Misfit(5)

A whirring noise filled the room. “Meggie’s car. Silent now because she’s home.”

“Are you shitting me?”

“Nope.”

“Christopher’s crazy,” Fee squealed.

“Same thing Meggie says.”

Her mouth dropped open. “She knows?”

“Well, yeah. About this.” He pressed a few more buttons and a map came up, with a very small circle on the screen. “The tracking device on her phone.” The screen switched and an address came up. “The one on her car.” Another screen showed the clubhouse. “The device in her wallet is the one she’s aware of. That one isn’t as accurate, however.”

“No fucking way! This…how is this even possible?”

He raised to his full height, his eyes twinkling. Grabbing her hand, he squeezed it. “The dark web,” he whispered, like it was some deep secret. “We can get anything we need there, with much more sophisticated technology.”

“I don’t know whether to be in awe or to be outraged. This limits where she goes.”

“Hell no! It’s because she goes everywhere that he has all this.”

“Doesn’t she have guards?”

Stupid question. When Fee lived on the premises, she’d had them, too, so it went without saying that Meggie had them.

“Yeah. He just wants her safe.”

“That’s…that’s sweet. In a very Christopher way. I wish I had a man who worried about my safety so much.”

Stretch drew her closer. “You’d be surprised at how safe you are.”

“Yeah, with Christopher as my big brother, right?”

He stroked her cheek. “Don’t underestimate him. Meggie is his primary concern not his only concern. He takes the role as head of the family seriously.”

After brushing his lips against hers, Stretch stepped away from her. “This is our secret,” he said, shutting down all his toys. “I’m not supposed to show this to anyone who’s not an officer in the club.”

She raised her fingers in front of her mouth and simulated turning a key on a lock. “My lips are sealed. You couldn’t drag it out of me.”

A sudden pounding rattled the closed door. “Open up,” Cash demanded. “Now.”

Fee’s heart started a frantic rhythm in her chest. She wanted to find a mirror and check her appearance. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the time. Stretch hobbled to the door and yanked it open.

“Where’s your cane?” Cash slammed the door shut, not waiting for Stretch to answer. “It’s cold outside and you’ve been using it all fucking day.”

“I left it behind the bar. To escort Fee.”

“You could’ve fallen.”

“Stop being such an asshole.” Tapping her foot, Fee fisted her hands on her hips. “He knows when he can’t get around without it. You’re humiliating him.”

“How? It’s just you in here,” he sneered.

“Just me?”

Stretch gave her an imploring look. “He didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

“I think he did,” she said in a strong voice, although inside her heart shattered at the hard words. She’d come here to see them, but, she’d also wanted answers. With that one statement, she had them.

Cash gave a long-suffering sigh. “What do you want, Fee?”

“I wanted to talk to you and Stretch. Invite you over to dinner tomorrow night,” she ad-libbed, the idea not coming to her until just then.

“You couldn’t call?” Cash raised up his cell phone that she hadn’t realized he held in his hand. “You have my number.”

“I’ve left messages for you and Stretch. You haven’t called back.”

Stretch glanced at the floor, while Cash continued to stare at her with an unflinching regard.

“I want us to have a normal relationship.”

There was nothing normal about a ménage relationship. Society would frown upon it. Hell, eighteen months ago, if anyone had told her she’d be in love with two men and they all wanted a relationship with each other, she would’ve laughed in their faces.

So, exactly, what was she saying? Was this it? The day she took the Hail Mary and went after Cash? Or was she really saying she’d accept Stretch? He was a good guy, sweet and so patient with her. The way he’d gotten her away from Cash and his Bobs a little while ago reminded Fee that he had his own code of chivalry that protected her from everyone and everything, Cash included. Even when they competed for Cash’s attention.

“We can be so happy together.” At least, they could try. Showing Cash they wanted what he wanted might convince him to commit. “If Christopher knows and accepts it, everyone else will. He might be angry.” Understatement. “There might be one or two repercussions.” The kind that would take a few days to heal. “But he’d know and that would be less pressure.”