Sadie
I AWOKE WITH a gasp. Disoriented and frightened, I glanced around the room, not entirely sure what had scared me.
Sitting up, I climbed out of bed and tiptoed to the door. Nothing. The house was quiet, so I slipped out of my room and down to Ryder’s. I pushed open the door and forced myself not to sigh. Ryder was on his back, one arm behind his head and the sheet and blankets at his waist. His ripped, bare chest exposed. Goodness, he was gorgeous.
He stirred and I whispered, “Ryder?”
I saw his head tilt and then, “You okay?”
“I think I had a bad dream.”
He held his hand out to me. “Come here, sweetheart.”
I didn’t hesitate, running for the bed and jumping onto it, sliding against him. He pulled me close and kissed my forehead, wrapping a blanket around me. “Do you remember the dream?”
“No. I just felt like someone was watching me.”
“No one’s watching you.”
“Well, I know that now.”
He chuckled. “I’ve got you, baby.”
“I shoulda just slept in here.”
“Probably,” he agreed. “Never mind. You’re here now. Sleep, baby.”
“No. I want to snuggle more.”
“Whatever you need, Sadie,” he said, a slight hint of mirth in his voice. “I’m here to serve you, after all.”
“Darn tootin’.”
“You do talk funny.”
“Whatever. Spoon,” I demanded, and rolled over.
I heard him shift and then his chest was to my back and I wiggled closer.
“I love you, weirdo,” he whispered, and kissed my shoulder.
I smiled. “Love you too.”
Before he could wrap himself around me, his phone buzzed on the nightstand. I lost his heat as he rolled over to answer it. “Ryder. Hey.” He sat up. “Shit. Okay, yeah. Okay. Yeah, Reese and Ollie are here.”
“They are?” I asked.
He squeezed my arm. “No. Yeah. Okay, good. Thanks, Cam. We’re ready.” He hung up and stretched out beside me again.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Four Spiders hit the Frog. Agents were waiting.”
I sat up on my knees. “What do you mean, agents were waiting?”
“We’re past the forty-eight hour mark, baby, so they’re coming.”
Holy crap! I hadn’t even thought about that.
“What?” I squeaked, scrambling off the bed. “We need to go somewhere safe.”
“Sadie.” He sat up (totally calm and in control) and patted the mattress. “We are covered. Totally protected.”
“What about my aunt and the girls?” I whispered. I’m not sure why I whispered... because of potentially planted listening devices maybe? I was watching way too much crime TV.
“Totally covered, honey.”
“How are they covered?” I challenged.
“One agent for every one and a half girls, plus one exclusively covering your aunt, plus an insider.”
“An insider?”
“Someone Cam sent in. I don’t know who. Better that I don’t.”
I crossed my arms, suddenly freezing. “When did Reese and Ollie get here?”
“About an hour ago. Reese is on the sofa in the family room, Ollie’s downstairs.”
“Why are you so calm?” I snapped, stomping my foot.
He sat up and held his arm out to me. “Come here, baby.”
“I’m freaking out here, Ryder.”
“I know, honey. Come here.” He waved me over.
I inched toward the bed and he reached to grab my hand, pulling me down beside him. My breath left me with a grunt as he slid his hands under my arms and guided me up against his body. “Still freaked?”
“Um, yes.”
He rolled me onto my back and kissed me. “How about now?”
“Yes, Ryder. You kissing me isn’t going to change that.”
“Since I can’t do something more distracting, I was hopin’ it would.”
“Ryder.” I frowned and pushed at his shoulders. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
He sighed, kissed me gently one more time, and flopped onto his back, pulling me against his chest. “Hatch said I had forty-eight hours. So I put things in motion during that forty-eight hours. Now we wait.”
“Wait for what?” I whispered, my freak-outery rising with every second.
“For him to lay the rope he’s going to hang himself with.”
I let out a frustrated growl and sat up again. “What does that mean?”
“When he gave me that timeframe, baby, he showed his hand. He owes someone something and he owes them soon. There’s also a reason he’s asked for the girls back... instead of demanding replacements.”
“Replacements?” I asked in horror.
“Do you know how easy it is to traffic people, Sadie?”
“Apparently not,” I snapped, not particularly liking his tone, and moving away. “But thank you for speaking to me like an idiot.”
“Sorry, honey. I know you’re not an idiot.” Ryder pulled me back. “And I didn’t realize I had a tone.”
I bit my lip and sighed. “You have a tone sometimes, but I could be tired and projecting.”
He chuckled. “Look at us communicating and shit.”
“Well, we’re not here to talk about us, so please explain to me why he wants the girls back instead of asking for replacements.”
“I don’t know, honestly, but there’s definitely a reason, because it would be much easier just to get a couple dozen more girls from the streets. He’s made a deal or has to pay something back. He’s desperate.”
“Or he could just have thrown out an arbitrary number... or felt getting replacements would be too much of a hassle.”
Ryder smiled. “Hatch doesn’t leave anything to chance, Sadie. Everything is planned and calculated down do the second... or more accurately, the penny.”
“But why are you involved? Outside of getting Scottie out, I mean.”
“Because of my fetish.”
“So you admit you have a problem now.” I bit back a giggle because this really wasn’t a giggle-appropriate moment.
He grinned, tugging me onto him again. “The FBI’s been lookin’ at the Spiders for a while. They’ve been tryin’ to get a guy on the inside and it’s been a long road. Cameron saw a way in when Scottie was taken—”
“So what does that mean?” I asked. “He used Scottie’s kidnapping as an opportunity?”
“You make that sound nefarious.”
“It’s a little ambulance chasing, don’t you think?” I climbed off the bed and paced the floor. I needed to think, but I could only do that moving.
He shook his head. “No, but I see how you might.”
“He used the horrific ordeal Scottie and you were dealing with to buddy up to the enemy.”
“He didn’t, baby.”
“Sounds like it to me,” I countered.
“I know and if you come here, I’ll explain.”
“Fine,” I ground out and went there.
He wrapped his arm around me again and pulled me close. “When Scottie went missing the first time, she came back. By that time, Cameron was watching the Spiders for what he suspected was trafficking. When we lost her the second time, he had evidence from his surveillance that whatever this was, it was way bigger than her going missing, so he got a team together. Hatch stayed clear and by that I mean, his fingerprints weren’t on it. Literal or just his MO. This concerned me, because even his guys stayed clear. No one came to the bar; no one came to any of the other bars I own. No one came anywhere.”
“Hatch was in jail,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, but he doesn’t stay clear, baby. He’s close to the club prez…who doesn’t do anything without Hatch, so the fact Dad’s hands were off the trafficking the Spiders were doing was a tell.”
“You own other bars?” I asked.
“Yeah, baby. I own six.”
“Oh, wow,” I breathed out. “So you either live above your means or you’re loaded.”
He chuckled. “Don’t live above my means, baby.”
“Well, that’s good to know. Continue,” I said.
“When Hatch’s hands are off something, he’s on something else, and if he’s not up my ass even a little, then he’s doin’ something to fu—screw with me, so I had Cam focus on dear old Dad.”
“Smart.”
“More like been burned before, Sadie. He’s nothing if not predictable.”
I kissed his chest. “Sorry, honey.”
“It’s no big deal. He was a shit dad, so I found people I liked better to be my family.” He kissed my temple. “And you and I are gonna have tons of babies so I can show them what a real dad’s supposed to be.”
“Okay, honey.” A shiver shot through me. Tons of babies, huh? Making a mental note to revisit that later, I asked, “How did Hatch get out of jail? Is it so easy to get out just because a witness recanted? Surely they had other evidence.”
“Not sure yet,” he admitted. “But we’ll find out. Like I said, Cameron has been trying to get inside the Spiders for years. Well, I should say, the FBI’s been trying to get in, and with his and my friendship, he was hopin’ he could find an in. But Hatch can see Feds comin’ from space, so nothin’ was workin’, and it caused drama that could get someone dead, so they went another way. I don’t know which way, they didn’t tell me, but they got in. And that’s apparently how they found the girls.”
I gasped. “Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
I sat up again. “It’s Michael!”
“Come again?”
“I knew it!” I slid off the bed and waved my hands in the air. “Unless it’s not. But I think it is.” I glanced at Ryder. “Do you think it’s Michael?”
He sat up. “Sadie, honey, I need you to slow down.”
“No, it can’t be. He’s been there for two years. I think I would have seen something.” I bit my lip. “But maybe not.” I didn’t notice that Ryder had slid out of the bed until I caught a view of his naked rear end heading toward the bathroom. I squeaked. “You’re naked!”
“Can’t get anything by you, Sadie.”
I turned (admittedly, not until I’d taken a lingering eyeful... lordy, he had a nice butt) and crossed my arms. “Why didn’t you tell me you were naked? Why are you naked? Where are your pajamas?”
“You were standing in my doorway lookin’ freaked, I always sleep naked, ergo, I don’t wear PJs.”
“You always sleep naked?” I whispered, my voice low and breathy... gah!
“I always sleep naked.” Strong arms came around my waist, making me jump a little, but his lips landed on the soft spot at the back of my neck and I relaxed again. “Unless you’re in bed with me, then I cover up.”
“I appreciate that,” I said, but I didn’t really. I wanted to see his butt again.
“You can see it anytime you like, baby. Just say the word.”
“I did not just say that out loud!”
He turned me to face him with a laugh. “Yeah, you did.”
I covered my face with my hands and fell against his chest. “I’m so sorry, Ryder. That was really disrespectful.”
“Liking my ass is disrespectful?”
“We’re not married Ryder,” I mumbled into my hands. “It’s most definitely disrespectful.”
“Well, I’m flattered.” He lifted my head and tugged my hands from my face. “And you’re gorgeous all flushed and sexy... can’t wait to make you look that way by other means.”
“Don’t say things like that to me.” I scowled and smacked his chest. “It’s not fair.”
“You can open your eyes, Sadie. I put pants on.”
I opened one and then relaxed. “I’ll admit I’m a little disappointed, but I appreciate it.”
He chuckled and kissed me. “Now, back up. What’s this about the priest?”
“Michael and Cameron, seem like they know each other. And it could be a coincidence, but they seem to know each other outside of church. The other night, they were talking privately and I saw them and it seemed weird. Not wrong weird, just weird, you know?”
“Yeah, Sadie I get it.”
“I started thinking more about it yesterday and he doesn’t act like most of the priests I’ve been raised with. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great priest,” I rushed to say. “He’s never done anything wrong, but he does do things differently.”
“Differently, how?”
“Well, like you.”
“Like me?”
I nodded. “All man. You know, badass man... not priest man.”
His lips twitched. “Okay, I think I’m trackin’.”
“So, that’s weird, right?”
“Yeah, baby, it’s a little weird.”
“What are you going to do?”
He shrugged. “Nothin’ right now. We are going back to bed.”
“That’s it? You’re not going to talk to Cameron?”
“Sweetheart, it’s three in the morning. He’s busy, it’s not life-threatening, and if he’d wanted me to know his connection to priest Michael, he’d tell me.”
“You’re not even a little bit curious?”
“Not at three in the morning, no.”
I let out a frustrated growl. “You’re useless.”
He chuckled. “You stayin’ or am I gettin’ comfortable?”
I licked my lips and studied him for several seconds.
“Baby?” His hands slid to my waist.
“I’m thinking.”
“How about I stay clothed and, if you have another bad dream, you come back?” he suggested.
“That’d be really nice.”
“Okay.” He smiled. “Love you, Sadie.”
“Love you too.”
He gave me a gentle kiss and I headed back to my room.
* * *
Ryder
Ryder sat back on the bed and pondered what Sadie had just told him. If Cameron had Michael on the inside, it was better Ryder didn’t know. Plausible deniability, but part of him wanted to beat the shit out of the guy for being that close to Sadie, especially knowing what he knew now.
If Cam did have Michael on the inside, it was a brilliant play. The Catholic church closest to the club headquarters “supported” the club. Cameron knew that and he knew it because Ryder had told him. Sadie’s church wasn’t far from that one, so if Michael went in as a priest, it would be the perfect way to get in. The churches did a lot together and the Spiders wouldn’t have thought anything of it.
“Ryder?”
He turned and found her standing in his doorway again. “Hey, baby.”
“I don’t want to sleep alone.”
He smiled and held out his hand. “Come here, honey.”
She jumped on the bed and slid under the covers while Ryder stretched out beside her and pulled her close, kissing her. “’Night, baby.”
She burrowed closer. “’Night, honey. I love you.”
“Love you too, baby.”
He kissed her again and they slept.