by Jessica Ames
25
Amy
Shane is waiting for me after work. I can’t stop the smile that creeps over my lips as I see him. He looks delicious, leaning against the wall outside the ER. His arms are folded over his chest. One is still in a cast, but the other shows all the veins and muscles that run up the limb. So delicious.
He pushes off the wall as I approach and holds his hand out to me. I take it without question.
“How was your day?” he asks.
“Busy.”
“Yours?”
“The same.” His shoulders are set tightly and I can see he’s wound tight like an elastic band.
“Everything okay?”
“Let’s just get to the car. Don’t like you being out in the fucking open like this.”
A shiver runs up my spine as my gaze roams around the parking lot. Does he expect Rick to attack me here?
I’m more than certain now that is who sent the letter. The more I think about it, the more certain I become. Rick is the only one who has threatened to kill me recently. I thought it was a flippant threat. No one really means they’re going kill someone when they say it… Right?
I should probably tell Shane, but I’m scared what he’ll do. I don’t want him getting into trouble with the law because of me. I should definitely tell Chase, though. I’ll call him tomorrow, when I get into work.
As we approach the car Shane is borrowing, he opens the door, ushering me inside, as if he can’t wait to get me out of the open. He’s not anxious as he’s doing it, but he’s definitely not calm either. I can see the tension in his tightly set shoulders and the way his eyes dart around.
I watch as he shuts my door and rounds the front of the car. As soon as he’s inside the car, with the doors locked, I find myself tugged into his arms. His mouth descends on mine and I can’t stop from melting against him. I don’t care that we’re outside the hospital, that any of my colleagues can see me. I don’t care that he’s sitting there in his leather vest that proclaims his affiliation to the Sons. All I care about is the fact his tongue feels divine against mine.
When he’s had his fill, he pulls back, leaving me a panting mess.
“Hi,” he says.
“Hey,” I breathe out on a rush.
“Missed you.”
“Missed you too.” I know I shouldn’t be getting so attached. He’s not a citizen here, he could leave at any time, but the thought of being without him makes my stomach clench. “What happens when you have to leave?” I ask the question quietly, my words wobbling.
He cups my jaw with his rough hands and rubs his thumb over the apple of my cheek. “Babe, you want me to stay?”
I nod.
“I don’t want to go either. I’ve asked my prez about a transfer to the Tennessee chapter.”
My heart soars at his words. “Really?”
“Really. Don’t know if it will happen yet. There’s a lot of shit to sort out before it can be finalized, but told Rav this is where I want to be.”
I kiss him, pulling him by the front of his tee closer to me. He comes willingly and I feel his smile against my lips as he takes everything I have to give him. I let all my love pour into that kiss, letting him know how much I appreciate his sacrifice.
When I pull away, I’m breathless, panting, but happier than I’ve ever felt.
“You’re sure about this? You’re giving up your home.”
“Babe, the club is home. Doesn’t matter which chapter I’m at, it’s still home. The brothers here are as much my family as the ones back in London. Will I miss them? Yeah, but you’re here, not in London. Got dual citizenship anyway. I got family in the States, so it wouldn’t be that strange to be out here.”
“I could come to London.”
“And leave your family, your nieces behind? Won’t ask you to do that, Ames, not ever.”
“But I’m asking you to do that.”
“You never asked. I want to.”
I kiss him again. “Thank you.”
“I love you, Amy. I don’t want to be without you.”
“I feel the same.”
He squeezes my thigh. “Good thing too.”
He starts up the car and pulls out of the parking lot. I float on a cloud of happiness as the car moves through the traffic. As we pull into my street, shadows dance between the streetlamps and I feel suddenly a little on edge.
As if sensing my unease, Shane squeezes my thigh.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. Nothing.” I feel stupid. Nothing is happening, yet I can’t shake the tingles climbing up my spine, that primal sixth sense that tells me something is wrong.
Shane stops the car behind mine on the driveway.
“I’ll come around to you,” he tells me, which makes more shivers run through me. Does he think things are this bad?
I wait as he walks around the back of the vehicle and then opens my door. I slip out of the car and stay close to him as we start towards the house.
As we pass my car, he stops and then curses. “In the house, now.” His voice is stern, hard even.
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Now, Amy.”
I peer around him, trying to work out what has him so stressed and that’s when I see the knife sticking out of my back tire.
I gasp, my hands flying to my mouth as I notice the other tire is flat too. Someone deliberately slashed my tires and left a souvenir to let me know. The knife terrifies me. If I’d been home, what would have happened?
Shane ushers me toward the house. I’m shaking so badly I can’t get the key in the lock, so he has to take it from me. As soon as the door is open, he orders me to wait by the front door.
“Where are you going?” I hiss at him.
“To check shit out.”
“Shane, no.”
“I’ll be okay, babe. Trust me. Anything happens, get in the car and drive straight to the clubhouse. The boys will help you.”
He hands me the car keys.
“Shane.”
He kisses me. “Don’t argue.”
I watch as he pulls a gun from under his chest holster and disappears up the hallway toward the bedroom. My heart is galloping in my chest, my mouth so dry my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. I can barely draw air in.
When he reappears, I take the breath I was holding and give my deprived lungs some oxygen.
“It’s clear.” He steers me over to the couch and pushes me down on to it. “You got any booze?”
“Booze?”
“Alcohol, babe, for the nerves.”
“Oh.” I shake myself. “Left side cupboard next to the fridge.”
He disappears into the kitchen and returns a moment later with a glass and a bottle of Malibu. I arch a brow.
“You didn’t have a lot of choice. Remind me to buy some whiskey next time we’re out.”
“I don’t like whiskey,” I say as he pours a large measure. “I’m not sure I can drink it like that.”
“It’ll make you feel better, babe.”
I take the glass from him, our fingers scraping over each other’s as he hands it over. Our eyes meet and I see the fear and the anger in his eyes.
“Whoever did this is fucking dead, Amy. Don’t give a fuck what your brother says.”
“I think it’s a client’s harasser.”
“Give me that in English, babe.”
I take a trembling breath. “You know I run a group for people who have been harassed at work—verbally or sexually. I have a client who just started coming. Her name’s Natalie. She’s a total sweetheart, but she’s being harassed by some douche at work. I helped her file a complaint with her HR department, but things seem to have escalated. We went to the police after he threatened her, but on the way back he was waiting outside her building for her. He made some threats and left.”
Shane’s mouth pulls into a tight line as his eyes narrow. “You didn’t think to mention some arsehole is threatening you after you received
a death threat?”
“Honestly, I didn’t think this would happen.”
“Who the fuck is this chump?”
“Shane—”
“I want fucking names, Amy.”
“I’m not giving you names. I don’t want you going off half-cocked and getting hurt.”
He grits his teeth. “Only one getting hurt is him.”
“No, we call the police. They can handle it.”
“Know he’s your brother and you love him, babe, but ain’t seeing Chase handling shit right now.”
“He’s doing his best, trust me.”
“When it comes to you, the only person I trust is me.”
“Shane… Chase isn’t the enemy here. He’s got a job to do too.”
“Quit worrying about your fucking brother. I’ll stay tonight.”
I nod, grateful I’m not alone. “But we’re still calling the police.”
He scowls. “Fine.”
26
Whizz
Deputy dickhead and his sidekick are pissing me off. They’ve been here over an hour, looking at the car. There’s a forensic scientist wandering around, collecting evidence while Amy watches through the living room window.
I just want to wrap her up in my arms and take her to bed, but that’s not happening with the number of law enforcement traipsing around the property. I wish she would just trust me to sort this shit out. I’d have that little fucker crying for mercy within three seconds. He’d leave Amy alone. I just need to know who the fucker is. Amy ain’t telling me, and for good reason. I will kill him. It pisses me off that the cops know, but I don’t.
“You’re scowling,” she accuses from her position on the couch. She’s perched there, peering out of the window, watching all the commotion happening outside.
“I’m pissed.”
“At me?”
“At the situation and you. Why won’t you give me this guy’s name?”
“Because I don’t want to visit you in prison. Just let the police handle it.”
I grit my teeth. I’m not the kind of person who can just stand by and let someone I love get hurt. I can’t just pretend none of this is happening, and as much as Chase is her brother, I don’t trust him to fix this.
“Babe, ain’t a man who can just ignore when my woman’s being threatened.”
“You’re not ignoring it, you’re just not going in all guns blazing, which is exactly what you’d do.”
She’s not wrong.
The door opens before I can say anything and Chase steps in with the other cop who was there the day I crashed—Cobi Mayson. I don’t like that fucker at all. He’s got shrewd eyes that see more than he should and he looks at me like I’m fucking scum.
“We’re wrapping things up,” Chase says and I feel a hint of relief. I want to get Amy somewhere she can relax and she can’t do that with half the police department on the front lawn.
“I think I know who did this.”
“Who?”
She takes a shaky breath and looks at her brother. “I was going to tell you, but then this happened. I was threatened by the guy we filed the report on, Cobi. The one who is harassing Natalie, from my group.”
I growl under my breath, my anger mounting.
“What happened?”
Her eyes slide toward me and I know I’m not going to like whatever is about to come out of her mouth.
“He was waiting for Natalie after we came back from the police station. To be honest, I thought she would have reported it. I should have made her.”
“What did that fucker do?” I demand.
“He was worked up. Made some stupid threats and left.”
I can tell by the twitch in her eye that they weren’t stupid, and that she was affected.
“You think he also sent the note?” Cobi asks.
She shrugs. “I don’t know. The timing is strange, and he was pretty pissed I was involved. I don’t want to say it was him, because I can’t know that for certain, but he’s the only person who has threatened me lately.”
“Tonight was an escalation. He’s moved from words to actions,” Cobi says. “You shouldn’t stay here tonight.”
“I’ll be here,” I tell him, and then give him a challenging look, daring him to say shit.
Cobi meets my gaze with one as hard as granite before he turns back to Amy. “I’d recommend a hotel room for tonight.”
“Shane’s here. I’ll be safe.”
“Ames, he could come back,” Chase says, and I growl at him. Why the fuck is he saying that?
“You trying to scare her?”
“No, I’m just telling her the reality of what we’re facing here. This guy could come back at any time. He’s clearly got a fucking screw loose.”
“Are you going to talk to him?” Amy asks.
“Yeah, we’ll head over now, see what he says.”
I could get him to talk in ten seconds. Just because I don’t enjoy torture doesn’t mean I don’t know how it works. I’ve seen Fury in action enough over the years. I also have an intimate knowledge of the human body and the stressors that affect it. I know how to make a person suffer and this fucker is going to suffer when I get my hands on him.
“I don’t know if it is him…”
“Let us worry about figuring that out,” Cobi says.
Chase moves over to her and kisses her head. “Hotel, Ames.”
She nods. “Okay.” I’m not surprised she relents; she looks exhausted. I get the feeling she’s saying what they want to hear so they’ll leave. I want them to leave too, so I can take care of my girl. “What about Natalie?”
“We’ll send a couple of officers over to her place to check on her.”
Chase hugs his sister and says something to her I can’t hear before he and Cobi leave.
“We don’t have to go to a hotel,” Amy says when we’re finally alone.
“You feel safer in a hotel?”
She shrugs. “I feel safe with you.”
“Amy…”
“I don’t know. I guess so.”
“Then we’ll go to a hotel. Go pack some shit.”
“What about you?”
“I’m fine with what I’ve got, babe.”
She disappears into the bedroom, and I scrub a hand over my face. Fuck, I want to wrap her in cotton wool and take her somewhere I can protect her. I fire off a text to Flash, telling him everything I know about the people involved. He’s not sure he can find anything out with such little information, but he promises to try. That’s all I can ask for.
When Amy comes out of the bedroom, a small overnight bag clutched in her hands, she looks tired.
I pull her into my arms, taking the bag from her and I kiss her like my life fucking depends on it, because it does. She’s my life. Anything happens to her, it’ll destroy me, break me into a million pieces and tear out my heart.
“Okay?” I ask her.
She nods. “I will be.”
“He ain’t getting near you, babe. I promise.”
And it’s a promise I fully intend to keep.
27
Amy
We don’t head to a hotel, but to the Sons clubhouse instead. Shane is convinced he can keep me safer with his brothers at his back, and I agree with him. These men are armed and dangerous and if Rick comes here, he won’t get past the perimeter fences. He’d disappeared for ten minutes or so to tell Omen what was happening and then returned a little while later. I was glad he didn’t leave me alone for too long.
Shane’s room is basic, but clean. There are no real personal effects around the room, which I guess is because he didn’t plan on staying here for long. I have to admit, I feel much safer staying here than I would have done staying in a hotel.
While Shane showers in the small bathroom, I get ready for bed. I’m so tired and now that my adrenaline has fled, I’m ready to crash. I get into my cupcake jammies and climb under the covers. I drift a little until I hear the shower turning off. He comes out of the
bathroom a few minutes later and moves over to the bed, slipping in behind me. His thick, strong arms wrap around me, tugging my back against his chest, even as his mouth goes to my neck. He kisses me gently there before snuggling against me.
“You doing okay?”
“Yes.”
“That a lie?”
“Yes,” I admit, biting my bottom lip. “I won’t let this man bully me. It’s bad enough he’s doing it to Natalie. This is how they get away with doing terrible things. They make you think you have no power, no control. They strip that from you a piece at a time.”
He rubs his fingers up my arm. “Is that what happened with you?”
I let out a breath. The last person I want to think about is Dr Hofstadter when I’m in bed with the man I love, but I understand why Shane is curious.
“At first, it seemed harmless. He would get me in on the interesting cases, make sure I was always the nurse assisting him, but that came at a price.” The first time he’d touched me, I’d frozen, like a deer caught in the headlights. I wasn’t sure if I’d imagined it happening, even days later. Then a few days later he touched me again and I knew it wasn’t in my head. I knew it happened.
“I want to kill that fucker.”
“Well, you can’t. He’s already dead.”
“Which pisses me the hell off. He got off too easy.”
He did. Hofstadter should have had his name dragged through the mud for what he’d done to me and those other women. Death was the easy way out. He never had to deal with any of the consequences of what he’d done. When it came down to it, though. I’m glad Harlen did what he had to do to keep Harmony safe. The thought of being without her makes my veins fill with ice.
“It’s the past,” I tell him, not wanting to get into it.
Shane isn’t quite so content to let it lie. “He’s why you set up the group?”
“When it happened to me, I felt so alone, so scared. I never wanted others to feel like that. The group gives them a safe space to come and talk, to get advice. I never expected to be dealing with threats.”
“I don’t like you being in the firing line,” he says, nuzzling my neck.