Her head jerked up. “What? You didn’t tell me that.”
“You didn’t need to know. He’s not your problem anymore. But I will say, it might be time to get a lawyer you trust to take over your business. Code says you have a lawyer trying to file to ‘protect’ your trust as you’ve gone missing. You’ll need to surface soon.”
A shiver crept down her spine. She wrapped her arms around her middle. “The moment I do, they’ll come after me.”
“By surfacing, I mean file papers of your own. That’s why you need a lawyer.”
She frowned. “I have no idea who to hire.”
“There’re a million lawyers who deal with your kind of trust. Choose one. Or you could use Absinthe. He’d eat them alive. He’s that good.”
“Absinthe is a lawyer?”
He nodded. “Yep.”
She liked that he didn’t push her. She was intelligent enough to know that when Absinthe had sat next to her in the clubhouse when they’d asked her questions, that he had some special talent. Since then, she’d heard several times that he was a human lie detector. She liked him. He was quieter than most of the others. Sometimes he seemed apart from them. She knew Ice not only liked and respected him but also admired him. Still, Ice hadn’t insisted she choose Absinthe as her lawyer.
“Don’t you think that if I hired Absinthe as my lawyer, he’d become a target? That it would be painting a huge red bull’s-eye on his back?”
He grinned at her, and for a moment, the way the light shimmering off the ocean hit his face, he looked a predator, like a hungry wolf eager to bring down his prey.
“We have to draw them out. Code has gotten to them, found them online. They exchange emails all the time, and they have a private group chatroom they go into sometimes. There appears to be eight of them and Winston. He isn’t very popular right now. The others are holding him accountable for you getting away. He got very angry at one point. It seems he doesn’t have a handle on his temper at all. In the heat of the moment, he admitted he believes that you overheard the conversation with Harbin Conner, and might have heard another name, but you know they’re plotting to kill you.”
She pushed her hair back behind her ears and drew her knees up, wrapping her arms around them. “His temper is a lot worse than they realize.”
“This is your business, Soleil, but you need to let the world know you’re alive and file papers to stop Donald Monroe from stealing your trust out from under your nose. We may not need it, but our children might be grateful to have it.”
“You keep saying that, Ice, and you don’t know how much I appreciate that you want to pay, but I’m in this too, and I’m capable of contributing.”
He caught her chin between his thumb and fingers. “Really? You’re going to go there again while we’re having a serious conversation?”
“I am serious. You give me everything.”
“I like buying you things. I like clothes shopping with you.”
She blushed. He’d gone shopping with her just a few days earlier. He was especially fond of dresses. She obliged by trying them on. Each time she came out of the dressing room to show him, he had her turn around in front of his chair, then he stood and reached down the bodice to caress the upper curves of her breasts before sliding his hands up the backs of her thighs to cup her bare cheeks. He preferred her to wear thongs or no panties at all. She went with the thongs most of the time.
He made everything they did together fun and sensual. She looked forward to every day. She looked forward to just being with him. Her heart hurt sometimes just looking at him.
“Do you think Absinthe will have time to meet with me?”
“First, Absinthe only works for Torpedo Ink. You’re now property of Torpedo Ink because you’re my wife. That means he works for you.”
“Whoa. Back up the bus, Ice.” She couldn’t admit that little thrill that shot through her at his casual statement. She wanted to be his in every way, but property? “I’m Torpedo Ink’s property?”
He slung his arm around her neck and pulled her to him. “You’re my property, but Torpedo Ink will protect you. Every member. Every prospect. I’m having your jacket made. We’ll be going on a run with the Diamondbacks and a few other clubs and I’ll want you wearing it or the denim vest I’ve had made up as well. That’s important. You can’t just walk around unclaimed in that situation. You have to stick close to me.”
“I always stick close to you.” She did. She loved being with him, and she didn’t care where they were.