King's Reign (Sydney Storm MC #6)(66)

“Hey. Did you get my text?” she asked.

“Yeah. What’s this about?”

“Well,” she started and then stopped for a beat before continuing, “so I was shopping at Target, and I saw this… Wait, first tell me your feelings on girlfriends who take over your life.”

“Fuck, Lily, I’m busy. Can this wait until tonight?”

“No,” she snapped. “It’ll take less than five minutes. Surely you have five minutes.”

I forced out a long breath. “Spit it out. What have you done?”

“I may have just bought you a new blanket for your bed. And before you say anything, it’s getting colder at night, and I worry about you being cold there. I mean, not that you really sleep there on your own anymore, but you might, and I don’t want you to get a cold. But I can return it if this is overstepping the girlfriend line.”

Fuck, she hit me fair in the gut with that. “Don’t fucking return it.”

Silence, and then—“Okay,” soft as fuck, causing my gut to tighten again.

“We done?”

“Yeah. I’m going to head over to your place now and drop this blanket off. I’m going to do some washing and stuff, too. I’ll try not to text you too much.” With that, she ended the call and I leaned back in my chair thinking about her taking over my life. She had no fucking clue that she didn’t need to buy me shit to do that; she’d taken it over the minute I’d decided to make her mine. And she could do whatever the fuck she wanted to my place, because I intended for it to be hers at some point, too.

I’d just finished the call with Lily when Axe rang.

“What’s up, brother? And where are you?” I asked. After he and Zane had left Sydney, they’d headed back home to Brisbane, but Axe often went away for work if Zane needed him on a job out of town.

“I’m at home. Just checking in on you to see how things have shaped up. The feds still on your back?”

“No, I took care of that shit the other day. We’re getting back to business as normal now, thank fuck.”

“Good to hear. You speak to Zane yet? Clear shit between you two?”

“Yeah.” He’d fucking pissed me off by not giving me all the information I needed, but we’d cleared the air. We’d known each other for too long and had been through too much not to fix shit between us. And I’d decided that perhaps he had a fucking point that I needed to trust him more, because he was right—he hadn’t ever let me down.

“So I’m also calling to let you know I’m taking off for a while. Justine walked out on me and has moved in with the motherfucker she cheated on me with. They’re talking marriage, and I can’t fucking watch this bullshit, so I’m taking some time off work and getting the hell out of town.”

“Fuck, Axe. Where are you going?”

“Fuck knows. Where the wind blows for all I care. The baby isn’t due for another six months. I’ll be back in plenty of time for that. She’s made it clear she doesn’t want me around, and I’m done fighting.”

“Well, you know my thoughts on the matter. It’ll do you fucking good to get away. Keep in touch so I know you’re not dead in an alley somewhere.”

“Will do,” he said, ending the call.

I hated that Justine had fucked him over like this, but I was more than happy he was out of that shitfight of a relationship. With any fucking luck, he’d find a better woman fast. Axe had never been good on his own. He preferred to have a woman by his side. I just hoped the next one was the complete fucking opposite of Justine.

I left the office and headed out to the bar. Kree met my gaze as I entered, and hit me with a smile. She’d moved past our previous problems now that her life had gotten back to normal. I appreciated a lot of things about Kree, but the fact she didn’t hold grudges had to be one of the best things about the woman. She was low fucking maintenance and handled her business with little fuss, and that shit made life far fucking easier when dealing with her.

I’d come looking for Hyde and found him at a table in the corner. Pulling up a seat, I said, “We need to go over Winter’s proposals. You got some time now?”

He nodded. “I’ve got a couple of hours.”

Our disagreement of a week ago was long forgotten. Neither of us held onto that kind of shit. And he’d accepted the deal I’d made with Stark. He’d actually fucking liked the idea which had surprised me.

We ran over the proposals Winter had sent through for the Melbourne operation, and came to some decisions about how we thought it best to proceed. I may have hated that city, but it was shaping up to be a profitable venture for us down there. We’d almost finished working shit out when my phone rang.

Bronze.

I hadn’t heard from him in almost a month so I’d figured he’d taken my advice and moved on with his life.

“Bronze,” I answered the call. “Why are you still calling me?”

“I’ve been digging. I told you I would. And I have something you’re gonna wanna hear.”

“Keep talking.”

“I’ve been tracking Ryland, trying to get to the bottom of whose payroll he was on. He dropped out of sight, which I’m guessing you know, but I followed his trail to South America. Someone paid him a shitload of cash to disappear, and that someone was Dante D’Amato.”