Protector Daddy (MC Daddies 3)

Nobody knew all of her.

“Forgive me, but why were you in an alleyway to begin with, my dear?” Grady asked.

A blush filled her cheeks. “I got a bit lost. And I think the maps app on my phone is broken as it led me down that way. I’m afraid I’m not used to navigating around the city.”

Spike made a strangled noise. She was starting to wonder if he had intestinal issues. Poor guy.

“Anyway, where was I? These two guys started talking and I was kind of stuck crouching behind the dumpster. I didn’t want to move and risk them seeing me.”

And because she was nosey as hell.

Spike gave her a look like he knew exactly what she’d been up to.

“They started talking. One of them wanted to know what the other one was doing, pulling him out here. He said something about being in trouble if one of Steele’s guys spotted him. The first guy, well, he didn’t seem to like you very much.” She wrinkled her nose as she looked over at Damon. He seemed unperturbed. “He wanted to know if you had anything to do with his father’s death. And he said he was certain that you had helped his father’s girls get away. It sounded like, well, like his father had a lot of women who worked for him.”

She couldn’t read Damon’s face. Spike had stiffened next to her. Grady took a sip of his drink. Oh, she hadn’t tasted hers. She took a sip and smiled. “This is delicious.”

“Thank you.”

“Did they say anything else?” Damon asked.

“Oh yes, the second guy he said something like, he hadn’t heard that you’d killed the other man’s father or helped these girls, but that you didn’t sell, umm, oh dear . . . umm, sex.”

“Hmm.” Damon frowned, appearing thoughtful.

“How did that lead you to Spike?” Grady asked curiously.

“Oh, he said the one thing he did know is that Grady set up a meeting between a guy named Spike from the Iron Shadows and this man, Luther’s, father.”

“Luther? The first man’s name was Luther?” Damon asked so sharply that she sank back into the sofa in surprise.

“Careful how you speak to her,” Spike said in a low, almost casual sounding voice. But one that made an impact on her. She turned wide eyes on him, watching him carefully.

“I apologize, Miss Millie. I’m not upset with you. Just at this news. It sounds like this second man is close to me. Like maybe I have a rat, someone whose loyalty lies elsewhere. It explains a lot actually.”

“The shipments that have been interfered with, deals that have gone wrong,” Grady muttered.

“Yes, I’m afraid it sounds like this other man is spying on you. He asked Luther if the boss knew he had contacted him. Luther basically said that he was angry at the boss because he was having to transport stuff around. And how they were equals. I’m not sure who the boss was that they both spoke of.”

Damon just looked thoughtful. Grady appeared furious.

She bit her lip, worried for a moment at the darkness in Grady’s gaze. She hoped that she’d done the right thing, coming to these guys. Although they’d been nothing but nice to her. Well, Grady and Damon had.

“Anything else?” Grady asked.

“Just that this Luther, he said that he was going to deal with Spike and Steele. It sounded like a threat to me.”

“Why’re you warning us?” Spike asked.

She didn’t point out that he hadn’t wanted to listen to her last night.

She shrugged. “Luther wasn’t very nice and I didn’t like the way he talked about . . . about women. It sounds like he’s planning to rebuild what his father had.”

“Luther’s father was a pimp,” Damon told her, cementing what she’d already deduced. “He used to recruit young girls. Usually runaways. Or he’d buy them from guys that were even more evil than he was, often selling them to other men to be sex slaves.”

She shuddered, her mind going to dark places. Her breath started to come in sharp pants.

“Millie? Millie? Are you all right? Millie?” Spike demanded.