Page 21 of Static

"Poor kiddos," she said. "I don't mind watching them for a little bit."

Static raised his brows at me. "I'll understand if you say no."

"It's okay," I told him, "but not for long."

He held out his hand and I hesitated before taking it. He led me downstairs and into the back hallway of the club that led to their back office, meeting room, and the gym. I looked up at him. "Where are we going?"

"Church."

I stopped in my tracks, hissing as he nearly yanked my arm from the socket when he kept going. "What? I can't go into church."

"Lock okayed it," he reassured me.

Pulling my hand from his, I motioned to myself. "Look at me. I'm not going in there with everyone."

His eyes roamed slowly over me from head to toe, causing a shiver to race over me. "You look good."

I swallowed thanks to a suddenly dry mouth. The way he was looking at me was sinful. I was in jeans, a ratty old t-shirt from my college days, and my hair was a mess swept back in a ponytail. I didn't look good, but he just grabbed my hand and I had little choice but to follow him into the room. Looking around, I studied the space. It was a large room, with a small cabinet for liquor and a huge wooden table in the middle. There was a TV on the wall, but it was silent and dark.

"Gwen," Lockout greeted. "Come on in."

I gave all the men a weak smile. They were all staring at me, looking curious. Ricochet raised his eyebrows, silently asking me if I knew what was going on. I gave a little shrug of my shoulders as Static's hand on my lower back gently nudged me all the way into the room. The door shut behind us, making me jump and look at him over my shoulder.

"It's okay," he said in a low voice. "You can sit there." He pointed to an empty seat near Butcher.

"Hey, Peaches," Butcher said as I sat down.

"Hi." I smiled at him as Toxic dropped his arm over the back of my chair from my other side. Strangely, between being sandwiched between them, and Static watching me with that intense look, I felt less nervous. It was like Static was trying to reassure me even though he was pacing back and forth near the door.

Every eye was now on him.

"I think Gwen has the solution to our problem."

Oops. No, now every eye was on me. I wanted to sink into the floorboards. "M-me?" I asked. Static nodded. "What problem?"

He looked over at Lockout and when his president nodded, Static started speaking. He was talking to me, watching me as he explained. "In order to force Fremont into doing something stupid, we want to cut him off from his money. To do that we need to convince his...business...partners to stop laundering his money for him."

Between Static, Ricochet, and the other old ladies keeping me updated, I was in the loop of the club's business so none of this was brand new to me. "Okay," I said hesitating. I was following, but still didn't know how I fit into all this.

"We're assumin'," Hush told me, giving me a patient smile, "that his partners aren't goin' to play ball."

"Which means," Static continued, "that we need a way to force them to quit working with Fremont." He turned and looked at his brothers. "Gwen made a friend yesterday. And I think that friend can help us."

My eyes widened as I realized he was talking about David. "Oh, but I hardly even know him-"

"He's a cop," Static cut in. "And I think he's exactly the kind of guy that could help with this."

I opened my mouth, then narrowed my eyes on him. "Why would you think that?"

"Because he's gotten three accommodations in the last two years for exemplary conduct," Riptide answered. "And a couple more awards for assisting detectives with closing some higher profile cases."

I glared at them both. "And how do you know that?" I asked.

"I asked Rip to look into him," Static told me.

Sighing, I shook my head. "I told you he doesn't mean anything to me-" I broke off and looked around. All the men were smirking, but they were mostly looking at Static. "I don't really know him," I amended. "It sounds like you know him better than I do."

Static shrugged. "I just wanted to see who he was."