Page 1 of Hold Back
Chapter One
RED
Red Baxter scowledat the three men in front of him.
“This interrogation…whatever this is…it’s bullshit.”
He leaned back in the chair and folded his arms across his chest. He fixed his gaze on the fake plants behind them. They were large and ostentatious. Red preferred his real plants, some old, and lopsided, shoved in all corners of his apartment. Not as a feature, but because he loved them.
“It’s a job interview, Mr. Baxter, not an interrogation,” the giant on the left said.
Interview, my furry ass.
The guy who spoke was around forty, built like a giant, handsome, severe features, with long dark hair, graying at the temples. Red knew him. Quinn Ryder came with a reputation.
The one in the middle with the almost buzz-cut was Craig Booker. Younger than Quinn but looked like a man you didn’t want to cross. Red didn’t know him, but knew he was Quinn’s sidekick in the Biker Daddy Bodyguards.
Stupid name.
His traitor mind pointed out that he knew it though.
The redhead he didn’t know, but by the way the other two deferred to him, albeit mockingly, he could guess. Dominic Cook, co-owner of CDR, the high-end security firm in whose conference room he sat. He looked as if he could do with a week’s sleep, dark smudges under his eyes, his mouth pinched.
The guy had just become a dad again. No wonder he was exhausted. Red didn’t know much about babies, but he could remember his sister swearing babies were designed to break you. He’d decided early in life that he’d be a willing guncle, but babies were for handing back.
Cook gave him a bored look, like this conversation was a waste of his time. Red knew just how he felt. “We’re offering you a job. Monaghan’s has given you a great reference.”
Red grunted.
Booker turned to Cook. “Were we all as annoying as this?”
“Pretty much. You all said no.”
“He didn’t listen to us, either,” Quinn grumbled.
Red watched the funny guys…that was sarcasm…play out in front of him. “I came for an interview for a bodyguard position at CDR.” His collar suddenly felt as if it was choking him, but he resisted tugging on it. He hated suits. Why did he even bother? He wanted to be in his leathers, riding to the mountains.
He’d believed the interview was for protection detail until the minute he walked into the room and spotted Quinn Ryder.
“Uh-huh,” Booker said. “Itisa bodyguard position.”
“I know who you are.”
“Good for you,” Quinn drawled, clearly unimpressed. “Could you try telling my boy. I haven’t seen him for months.”
“Where is he this time?” Cook asked.
Quinn grimaced. “You know where he is. Quickfire is taking care of him as I couldn’t travel. You wouldn’t let me go.”
Quinn Ryder’s boy was Cade Connolly. Red knew that as well as half the world did. Front man of the biggest pop band onthe planet, Daysance, and a talented artist, ConC, Cade Connolly never stopped moving.
“Griff?” Booker asked.
“Yeah. He’s already called to tell me Cade was upsetting Jemmy and needs a good spanking.”
Booker grinned. “Like we all know that. What did you say?”
“That I’m the only one to give good spankings and if my boy played up, Griff had permission to stick him in a corner and leave him there all evening.”
