Zed just snorted a laugh. "Suck my dick, Gumdrop!"
"Careful," I murmured, grinning as he unbuckled my gun holster for me. "One of those two might take you up on that offer."
He wasn't even remotely worried, I could tell. "Not likely," he replied with a grin. "Come on; sleep with me. I need to feel you in my arms tonight."
His kisses as he stripped me out of my clothes were slow and loving, then he tugged one of his own shirts over my head to sleep in. We were both too exhausted to fuck like rabbits, so we just snuggled until we fell asleep. It was almost like old times when we were nothing more than friends.
Until morning, of course. Then I woke up with Zed's sleep boner crushed against my ass and totally lacked the willpower to ignore it. Surely, there weren't many better ways to wake up than with some epic sleepy sex with a man you were totally in love with?
By the time we made it to the shower to get clean, then dirty again, then finally drag some clothes on, Lucas and Seph had already left for school.
"Morning, Red," Cass rumbled when I looped my arms around his waist from behind. He was at the stove cooking eggs that smelled... less than amazing.
Zed clearly thought so too because his face screwed up like he was being personally insulted. "The fuck did you do to those eggs, asshole?" He reached over and grabbed the frying pan straight off the gas burner.
"Hey," Cass protested, holding his spatula up. "What the hell?"
Zed just wrinkled his nose and dumped the entire contents of the pan into the trash before rinsing it out. "Gross," he muttered. "Make coffee or something. I'll sort out eggs."
Cass gave Zed a long-suffering glare, but when he turned to the coffee machine, I caught a smug grin on his lips.
"Sneaky cat," I whispered, tucking under his arm when he hugged me into his side.
He just winked down at me and set about making us all coffees.
"No calls through the night?" Cass rumbled, passing me the first mug and letting his fingers linger on mine.
I shook my head. "Nothing. I'm going to head over to Wattle Lane this morning, though. No doubt Nadia would have just dealt with shit herself rather than calling me."
Cass huffed in amusement. "Sounds right. I wish I could come with you."
Holding my coffee tight, I rose up on my toes to kiss him. "I know," I murmured. "But you're still dead. Besides, the whole tough-guy, biker look isn't going down real well with these scared kids."
He grunted, but I knew he understood. The whole situation was making me insanely glad I had a handful of women I could semi-trust to help out. But it also highlighted how dick-heavy I'd let the Timberwolves get—something I'd wanted to avoid when I took over. I needed to work on that.
The three of us enjoyed a strangely cozy breakfast together, but I missed Lucas. We weren't complete without him. I really should have gotten up earlier to see him before he left for school, but I'd make up for it. If all things went to plan and Chase didn't start any more shit in the next thirty-six hours, then I'd be finally putting on my show at Club 22. I'd dragged my heels on fulfilling that bet long enough, and we couldn't make any new ones until I'd paid up.
Zed offered to drive me over to Wattle Lane, and as badly as I was itching to take my Ducati out for a drive, I accepted. For one thing, we would need to go to work after checking on the girls. And for another, I didn't want to be alone.
Chase had gotten under my skin, and now I was feeling eyes on me every time I left the safety of Zed's house.
Zed must have had a similar thought, because he walked me all the way to the front door of our safe house. It wasn't something we discussed out loud, but I appreciated the gesture, no matter how unnecessary.
"I'd better wait in the car," he said softly as I pressed the doorbell. "I'm here if you need me, though." His hand pressed into my lower back, bringing my body close as he bent down to kiss me.
The door swung open the moment our lips locked, though, and I reluctantly pulled away to greet Nadia. Except it wasn't Nadia staring up at us with a disgusted look on her cute little face.
"Ew," Diana announced, giving Zed a look like he smelled awful. Then her big, green-eyed gaze shifted to me, and her smile increased in brightness. "Hades! You're back! I knew you would be." She launched herself at me, her arms banding around my waist as her face buried in my stomach.
Startled, I just stood there for a moment as the kid hugged me and Zed struggled not to laugh. Behind Diana, he gave a very pointed look at the girl's now clean hair, then met my eyes with a wide grin.
"You're so fucked," he whispered, then smacked another quick kiss on my lips before retreating to his car. Laughing.
Glowering after him, I tried to peel Diana off my waist. "I'm not huge on the hugs, squirt," I muttered. "Let's get inside. What the fuck were you doing answering the door, anyway?"
No sooner were the words out my mouth than Nadia swatted me around the ears with a tea towel. "Language," she scolded, as if on instinct. Then her eyes widened, and she drew a deep breath through her nose, like she wasn't sure how I'd react to that.
But I just chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, fair enough." I pushed Diana gently in the direction of the living room where I could hear feminine chatter and cartoons playing on the TV. "Go. I need to talk to Nadia."
Diana gave an exaggerated huff but did as she was told, leaving me to peer at Nadia.
"Is it just me," I said, quiet enough that we couldn't be overheard, "or does that fucking kid look like she could be related to me?"
Nadia scoffed, glancing in Diana's direction. The kid's shiny copper hair was unmissable amongst the other girls. "Not all redheads are related, Hades. Goodness me, did you fail high school science?"
Rolling my eyes, I followed her to the kitchen, where Maxine was washing up the dishes with Hannah. They were talking and laughing together like old friends, and the whole room—the whole house—had a drastically different energy than when I'd left in the early hours of the morning.
"So, what did I miss?" I asked, taking a seat at the island when Nadia pointed to it.
Gen popped her head up from the dining table where she had her laptop set up. Her hair was messy and her eyes looked tired, but she seemed content. Pleased.
"Boss, you're back." She smiled.
"First things first," Nadia took over. "The poor little girl who wasn't waking up from the drugs, Maria took her into Shadow Grove Memorial. She was worried that it was more the head knock than the drugs keeping her under. Far as I know, they're still treating her this morning."
My brows hitched slightly, but I'd trusted them to make the right calls. "Okay. What else?"
Nadia folded her arms under her breasts. "Most of the girls have been easy to identify. Once they understood we were genuinely trying to help them, they became chatty, even the two who don't speak a lick of English."
"Five of the nine were reported missing by their families and genuinely seem to want to go home. Of course, we will investigate a little further, but it seems like they were kidnapped, not sold." Gen offered, capping her pen and closing the notebook she'd been writing in beside her computer.