BOOTH

My patience was wearing thin. This was the second time Stella’s life was put in danger. Fucking cars exploding in my car park. What the ever-loving fuck was going on? Shiloh could have gone with the girls to see the car, and what would have happened then? Fuck, I felt like I was losing control. I hadn’t felt like this since that hated day when my brother, my real brother, died in my arms in the middle of that hellish country. When Deck and I started up the Wounded Souls, it helped heal a small part of us. I thought I had my control back, but today, when that bomb went off in the car—and it was a bomb because Creed found the remnants planted in Stella’s car—fuck, my stress levels went through the roof.

“Pres, you want Jason in on this meet?” Deck asked. His brother was helping us since Shiloh and Teach were targeted at the park, and his help had been invaluable. It also helped Deck and Jason get their relationship back to where it should be. They still had a long road, but at least they were on the right one. I just wished it hadn’t taken something like this to get them there.

“Yeah, brother, bring him in. We need all the help we can get,” I admitted. I hated admitting I was useless to my own club. I should be the one to solve this shit, not an outsider. Even if I had known him since we were teenagers.

I sat back in my chair and rolled my head on my shoulders, trying to ease some of the tension I felt there.

“Booth?” I looked up and saw my men had taken their seats with Jason sitting next to Creed, a pile of burnt rubble sitting on the table in front of them.

Game time. Once I figured this out, I could get my woman in my bed. Finally.

“Creed,” I said, giving him the go-ahead to fill us in on what he had found.

“It was Stella’s stepbrothers. We got them on security footage from across the street.”

My blood started to boil. Those motherfuckers. They were dead. Fucking dead.

“She can’t go back there anymore,” Darth declared, his fists coming down hard on the table. This was the first time since the explosion tonight that he had left Shiloh’s side. No one had spoken aloud that our little princess could have easily gone with the women out to the car. And knowing Shiloh like we did, she probably would have wanted to jump around in Mia’s new car. Yeah, I was over this shit. I wanted it stopped.

“No shit. She won’t be going back. She is moving to the club as of tonight. Darth, take some prospects with you and go pick up her belongings, and make sure you get everything. Show these fucks who we are and what Stella has in her corner. It isn’t a good idea for me to be near them at the moment.”

Darth nodded his head. If I laid eyes on one of those arseholes, I would kill them, so Darth was the next best choice. He had more restraint than I did, plus I knew there would be no keeping him from going, so I might as well give him my permission. The big prick would do whatever he wanted anyway, and he wouldn’t stop until we got whoever killed Dundee and hurt the girls in the accident, breaking Shiloh’s arm.

“Anything else on Rogue?” I directed my question to the Johnston brothers and Ford.

“He has gone quiet. Lincoln can’t get a lead on him, and there haven’t been any blue trucks on the cameras lately. Basically, he has gone under,” Deck said with a frustrated growl. His woman had been Rogue’s focus, but during the phone call from Rogue at the clinic, he told us he would be picking a new target. We just don’t know who. All we knew was he was picking the women. That did not sit well with me.

“Ford, have you found all the members of Creed and Steel’s old sniper team?”

“Yeah, Pres, apart from Creed and Steel, all the others are still active. Two are active over in the sandpit, and the other three are on special assignment loaned out to the SEALs and one to the British Special Forces. There have been no signs of them entering the country.” Ford looked over at Creed and Steel. “Is there anyone on the team you see as a potential?” Ford asked them both. It was not a question anyone wanted to be asked. My team had my trust, and I would have never gone into battle with them if the opposite were true. Picking out one guy capable of going after women and children? No, thanks.

“Fuck, brother, no way! I trust them all. They are the best in the business, and none of them would pull any of this shit or ever go after Shiloh,” Steel said with much conviction. Creed gave me a curt chin lift, approving everything Steel had just said, but I picked up on some hesitancy. Creed had a great poker face, and though he may not ever smile, the man’s eyes never lied.

“Creed?”

“There was another member of our team, Booth. It is possible it’s him.”

“Do not say another fucking word, Creed,” I shouted.

My whole body coiled with hot fury. Creed should have known better than to bring him up. For the first time, I wanted to hit a brother. The other guys stared at both Creed and me, shocked but curious. They obviously expected me to lose my shit and throw something. Not tonight. Control was needed. Sending Creed a signal that I was done with this line of questioning, I focused back on the task at hand.

We needed to change tactics. Something was telling me we were looking at the wrong team members. Our guy was not active, of that I was sure. This guy had no integrity, no honour. Guys like that weren’t active, and they didn’t leave the military voluntarily. Not the men I’d served with, anyway.

“Ford, get me a list of guys with a dishonourable discharge that served with us at the same time in Afghanistan. Something tells me this guy was bad to start with.”

When Ford nodded his head, I looked over to Jason.

“Jason, were your guys able to find anything at all on this fucker?” It was good having the local cops and their resources on our side. As a club, we always stayed on the right side of the law, kept our noses clean, but that hadn’t earned us any special treatment from them—ex-military or not.

“No, Booth, sorry, man. But I have a bit of disturbing news on Stella’s stepfather.”

I looked at him and waited. I was sure I looked calm on the outside, but the on the inside, it was a different story. I loved Stella. If I was sure of one thing, it was that. That stunning blonde owned me. Yeah, I had been a prick to her, but I was pulling my head out of my arse and changing that, and I was going to spend the rest of our lives together making it up to her.

Knowing what had been happening to her at the hands of fucking law enforcement officers, I wanted to take my Bowie knife and gut them all.

“Seems Gary has a gambling problem—I’m talking he owes money to loan sharks. It’s no secret around the precinct that he was sure Gail would leave the house to him when she died. Rumour has it, Booth, a big developer wants that land,” Jason told us, but it was his next words that had me clenching my fists. “He looks to be getting desperate. Stella is stronger than he gave her credit for. She should not have withstood so many beatings. It’s only a matter of time before he hurts her bad… or worse,” Jason finished with an ominous tone.

Not on my watch. Stella wasn’t getting hurt anymore. I failed someone I loved once, and it wasn’t happening again.

“Not happening. Okay, Mannix, I need you to get onto that Shifty arsehole down at that dance club. Rumour has it he is neck deep with a loan shark. Deck, go with him. I think Shifty will be more likely to speak the truth with you there.”

“With fucking pleasure,” Deck agreed readily. I knew he had unfinished business with the guy since I didn’t let him have too much of a go that night we got Teach out of there. Now, though, I didn’t give a fuck what he did.

We went over a few more pressing items concerning the financials of the gun shop and the construction company. Nothing too bad, just some last-minute supplies needed.

“Okay, that’s it. Jason, thanks for your help again. Steel, I want a perimeter search all night. Work up a roster, and put the prospects first. Darth, I need you to buy me one of those leg spreader things on that fucking Christian movie the girls watch.” Banging my hand down hard on the table, I finished the meeting.

“I don’t know what the fuck you are talking about,” Darth said with a growl at me. Shit, fuck me!

“Are you the treasurer and purchasing officer for the club and the businesses?”

“You fucking know I am.”

“Then purchase one for me. For Christ’s sakes, watch the movie, brother. Find out.” I left the room with a pissed-off look at Darth and everyone else laughing at him and me. That movie had a lot to answer for, goddamn it.

As I made my way to the main room, I had one goal. Get Stella, throw her over my shoulder, march into my room, toss her onto my bed, and then lay on top of her and make out like a couple of randy teenagers.

The whole room was deserted. All the women were gone. What the fuck? How long had I been in the war room? Where was my honey? I swallowed the panic that was threatening to take over because, recently, her absences had meant bad things for her.

I heard a noise coming from the kitchen. Of course! Smirking at my stupidity, I strode towards the door, pushed it open, and stilled at the vision in front of me. Oh, Lord. My dick jumped to attention.

Stella was on her back on the floor, her hips arched up in the air with her knees bent and legs slightly parted, and she was thrusting up and down. Over and over.

“Hold and squeeze, hold and squeeze.” She repeated the phrase every time her hips came up off the ground, and as entertaining and erotic as it looked, I had to find out what the fuck she was doing and why.

“Honey, you look absolutely fucking sexy as hell doing that, but what and why?” At the sound of my voice, Stella let out a scream loud enough to wake the dead, making me laugh so hard I nearly choked.

“Not funny, Booth. Seriously, I nearly wet myself.”

That made me laugh harder.

“Sorry, Honey, but what the fuck are you doing?” I asked again as I walked over to her. I reached down and grabbed her hand, then helped her to her feet. Her hand felt so tiny in mine, so fragile. How could anyone want to hit her let alone actually do it? I couldn’t believe what had been happening to her right under my nose.

As if she could hear what I was thinking, Stella hesitantly reached out her hand to touch my face, but she pulled back.

Fuck that. I grabbed her hand back, held it to my cheek, and placed it there, my hand on top of hers. Damn if that didn’t feel good. Her touch was like a balm. Calm and soothing. I closed my eyes and took a few seconds to enjoy this new closeness between us. Our long-overdue talk was going to happen. First, I was going to start with an apology, and then I would explain a few things to her, but this—Stella touching me—was a good start.

“Well?” I prompted, nodding my head to the floor where she had been doing fuck knew what.

Her blush was cute as fuck, and I knew I was in for a typical Stella story.

“Well, Rainn and Vegas once told us that men like their women tight, um, you know, down there,” she said in a rush, pointing to her pubic area hidden under her clothes. “So I was doing my pelvic floor exercises,” she finished with a half-hearted wave of her hand. Her face was flaming red by now. Oh, for fuck’s sake, Mannix and Darth were going to be told to get a handle on their women. First, fucking sex toy parties, and now this.

Taking a deep breath, I lowered myself to her level, and our noses nearly touched. When she breathed out a gasp, I could tell she liked having me so close to her. Well, ditto, honey. Right back at ya.

“Honey, have you given birth to ten kids lately?”

She shook her head back and forth,

“And you are a virgin, yes?”

Her head bobbed up and down, the prettiest pink blush staining her cheeks.

“Then, honey, you are fine. Even if you had given birth, I would still want in there, Stella. Badly.”

Her breath hitched in her throat, and her breasts heaved with effort. This woman was my future.

“What if I weren’t a virgin? Would you still want me?” she asked softly. Her question sent a spark of anger through me. I was a very possessive bastard. I could probably rival Deck in that department. The thought of another man’s hands on Stella, touching her, kissing her, making love to her … Fuck no.

Tilting her chin up so she had no choice but to look at me, I let out a growl. “Listen to me, Stella, because I am only saying this once.” I waited for her nod, then continued, “You are mine. Simple as that. You were always meant to be mine. Virgin or not. But no man will ever put his hands on you or touch this perfect body, ever. Ever. You can do those pelvic things as much as you want, I don’t give a fuck, but all of this”—I pointed to where she had been on the floor—“is not needed. You are perfect. Don’t let anyone give you insecurities when there shouldn’t be any.” I couldn’t say this simply enough. She was perfect to me, and that was all that mattered.

Her answering lit up her face. Her lip was still a bit split but not too badly, and her nose was nearly its normal size, but nothing deterred from her stunning beauty.

“Okay, baby,” she whispered. I noticed that she seemed to call me handsome when we were around other people and baby when we were alone.

“Why do you call me baby when it’s just the two of us?” I was a curious fucker and had a ‘need to know’ compulsion. It kept my men and me alive and had served me well over the years, so I made no apologies.

“You are the president of an MC, a bad-arse biker, the former commanding officer of an elite killing squad. Calling you baby in front of them doesn’t fit the image,” she said, a cheeky grin gracing her face.

Throwing my head back, I let out a laugh. Killing squad. Fuck, my girl was too funny.

“Fair enough, Honey. I can live with that. Now let’s go to bed. I’m fucking exhausted.” I turned to walk out of the kitchen but stopped when I noticed Stella wasn’t coming with me. “Honey?”

She was looking everywhere but at me. One thing I had learnt about Stella Hogan was that she had ‘tells.’ Quite a few, in fact, and when she wouldn’t make eye contact, it was her ‘I’m going to say something really fucking stupid’ tell.

“Umm, is it okay to have an advance on my next wages? I don’t want to go to a women’s shelter tonight, and I don’t have enough cash on me to pay for a motel room.”

I will not get pissed, I will not get pissed, I chanted over and over in my mind as I reined in my temper. If not for the shit she had been through, I might have yelled it instead of saying it to myself.

“Stella— Oh, fuck it.” Ducking my shoulder carefully into her belly, I hoisted her onto my shoulder, mindful of the fact she was still probably very sore.

“Booth, what on earth?” She giggled, and the sound was so amazing. She really looked on the brighter side of life. With everything that had happened to her and to the club, she was still giggling, still making sure I was okay. And apparently, she was worried she wasn’t tight enough for me, for fuck’s sake. I gave her luscious arse a soft tap, shushing her. This woman was about to do my head in.

Taking long, quick strides, I made it to my room in record time. I kicked the door closed behind me and didn’t stop until I hit the bed. Putting Stella down carefully on her feet, I reached behind my head and pulled off my shirt, tossing it to the floor. I made quick work of my jeans and boots while Stella watched me the whole time. Her teeth had pulled her bottom lip in, and her eyes smouldered as she took in my body as I revealed more. I was lucky that during my time in the military, apart from my PTSD, I never got any physical injuries, well, no bullet wounds or stabs, nothing that hadn’t healed and disappeared already. She reached for the hem of her shirt, but I put the brakes on that. I wanted to unwrap my gift myself.

“No, Stella. Let me do that,” I said, watching her carefully for any reaction that told me she didn’t want this. She was chewing on her bottom lip, which was another tell. This one meant she was nervous as fuck, but there was no need. Bruises or not, this woman was beautiful. Reaching out, I took the hem of her shirt and lifted slowly.