Assumption

  “The police really wanted to call Autumn, but I told them she’s in Europe and I would get a message to her as soon as possible,” Link says.

  “Fuck,” I clip. “I don’t want her to know her place was broken into.”

  Yesterday, while I was still wrapped around her in bed, Justin called and woke me up to tell me that Link had been trying to get ahold of me to let me know that Autumn’s condo had been broken into. I didn’t want her to know what was going on, but I needed to see for myself if I could find out what had gone down and if the break-in had anything to do with the shooting at the club.

  “Chances are the two things are completely separate. Someone probably noticed that her place has been empty for a while and wanted to see if they could find anything worth pawning,” Link deduces.

  Those are my thoughts too, but I’m not going to chance it. I know the local PD is trying to find out what’s going on, but they’re taking way too fucking long. “I’m not leaving this shit to chance. While I’m here, I need to see the tapes from the night of the shooting.”

  “They’re at the club,” he says, pulling onto the highway. “Sid’s there tonight. He’ll let you look them over. I figure you can sleep for a while, and then we can head to the club later.”

  “Sounds good.”

  We drive in silence for a few minutes, and I know that he’s dying to ask about Autumn. I’m just waiting for him to say something, hoping it doesn’t piss me off when he does.

  “How’s Autumn?”

  I smirk, looking over at him. “A pain in my ass.”

  “She got to you, didn’t she?” he asks softly, tapping his thumbs on the top of the steering wheel.

  “Yeah, man.” I shake my head. “She’s not what I expected.”

  “She’s thinkin’ about movin’ to Tennessee.”

  “I know,” I reply, feeling a hint of jealousy that she talked to Link about it.

  “Don’t hurt her, man. She’s a good woman,” he says.

  I feel a growl start to vibrate my chest. I know there’s never been anything between them, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t piss me right the fuck off that he feels like he can look out for her.

  “Don’t,” I say, hoping he gets it.

  “There’s a lot you don’t know.”

  “I know she has a sadness inside her that she tries to fight, but it’s so deep that she gets lost in it and has a hard time finding her way out. I know she freaks when she’s tickled and has a hard time letting people in. I know she has a boy she lost, and the loss still haunts her. But I also know that she smells like flowers, loves to be held even if she denies it, is cute as fuck when she’s angry, and is funny as hell when she lets down her walls. I may not know everything, but I know enough that I want to know more,” I tell him, hoping he gets that this isn’t some passing fuck to me.

  I also hope that he understands that, yes, he may know more than I do, but she is mine to worry about now. I don’t like explaining myself to people, but I want him to comprehend that she is not a conquest; she is mine, and I take looking out for her very seriously.

  “When she’s ready for me to know everything, she will open up to me.”

  “Right,” he replies, no sarcasm to be found in his tone.

  “Tell me about Sid.” I know that Autumn worked for him, but I don’t know what kind of man he is or if he keeps his business on the up-and-up.

  “He’s a good dude. I’ve known him for the last five years. He’s good to the girls at the club, always willing to help them out.” He pauses and takes a breath. “He has a soft spot for Autumn.”

  “Have they had a relationship?” I grit out.

  “Autumn doesn’t date. Sid’s been tryin’ to get in there for years, but she hasn’t ever clued in or returned any of his feelings.”

  That makes me feel somewhat better about meeting him, but it doesn’t mean I want to sit back and have a beer with the guy. “Do you think he was in on what went down?”

  “Nah. He wouldn’t put anyone in that kind of danger. He knew three of the men who came into the club for the meeting, but the fourth was not someone he planned for. From what I understand, the fourth man was a guy by the name of Terry Waters. He was the owner of two of the largest strip clubs in Vegas. The police had been working on building a case against him for sex trafficking and prostitution.”

  “Jesus.” I shake my head, wondering what the fuck to do with this information.

  “They think he was the target,” Link explains, and I see that his knuckles turning white on the steering wheel.

  “So the rest were just casualties?”

  “Basically.” He shrugs.

  My phone beeps and I click my messages, seeing that it’s from Autumn. I smile before I even read her message. I know she’s pissed about Justin being there, but I want to make sure she’s safe while I’m out of town and don’t want her at home alone. I don’t think the shooter has any clue where she is, but I know that Cassie is still on a rampage. The good news is that, as soon as Cassie gets my message from Finn, she will no longer be an issue, but until things get sorted, I don’t want her fucking with Autumn while I’m gone, especially after I found out that she’s the one who posted the video of Autumn on YouTube after they’d been at the same club.

  Am I pissed that Autumn was letting some guy do body shots off her? Hell yes, but I know she was completely smashed when it happened. I also acknowledge that she never had a chance to experience that kind of thing before. Do I wish it had been me licking salt off her tight, little body? Fuck yes, I do, but I know only me and my mouth will be allowed to touch her from now on.

  I look at the message from her and laugh before quickly replying. We pull up to Link’s apartment and I realize that I’m fucking beat from the last few days. Autumn’s schedule has mine all fucked up.

  A few minutes later, I’m already toeing off my boots, ready to collapse on his guest bed, when he tells me from the doorway, “I have some shit to take care of, but I’ll be back later, and we can head to the club then.”

  “Sure, man. Thanks,” I tell him. Then I listen as he walks down the hallway and shuts the front door. I pull out my phone, see that she replied with one word—Ditto—and smile and close my eyes.

  “Sid, this is Kenton. Kenton, this is Sid,” Link introduces us later that night.

  I look Sid over, and the first thing I notice is how put together he is. I imagine that he spends more time getting ready than most women do. His suit is tailored, his hair is combed over to the side, each piece styled just right, and his fingernails even look manicured.

  “Nice to meet you.” He sticks out his hand and I grasp it with one of mine, giving him a firm shake.

  “You too.” I nod, looking around inside the club, understanding from the decor where it got the name The Lion’s Den.

  “Kenton needs to see the tapes from the night of the shooting,” Link says, bringing me back to the conversation.

  “You working with the police?” Sid asks, looking me over.

  “Kenton’s the friend I was tellin’ you about,” Link informs him, and Sid’s eyes come back to me.

  “You think you can find the shooter?”

  “I’ll do what I can.” My main concern is Autumn and keeping her safe. I don’t care about any of the other shit.

  “Follow me.”

  We walk down a long hall and into a dark office, where there is a large desk in the center of the room and large computer monitors lining one wall.

  “We didn’t get the guy on tape. He avoided all the cameras in the building and the two outside.” He starts up the tapes from the night of the shooting.

  There are no shots of the man in question, but there are images of Autumn running through the club, and even through the grainy images, I can see the terror on her face. “Where were the bouncers?”

  “Two were out front and one was at the door,” Sid answers.

  “Did they see the shooter?” I ask, looking at the different screens to p
inpoint the security on duty.

  “No.” He shakes his head then looks at the screen paused on a picture of Autumn.

  “How did he get the drinks that were being delivered to the private party?”

  “That’s something we haven’t been able to figure out. The bar registered and filled the drink orders but never had them delivered.”

  “So someone who works for you was in on it?” I ask, trying to get him to see that he can’t trust anyone right now.

  “I’m not sure,” he says, running a hand down his face. “I want to say I trust everyone who works for me, but unfortunately, I can’t.”

  “I’m gonna need to talk to the other bouncers,” I state.

  “Both the guys who worked that night are on now. You can use my office,” he offers.

  “Thanks,” I tell him before he heads out of the room to bring the guys back.

  “What are you thinking?” Link asks.

  “How well do you know the guys who were on that night?” I ask instead.

  “We’re friendly, but not friends,” Link says as I lean against the side of the desk, looking at the still image of Autumn.

  I hate that she’s involved in this shit. I don’t like the idea of someone on the inside being involved in what went down. That means that they know who she is—and possibly where she is.

  “My guess is that one of them has something to do with the shooter being a ghost. Have you told anyone where Autumn is?”

  “Hell no.” Link shakes his head, his eyes coming back to me. “I haven’t even told Sid that information. He told me he e-mailed her and she wrote back, but she didn’t let him know where she was.”

  That makes me feel marginally better, but I still don’t like the idea of her being in contact with the guy. “When the guys come in, we’re going to play it cool. I’m going to ask some questions about what went down and see if they have any leads for me. Most of the time, when someone is involved in something like this, they try to make up for their sins by overly playing the good guy.”

  “I’ll follow your lead,” Link says, and he does just that. He’s the guys’ source of familiarity and comfort.

  It doesn’t take long for me to figure out that Mick is hiding something. After about twenty minutes, I thank them for their time and let them know that I will be around if they remember anything else. As soon as the office door closes, I look at Link, who shakes his head and closes his eyes.

  “I’m gonna let Sid know we’re out.”

  “I’ll meet you outside.” I head out the front of the club and pull out my phone to send a quick text to Justin to let him know what’s going on. With this new development, I’m going to need his skills to pull up some info on Mick.

  About an hour later, Link and I are in his home office, sorting through the information we obtained at the club, when I receive Justin’s email.

  “What does it say?” Link asks, looking over my shoulder at the report Justin sent me on Mick.

  “From what Justin was able to find, old Mickey-boy has been having money problems. He was three months behind on his rent, had about ten thousand dollars worth of credit card debt, and took a title loan out on his car in the amount of two thousand bucks. Two weeks before things went down at the club, he deposited thirty thousand dollars cash into his account. Did he say anything about hitting the lotto or winning at the casino?” I spin the chair around and lean back.

  “Nah, he never said anything like that,” he mumbles.

  “If he had, would he brag about it?”

  “Mick?” He nods. “Hell yes, he would brag about it.”

  “Looks like we need to have another talk with him.” I shake my head and look up at the ceiling. After letting out a long sigh, I stand and we head out to Link’s SUV.

  We park across the street from Mick’s place and wait for him to show up. About two hours after we arrive, he pulls into the driveway, and Mick and a stumbling blonde get out of his car and start heading inside. I get out of the truck and slam the door closed, and when Mick turns in my direction, even in the dark I can see his eyes widen when he spots me and Link walking across the street.

  “What are you doing here?” he asks, taking a step back towards his closed door.

  “Darlin’, you’re gonna need to call a cab,” I tell the blonde.

  She nods, pulls her phone out of her purse, and starts walking away without saying a word.

  “What are you doing here?” Mick repeats, watching his date walk to the end of his driveway.

  “Open the door. We need to talk.”

  “I’m not letting you in.” He looks at Link then back at me and swallows.

  “You can either open the door and we’ll talk about this shit inside, or you don’t open the door and I call the cops, tell them what I know, and we can see what they think. What do you think they’ll say when I tell them you deposited thirty grand cash into your account? Do you think they will wonder how a bouncer at a club was able to get that kind of dough?” I ask, creeping closer to him, watching him swallow thickly again. “Link, you’re cool with the local PD, right?” I ask, looking over my shoulder at him.

  “I have a few friends on the force,” he replies, pulling out his phone.

  “We can talk inside,” Mick mumbles, pulling out his key and opening the door.

  As soon as we get inside, I notice that everything is new, from his couch to his kitchen appliances.

  “Nice place,” Link voices loud enough for me to hear.

  “Can we get this over with?” Mick says, walking into the kitchen. He grabs a beer from the fridge, holds one out to me, and then offers one towards Link.

  I shake my head, and Link does the same.

  “Let’s talk about how you got thirty thousand dollars,” I say to start.

  “I won at the casino.” He shrugs, looking away.

  “You don’t want to lie to me.” I take a step towards him while blocking the kitchen exit. “Now tell me how you got the thirty grand.”

  “I can’t tell you that.” He retreats as I take another step towards him. “You don’t understand, man.” His head drops forward, his hand going through his hair. “These dudes are fucking scary… A lot fucking scarier than you. They’ll kill me.”

  “You’re right. They will, but they’ll probably do that anyways.” I lean back slightly and pull out my phone from my back pocket so I can bring up the message from Justin. “The men you’re protecting are part of Lacamo, one of the biggest crime families in the United States. You mean nothing to them.” I show him the email with a sketch of the suspect along with a picture of one of the most notorious Mob hit men, who matches the sketch perfectly. “I’m guessing you have no real understanding of what you’ve done.”

  “I didn’t know what was going to happen.” His face pales as he looks over the pictures.

  “Have you told them about Autumn?”

  He shakes his head, but his eyes don’t come back to me. Fury fills my veins as I realize the kind of danger my woman’s in now.

  “You piece of shit,” I growl, shoving him into the counter. My hand goes around his neck and I can feel his pulse beating against my fingertips. I know that, if I squeeze his throat a little tighter, one less asshole will be breathing. “You’re gonna tell me exactly what you told them and how you get in contact with them.”

  “I only told them her name,” he chokes out, my hand going tighter. “I never told them anything else about her, I swear.” His nails claw against my hand and his feet skid against the floor, trying to get leverage.

  Link’s hand on my arm is the only thing that stops me from killing the fucker where we stand. I take a step back while shoving him away. I run a hand through my hair, trying to compose myself enough to think of my next move.

  “Call in your friend from the local PD and tell them to pick up this piece of shit,” I say, looking over at Link.

  “I told you what you wanted to know. Please don’t call the cops,” Mick whines.

  I tur
n my head in his direction and he lowers his eyes. “As much as I want to leave you here and let you get what you deserve, you may be the only one who can stop these sick fucks, so that means I need to keep your punk ass safe until this shit’s taken care of.” I scrub a hand over my mouth as Link makes a call to his friend.

  It takes two hours to get everything settled with the cops and Mick to be taken into custody. When we leave the local precinct, we make a plan to go to Autumn’s condo to have a look around. Once inside, I can tell that the person who broke in wasn’t looking for shit to pawn. Everything that has any value is still here. The only things gone through are papers, which tells me that whoever broke in was looking for information.

  “Nothing here will point them to Tennessee,” Link says, shoving a stack of papers into the desk.

  “True, but she needs to change her number and stop using her e-mail. I don’t want whoever this is to have any way to track her down.”

  “You gonna tell her what’s going on?” he asks quietly.

  “I don’t have a choice.” I look around again before walking over and opening her balcony door.

  The sun is just starting to set over the mountains, causing an orange-and-red glow to fill the horizon. After taking a seat in one of her deck chairs, I pull out my phone and send a text to Justin, telling him the latest development. Then I send a message to Autumn, letting her know what time my flight would arrive so she would be dressed and ready to go out. I also tell her to make sure to wear the red lipstick she wore to the club.

  Just thinking about how she looked that night causes my cock to jump. I need to see how fucking long it would take to kiss that red off her mouth. Looking out at the sunset again, I can’t help but smile. I’m not buying a new bed for my room until she’s willing to help me pick it out and share it with me. Until I can convince her to move into my room, we will be staying in hers. I look down at my phone when it beeps.

  Justin: Autumn is safe in bed. I’m running a cross-check on the names you sent. As soon as I know anything, I’ll send you the info.