn’t worried about him. All I cared about was Marla and making sure that she knew that her stunt yesterday wasn’t going to fly.

Especially after I found out what she’d been doing for the past two months.

After I used the program Calyx had given me, everything came through a hell of a lot clearer.

If I’d done it to begin with, I wouldn’t have lost her as I did.

She wouldn’t have disappeared from my radar for the two months she’d been gone.

Now that she’s back, I wasn’t about to let her up and vanish on me again. Not this time around. I don’t care about the bitch facade she puts on for everyone else. I told her to strip it, but I’m guessing she needs it, and that’s fine with me. She won’t be that way with me, though. I won’t allow it.

Looking at her like this, I see the woman I know her to be. Doesn’t matter that the only times I’d seen her in person, she’d been a total bitch. Here and now, I see the woman she hides. I intend to learn everything there is to know that I don’t already. It’s as simple as that.

She’s mine whether she wants to be or not.

Throughout the night while tracking her movements, I looked into all the intel she’d gotten for the club. It’d been a lot to go through. Marla had gotten more than enough for us to know what’s coming our way.

I’ve got a feeling that if those she’d dug into find out, if they haven’t already, will be coming after her as well. They’re not just the club’s enemies but hers as well.

She needs to be protected in every way possible at this point. It’s why I’m not gonna be leaving her here at the hotel. She’s too vulnerable. Pulling my phone out, I check the time. I’ve been here for three hours already, and she’s not budged.

I intended to wait until she was awake, but I still have work to do.

Climbing off the bed, I step over to the connecting door and knock softly. No way was I waking her. It opens immediately to West standing there, brows raised.

“What?”

“I’m moving her to the clubhouse,” I tell him. “Grab her stuff and bring it. You might as well come too.”

West crosses his arms and cocks one brow higher, “You think you’re just going to take her away and her not fight you on it?”

“She’s not going to have a choice,” I tell him.

I don’t care if she’s forbidden to me. I don’t care right now what my brothers will think. She’s Marley’s sister. Griz’s soon-to-be sister-in-law. She’s family to the club and needs protecting. Granted, this isn’t the reason she’s going to the clubhouse or the reason why she’ll be in my room.

It’ll cause questions with my brothers, but I’ll deal with them as they come. She’s my forbidden fruit that I’m supposed to resist, but there’s no resisting, and I’m done trying.

“Just get her stuff and follow me,” I order, turning on my heels and moving back to Marla.

“What about her Camaro?” West asks.

“I’ll take care of it after we get her to the clubhouse.” I wasn’t going to leave her car behind. I saw it in the parking lot. It wasn’t hard to figure out it was hers. The license plate gave it away. Sweet ride as it was, she wasn’t gonna be driving it anytime soon.

Marla doesn’t budge when I pick her up in my arms. Shifting her slightly until she’s got her head resting against my shoulder, I head for the door.

West is there holding it open, watching me closely, bags in one hand, the handle in the other. I step past him, and he follows right on my heels.

I’m going to have to find out what exactly their connection is. I know from past conversations, she’s mentioned West, but not in a way that would mean they were together. And if they were, they’d be in the same room and not connecting.

Hell, if they were, I’d have to knock his ass out or maybe kill him.

Long moments later, we’re walking out of the hotel and through the parking lot. I stop at my Tahoe and dig my keys out without jostling Marla too much. Unlocking the SUV, I open the passenger door and deposit her in the seat, closing the door, sealing her inside.

Turning to West, I take her bag from him. She won’t need it right off, but I’ll get it for her when she wakes up.

“Follow me to the clubhouse,” I tell him, rounding the back of my vehicle and climbing in behind the wheel.

While driving to the clubhouse, I put a call into one of the prospects.

Told him to get the tow truck, then pick up Marla’s car, gave him the license plate number, and ordered him to bring it to the clubhouse and park it in the back where it couldn’t be seen from the front.

I also told him to make sure to cover it up.

Her car will be close, but she won’t have an easy time spotting it right off.

Finishing up the call with the prospect, I drive the rest of the way to the clubhouse, knowing full well that there will be people roaming around and they’ll have questions. They’ll have to wait until I get Marla settled into my room to get the answers they’re looking for.

Just as I thought when I parked at the clubhouse, Marley and Griz were there. What I didn’t expect was for the rest of her family to be seated at a table with Griz and Marley.

All eyes came in my direction.

West let out a curse from directly behind me and muttered to get her somewhere before all hell broke loose.

Thankfully, West held her family at bay while I carried her to my room and tucked her in. Marla let out a sigh and snuggled deeper into the pillows.

Fuck me.

That sigh alone has me itching to join her between the sheets.

I intend to do just that, but it’s gonna have to wait for the time being.

For now, it’s time to deal with the inquisition.

I brush a kiss to Marla’s cheek, right over the scar.

I’m hoping that none of her family saw it, but with the way she’d been situated in my arms and her hair having been in some messy bun on the top of her head, which left her cheek visible to those who saw her.

Though the scar is light, so you have to be close to see it, granted, not that close.

The first time I saw it earlier, I wanted to wake her and demand answers on how she got it, along with how she was able to hide as she has.

Leaving my room, I make sure to lock it, to keep people out, but to keep her in. The deadbolt will ensure that. She doesn’t have anything on her to be able to pick the lock, even if she tried.

While I make my way down the hallway, I can hear Michael’s booming voice. Guess he wasn’t thrilled by being kept from his daughter.

“Someone had best give me some god damn answers, right the fuck now.”

“Michael,” Anna, his wife’s softer voice sounded soothing and filled with caution all in one tone.

I didn’t think that was possible.

“I can’t give you answers you’re looking for,” West retorts calmly.

I make it to the mouth of the hall in time to see him surrounded by not just Michael and Marshall, but Marley and Griz as well.

Fuck me.

Moving into the room, I catch Griz’s attention first, then Marley’s.

“Brother, what the fuck?” Griz demands.

“How about y’all leave good ol’ West here alone?” I suggest coming up behind the guy and slapping him on the shoulder. “He’s already said he can’t give you answers.”

“I demand to know what the hell is going on with my daughter. Why you carried her in here and she didn’t even budge?”

“Probably because she was exhausted and sleeping like the dead. Moved her from the hotel to here so she’d be protected. Can’t protect her when she’s not here.”

“And what the hell does she need protecting from?” Michael sneers. “She’s a fuckin’ accountant for fuck’s sake.”

“No, she’s not,” West blurts out.

Michael levels a glare at the other man, but it’s Marshall who speaks up. “What the fuck are you and my sister into?”

“That’s not something I can share with you. It has to come from Marla,” West states, his voice hardening, eyes narrowing as he looks to Marshall. “You know I’ve always been there for her, and you don’t know your sister as you think you do.”

“Obviously,” Marley mutters quietly, but not quietly enough, none of us don’t hear her. Her gaze comes back to me, and she cocks her head while crossing her arms. “What’s with you and my sister?”

“For now, that’s between her and me,” I tell her and look to Griz. “What I will say is I’ve known Marla for years. Not in person, but we’ve worked together over the years. When she showed up here during y’all’s drama bullshit, we met for the first time in person.”

Griz seems to study me for a moment before he nods. Whatever he had running through his head, he keeps it to himself, at least for now. I’m sure he’ll find a way to corner me later to find out what he wants to know.

It’s not something I intend to share. Not now.

“I don’t give a damn what you think is between her and you,” Michael snaps. “That’s my daughter you carried in here. Why? Where did you put her? What the hell is going on here?”

“Michael, you need to calm down,” Anna says again, this time more firmly.

“Oh, I’m calm, Anna, I’m more than calm.”

Yeah, right. The guy was ready to blow his lid.

“No, you’re not.” Anna moves to stand in front of Michael.

“Remember, I know our children just as well as you do. Marla isn’t going to share unless she wants to.

You can’t force answers from her, just like you couldn’t force answers from Marley or Marshall, for that matter.

They’re all adults and make their own decisions. Now, calm down and drop it for now.”

At least that’s one person who sees reason.

“Mom, how is it you’re so calm about all this? You’re telling dad to pretty much mind his business, but just a couple months ago, you were right with him in mine.” Marley doesn’t hold back her accusing voice in this. “I mean, you’re saying one thing for one kid but acting differently with another.”

“Got to admit, Marley’s got a point,” Marshall grumbles.

“I know all of my children,” Anna says defensively, back straight and glaring at her husband and two other children.

“I know when to act and when not to. I know which of you will run and hide to keep others from knowing the truth. I know which of you will stand tall and take it as it comes. I know which of you will listen and see reason. I also know when it comes to each of you, I have to approach things differently. I love all of my children the same. There is no favoritism. There is no picking one over the other. I give you all my love equally. Now, drop this matter for the time being. When Marla is ready to talk, she’ll talk. ”

“She won’t talk,” Michael grinds out.

“She won’t,” Marshall agrees.

“She never does,” Marley adds.

“Then that’s her decision, and you all need to respect it,” I jump in.

All eyes come to me once more. “I don’t give a damn what everyone here wants.

You’re thinking of yourselves and not Marla.

You’re not thinking about what the hell she did for this club.

Nor about the fact that I carried her ass from the hotel to my SUV, from my SUV to my room, and not once did she wake up.

” I lay it out for them, knowing exactly what I’m saying and what it might reveal.

“You gotta let Marla be who she is. Maybe then she’ll stop being a fuckin’ bitch all the damn time. ”

I’m met by silence from each of Marla’s family, and Griz has a brow cocked.

But it was West who spoke up. “Good luck with that bitch part. She thrives on being a bitch to everyone,” he says with a snort.

“You’re not helping the situation,” Griz grumbles.

“No, I’m speaking the truth,” West shoots back and glances around.

“You all don’t know the woman that’s Marla like you think you do.

She’s a bitch because she strives to be one.

She enjoys being a bitch toward everyone because that’s who she is.

You won’t get the answers you seek from her because she’s not going to share them.

She’s not going to give you what you want because doing so would mean stripping away a part of herself that she’s not going to share with anyone.

” He looks to me and adds, “Including you.”

We will see about that.

Done with this conversation, I look toward Griz. “When are we doing church today?”

“Blow said six tonight,” he answers. “You go through all of the info yet?”

“Yeah, I’ve gone through it and none of it is good.” Sighing, I shake my head. “Since we don’t have church ‘til tonight, I’m heading to my room to crash for a few hours.”

Crash and hold Marla at least for a little while.