KNOW ME (DEFIANT Motorcycle Club)(21)

Perhaps, I mused to myself, the answer to all three questions was yes.
Orion watched me as I played with my food.  He waited for me to speak again but I only

smiled at him and slid my leg between his underneath the table.
If he could keep secrets, then so could I.



Chapter Nine


Casper was waiting with a grim expression which caused Orion to curb the bike to a

short stop.  Casper looked him in the eye and nodded, not acknowledging me at all.
Orion removed his sunglasses.
“All right,” he said in a tone which could only be described as lethal.
I climbed off the bike, nursing the lonely feeling that an entire conversation was

occurring between the two men as they quietly regarded one another.  I clutched the

book of Dick Wick Hall’s collected writings to my chest and decided I didn’t need to

be there.
“I’ll be in the house,” I said.
Orion didn’t even look at me.  As I glanced back I saw how he leaned in to talk to

Casper in a low voice which didn’t carry at all.
“Club shit,” I muttered and retreated inside.
It was hours before I saw Orion again.  I took advantage of the time to give the

kitchen a thorough scrubbing.  As I was tending to the grimed grout between the counter

tiles, one of the other men wandered in and began rooting around in the freezer. 

Underneath the wooly growth of his beard he gave me a shy look.  I tried to remember

his name.
Brandon.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.  “I don’t mean to be in your way.”
“You’re not,” he said mildly, cracking open a can and staring at me with frank

curiosity. “Your car is a piece of shit by the way.”
“Car?”  I dropped a sudsy sponge in the sink and turned on the tap.  I’d forgotten

about the borrowed Corolla.  “Oh yeah.  Well, that’s not exactly my car.”
“Can’t believe that f*cking thing made it all the way out here from what?  San

Francisco?”
“San Francisco,” I confirmed.  “Where is it anyway?  It hasn’t been in front of

Riverbottom since the night I got here.”
Brandon nodded.  “Yeah, Teague’s got it.”  He had an imposing physique, though not

as jaw dropping as Orion’s.  
I strained to remember what Rachel had told me about Brandon.  Something about the

Marines.  Before I could say another word Orion poked his head into the kitchen.  He

wasn’t looking for me.
“Meeting,” he barked at Brandon.  “And Kira,” he said, already turning away.  “Go

to the room and stay there a little while.”
I put my hands on my hips, huffy and indignant.  “Are you seriously sending me to my

f*cking room?”
Orion’s head swiveled around slowly.  His eyes were as cold as I’d ever seen them and

I shrank back.
“Yeah,” he said softly.  “So f*cking go.”
Brandon shot me a quick look which was either sympathy or amusement.  It was hard to

tell underneath all that hair.  He followed Orion out to the living room where the men

of Defiant waited.  A few of them stared at me as I moved silently past and headed down

the hall to the bedroom.  I closed the door, feeling ill at ease.
I sat on the edge of the bed, my hands clenched in front of me.  It was probably

nothing, just typical business.  I was still smarting from the way Orion had spoken to

me but Crest hadn’t allowed any woman, not even me, to linger about when there was

serious shit happening.
When the door flew open I jumped.  Orion was in a hurry.  He opened a black backpack

and began tossing objects into it.
“Where are you going?”
The way he looked at me was as if he’d only just realized I existed.  “There’s some

shit that needs tending.”  He started to zip up the backpack.  Apparently that was the

only thing he was going to say about the matter.
I twirled my hair with a frown.  “So how long will you be gone this time?”
Orion looked at me for a long moment without blinking.  I looked back at him.  “Until

it’s done,” he said in near whisper.  “Teague and Brandon are staying behind.  For

the time being I don’t want you to go too far.  Here and Riverbottom and that’s it.”

He thought of something and moved over to the badly dented dresser in the corner of

the room.  He rooted around and withdrew an object which he fiddled with for a moment

before tossing it on the bed.
“Prepaid phone,” he explained.  “It’s got my number programmed in.  Call it only if

you need to and no other f*cking time.  Otherwise, I’ll see you when I see you.”
He shouldered his backpack and began to walk out of the room when I called his named

sharply.  Suddenly he dropped the backpack on the floor and crossed the room with one

hard stride.  The way his mouth crashed down onto mine reminded me of the fury of our

first kiss.  I clung to him this time, trying to pull him closer, feeling the