“Yeah.” He shrugged. “At least I thought it was a good bet they’d come. I had a good guess that third man they were talking to in the coffee shop was Brandon Campbell, that man you and Doris were talking about. I just had this gut feeling. I thought maybe he was watching your house and directed the two of them here. The description fit. Arnold had been here earlier, watching the place. I think he was taking photographs. You ever have anything disappear from any of the places you were living after you met Arnold? Anything at all? Something small?”
He felt the little shiver that went through her body, and he tightened his hold around her hips. His hand moved over her thigh, rubbing along the scars that belonged to him, tracing each one of them. He knew them by heart now.
“Yes. A few items. A toothbrush. A book I liked on wildcats. A candle. A pair of my red lace panties that were part of a matching set. I still have the bra.”
Savage swore under his breath and kept caressing the scars on her leg. Joseph Arnold was definitely a first-class stalker of the worst kind.
“You and your friends beat the crap out of them, didn’t you?”
“Technically, I did. My brothers just watched and made certain there were no witnesses and that their cell phones were not going to record the event. They also confiscated the phones so we could ensure you were safe. Just in case.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“I don’t like the fact that Joseph Arnold keeps coming back around when you’ve told him no over and over. When you sang at the bar in Willits, it clearly hadn’t been your first confrontation with him. I beat the crap out of him and yet he came back. Hank is a punk, but he’s no real threat, and I doubt if we’ll be seeing him anymore. Arnold really is a problem. I want to know how much of one. Code can take a look at his phone and tell us if he’s been watching you. I’m a scary man, Seychelle. Most people take one look at me and they don’t ever want to mess with me once, let alone a second time. After what you just told me, I think he’s a major problem.”
“He didn’t know I lived here until someone told him.” She turned her body slightly, easing over onto one hip. “I hope you’re wrong and it wasn’t Brandon.”
Savage accommodated the change, sliding his head to the side, his hand moving around to her bottom. He heard the slight tremble in her voice. “You haven’t lived here that long, Seychelle, and Arnold did know you were here. He was taking pictures earlier.” Her fingers felt good on his head. Even when she shifted her weight off her butt, she never stopped massaging his scalp. For such a small woman, she had surprising strength in her hands. “Both of them know I’m here with you now.” He wanted to reassure her.
She was silent again, and he wished he knew what she was thinking. Sometimes he felt very connected to her, and then in the next moment, she eluded him, sliding away. He rubbed her thigh, brought his palm up to her hip and then slid it around to her bottom again. His heart clenched hard in his chest. He had spanked her hard. Maybe too hard for her first time. Did he really want that for her? Did he really want a monster like him for her?
Tomorrow he was going to talk to Absinthe, one of his brothers in the club. There were few people smarter than Absinthe. He had to figure out exactly what he was going to do before he made his next move with Seychelle.
SIX
Savage stood for a long time in silence, staring at the bubbles flowing upward endlessly between the thick glass of the wall in front of the glass room Scarlet had given Absinthe. It was there for her man to go to when he needed silence. A place where his demons couldn’t reach him. He could relax and just let his mind be at peace.
Savage had such a place. He’d discovered it by accident. His place was a woman named Seychelle. When he was with her, she held back the terrible well of demons that howled and raged at him to open that endless vault of violence inside of him and visit it on others.
He sighed, uncertain what he was even doing there. He already knew the answers to the questions he was going to ask Absinthe. He’d spent a great deal of his time researching, but Absinthe was the smartest person he knew. By coming to Absinthe, he was revealing how desperate he truly was.
He turned to face his brother, a little dismayed that Scarlet, Absinthe’s wife, was with him. Savage knew she would be, but still, he didn’t like it. He kept all expression from his face. Absinthe indicated the chairs in the living room. Lana, another Torpedo Ink sister, had chosen those chairs. They gave off Lana’s comforting vibes. Savage needed that comfort. He took the chair across from the two sitting across from him.