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CHAPTER TWENTY

DAKOTA

I’m pretty positive that what I’m doing here is just delaying the inevitable. But I really like Bullet… Bishop. Really like him. So, I follow the girl from the bakery’s advice. I close my eyes and jump in with both feet, but at the same time, I stay aware of what could be lurking around the corner.

She seemed a little standoffish when I confessed that I was in a relationship dilemma with a member of the Vicious Reapers, though I still don’t really know what any of that means, and she didn’t explain it, either.

I think I’m going to have to do my own research on that because nobody is really saying much other than it’s a club, a business, and they have women they use for sex. A security supply company business. Which… weird.

John’s gaze flicks between me and Bishop, no doubt leery of him being here, especially since I called him yesterday and told him to get ready to sell everything, and today I’m backpedaling. He probably has a right to be concerned, but I’m going forward with this jumping-in-with-both-feet kind of plan.

“You don’t want to sell everything?” he asks, his gaze flicking over to Bishop, then back to meet mine.

“Not yet. I’m putting a pin in it all right now. I think I need to spend some more time at my father’s place. I jumped the gun a bit in a slight panic.”

John doesn’t say anything, but he does hum. That hum is filled with slight judgment. I can feel it. I don’t ask him about it or call him on it, though. Instead, I clear my throat and nod a couple of times.

“I do think that I shouldn’t have a share in his company. That was something he built with his men and has nothing to do with me. I don’t know how it works. I don’t know what I would even do as far as involvement. I think the current owners should stay the current owners.”

“Would you like me to put together a package for a buyout?”

I don’t look over at Bishop, but I can feel his gaze on me. Sinking my teeth into the skin at the inside of my cheek, I nod my head.

“Yes, please,” I whisper. “I want my father’s estate to be in the hands of the people who deserve it. I have no desire to run that kind of business, and my opinions would be useless and pointless.”

“They would never be pointless,” Bishop announces. “You’re Shade’s daughter, and you are not dumb, babe. You already run your own business.”

His words are nice, but I’m under no impression that I should be running a security supply company with a bunch of men. Instead of saying that, though, because I don’t want to get into a back-and-forth with Bishop, who, while he’s saying all the right things, I know that deep down he doesn’t think that I should be running it, either.

“I would like to make a deal for a buyout,” I say, standing firm in my decision.

A few moments later, the only thing I came in here to do that I actually accomplished was that John is going to get a buyout on the table for all of the partners in the security supply company.

Everything else is still exactly the way it was before I walked in here, and as much as I’m pretty positive it’s a mistake, at this point, time is on my side, and I can change things whenever I feel like it.

But I need to go back to Nathan’s place. My dad’s place. I need to go through his things and really take in everything I can so I am able to make the best and most informed decision possible.

Even though I know that Bishop had to somewhat talk me into not selling everything, I was acting hastily. I need to be there and feel him for a little while longer, no matter what I ultimately decide.

And that is what I’m going to do right now.

Walking out of the office, I stop at the front of my rental car and turn to him. Bishop lifts his hand, cupping my jaw. My breath hitches as his thumb slides along my bottom lip, then he bends slightly to slide his tongue across the same path as his thumb before he straightens.

“I think I’m going to go ahead and head over to Nathan’s place for the rest of the day.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” he asks, and while it’s sweet, I don’t want anyone with me. But I don’t say that. Instead, I shake my head a couple of times before my gaze meets his.

“I think I need to be there alone.”

“You’ll call me if you need me?” he asks.

“I will.”

He bends slightly again, his mouth brushing mine, and then he takes a step backward, turns around, and walks over to his bike. I watch as he climbs on, straddling his big black machine as he shifts his focus to me again.

“Baby,” he calls out.

He doesn’t have to call out to me at all. My focus is and will be on him whenever he’s near. My body can’t stay away from him, no matter how far away he is. As long as he’s somewhere near me, I am in tune with what he is doing or saying.

“Call me when you’re done.”

BULLET

Leaving Dakota to go and spend the day at Shade’s place, I decide to head back to the clubhouse and attempt to handle the schedule for the next few weeks. Between the Bloodhound MC and the Willamette Haven, we are going to be spread thinner than I would prefer.

Once I’ve made it to the clubhouse, I park my bike and throw my leg over the side. When I make my way into the bar, I’m not surprised to see a few of the guys have come from whatever they had been doing earlier, no doubt to find out what happened with Shade’s property, Dakota, and me.

“Need to talk to whoever is around. Come to my office,” I announce as I walk by the men hanging out, drinking beers and pretending to be playing pool. I know they aren’t. That was all for show. They want to know what the fuck is going on. They’re nosy-ass fuckers. But so am I, which is why we all get along so well.

Instead of sitting in my chair behind my desk, I lean my ass against the front of it and cross my legs at the ankles and my arms at my chest as I watch them file into the room. They take up almost every comfortable inch of the space.

“You’re likely here because you are nosy motherfuckers, so I’m going to give you the information as I have it. Dakota is not selling Shade’s shit, at least not yet. What she is doing is having Ivy’s partner write up a buyout of his portion of Thunder Security Supply. We’ll buy her out and divide Shade’s percentage of ownership between us all evenly.”

Goose jerks his chin, and I press my lips closed as I watch him for a moment. He doesn’t speak up very often, especially not without Maverick right by his side, but he’s nowhere to be seen, which means he’s probably at the store, another odd thing because they usually work together down there.

Maverick and Goose are aptly named because they are not only best friends. They’re twins, and they are also always together. Joined at the hip, they even finish one another’s sentences. To see one without the other is strange. Then to actually hear one speak without the other is jarring.

“So she won’t be a partner with us, but will she still be your woman?” he asks.

I don’t want to admit that I have no fucking clue what the future holds in store for me and Dakota, or that she’s on the verge of running from me at any given second. Just thinking about those things makes me feel weak as fuck.

“She’s mine.”

And she is. Even if she runs far and fast away from me, she’s still mine. And she will remain mine when I drag her sexy ass back here and fuck her into submission. She is mine. Only mine. And if anyone even looks at her, they’re dead.

Plain and fucking simple.

“Good,” Goose states. “I like her for you. Really like the fact that she got into a fucking brawl with Exorcist. That’s fucking amazing.”

My eyes widen as my lips part. I start to ask him how the fuck he saw that shit, but he answers my question before I can even ask it.

“Prospect recorded that shit and sent it to us all.”

I should beat the absolute fuck out of that prospect, except I’m fucking impressed because I don’t know that I would have thought to record any of it. “Send it to me,” I demand, jerking my chin toward him.

He snorts, and I watch him take his phone out of his pocket, and almost instantly, mine dings with a new notification. I’m going to watch that shit when I’m alone. And savor it. Because I knew that when I walked through the door, my woman was winning. She’d already won, and I want to see how that shit truly went down.

“Now, we need to discuss who is going to Oregon. I talked to the NorCal club, and they can spare five guys to join us in Oregon. I talked with the Portland club, and they’re able to send five guys down to the cult as well. That’s ten from other clubs. Didn’t bother calling Idaho. They got their own shit going on. Washington is a little too far.”

Shocker clears his throat, and I look over to him, dipping my chin slightly to give him the floor. “What about talking to South Carolina? We bring in five of theirs we should only have to send five of ours. That’s twenty men, and I think we can take that pedophile fuckin’ piece of shit with twenty men.”

“I like the sound of that,” I agree. “I’ll call them. Send out a message to see which four men want to go with me.”

“Three,” Shocker announces. “We only need three because I’m going.”

My lips twitch into a smirk. “Three then.”

And that is fucking perfect because with only five of us going to Oregon, that keeps our people and our place well-staffed, well-armed, and ready for whatever the Bloodhound crew thinks they’re going to blindside us with.

Next up, I need to talk to my contact again. It’s time to handle business, kick ass and take some goddamn names. I’m ready to settle and get my woman here to stay. Because I may not know her all that well yet, but I don’t need to know a goddamn thing other than she was made for me.