Page 15 of Dagger's Target
Dagger slides his hands up my back to tangle in my hair as he urges the kiss deeper, his tongue slipping in my mouth. For a moment, I let myself get lost in the sensation, in the way Dagger makes me feel safe when everything else feels like it’s crumbling around me. But the revelation he just dropped keeps circling in my mind, refusing to be pushed aside.
I break the kiss and rest my forehead against his. “I have a brother,” I whisper, the words feel completely foreign on my tongue.
“Yeah, you do.” His thumbs caress my cheeks. “Your dad and brother are both more than a little pissed they didn’t know about you sooner. We’ve been holding them off from coming to town. Don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to keep them at bay. Grinder’s growing impatient.”
“I don’t know what to do with that information.” I close my eyes, trying to process it all. “My whole life, I thought I was alone. Just me against the world. And now, finding out a name for the man I never knew is a bit more than I can handle. Especially learning that it’s more than just my dad, but a brother.”
“Baby, you got people in your life. It’s not just you against the world. Not only do you have me, but before I even entered the picture, you had your friends, you have Tucker, Mike, Jessy, and Chase. You’re not alone.” Dagger’s voice is gentle but firm. “You just got to see it as your world is just about to get even bigger. Especially with our baby coming.”
My heart skips a beat as I take in Dagger’s words, listening and repeating them in my head. Thinking about them, I know he’s right. I have had people in my corner for a while, but I never actually fully allowed myself to enjoy the fact that I did.
Leaning in, I kiss him deeply, needing that touch. I need the connection between the two of us. More than that, I wanted to feel what I’ve only experienced once in my life, and that was atthe hands of the man who is slowly infiltrating my life more and more every day.
Dagger’s hands move back to my hips, holding me steady against him as our kiss deepens, keeping me from rocking against him as I long to do. The weight of everything he’s told me still presses on my mind, but his touch grounds me to the here and now.
When we finally break apart, I’m breathless. “Do you think they’ll hate me?” I ask, voicing the fear that’s been growing since he mentioned my father and brother.
“Not a chance in hell,” Dagger says firmly. “They want to know you. Not Kat Ray. Not the music artist. Not Rena’s daughter. They want to know the daughter Boxer missed out on knowing and the sister that Grinder never got to be a big brother to.”
I slide off his lap and curl up next to him, needing to process. “I don’t even know what I’d say to them. I mean, it’s not like I can just say, ‘Hi, I’m the daughter you never knew about’. That’s not exactly a great conversation starter.”
“You don’t have to figure it all out right now. You don’t even have to be the first to speak up.” His arm wraps around me, pulling me closer as he kisses the top of my head. “I’ll be with you, baby. You have nothing to worry about.”
I close my eyes and suck in a breath, appreciating him all the more.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Dagger
“You didn’t have to come with me today,” Katrina huffs, stepping into the studio ahead of me.
I grin and shake my head, following her deeper inside. The moment the lights come on, I tug her to a halt, stepping in front of her.
“What . . .”
“Quiet,” I order as I pull my gun out of my holster under my cut. “Stay behind me, hand wrapped around my belt. Don’t let go unless I tell you.”
Katrina does as I tell her, and I start moving through the structure, scanning the area for anyone who could still be here. The place is completely trashed. Furniture she had set out for comfort around the place had been torn and ripped apart by whoever was behind the break-in. Glass and ceramic crunched under my boots. Guitars smashed up. The drums were gutted. Symbols bent. The equipment she used in the recording room was damaged beyond repair. On the walls in there, someone sprayed the words ‘You’ve been warned’.
“This can’t be happening,” Katrina whispers, her hand still tightly grasping the back of my belt, but I knew she’d been watching around me, seeing everything I did. “Why would they do this?”
“Who?” I ask, twisting to look at her. “Who the fuck would do this?”
“I don’t know,” she says, shaking her head.
I draw Katrina into my arms, hold her tight, and kiss the top of her head. “We’ll get this taken care of,” I tell her while thinking about how to find the person responsible for this. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if Carl, whatever his last name is, would be so stupid as to fuck with my woman.
He hadn’t been back around that I knew of, and she hadn’t mentioned him to me.
“Have you had any threats in the past weeks? Carl come back?” I ask, doing my best to keep my voice calm and gentle.
Katrina jerks at the questions and tilts her head back to meet my gaze. “You think Carl has something to do with this?”
“Can’t rule him out.” I didn’t want to say he did, but I also don’t know if he didn’t have something to do with trashing this place. More than that, I don’t miss that she didn’t answer my question. “He come back here?”
“Carl’s here at least once every two weeks.” She huffs out a breath and pushes away. “Though he’s been by twice in the past three. He’s persistent, that’s for sure.”
Fuck.
