“Oh, well, thank you.” A smile swept over my face as I said, “I think.”
“You’re beautiful, Frankie.”
“Might need you to remind me of that from time to time.”
He motioned his head towards the bed as he said, “I can remind you right now.”
“As tempting as that might be, I didn’t have dinner last night, and I’m starving.” I eased up on my tiptoes and kissed him softly. “Now, let me finish getting dressed so we can go get breakfast.”
“You got it.”
As soon as we were both dressed, I grabbed my purse, and we headed outside. Since it was sprinkling outside, we decided to take my car. I’d just started to back out of the driveway when his cell phone started to ring. He took it out of his pocket and answered, “You’ve got Widow.”
After a brief pause, Roman announced, “I’ll be right there.”
He hung up the phone, then turned to me and asked, “Mind if we run by the clubhouse first?”
“Sure. No problem.”
I continued out of the driveway and started towards the clubhouse. I thought I remembered how to get there but ended up taking a few wrong turns. After a little guidance from Roman, we finally arrived at the front gate. A man stepped forward, blocking me from moving forward, but as soon as he spotted Roman, he nodded and moved out of the way. As I continued forward, I said, “You guys are really strict with your security, huh?”
“We take the necessary precautions.”
“Precautions from what?”
“Can’t really say. That’s club business.”
“What?”
“I’ll explain later.” He opened his car door as he said, “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay. Take your time.”
He got out of the car, and seconds later, he disappeared inside the clubhouse. I took a moment to look around and was surprised to find that the clubhouse looked even more intimidating in the daylight. The place was huge with various bikes parked along the front. The fence was even taller than I’d remembered, and there were heavy metal doors at every entrance. I couldn’t help but wonder why a biker club would need to have so much security. I could only assume the rumors were true. The Ruthless Sinners were in fact dangerous. I’ll admit it was concerning, very concerning, but when I was with Roman, I’d never felt safer. I knew he’d never do anything to intentionally hurt me.
The second I saw him walking towards me, I knew something was wrong. He came over to my side of the car and waited as I rolled down the window. “I’m sorry, babe, but I gotta take a rain check on breakfast.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Can’t really get into it.” He leaned forward and kissed me briefly before saying, “I’ve sent a prospect over to get my bike.”
“Okay.” Something was wrong, very wrong. I could see it in his eyes, and it scared me to think something might happen to him. “Should I be worried?”
“No. Save the worrying for me.” He gave me a quick wink, then said, “I’ll call you when I can.”
“Okay.” When he turned to leave, I shouted, “Be careful.”
“Always!”
Seconds later, he disappeared inside the clubhouse. I didn’t want to leave him. I wanted to stay and push him to tell me what was going on. Unfortunately, I knew that wasn’t a good idea. Having no other choice, I backed out of the parking lot and drove back out of the gate. As I started home, the uneasy feeling I had was growing stronger, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake it. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was sure it was my mind’s way of telling me I might lose Roman. That was a thought I couldn’t bear. For years, I’d been forced to be independent. I’d had to take care of things on my own, so I’d never let myself need anyone. That all changed when Roman came into my life.
I needed him, and it terrified me.
Chapter 13
Widow
“How long have they been missing?”
“Since about two this morning.” Menace seemed pretty shaken up as he told me, “We all came to the bar after Stilettos. Had a few more beers, and when we called it a night both Badger and Danny were busy cleaning shit up. I checked the monitors, and it looks like they left out about two this morning. Maybe they went out for cigarettes or something. I don’t know where they went. I just know they never made it back.”
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t have been a huge concern that two of our prospects had gone AWOL. Prospects have a lot to contend with and often need a breather, but after what happened with Country, l found it doubtful this was the case with Badger and Danny. “Has anyone gone out to look for them?”
“Hawk and Rafe left out a few minutes ago.” He motioned his head behind him as he said, “Viper wants me and you to do the same. He and Axel are in his office putting feelers out to see if anyone’s seen them.”