"Don't let her hurt you, brother." Roar walked to the door. "If you need someone to relieve you, Viktor will be on the other side of the wall or give me a call."
"You've got Lizzy and Coco to watch over." Brage shared a look of understanding with Roar. "Hopefully, tomorrow, I'll have the answers we need."
"Get some rest." Roar checked his phone. "I'm going to stick around another hour and wait to see what the scouts found out about Brikken Motorcycle Club and Bantorus MC. I don't want too many threats coming at us at once until we secure ourselves first."
Brage walked out of the room and to the stairs. There was no excuse to party tonight. The Slag members who continued to live within the clubhouse moved around, keeping order to their lives. The others living in rentals in the area were on call. At a moment's notice, they'd ride in if trouble showed up on two wheels.
In front of his bedroom, he slid the locks and opened the door. After midnight, the room was dark. He let enough light in from the hallway to see Dinah on the bed, a blanket thrown over her shoulders. His throat tightened. He'd put off staying in the room with her after he'd brought her dinner.
He had a weakness for her. The less time spent around Dinah until he could find the strength not to feel for her, the better.
Quietly closing the door, he walked over to the chair. He quickly texted Viktor to lock him and Dinah inside the room.
Taking off his boots, he set them out of the way. He removed his vest and T-shirt. Putting his pistol back under his belt, he stretched out his legs and crossed his arms.
Keyed up, he wasn't able to rest. He also wasn't prepared to sleep in the bed next to Dinah.
A soft whine came from the direction of the bed. He let his head fall back against the wall. She was tougher than he'd thought.
Having only seen her softness and experienced the pleasure she shared with him, the confrontational attitude and bravery she flung at him when she realized what was happening took him by surprise. Then, anger set in.
She'd dealt with Moroad. She was probably capable of much more than he was aware of.
A low thrumming filled his ears. He patted his pocket. It wasn't his phone vibrating.
Remembering that he'd taken Dinah's cell, he retrieved it from his vest and sat back down. Glancing over to make sure she still slept, he checked the text coming through. He scrolled. Make that multiple texts from someone that went by T.
WTF?
Need info.
Tuesday @2
Hurry the fuck up.
He scrolled back three times and read old messages. The short messages continued to be filled with impatience and anger. From both T and Dinah—who seemed to disappoint T with her lack of replies in the texts.
Nothing pointed at what she was doing here, except that T wanted info. Information he assumed was about Slag.
Looking at her other texts, he found old ones from someone who went by B who seemed to know her on a personal level and asked for money. There were also current ones by Monica regarding work requirements at The Fire Ring. Curious why a woman wouldn't have more texts, he looked through her pictures.
There were only two photos. One of the rental house she lived in and one of an elk standing in the middle of a river. He peered closer at the phone. The scenery different than in Portland, he went off all the pine trees along the bank as somewhere in Idaho considering her relationship with the Moroad member.
He spent the next half hour going through her phone. In the morning, he'd hand over the cell to Elling, Slag's go-to for anything that had to do with technology and research and find out who belonged to the two phone numbers she called the most.
Closing his eyes, he let the tension ease from his body. Times like tonight, he had an urge to see his family. His sister, Norah, was in Seattle, and he was lucky enough to see her often when the Portland Chapter made their run up into Washington. His older sister, Lacey, and parents were in Norway. It'd been ten years since he'd crossed the sea. While phone calls were nice, he'd been getting the feeling from Lacey that she was worried about their parents getting older.
Dinah gasped. He opened his eyes and watched her sit up. She breathed heavily as if waking from a bad dream. In the dark, she had yet to see him in the room.
"Who the hell are you?" he whispered.
She stilled. "Can I leave?"
"No."
She rolled and faced the wall, pulling the blanket tightly around her. He couldn't help but admire her strength. Most women would resort to tears and begging. She hadn't reached that level of desperation yet, and he wondered what in her past made her strong.
He sat in the chair, resting while his mind refused to shut off. It was early morning before he finally heard Dinah's breathing slow and deepen, signaling that she'd finally dozed off.
Only then had he let himself sleep.
Chapter 11
"Mommy?"
Dinah woke with a start. Heart racing, she searched for the woman. Seconds later, she pressed her hand to her head, knowing it was only a dream.
She was in Brage's bedroom in the Slag clubhouse. There was no woman.
The pain deep in her chest, a burning ache, disoriented her. She had no memories of her parents. None.
Yet, she knew the woman that came to her in her sleep was her mother. She had long, dark hair, a slender face, and a contagious laugh that made her feel warm and happy.
Throughout the years, she'd tried to remember a time before it was only her, Brad, and Tony, and only blackness permeated every corner of her mind. She'd spent years demanding Brad and Tony tell her something about their mom
