Page 115 of The Souls We Claim

Bates looks over to the outbuilding, where Switch is now standing stretching his hands over his head.

“Two-hour switchover,” Bates says.

I salute Switch, who salutes back, then gestures that he’s going to check out the rear of the cabin.

As Bates walks back to the outbuilding, I return to the cabin, grateful that King would let us stay here and that my brothers are happy to come through for me.

I fire a quick message to King.

Any news from Vex yet?

It takes a moment for a reply.

Found where he was staying. Motel outskirts of the city. Checked out this afternoon. Could be on his way back to Texas for all we know.

I shake my head. Why would this guy keep hauling all the way up here from Texas? Sure, there is the access issue at the docks, but that doesn’t feel like it’s enough for him to come personally to solve it.

I begin to type.There’s a reason he keeps coming up here. It’s bigger than this beef with me. Is there someone he wasclose to from his time in the system? Someone is up here that’s important to him, I’m sure of it. Ask Vex.

It takes a second for King to reply.On it.

I push open the door to the cabin quietly. King and Rae have done a great job of making this place feel like an escape, a sanctuary. There are pictures of the two of them on the walls. It struck me earlier that none of them feature the Iron Outlaws. He doesn’t wear his cut in any of them. It’s simply Uther and Rae.

A place for the two of them outside of the club.

It makes me want the same for me, Lola, and Ari. A place where we can just be the three of us.

I never intended to stay in the house I’m in, only flip it and move on. It was a vehicle to wash my cash, to make more money. Something to occupy my time outside the club. But it has felt like a home since Ari and Lola moved in. A place to have more of a life outside the club.

Maybe we should go on a vacation. Mexico or somewhere hot and sunny where we can sleep on the beach safely and swim in the sea. I want to see Ari in that Stars and Stripes swimsuit again and make more memories to add to fucking her on the table. And I want to splash in a pool with Lola and set her onto a path where she becomes like a little mermaid.

Hopefully Ari and Lollipop are asleep and I don’t wake them, but as the door closes shut with a click, Ari’s sleepy head lifts from the sofa.

“Hey,” she says, stretching her arms and yawning.

“You should be in bed,” I whisper, just in case Lola is sleeping with her.

“Lola went down without a fight,” she says, tipping her chin in the direction of the bedroom. “It’s like she knows there’s something going on and she wants to do her bit.”

There are interior bars on the windows at the back of the house. They lock into the wall, so they could be removed if therewere a fire and someone needed to get out, but they prevent anyone from breaking in. I appreciate King’s fortification, and it’s making me think that my next project should be a cabin of our own. A safe place to run to if we ever need to hide.

I’ll renovate it any which way she wants me to. And maybe I’ll build a safe room in the basement of our home. That’d be a fun project for the winter.

I yawn as I force my eyes to stay open. It’s three o’clock in the morning, and the house is still with that quiet energy you find when your little part of the world is sleeping. I strip off my weapons, except my knife, and put them on the side table near Ari’s head. She moves the pillow she was lying on and pats the sofa. “Come sit here.” Too tired to do anything other than what she says, I obey. “You should close your eyes for a minute.”

“I’m too wired for sleep, even though I’m fit to fall over. And I’ll feel better when more reinforcements come.”

“I have an idea,” Ari says, climbing off the sofa.

When she takes to her knees between my feet, I take a deep breath. “Ari,” I warn.

“What?” she says as she plants her palms on my thighs and squeezes them. “I want to help you stay awake but find some ease.”

“Watch yourself on the knife, yeah?” I touch my fingers to the one strapped on my thigh. “You’ll piss me off if you hurt yourself.”

She presses up and leans herself against my body so I can kiss her, and I indulge in the safety and sweetness of her lips. I wrap my arms tightly around her back, the warmth of her seeping through her clothes.

Ari slips beneath my arms, kissing my body through my black T-shirt as she goes. Just her touch has me harder than the handle of my SIG. When she reaches my utility belt, I help her unfasten it, but leave the buttons and zipper of my jeans to her.