He headed toward the kitchen, with me in tow. He’d latched onto my arm and took me with him. I caught Zara giving me a knowing smile. Oh God, she’d never drop the subject now. Why had he done that? Once we got into the kitchen, he pulled containers out of the fridge after he grabbed a plate. I couldn’t ask him about his odd behavior, because the other guys had followed us and were getting food too. I stayed quiet as he heated his up. Once he was done, he took my arm again and led me back to the common room. He made sure I was beside him when he sat down to eat.
Everyone was chatting like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. I was dying to know where they found Hamilton and what he’d done when they caught him. Seeing that no one was asking, I sucked it up and stayed quiet. I was zoning out when Outlaw handed me a piece of bread off his plate. “What’s this for?” I asked him.
“You need to eat,” is all he said.
“I did eat. I told you that.”
“Eat more. Where’s your water? You need to hydrate. Jake, get her a bottle of water!” He shouted to Jake at the bar. Jake nodded and reached under the bar and came out with a bottle of water. He brought it to me.
I smiled at him. “Thank you, Jake.” He gave me a wink. Outlaw gave a low grumble. What in the world? He pushed the bread at me. “Outlaw, I don’t need bread. Carbs go right to your ass and hips, you know,” I said without thinking.
He leaned over to whisper in my ear. “Good, I want you to keep your luscious ass and hips, Tarin. Eat up.” My mouth dropped open in shock, and he pushed the bread into my mouth. I bit down and chewed it because I didn’t know what else to do. Had he been hit in the head while they were gone? Maybe he’d had a stroke sometime in the last day or so.
As I chewed, Player chimed in, “Tarin, don’t worry about those carbs. They look great on you.”
Outlaw slammed down his fork and glared at Player. “If you don’t want to eat my fist, I'd shut up. Her ass and hips aren’t your business. Get it.” Player laughed along with the other guys. That’s it, I was out of here. I’d fallen into some warped alternate universe. I stood up. Outlaw grabbed my arm. “Where are you going?” He frowned.
“I need to get back to my hotel. I’d like to take a nap and I have a few things to do. I’ll call and talk to Bear later.”
“No, Bear wants you to stay here. We think Hamilton was working alone, but we don’t know for sure. Until we do, you need to stay where we can keep an eye on you. If you’re tired, you can sleep in my bed.” I wanted to moan at the image of me and him on that bed together. I needed to get my shit together before I embarrassed myself.
“I doubt he had help. He didn’t mention anyone else.”
“You’re staying. Don’t make me tie your ass up,” he growled.
“Try it and we’ll see what I do. Hamilton drugged me, that’s the only way he was able to tie me up.”
He opened his mouth to reply when the door opened and in came Bear. He came straight over to me and hugged me. “How’re you doing, honey? Sorry, I had to stop and see Ilara first and tell her what the hell was going on. Did you get checked out and eat?”
Lord, he was like Outlaw. I ran quickly through the same thing I did with Outlaw. When I was done, I told him I was going to go back to the hotel. He shook his head. “Nope, not yet. We need to make sure he’s working alone. You stay here. If you’re tired, go to the house and lie down.”
“I told her she can sleep in my room,” Outlaw told him. They exchanged some kind of silent message. What was that about?
Bear nodded. “Even better, you can crash here if you want. Make sure to drink a lot of water. I hate to leave, but we have to go talk to Hamilton. Please, be here when we get back, Tarin.”
I sighed. “Okay, I’ll stay. Go do what you have to do.” He gave me a hug. As the others stood up, Outlaw got up and came over to me. He pulled me into his arms and laid a kiss on my lips. It wasn’t a brief one. This time, he teased my lips before he stopped. I stood there frozen.
“We’ll talk later.” He turned and went out the door. When I unfroze, the women were giving me expectant looks. How would I explain this?
Outlaw:
I know I shocked Tarin with the hugs and the kisses, but I was done playing around. After almost losing her, I wouldn’t chance her not knowing how I felt. I only prayed she felt the same or at least something. We could build on that if she’d let herself do it. She had walls she put up. I didn’t know why, but I was determined to find out. Bear thought it had something to do with her stepdad leaving when she was ten. I couldn’t imagine how much that hurt a kid. It was one thing to never have a dad who gave a damn about you leave. It was another to have one who did and then he was gone in the blink of an eye, which is what I was starting to think happened with Merrill Mercer.
It was a somber group who went out to the Gallows. Mitch and Alex had taken him there and secured him. I had to laugh when I saw how they did it. He was hog-tied with his arms and legs tied together and behind him. I looked at the two prospects. “Mind telling me why this position?”
Alex shrugged. “He’s a pig, so it seemed the natural position to tie his ass up in. If we’re lucky, he’ll lose circulation to his arms and legs and they’ll fall the fuck off. We could put a band on his balls while he’s like this and castrate him, if you want. He needs to be a hog,” he snapped as he narrowed his eyes at Hamilton. The rest of us sputtered with laughter.
“Hold that thought. For now, get him untied and on that chair and then secure him to it,” Bear told them. They quickly got him repositioned. He moaned and whined the whole time. Once he was sitting up in the chair, we got started.
Bear looked at me. “Why don’t you take the first few licks? I think you might have a little aggression to get out.”
“You bet your ass I do.” I stepped in front of Hamilton and I beat him over and over. I lost track of how many hits landed on his face, chest, and gut, before I took a breather. While I did, Bear got back in the game. Hamilton was looking terrified, and we hadn’t even gotten started.
“Damn, Outlaw. You must have been eating your Wheaties, He’s already looking like shit and acting like he’s about dead. You know I can’t let that happen yet. He has a whole lot of pain and suffering to come. I made Ilara a promise.” Hamilton’s head snapped up when he heard him say Ilara’s name. His eyes had this crazed look in them now.
“What did Ilara say? She wants to see me, doesn’t she? I knew she wouldn’t let you do this,” he asked eagerly. From there it was back and forth as he insisted that Ilara was his, wanted him and that Hope was his daughter and he would be the one to raise her. Soon, Bear was torturing him with words alone, telling him all the things he did with Ilara, about how he was raising Hope as his daughter and that they were getting married and having another baby. Hamilton looked demented. I enjoyed the show.
Bear busted his elbows with a fucking sledgehammer. When he went insane and tipped over his chair, I flinched when Bear nailed him in the crotch with his steel-toed boots. God, that had to be excruciating. The fucker screamed and wailed then puked. Bear looked at me and Slash. “Would you set this dumbass back up?” We both nodded and got his chair upright again, making sure not to get any puke on us.