Shade (Shade #1)

He could tell the woman was proud of herself for standing up to Razer, not realizing the man was an inch away from throttling her.

“Her dad is a government employee, doing some kind of secret shit for them. Employees and their families aren’t allowed to travel in certain areas. He alerted Border Patrol, trying to stop her before she went inside, but he was too late.”

“What in the fuck are we supposed to do?” Viper asked, diverting her attention from Razer. You had to be cool and calm to deal with this bitch.

“You have connections. I need them to get me inside so I can find her.”

“You’re not going after her,” Train stated angrily.

“Since when do you think you can tell me what I can do?” Killyama glared at him.

Train didn’t back down. “Since you came up with a crazy-assed plan to try to enter a country which has made a career out of kidnapping and killing people,” he snapped.

“Back off, lover boy. I’m going after her. Are you men going to help me or not?” From the way she said the word “men”, it was obvious she meant it as an insult.

“Do we have a choice?” Viper asked snidely.

“No, but don’t worry.” She curled her lip. “I have a plan. Where’s Dean?”

“Probably hiding if he saw you,” Train said grimly.

“Get him. We’re going to need him,” Killyama ordered. “Knox, too. They’ll have the contacts we need to find Jane. Beth told us the strings he had to pull to find Lily when she went missing.”

Shade wasn’t about to volunteer his contacts.

“Anything else?” Train asked sarcastically, pulling his phone out.

“Yeah, you can shove that phone up your ass when you’re finished making those calls.”

Train lowered the phone to his side, his face turning cold. As he took a step toward her, Killyama held her ground.

“We don’t do jobs for free. If you want our help, you’ll pay for it like everyone else.”

Shade raised a brow at Train’s comment. He himself didn’t like any of the women. Truthfully, there weren’t many people he would give a fuck if he never saw again in general, but Fat Louise was the most tolerable of Sex Piston’s crew. Besides, none of the women would be happy if Train charged her an outlandish sum of money for helping Fat Louise.

“What’s your price?” She placed her hands on her hips.

“I’ll let you know when I decide.”

“You’re just going to hold it over my head until you decide?” she snapped.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“No. Sucks, doesn’t it?”

Lucky came down the steps from the clubhouse.

“You needed me?”

Viper filled him in about Fat Louise sneaking into Mexico, and unlike the rest of them, he voluntarily agreed to help.

“Go get some sleep. If we need you, I’ll call,” Shade ordered Cash as his exhaustion becoming more apparent.

“Thanks, Shade.”

He nodded in response.

Cash left as Shade turned back to the group.

“Let’s go inside the factory. I don’t want to go to the clubhouse, because the women will want to know what’s going on, and I don’t want Lily worried.” Shade unlocked the door for everyone to go inside.

Shade went into his office and picked up his iPad before going back to the main room and setting it down on a worktable.

Pulling up a map of Mexico, he handed it to Killyama. “Tell us where she went in, and where she is now.”

Killyama took the iPad.

Shade listened closely, his eyes meeting Train’s. Killyama was very detailed, telling them Fat Louise’s last-known whereabouts as well as some intel of where she had been heading. The woman, to his knowledge, had never been in the military, yet she talked as if it was normal to handle an operation of this scope.

Shade had never looked into the past of any of Beth’s friends; he hadn’t seen the need. However, Killyama handled herself a little too well for her not to have any special training. She was overly confident of her skills, and that kind of self-assurance didn’t come unearned. After she left, Shade would be making some calls to his contacts to find out more about the woman ordering them around.

Lily was in the shower by the time he was able to make it home. Shade took off his clothes, stepping into the shower with her. The water was almost too warm for him, but he didn’t say anything as he pressed his chest to Lily’s back, slipping an arm around her waist.

Lily leaned back against him. “You’re late.”

“Sorry, I had some paperwork to finish.”

“You work too hard.”

Shade brought his mouth to her throat. “It will slow down soon. I have to go out of town on Thursday, and I’ll be gone a couple of days.”

Lily nodded, going up on her toes as his hand slid between her thighs, finding her clit. He gently stroked it, discovering her already wet.

“Already missing me?”

“Yes,” she admitted softly. “Where are you going?”

“Mexico.”

“Mexico?”