He nodded his head. “So, talk to Absinthe later this morning and we’ll get the ball rolling. Once he files the papers, and proves you’re alive and hired him, we’ll be able to take these fuckers down. Three of them are ‘married’ to their victims and looking to kill their spouses off soon. They joke about it. Code said it made him feel sick reading their dialogue. These women think they love them, when their ‘husbands’ are really after the money. If it hadn’t been for Lana . . . I’m so fuckin’ grateful to her.”
“Me too.”
“I’ve got some other business with the club to take care of before the run, Soleil. I’ll be gone for a day or two at the most, but it hopefully won’t be long. I’ll want you close to the house or clubhouse. You can visit Breezy or Anya. Both places are very protected. If you need anything like groceries, give a list to whoever is here looking out for you. I’m not certain who we’re leaving behind this time.”
Another shiver slid down her spine. “I don’t understand. Where are you going?”
“Club business is something we don’t talk about, babe. I didn’t explain that and I’m sorry. I should have before hitting you with it. We take jobs and work them out, that’s how we make our club money. Only fully patched club members are privy to what we do. It’s to keep things confidential. It’s no big deal.”
“I couldn’t care less what you’re doing, Ice, but I don’t like the fact that you’re going someplace where I won’t know where you are.”
“You’ll get used to it.” He stroked a caress down the back of her head as if that could fix things.
Soleil wasn’t buying it. “How would you feel if I disappeared for a couple of days and you had no idea where I was or what I was doing?”
“That isn’t going to happen.”
His voice had turned pure steel again, something that sent butterflies winging in her stomach. His eyes had changed again, going pure glacier blue. Pure ice. He was dead serious. She put a hand defensively to her throat.
“Can you not see how unfair that is?”
“I don’t give a flying fuck whether it’s fair or not, Soleil,” he snapped. “You don’t ever disappear on me.”
His eyes blazed with blue flames. She found that fascinating and kind of hot—a bad thing because he really meant what he said. There was a razor edge to his voice. Suddenly he wasn’t the easygoing man she’d married.
“Honey”—she tried to be reasonable—“I’ve been on my own for a very long time.”
She could see the effort he made to push down those hot, blue flames. She almost didn’t want him to, fixating on them. He was such a beautiful man, even angry. She didn’t like him upset with her. That didn’t sit well, but the way his eyes looked as he ran his gaze over her . . .
There was possession, as if she belonged to him. There was that dark lust that was never quite gone when he looked at her. There were those blue flames that leapt in his eyes and focused on her as if she were the only woman in his world and he burned for her. She’d heard angry sex was explosive . . .
“You’re not on your own anymore, Soleil, and you have a pack of murderers looking to kill you. You aren’t being reasonable. Why the fuck aren’t you being reasonable?” He raked both hands through his hair, messing it up more so he looked like a wild surfer instead of a biker.
She tried not to smile, knowing that wouldn’t make him happy. She couldn’t help rubbing her finger over his lips, tracing that little intriguing frown, trying to soothe him because he was genuinely upset. Suddenly it was no longer about sex, angry or otherwise; it was about fixing the problem and getting him to understand so he wasn’t upset and neither was she.
“You could try asking, Ice. I pretty much would do anything for you. I don’t want to be treated like I’m ten and not quite bright. What would be the point of me going anywhere without you? I have a million things to do in this house, or I can go visit the other women. I want to get to know them. What I don’t want is to be treated like a child. I may have made a few mistakes, or maybe even a lot of them, but I did learn from them.”
He froze, his turbulent eyes completely focused on her face.
She nodded. “I was making a point that you wouldn’t like me to disappear for a few days without your knowledge of where I am. You had a rather visceral reaction, so I’m fully aware you wouldn’t like it. But you’re doing the same thing to me and expect that I’ll be okay with it. Do you see my point?”