A Perfect Chance (5 page)

Mace's presence drew my attention to him. "Okay," I answered Diesel, despite my focus on the hot hulk of man filling the doorway. "I've got this."

When Mace threw me a wink, I didn't even try to keep the smirk from my lips.
I've got this.

Chapter Five

MACE

Fucking Marshall McKenny was a sneaky bastard. Ever since the mess surrounding my dad trying to go after Jo and Liam, I'd been trying to put together enough ammo to take McKenny down. Since everything about McKenny was totally personal, I spent energy investigating him between paid jobs. For months, he'd given me the runaround, yet since just before Jo and Liam's crash, he'd sensibly lain low.

I used every contact I had, Enfield especially, my old boss still on the force, to help with intel, but he had come up with nothing recently.

While McKenny was still very much around running his legit architect business, all of his links to meth had gone quiet. With no traceable evidence, Enfield had suggested I back off and move on, but that wasn't like me at all. Hell, even after the years since Abigail's death, I was still waiting for Nox's release. I didn't stop or give up easily. With Nox, I knew that once I had him in my grasp, I may finally get the truth about how the bust went so fucked-up, and exactly who screwed us over. While chasing Riots was no longer what got me through my day, I still had them in my sights. Enfield and Diesel knew this. As long as I wasn't stirring shit up like I did while still on the force, they pretty much left me to it. It was an unspoken agreement we had.

I looked at the list of recent council applications that McKenny had submitted. Everything seemed above board, but there was that
something
that I just couldn't put my finger on. I was missing a piece to the McKenny puzzle and while I couldn't yet see it, when I did uncover
it, I had a gut feeling it would be the first piece needed to build my case to take the fucker down once and for all. 

I heard her soft steps before I saw her and immediately lifted my gaze to the open doorway. Lena approached my office, greeting me with a gentle smile. I knew I grinned back like a lovesick douche, but even after a month of Lena working for me and offering me the same perfect smile, I never got tired of seeing it.

"Coffee?" she asked.

"In or out?" I raised a brow in challenge. It was something I was trying, gentle pushes to ease her out of her comfort zone, and so far, it seemed to be working. After a month, I knew her tells and could usually prevent an attack from happening. It wasn't smooth sailing; far from it. It was stressful as hell, but fuck, when she smiled and achieved a small win, it was worth it all. There had been just two attacks when I'd been out of the office, but both times, true to plan, Kid had been around looking out for her.

Kid was part of Deadwood and had had my back too many times to count. He was also tight with Lena and had worked a few security gigs for me when I needed him. It had taken a few months a couple of years back for me to swallow the jealousy as I observed the two of them together, dissecting and figuring out what their relationship was. He was one of the few Lena could comfortably touch. Even two years ago, I was envious that she would kiss his cheek, or he would hold her tightly in a hug. It took a while, but I was able to work out that they had a brother-sister kind of love. They were close to the same age and had actually gone to high school together.

Admittedly, it was only after I worked this out that I took a liking to Kid, but ever since, he was a guy I trusted almost as much as I did Diesel.

Lena's small smile grew into a wide grin. "Out." She added an affirmative nod and took a deep breath.

Standing, I grabbed my wallet, phone, and keys, and the two of us headed out. I locked up behind us, and we held hands to my car. The contact was the same every single fucking time. I'd hoped to get used to it over the last month, not to react so obviously like the twat that I was, but no such luck. Her delicate hand in mine felt fucking perfect. A calming rightness settled through me, filling my chest with emotion and my cock with need. Yet still, I remained stoic, steadfast, not daring to break her trust, not risking pushing her over to the point of panic. If I were ever responsible for that, fuck knows what I would do. So instead, we held hands, walked to my car, which I'd taken to using rather than my wheels for this purpose alone, and I saw her safely situated in the passenger seat.

As I headed to the driver side, I thought of Diesel's words, his roundabout way of giving me permission to form a relationship with Lena. The knowledge still screwed with my brain. I was so tempted, too fucking tempted, to steam ahead and make it happen, but I couldn't do that to her. My head was too consumed with what ifs while my heart was buried in guilt. So instead, I helped her and supported her the best I could, hoping like hell I didn't mess it up and lose myself in the process.

I pulled out and drove to our local drive-through coffee house. I'd never paid attention to the place before, but soon discovered it was bloody perfect for Lena. She didn't need to get out of the car—though we were working up to that—yet she had the freedom of leaving the office and doing something everyday people did.

It didn't take long before we arrived. Unbuckling her belt, Lena leaned over me to speak into the microphone to make her order. I held back my groan as I inhaled her scent: fresh peaches that smelled fucking delectable. I couldn't help but wonder if I'd spent the first week messing up her order on purpose, to give me the opportunity to have her all but sprawled over my lap. I was a sadistic bastard if that were the case, punishing myself by revelling in the closeness, but not allowing myself to touch.

She made her order and then turned her head to look at me, her brows raised in question. I held my breath at her closeness. All I had to do was lean in a couple of inches, if that, and my lips could be pressed against hers.

"Mace?" Her voice reminded me that she was waiting for my order.

"Peaches."
Fuck.

She grinned at me, still in close proximity, her arm brushing against my chest and her other hand moving to my thigh for support. "Excuse me?"

Thinking fast, I said, "Peach smoothie?" not intending for it to come out as a dumb-arse question.

"Alrighty," she said with a laugh, turning her head away from me and leaning closer once more to the open window. The movement caused her hair to sway, releasing more of the peach scent that apparently left me incapable of thought.

Before I could stop myself, I leaned forward, my nose touching her hair. It wasn't until her hand shifted a fraction, tightening on my thigh, that I realised what I'd done, or that Lena had noticed. I froze, not daring to move. In the past two minutes, I'd grown a fucking vagina. Sniffing her goddamn hair and enjoying the smell of peaches.
Pussy-whipped, yet I'm not even getting any.

Lena eased her head back, angling it to face me. I dared not move, hoping her hand wouldn't shift to feel my hardened cock, while wondering how the hell I would handle it if I saw panic on her face.

When her face finally turned to mine, I gritted my teeth. The agony in my cock at her closeness was too much. Her sweet breath brushed against my lips. Unable to put it off any longer, I allowed my gaze to travel to her eyes. They were focused on my lips.
Fuck.
I gulped, my mouth dry. The action flicked her gaze from my mouth to my eyes.

I remained still, silent as I tried to read the situation. She wasn't freaking out, closing in on herself, nor was she backing away in either embarrassment or amusement. Instead, she remained in front of me, eyes locked on my own. Waiting. Waiting? I had no fucking idea if that was right. I didn't trust my ability to read people anymore, especially not a smoking-hot woman sprawled over me. My cock seemed to be the only part of me with a real reaction. It throbbed beneath my denim. I wanted to shift but didn't want to break whatever the hell this was.

My eyes widened when her gaze once more flicked to my mouth. I mirrored her action and looked at hers, and groaned when I watched her pull her bottom lip between her teeth. "Lena—" I began, but was cut off by the ringing of my phone.

She jerked back, her hand shifting off my leg and landing on my throbbing cock in the process. I half groaned, half moaned at the contact.

"Shit!" she squeaked, moving her hand quickly before scrambling awkwardly to her seat. Her gaze immediately went to her window, and she stared out intently.

Her gaze off me, I shifted in my seat, pulling my phone out of my pocket. I allowed my hand to rub my aching dick for a nanosecond, and then eased the car forward to the next window to pay for and collect our drinks.

I looked at the screen before answering the phone. "Diesel," I greeted, noticing Lena stiffen in my periphery. I schooled my voice, pushing back the effect of my pounding heart and throbbing cock. Hell, speaking to Diesel was enough to quell the latter.

"You getting coffee?" he asked.

I wasn't even surprised he knew where we were. "Yeah. What's up?"

"I have a big fucking ask, brother." His voice was serious, heavy, and I could imagine him rubbing his hand over his face in frustration.

"Name it."

"I need Lena to stay with you for a couple of days." I stiffened, my eyes widening and jaw snapping shut at the request, but he was already continuing. "Shit, man. I have to get out of town, plus there's a fuckload of shit going on around here."

"I'm not sure that's wise," I answered, not wanting to alert Lena to the fact we were talking about her.

I heard faint mumbling in the background and a door slamming shut. "I know. Fuck. It's Riots." I froze. "She's not safe at the compound or our house. She needs to be with you." He sighed heavily. "Listen, I know she's never been to your place before, and that's likely to be a huge-arse problem, but she knows and trusts you. Just talk her through it. I wouldn't put her through this if there were any other way."

Damn, I knew without a doubt he spoke the truth. He also knew that anything involving Riots, I wanted to know. "Can you tell me what's happening?" I risked a glance in Lena's direction. She'd since overcome any embarrassment she may have had and was staring at me openly.

My eyes remained trained on hers as Diesel spoke. "They've pulled some shit out of town and are making all kinds of threats. Usually, I'd ignore their bullshit, especially since it's not in our patch, but Drifters have reached out to us for help. That's something we can't refuse. There's nothing immediate you need to know or worry about, and I'm not saying that to shut you up. Anything I find out, I'll tell you about when we get back, right, brother?"

I turned my gaze away from Lena's intense scrutiny. "Sure thing." The Drifters, an MC two towns over, were tight with the Deadwoods. I knew, just like Diesel did, they wouldn't reach out if they didn't have to. While I was eager for more information, I let it rest, knowing Diesel would make good on his word.

He released a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Mace, seriously. Stop by the house to pick up some of her things first. Also, grab her medication in case she needs it."

"I didn't think—"

"She hasn't been taking any medication for the past six weeks. She's been coping so fucking well, but if this pushes her over, she'll need it to help calm her, okay?"

I nodded into the phone and answered, "Okay." Shit, I couldn't screw this up with Lena. Every time an attack hit her, it took everything I had in me to keep my shit together. I hated it. Hated feeling out of control. Hated watching her in pain. And fucking hated not being able to take her in my arms to make it all go away for her. Considering the impact on me, I could only begin to imagine how hard it hit her.

"Thanks. I have to head out. Let me quickly speak to Lena. I think it's best I tell her what's going on."

I faced Lena once more and held out my phone to her. She lifted her brows in confusion as she took it from me. I finally registered the horn blowing in the background and the repetitive call of, "Sir, your order?" I pulled out my card and pressed it against the payWave reader before taking Lena's coffee and a sickly looking frozen concoction from the kid serving.
Fucking peaches.

Placing the drinks in the cup holders, I pulled away and headed to a parking space. I needed to deal with whatever fallout came from Lena finding out about her sleeping arrangements.

Putting the car in Park, I allowed the engine to idle as I angled to look at Lena. Her head was down, phone to her ear, and she was slowly nodding. I smiled slightly, knowing I regularly did the same thing when on the phone. A whispered, "Okay, love you and stay safe," alerted me to her ending the call. I waited as she pulled the phone from her ear and pressed End.