Jack left me alone in the safe room right after that. I’d been paying attention when Brent was working in the control room, so I easily worked my way through the camera controls to see where he went, though. I followed him, through the monitors, to another hidden doorway on the first floor, and then into a hallway. It led to several different rooms and I was starting to see just how different of a place Stone Security was. It definitely didn’t appear that they ran things one hundred percent by the books.

Jack entered one of the rooms, and then I lost him. I sat there, telling myself that I was going to stay where they told me to stay for a while, but then, I just couldn’t stay still anymore.

I’d watched Brent push in his code, so I easily used it to leave the safe room. I took the elevator up to the first floor and then entered the hallway where Jack disappeared. As soon as I entered the hallway, I could hear the sound of flesh hitting flesh. I recognized it clearly from spending time in the clubhouse.

I crept toward the fourth room, the room I’d watched Jack go into, and pressed my ear against the door. I wanted to know what was happening, but I didn’t want to just burst in.

“Where the fuck is he? Tell us and this ends here.” Jack’s voice was rougher than normal and quickly followed by more flesh-on-flesh hits.

“Fuck you. There’s no way we’re going to tell you where he is. He’d do worse to us than you could ever do.”

I recognized the voice immediately and pushed the door open. Sal Taylor was sitting next to a big guy known only as Tank. They were tied to their chairs and spitting blood. They both looked like they’d already gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson.

Jack and Brent turned to me at the same time, with very different expressions. Brent looked amused, while Jack looked beyond frustrated. Jack had his sleeves pushed up and was covered in a thin layer of sweat. His eyes looked a little wild, the pale blue darker and slightly more sinister.

Sal spit out more blood and scowled at me. “Here she is, the bitch causing all the trouble.”

Jack landed a hard punch to Sal’s stomach. “I suggest you watch your mouth.”

I moved closer. “It’s okay, Jack. Sal here doesn’t know how to talk to women. Or how to please them. I heard plenty about you, Sal, while in the clubhouse. The girls hated you. If they’re going to have to fuck a disgusting biker, they at least want him to be hung and know something about the female body.”

He tried to spit at me but it landed a few feet short. “Shut up, bitch, or I’ll show you what you’ve been missing all this time.”

“Which would be what? A limp dick and a big case of disappointment?” I rolled my eyes. “You think that Jack can’t do worse to you than Snake can, but you’re wrong. I know what Snake does. I watched it. I was even there for your own punishment a few times.”

His eyes widened just a touch, and I knew I was going to win. “We should’ve finished your friend. It would serve you right. You’re not worth all of this trouble. Snake should’ve let us hold you at the clubhouse. We could’ve worked you in right.”

I worked my teeth together and forced myself to nod. “Fine. Be that way.”

He laughed. “That’s right. You’re weak, bitch.”

“Jack, we need a metal bucket, a blow torch, and couple of rats.” I turned a glare at Sal. “I remember specifically that you screamed like a little bitch before the rat ever even bit into your stomach.”

Tank rattled his chair as he moved away from Sal. “I ain’t getting that shit, man. Tell them where the fuck Snake is. He’s probably already gone by now, anyway.”

Sal lunged for Tank but Brent put a foot to his chair and tipped it backward. “This a good position for what you have in mind, Raelyn?”

“You’ll need to pull his shirt up. Snake always liked to put the bucket over the belly button. It gave the rats something to start with.” My stomach rolled, but I turned to Tank. “You never got the rats, did you? You were always such a good little errand boy for Snake. He’ll be sad that he wasn’t the one to take your cherry.”

Brent reached for Sal’s shirt, but Tank started screaming out a location. “We’re all staying at a clubhouse outside of town.”

“Which clubhouse?”

“Mad Dog. They’re friends of Snake’s.”

Brent moved away from Sal. “The bikers from the diner we stopped at were Mad Dog MC.”

Tank turned into a fountain of information. “Yeah, two of the brothers recognized Rae and told Snake all about Stone Security being up their asses. That’s how we knew where to attack. They said that Rae was staying with Brent Stone.”

Brent roughly righted Sal’s chair and shoved it against the wall behind him. “Stay.”

We left to the sound of Sal yelling at Tank and Tank giving it back just as good as he got it. I followed them out of the hallway and back down to the safe room, with neither of them speaking to me.

When we got to the main room, Jack spun around on me and I could see the muscles in the sides of his face working double time. “You were supposed to stay here.”

“I can help! I just helped a lot, actually.” I crossed my arms over my chest and frowned at him. “I know I’m just a stripper, but I’m not completely useless, Jack. I want to help if I can.”

“You’re not a fucking stripper!”

“Whatever! Stripper or not, I can help. Let me.”

He pushed his hands through his hair and walked into the control room, leaving me alone with Brent.

Brent just shrugged. “You were badass in there. I get where he’s coming from, though. It’s a scary world out there, Raelyn. He just wants to keep you safe.”

I shook my head and followed Jack into the control room. “I know you want to make sure I’m safe. I want that, too. I just don’t want to be left in the dark. Or in this concrete ditch.”

“Well, you can’t come hunting Snake with me. It’s too dangerous, Red. You were perfectly fine with hiding from him until you found out about Carly. Carly being hurt doesn’t change the main goal, though. Which is to keep you safe. I know you’re feeling some vigilante shit right now, but you can’t chance your life with it. You came to me and gave me a job. I’m going to do it, even if it pisses you the fuck off.”

I turned my back to him and stared at the monitor that displayed the hallway to their offices. “Fine. But, what happens if something happens to you while you’re out hunting him?”

He grabbed my shoulder and spun me around to face him before kissing me. I knew it was wrong, but I didn’t let it stop me from kissing him back. Somehow, between the years of viewing him as my hero and the few days where he’d shown up as my actual hero, I’d grown to like him. Despite normally wanting to punch him. The idea of him going out and chasing Snake down scared me.

He slid his hands into my hair and held my head while he deepened the kiss. I drank in the warmth from his body, his smell mixed with sweat, and the taste of him. A part of me felt like it was drowning and the only way it was going to get air again was if Jack stayed right where he was.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and locked them in place, hoping to keep him there with me, out of harm’s way. It felt like Snake was going to know everything, as if he would know that I wanted Jack more than I’d ever wanted another man in my life. It would make him come after Jack with too much rage for one man to handle. I wanted to keep Jack locked away with me, safe from my reality.

He pulled away slightly and slid his fingers even deeper into my hair. “I can tell you’re thinking too much.”

I frowned. “I’m just scared. He’s too close. You heard what I said about his torture. He’s insane. I’m scared for everyone. I think… I think I regret coming here. I shouldn’t have gotten you, or Brent, involved. You’re not even getting paid for all of this. You could get hurt and there’s no compensation for it. Brent could get hurt. Brent… He’s already hurt. He didn’t say much, but there were pictures in his house that are probably destroyed now.

“I’ve caused this ripple of panic and pain, and I feel like I shouldn’t have. I should’ve just gone somewhere else. It was so selfish of me to come here, demanding your help, when I can’t afford it.”

Jack tightened his fingers and pulled me closer, until his breath mingled on my lips. “Are you done?”

I blinked. “What?”

“Are you done?” He brushed his lips over mine. “Just shut up, Red. None of this is your fault. I don’t want to argue with you about it right now, though. I have to leave in a few minutes and I’d like to spend my time in a pleasurable way. We can argue later. Hell, I’ll even wake up early tomorrow if you want to get a head start on it. But, for now, I just want to feel how soft you are against me and find out how far I can get in the few minutes we have left.”

I went lax against his body. God, when he talked like that, in his deep voice, I felt like I was going to melt straight to the floor. I liked his plan. Kiss until he had to leave.

My brain cleared up a bit at that word. Leave. He was leaving. Right as Jack tried to kiss me again, I pulled back. “Wait. You’re leaving?”

Jack sighed and moved away from me. He tapped a few buttons on the main console and then turned back to face me. “You’re enough to make me want to pull my hair out at times. I’m going with Brent and a team to find out if Snake is still at Mad Dog’s clubhouse. You’re going to stay here and do any of the many things you can do down here, including listening in on our frequency. You’ll be able to hear everything we do. It’ll be almost like you’re there.”

“I could just—”

“You’re not coming. I would never take any other client on a run like this. I’m not breaking the rules for you. In this regard… Don’t say anything through the line until I tell you it’s clear. Just try to stay calm here, Red. I’ll be back in a little while, hopefully with Snake in cuffs.”

He put a walkie-talkie down on the desk and then headed out of the room. Brent was already waiting at the door for him. It was all happening so fast.

“Wait… I…” I didn’t have anything else to say. I just didn’t want him to go.

He knew it, too. He pressed a kiss to the top of my head, and then he and Brent were gone.

I waited all of thirty seconds to try to open the door. When it didn’t open, I heard the walkie-talkie sound off from the control room.

“I changed the code, Red. You’re locked in until we get back, or until Mallory comes in for his shift in four hours.”

I grabbed the stupid thing and practically hissed into it. “Dammit, Jack. This is bullshit.”

He made a crackling sound. “Can’t hear you. Over.”

“I know that’s you. How can you joke at a time like this?”

“So, I don’t know how you’re going to take this, but I broke things off with Stacey. It’s a long story, but it was never what it was supposed to be.”

Nervous energy blossomed in my chest, and I got shivers all down my body. “And I’m supposed to care?”

He laughed. “Apparently, I’m not the only one who can make jokes at a time like this. I’ll talk to you in a few hours, Red. Try the first bedroom on the right.”

With that, I heard the radio click off. I stared at it like it’d just grown arms and legs and threatened me. Jack was hard enough to resist when he was taken and I was fighting the attraction as much as I was. I didn’t think it was a battle I could win if he started trying to get into my pants.

“Damn.”