I tell the prospects who are at the bar cleaning and restocking it before everyone else wakes up where I’m going and then head across the street. I nod to the brothers on watch rightnow. With the cold, they’re rotating every few hours with the boys I’ve got in cars across the street. I’m not about to have anyone’s toes go out with frostbite. Might seem like overkill, but it’s my first lead point on a watch plan. Okay, fine, it’s not that at all. It’s got nothing to do with the cold, even though I really do care if my men are freezing their nuts off. It’s got everything to do with who they’re guarding.
I take the stairs two at a time and knock once before trying the handle. When I see it’s unlocked, I let myself in with a scowl. I get that Viv’s calmer than most chicks about things, but I know the door was locked last night, since I was the last brother to leave. I even waited to hear her click it over when she told everyone but Summer to go home and bug her in the morning.
Only reason I agreed was because it was the only way to get Mack to leave. The guy might not be a threat to me, but that doesn’t mean I want him in my girl’s place longer than me. If he’s gonna be there, so am I. Sure, might be some caveman attitude going on, but like Viv, I’m not one to war against how I feel about things. If I don’t like it, I don’t. I don’t rationalize it to understand what it must mean. I just get on board that I don’t like it and then move on to something I do. So if leaving meant sleeping alone, putting a team on her, and then waking up early to get back over here quickly? Then I’ll do it.
“Oh good, you’re here,” Summer says as she comes down the small hallway to the kitchen, putting on her jacket as she goes. “Will you tell Viv that I had to get going? My son has hockey practice this morning, and I promised him we’d get there early this time.”
“Why’s the door unlocked?”
I cross my arms and stand in front of said door. She’s not leaving till I get an answer. My team would have alerted me if someone came or went from this place, but that doesn’t mean other shit didn’t go down. I mean, what do I really know about Summer? She could be one of those sleeper mafia types and just killed Viv. Not that Viv gives off a double-life vibe or anything that would mean someone would put out a hit on her, but it’s early, and my mind is wandering.
Summer just rolls her eyes. “I unlocked it five seconds ago and got hit with a frigid blast. I remembered I left a jacket here a few weeks ago, so I went and got it while you just let yourself in. Which is rude. You might have slept with my girl, but I don’t think she gave you an all-access pass.” She gives me a pointed look. One I choose to ignore as I open the door for her.
“Enjoy practice.”
She grabs her purse off the kitchen table and snorts as she goes to leave. “Oh yeah. Nothing is better than getting up early on a weekend to watch kids fall more than skate for two hours. Remind me not to have any more, will you?” She says it with a smile and a chin lift to me as she heads out. I wait to watch her descend the stairs, get in her car, and even drive off before shutting and locking the door.
I check the windows, see they’re secure, too, then head to the room Summer was in before I look in the hall bathroom and note only a small port window in there. That just leaves Viv’s room.
The door is shut, so I ease it open and then shut it behind me, giving myself a second to adjust to the darkness. The blinds are shut tight, and I remember I saw the same thing last night when I got herto talk to the cops. Even the otherroom had the curtain closed. Everything’s locked up with little to no light coming through, but the windows in the kitchen have no curtains.
Once I’m satisfied that everything’s safe, I take off my boots and secure my gun on the bedside table by my phone. I then take off my clothes and crawl under the covers. I tell myself I just need five minutes with her in my arms. Five minutes to cure the ache that slowly crawled in there once I left last night and has been feasting on me till I came back.
I go to pull her in my arms, but she shoots right up, her arms going straight as they push her off her stomach. Her hair is everywhere, and she looks adorable. She takes a quick inhale, looking left and right, and I put my hand on her head to calm her.
“Shhh, baby, it’s just me.”
She instantly relaxes, and her arms go lax to bring her back down. I haul her in my arms and pull her to lie half on me before she can make it fully to the mattress. She comes willingly, even snuggling a bit into me, rubbing her head over my chest. I kiss her head and wrap my arms around her.
“Where’s Summer?” she mumbles against my chest, and I pull the blanket higher to make sure we’re both warm. Her place is cozy, but the wind from outside still lingers just under my skin.
“Hockey practice.”
She hums in approval, and then her breathing evens out. It’s the comfort of having her in my arms that has me going under too.
My cell going off wakes me up.
“Tell it to go away,” Viv says as she hunkers lower and tightens her hold on me.
I chuckle but grab my phone. “Yeah?” I answer Mickey’s call.
“We got some information. We good to come up?”
“Yeah, give me five.” I hang up before he can make a joke off that. Knowing him, it would be a comment about how he can outlast that in the bedroom.
I toss my phone back onto the side table and wrap my arms around Viv. She lets out a soft sigh, and I’m in agreement. The few extra hours of sleep I got in bed with her were some of the best I’ve had in weeks.
“It’s too early,” she grumbles in the cutest sleep voice ever.
“It’s close to one,” I say offhandedly, and it’s enough of a shock for her to open one eye and raise her head to see her clock before flopping back down on my stomach. She puts enough effort into it that she pushes the wind out of me and I bow up a bit. And then she really gets me by tickling my sides.
“What the fuck?” I don’t remember a time, ever, when someone tickled me. Sure, I’ve tickled the brother’s kids and they’ve tried to get me back, usually just scratching the shit out of me ’cause kids have claws for nails, but never an adult.
I flip her quickly, grinning, as I go on the attack and hear the best thing ever—her laughter. Such a pure sound. Onethat makes me smile wider till she does the worst thing and squirms below me. Just enough to wake up certain body parts that we don’t have time to take care of properly.
I press down on her, using my weight to stop her, but she just wraps her legs around me while I hold her arms above her head with one hand and rest the other on her hip.
She gives a little hip pulse, and I moan as she hums. “Now that’s a way to wake up.”
