“Oh, how’d you get here so fast? I just called you,” Phoebe said, smiling brightly at him.
Peanut looked from her to Johnny, who was chained to the bed with a lump rising on his forehead and a really dark shiner starting to form around one eye. Viking started laughing as he put his gun away. He reached out a hand and tugged at a length of Phoebe’s wet hair. Peanut pushed his gun back into his holster as he glanced from her to the bed again in wonderment.
“You’ll do, little one, you’ll do,” he said before he opened the door to let the others into the room. Peanut reached out, pulling her into his arms and running his hands over her trying to assess if she was alright. Had that fucker hurt her before she’d chained him to the bed?
“You okay?”
“Yes, I just had to wash his touch off. I felt dirty letting him touch and kiss me, but it was the only way I could think of to get the upper hand. I hope you don’t hate me for letting him kiss me. We did not have sex! I clocked him with the motel phone while he was kissing my chest. It was disgusting.” Phoebe was almost gagging as she told the story. Peanut wouldn’t have cared if she’d fucked him a dozen times to save herself as long as she was alive when he got here to save her. Only she’d saved herself. Fuck, she was perfect.
“Nothing you did to save yourself matters. I don’t care. I will never care as long as you’re alive and whole, Lovely. I love you, Phoebe,” Peanut whispered into her hair, his arms tightly squeezing her to him.
“I love you too, Mark,” Phoebe said, her words muffled by his chest.
“I just have one question. Where did you find chains?” he asked, his mind finally focusing on the man on the bed and his confinement.
“Dickhead intended to chain me to the bed, and I decided that didn’t really work for me,” Phoebe replied shrugging.
“Fuck, this has Sin written all over it,” Phoenix muttered when he entered the room with Rage a few minutes after him. Five men stood in the room staring at Johnny Smith who was just starting to wake up. They were all looking from Phoebe to the bed and back again.
“Yeah, did you know she was training with Sin?” Rage asked.
“No,” Peanut spoke at the same time Viking did.
“Yeah, I was the one who suggested it.” Viking’s words surprised him. He’d had no idea that Phoebe was training with Sin and the other women in the club. It didn’t really surprise him that Sin was involved with teaching Phoebe to defend herself but the fact that Viking had suggested it did. Maybe his woman and his brother had actually found a middle ground. He liked that thought and his arms tightened around Phoebe. Her head was resting on his shoulder and her arms were curled around his waist.
Johnny’s eyes popped open and he looked around wildly, his eyes finally landing on Phoebe in his arms. He glared at Phoebe, his arms jerking against his chains. They didn’t give despite his violent movement and Peanut realized she’d used the bedrails to secure the chains. He kissed her forehead. His lovely was damned smart and he was proud of her for handling this fucker despite what must have been a crippling fear of him after the abuse she’d suffered at his hands.
“What’s going on? Phoebe, you stupid bitch what the—” Johnny started screeching but his words were cut off by Phoenix who punched him in the face. He screeched as blood spouted out his mouth from his busted lip.
“Shut the fuck up or I will cut out your damned tongue, dickhead.” Phoenix didn’t even finish his threat before Johnny was whimpering as he glared up at him. He turned his eyes back to Phoebe and Peanut let out a growl.
Peanut turned her away from the idiot, needing to protect her from any more words he might spew at her. He tugged her towards the door knowing that his brothers would handle getting this fucker back to the clubhouse. He wasn’t worried about anything except making sure that Phoebe was really alright. He guided her to his bike. Phoebe didn’t fight his high-handedness, but she did stop near the bike and look back at the room.
“What are they going to do with him?” she asked suddenly.
“Bring him back to the club. Have him sign the divorce papers when Stan gets them finished. Does it really matter?” he asked, watching her carefully. He knew that she wasn’t asking because she was concerned about Johnny but more because she was worried that she’d have to deal with him again. He didn’t tell her that a few weeks after her divorce was finalized in the courts that Johnny would meet his maker because nobody was allowing a fucker like him to live.
“I guess not. I just wanted to be sure they didn’t kill him before they got him to sign those papers,” Phoebe said, surprising him.
“Who says they’re going to kill him, Lovely?”
“You think I don’t know exactly who you and every man in this club is, Peanut? I mean, seriously? I know you aren’t letting him go and his body will turn up somewhere far from here. I’m not an idiot, Mark,” Phoebe said, her expression exasperated.
Peanut realized that not only had he misjudged her level of intelligence, he’d also underestimated how well she
