King's Reign (Sydney Storm MC #6)(30)

Zane didn’t wait for a response before continuing. “As for Brant, he’s left Sydney, and as best we can make out, he’s back in Melbourne. We had a hit on his credit card there last night. Still can’t confirm if Ivy is with him or not.”

“Keep tracking him. Winter was supposed to head down there tomorrow. I’ll move that up, and he can go today.”

“Will do.”

After he left, I sat for a moment thinking about all the shit we’d been through over the last few weeks thanks to Romano. While we still had stuff to work through, a weight had lifted off my shoulders. Now we could direct all our efforts to dealing with the feds and then Gambarro. That motherfucker still had to be taken care of.

I exited the office and headed out to search for Hyde. He’d arrived back at the clubhouse about half an hour ago after helping Nitro take care of a cleaning job that had been called in early this morning. Business was almost back to normal on all fronts. We just had one thing left to deal with before club life could go back to normal.

I found Hyde in the kitchen with Scott. Glancing up at me, he said, “Just got a call about that meet with Black Deeds scheduled for Monday. They wanna push it to Thursday. You good with that?”

“Yeah, but let Zero know we won’t push it again.” Looking at Scott, I asked, “You boys pulling out tonight?”

He nodded. “We’ll leave around eight. You sure you don’t need us anymore?”

“Zane’s just advised me he believes Romano was behind the shit that went down, so yeah, I’m sure.” To Hyde, I said, “Let everyone know they can move their families home.”

“It’s about fucking time,” he said, echoing my thoughts. It really fucking was.

Leaving them, I made my way to Annika’s room. I figured she’d be in there trying to get the kids to have an afternoon nap. I was right. She looked at me as I pushed the half-open door all the way open, and put her finger to her lips in a silencing motion.

I jerked my chin at the hallway and she nodded, holding up a finger to let me know she needed a minute.

While I waited for her outside the room, a text came through.



Lily: It’s official, I’m going to prison.

Me: Why?

Lily: Zara’s boyfriend just gave me lip. I really am going to kill the little shit.

Me: I could have a word with him

Lily: To save me from prison?

Me: Yeah

Lily: You really like fucking me, huh?

Me: I like a lot fucking more than that

She didn’t come back straight away, and I took a moment allowing it to sink in just how fucking much I liked hearing from her in the middle of the day.



Lily: You like roast chicken?

Me: Yeah

Lily: I’m cooking it for dinner. You should come. 6pm.

Me: I’ll be there. Don’t commit murder before I see you

Annika stepped out into the hallway as I sent the last message. Closing the door softly behind her, she said, “What’s up? And why do you look all smiley?”

“What the fuck does all smiley mean?”

She pulled her head back, inspecting my face. Waving her finger at me, she said, “That look in your eyes. You might not actually be smiling with your mouth, but your eyes are.”

Another text sounded and I glanced down at my phone.



Lily: You should sleep over more often. I’m liking this side of you.

Lily: I mean, I know there would have to be some hot sex to go with that sleeping over, but just sayin’ I’m down.

Lily: BTW you give good head. I’m always down for that.



Fuck.



Me: Stop texting me. I’m busy

Lily: I wish you were busy with me.

Lily: OK, OK, I’m stopping now. I’ll get you some more beer on the way home. Just let me know if you prefer something different to last night.



I shoved the phone back in my pocket and met Annika’s gaze.

She lifted her brows at me and crossed her arms. “Okay, brother, what gives? Who is this woman and when do I get to meet her?” When I didn’t answer her, she said, “It’s clearly a woman. The only other time in your life that I’ve seen you smile like this was when you were first dating Ivy. You may as well tell me before Skye figures it out. You know what she’s like when someone in the family is dating. I can save you from her if I’m prepared.”

She was right—Skylar had a way of forcing herself on the people we dated. I hadn’t been subjected to it for a long time, but I’d watched as she’d done it to Axe and Nik over the years. Skye was too much for some of the people they dated, but I had a feeling Lily would be okay with her.

“It’s Lily, Skye’s physio, so I think we’re good, Nik.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh my God, I never saw that coming.” She grinned. “I like it.”

Shifting the conversation back to what I came for, I said, “I came to let you know you can take the kids home.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. I can take you when they wake up if you want.”

A smile spread out across her face. “This is the best news you could have given me. The department called me offering me some days, so I’ll be able to say yes.”

Annika was a primary school relief teacher. She’d taken time off when her dickhead ex-boyfriend had talked her into letting him support her. I’d argued with her over the wisdom of that, but she’d been so infatuated with him she hadn’t been able to see straight. That, and she had a burning desire to be at home for her kids, which I understood. In the end, he’d shown his abusive side and I’d gotten her out of that shit. What I couldn’t get her out of was her inability to find a job that worked in with her kids. I was fucking over the moon to hear the education department had called her.