“What? Baby, we were just getting started. Let me make you feel good…,” she whined, her hands dropping down to her side.
“Maybe some other time,” I told her as I pulled up my jeans and headed for the door. Still pulling up my zipper, I stepped out into the hall. When I started down the hallway, I found Henley standing in her doorway watching me with a look of disgust on her face that I wasn’t expecting. Before I had I chance to say anything to her, she slammed her door and locked it. I almost called out to her, but I stopped myself. I knew there was no reason for me to fucking explain myself to her, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt that was scratching at the back of my mind. I decided to ignore it and headed to bed. I was ready for this fucking day to end.
For the next week, Henley did her best to avoid me. Every time we were in the same room, she would make herself busy talking to Cassidy or one of the guys. Even though she wasn’t exactly sharing it with me, she always had a beaming smile on her face. It was like she was immune to all the negative shit that was swarming around her. Hell, nothing seemed to get her down. As much as I hated to admit it, I found myself being drawn to her light, and each day I was finding it harder to ignore. From time to time, she would notice me watching her, our eyes locking for just a brief moment before she would smile and turn away. I couldn’t help myself, I started to look forward to those smiles.
With everything that was going on at the club, the next few days became a blur. After we buried Skidrow, I spent most of my time working with Big Mike, looking for anything that might help us find the guys that killed Skid. From everything that Henley had told us, we had completely ruled out Tony’s old crew. We already knew that they didn’t have the manpower to back that kind of threat. It had to be someone else.
Cotton called Henley into his office again. He was getting impatient with the lack of information we’d collected, and he wanted to make sure she’d told us everything she could remember. Unfortunately, she didn’t have anything to add to what she’d already told us. We were running out of ideas when Big Mike suggested, “Why don’t we use her as bait?”
“Who?”
“Henley. We already know that they want her. They went to all the trouble of putting that tracker on her car. It’d be easy. We could send her back home and wait for them to come after her,” he explained. “We could hook her up with a wire and a GPS.”
“No.”
“Hear me out. We have to do whatever we can to find these guys, and she might be the only option that we have right now. You know we wouldn’t let anything happen to her,” he promised. “I’d make sure of it.”
“Not taking that chance,” I growled. I’m sure he wasn’t expecting my reaction, but there was no way in hell that I was going to take a chance with Henley’s life. It was my job to keep her safe, and I intended to do just that.
“Let’s, at least, talk to Cotton about it. See what he thinks,” he suggested, not willing to let his idea go.
“Drop it, Mike. It’s not going to happen,” I told him firmly. “We’ll just have to find another way.”
Chapter 10
Henley
?
I was starving. I’d been helping Cassidy with inventory for the past two hours, and I hadn’t had a chance to eat. As soon as we finished sorting everything at the bar, I went to the kitchen to see if the guys had anything made up for lunch. When I walked in, the room was empty except for Maverick. He was sitting all alone at the long, kitchen table with a not-so-subtle scowl on his face. I wondered what he was thinking about, sitting there alone in the quiet. He was in a daze, totally unaware that I had even walked into the room. When I looked at him, I could see a world of hurt hidden behind those beautiful green eyes. He sat there slumped down in his chair, and I could almost see the weight of the world sitting on his broad shoulders. He was completely lost in his own thoughts, and it didn’t look like a place anyone needed to be.
Trying to knock him out of his stupor, I sat down beside him and asked, “Do you ever smile?” He let out a deep sigh of frustration, making sure I knew he wasn’t exactly thrilled that I was interrupting his lunch. He didn’t even acknowledge my question as he took a big bite of his ham sandwich.
“Seriously, does anything make you happy, or are you always such a grouch?” I pushed, trying to get some kind of reaction out of him.
“Are you bored, Henley? Trying to pick a fight with me so you’ll have something to occupy your time?” he asked with his mouth full.
“I just don’t get it. You’re a good-looking guy, the new Sergeant of Arms of the club, and the guys seem to really respect you.”
“So, you’re flirting with me now?” he asked, looking over to me with a sexy smirk. Damn. That smile could melt hearts from a mile away.
“Oh please, don’t flatter yourself. I’m just trying to get inside that head of yours.”