Royce
Royce was pacing the perimeter of his kitchen with his cell phone at his ear. “Bishop, I need a favor,” he said when his brother answered after seven rings. He needed his brother and Caleb to get over to his house before he did something stupid, like kiss Briar Nilson.
She was exactly his type, and he hadn’t been with anyone in over a year. A few women around town had made it clear they’d be interested in dating, but none of them drew him like Briar. Athletic, smart, sardonic sense of humor—and she actually believed she was a better shot than he was. Royce repressed a snicker. That idea simply was hilarious, and he couldn’t wait to get out to the range with her and prove her wrong.
“What?” Bishop grumped in answer. “I’m in the middle of level sixteen.”
“We have a situation. I need you to do some computer magic. I’ll buy you dinner at the Crown, but you need to bring it over here, and bring Caleb with you. I’ll explain more when you guys get here.”
“Fine. I can get whatever I want? Caleb too? Evi’s not going to be happy.”
“Evi will be fine as long you pick her up an order of wings too. She’s fully aware of what the security business entails.” Bishop, on the other hand, was a bottomless pit when it came to food. And Caleb was even worse. “Yes, you can get whatever you want, and for us, get a couple of tavern burgers, two baskets of wings, and a green salad. Tell Char to put it all on my tab.”
There was a long silence, and Royce could hear the sound of Bishop’s video game in the background.
“Who is us?”
“Just get your ass over here.”
Royce figured nothing would make his brother move faster than insatiable curiosity. And the promise of food.
Clicking off the call, Royce heard the muffled sounds of Briar moving around in the bedroom and then the bathroom—she did need to freshen up after all. He was having a hard time believing that she was here, in Rexville, in his house.
Quickly, he called Caleb, who answered on the first ring. Royce explained what he needed and that there would be food. Caleb did not argue.
He could hear Briar murmuring from the other room when he ended the call. He liked it.
Whatever teenage crush he’d had on Briar in the past had been replaced, swept away, obliterated, by an appreciation of the person she’d become. Royce was in deep trouble with Briar Nilson, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to try and get out.
The woman herself padded into the kitchen, glanced at her phone, and stepped back into the living room. He decided not to eavesdrop and instead let her tell him if the call had anything to do with tonight’s events. In the meantime, he started a pot of coffee. He had the feeling that they were going to be up far into the night, but after a life in the military, he could drink coffee twenty-four hours a day and still get a good night’s sleep.
“Sorry about that,” Briar said when she returned to the kitchen a minute or two later. “That was my current boss. I filled him in on what’s happened today. He agreed, it’s just too much coincidence that there would be a Spider randomly in town.”
“What was his take? Do you trust this guy?”
Briar’s eyes widened and she breathed in through her nose. “Is that coffee I smell?”
“Yes, I started a pot. Figured we’d need it.”
Crossing the kitchen, Briar pulled out one of the chairs from the kitchen table and plopped down on it, resting her forearms on the tabletop.
“Yes, I trust Klay. He’s got a great reputation and a loyal team with low turnover. He’s reaching out to Jakes for me. Maybe Jakes deleted my number since I’ve been shoved off into a corner. I mean, he’s not in charge of me anymore and we didn’t have the most stellar working relationship.”
Royce wondered if they’d had a non-working relationship. Down, boy.
“Who do you think was shooting at us?” he asked.
Royce poured coffee for them while he waited for Briar’s answer.
“Honestly, I haven’t made anyone mad lately, not that I know of. Just the Spiders, which was almost five months ago, and they have better things to do than go after what they believe is a useless woman. And there shouldn’t be any way they could trace me anyway.”
Shouldn’t, but they obviously had.
“You weren’t followed back to LA? Or here?” he asked.
He handed her the cup and, as she did at Topher’s, Briar clasped it with two hands as if it were the most precious thing in the world.
“I mean, aside from the fact that LA is a city of four million and I don’t spend time anywhere near where an MC member is likely to hang out. Pure chance, maybe? I suppose anything is technically possible, but honestly? No, I don’t think they ever knew or followed me. If they did, I would already be dead. After I disappeared, there was probably talk, but women come and go and since ‘my man’ was dead, I had no reason to stick around and every reason to leave.”