He heard Absinthe’s Harley come up their drive. He wasn’t alone, which didn’t surprise Ice. They were all trying to get Soleil used to them, especially after what had happened that morning. At least the attack site was a good distance from their compound. There had been too many disappearances lately, and the sheriff kept coming back to the bar with questions.
They all liked Jonas Harrington, the local sheriff. He appeared easygoing. He knew just about everyone up and down the coast. He knew their families. He was well liked for a reason. He was a good man. On the other hand, he was very intelligent and good at his job. Outwitting a man like him wasn’t easy. They didn’t need him to find a connection between the dead men and Soleil—or their club.
Absinthe and whoever had come with him parked their bikes outside and came to the front door. As a rule, no one bothered knocking, and they didn’t now. They just walked in. They were used to nudity, to anything, even private moments they might stumble across.
Ice used his arm to keep Soleil in place when she would have stood up and probably put distance between them. He wanted her to get used to the club members’ ways with one another so that she’d eventually be just as easy around them as he was.
“Absinthe, Code, Mechanic, come on in.” Ice waved them toward the chairs. “We were just talking about filing the papers and making certain Winston and his crew don’t get ahead of us.”
Absinthe pulled one of the comfortable chairs around to face them, seating himself opposite Soleil. Code set up close to the end table so he could set his computer there. Mechanic stretched out, legs in front of him, looking for all the world as if he were lazy and about to go to sleep. It was a very deceptive pose.
“Princess, you’re comfortable with Absinthe, Code and Mechanic, right?”
“Of course.” She sat up straight. “Thanks for coming here, instead of me having to go to the clubhouse. It’s been a little shocking today. I needed . . .” She looked around her. “Something familiar. I just needed to be home.”
Ice’s heart clenched hard in his chest and his stomach did a slow roll. She thought of their house as home. He couldn’t have asked for a better gift. He’d needed to hear that. He had been secretly worried that after he told her about their past, she might think less of his brothers and treat them differently, but if there was a difference, she was more open to their friendship than ever.
“Any opportunity to get on my bike is a good one,” Absinthe said.
“I’m sorry I freaked out on all of you earlier,” Soleil continued.
“Babe. Really?” Absinthe returned. “There was every reason to freak out. Glad you’re feeling better.”
She smiled, and Ice threaded his fingers through her hand. Absinthe got down to business, taking her step by step through the process—and extensive paperwork—of hiring him as her personal lawyer. His credentials were impeccable. Code had seen to that. From hiring him, they went next to making certain to file papers stating that Donald Monroe had been fired as of the date a month earlier she’d officially terminated him. Then more papers declaring he was to cease and desist from acting falsely on her behalf and that he had no authority whatsoever to act on her behalf.
“You’re going to have to make a public appearance soon, but let’s give it a few days so we can see what their reaction is,” Absinthe advised.
“Ice said it was possible they would demand some kind of competency hearing and they might have a corrupt judge and they’d get them to turn me over to Winston.”
Absinthe’s eyebrow shot up. He turned his head to look at Ice with cool eyes. Absinthe’s eyes were so light blue they were like two crystals. At times they were strangely opaque, as if they could see through things, rather than their outward appearance. “You told her that? I can assure you, both of you, that won’t happen. They can try. I even expect them to try, but they won’t get away with it.”
“But, Absinthe, if they have a corrupt judge . . .” Soleil looked and sounded scared.
Ice put his arm around her and pulled her close to his body. “Seriously, Soleil, do you think I’m the kind of man to let someone take my woman from me?”
Mechanic didn’t open his eyes. “Or that we’re the kind of club that allows some jack-off to take one of ours away and mess with her? Not happening.”
Code looked up. He’d been busy ensuring everything Absinthe wanted was done. “Babe. Really? The first mention of a judge’s name and I’ve got all I need to find out everything about him, especially if the name is the same one you gave us. We can take him down before he can put on his robes. And when we take someone down, we do it hard, so it’s very difficult to get back up.”