“I’m not sure I’m comfortable with you spending this much money on me, Duke. Dinner was expensive, and the clothes, and—”
“Hold that thought, Beautiful.”
He pulled into the compound, but instead of parking he drove just past the parking area, took a left, another left into a section Gen hadn’t seen yet, and hit a button on his visor so a door swung open. He drove through and closed the door behind him, and Gen looked around in wonder at the beautiful cars around them — Porsches, Mercedes, what she thought might be an antique Corvette… there had to be fifty cars in here.
“Who owns these cars?”
“They belong to club members. Three of ‘em are mine, counting this one.”
“This your way of telling me you have plenty of money?”
He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, touched his forehead to hers. “I’m not hurtin’ for money, Beautiful. I was in good shape before we came up, and I’ve been living in the compound with practically no expenses since I came to town.” He lifted his head off her forehead, his gaze intense. “I know you have money, but you’re never going to pay when I take you out. Asking and offering will just piss me off. Please don’t do it.”
Gen looked at him a second, shocked, and finally managed to say, “You said please.”
One side of his mouth tilted up. “I did, Beautiful.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, all right. At least for a while, but there’ll be some exceptions, and I’m going to expect you to give them to me if I say please.”
Duke laughed as he parked, opened his door and stepped out. “We’ll have those discussions when the time comes.” He walked around the car, got her out, and took her to a side door they could walk through, but stopped before he opened it. “We don’t broadcast what we have in here. There’s close to two million dollars in this garage. You’re going to learn stuff about the club by bein’ with me. I’m vouching for you, so it’s important you don’t talk to anyone but me about any of this. Not even another of the club members’ wives or girlfriends, because not all of my brothers share with their women.”
Gen took a breath and said what she’d been thinking for a while, but hadn’t known how to bring it up. “Stuff like this? No problem asking me to keep my mouth shut, but I’m going to ask you not to let me know about anything illegal. I don’t want to have to lie to law enforcement, Duke.”
His eyes went dark, but he nodded and said, “Fair enough, Beautiful. I’ll do my best to keep it from you, but you can’t get mad at me for not telling you something.”
She shook her head. “You’re going to have to find a way to tell me what I need to know about you without putting me in a compromising position, Duke. If there’s something I need to know, or something you damned well know you should tell me, and you choose not to? I reserve the right to be pissed.”
“I believe you. We’ll have to figure it out as we go along, but if you get pissed I hope you’ll give me the benefit of the doubt and hear me out.”
Gen wasn’t prepared to make any promises, so she reached for the door and went through.
She’d expected it would take them outside, but she found herself in a hallway, still inside. She looked to him and he took her hand and walked her through a couple of dark halls until they came into what she figured was the back of the main room of their clubhouse.
Half the room called, “Duke!” and Gen looked at him as he nodded to them and pulled her to the bar. “Gen, this is Gonzo. You want a shot of tequila, he’ll get you one. You want a margarita, you’ll need to go behind the bar and make it yourself. He doesn’t do mixed drinks. I need to check in on the control room. Be right back.”
* * * *
Duke had Brain install cameras on Gen’s house while he had her at dinner, so they could keep an eye on her, make sure she was safe. He’d already planted a tracking device in her car, but was stymied about how to put one on her person because she seemed to carry a different damned purse every time he saw her. He didn’t want to bug her phone, but was beginning to think it was his best bet.
“Any problems?” Duke asked as he closed the control room door behind him.
“None. Got a wide angle on her circular driveway, regular one on the driveway to her garage, and a hi-def one to give us the face of anyone at her front door. Also, angles in the kitchen, living room, and den. None upstairs, though I think that’s a mistake.”
“No one sees her naked but me,” Duke growled.