by Brook Wilder
“You’re hurt.”
“I’m fine,” he bit out, his eyes raking over me. “You’re hurt too.”
“I’m fine,” I echoed, dabbing at the blood on his face.
He gave me a slight grin.
“Are we gonna stand here and argue about who’s not injured?”
I didn’t smile, the tightness in my chest nearly overpowering me.
Neil was hurt. Someone had bombed my shop.
And the call… I didn’t want to forget about the call.
“What’s going on here?” I whispered, looking at Neil.
His eyes were cut emeralds as he gazed at me.
“I don’t know, but nothing is going to happen to you. You are coming home with me.”
I pulled the scarf from his head, frowning at him.
“I am not.”
I wasn’t running from this, and I certainly wasn’t going to let Neil coddle me like he wanted to. There was still this black cloud hanging over us, an unseen force that was pulling us apart in the form of my brother’s murder.
Neil stepped forward, his jaw clenched tightly.
“Yes, you are. Leo asked me to protect you, and I can’t protect you if you aren’t in my sights, Rox. Someone just tried to fucking kill you in your own shop today? Do you know what would have happened if I hadn’t been there? Do you know what I fucking would have done if you had gotten killed?”
I swallowed, surprised to see the panic in his eyes. Likely it would be the same terror I would have if he died.
God, I hated this! I was torn between the fact that I was still in love with my brother’s killer and wanting to blow his head off. He had just saved my life, and I clearly owned him a favor, a boon.
“I’m not going to your place,” I finally said softly as smoke started to fill the air. I realized that the fire must have been put out. “But you can come to mine.”
I wanted to be where I was the most comfortable, where I could be on my own ground and not be depended on Neil for anything. Sure, I knew his place. I had spent enough time there. But it didn’t have my clothes, my things, my gun.
“Until they come after you there,” he added, his voice a lethal tone. “Then you come home with me. No fighting, no resistance. You come home with me.”
“Fine,” I bit out, turning away before he could see the tears in my eyes.
I just wanted to be left alone and did not want to be this close to Neil.
But the horror that had been my shop caused me to gasp. It was nothing more than a shell now, the front section of the shop where the plate glass window used to be nothing but a gaping hole in the concrete building, what used to be a coral wall scorched black by the flames.
A sound escaped me as the emergency technicians started toward us both, and I fell to my knees, not caring if Neil saw me or not.
I had lost everything.
“Ma’am? Sir? Are y’all okay?”
“She needs attention,” Neil said softly from behind me.
An emergency technician knelt on the asphalt next to me, a kind sympathetic smile on her face.
“Let’s take a look at your injuries, okay?”
I let her do her thing, not even wincing as she dabbed at my cuts, fixing my eyes on the burning shell of my shop.
I was pissed, I was sad, I was so many emotions I couldn’t even sort them out.
I hated that feeling of helplessness.
Most of all, I hated that I was going to need Neil to help me.
Chapter Eight
Neil
I was barely holding it together.
I watched as they tended to Rox, my fury barely constrained under the surface. When that bottle had been thrown through the window, my first thought was to get her out of there. I didn’t care what happened to me. Hell, I had done enough in my life to warrant the grim reaper to call my number any time he damn near pleased.
But Rox… She didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve to die because some asshole had decided she would.
So, I had gotten her out of there. The blast of the heat had torn at my leather jacket as I pushed her forward onto the ground, shielding her from the raining debris. My only thoughts had been of her and protecting her.
“Sir? Do you need me to look at that cut?”
I looked at the emergency technician, shaking my head. Shit it hurt when I did that.
“I’m fine. How is she?”
He eyed me.
“She’s fine. A few cuts and scrapes, but both of you are pretty lucky.”
That was an understatement.
“Does she need to go to the hospital?”
“No,” Rox cut in, standing with a grimace. “For God’s sake, I’m fine. Quit pretending like I’m not.”
I looked at her, seeing the stubborn look on her face. Hell, she was going to be the death of me.
“Fine, come on.”
Rox followed me to my bike and I swung my leg over the saddle.
“Get on. We are going to see Grant.”
That got her moving. Rox joined me on the bike, and I grimaced as she placed her arms around my waist. I knew she didn’t want to, but I was glad she had. The last thing I wanted was for her to fall off the damn back of the bike!
Gunning the engine, I took off down the road, the smell of smoke starting to dissipate the further we got away from the shop. I knew it was painful for Rox, to see all her hard work go up in flames. Well, I wasn’t going to let her give up on that dream. I would give her some money if she needed it to rebuild the shop, figuring it was the least I could do for her after everything else that had happened between us.
Hell, I still loved her.
My head pounded as I roared down the road, my mind racing to figure out who could have done this to Rox. It hadn’t been the Horsemen. We wouldn’t have preyed on her like this, no matter what she said about the club. It had to be either one of Grayson’s thugs or something worse. Something I didn’t want to think about.
It didn’t take us long to get to the clubhouse, my anger only fueled more by the time I pulled up alongside the rest of the bikes. Shutting off the engine, I climbed off the bike, reaching for Rox, as I done many times in the past. She looked exhausted and terrified, the fear in her eyes shining through the hardness that was there when she looked up at me. I didn’t want to see that hardness, not when she looked at me.
“I can get off the bike myself,” she said softly, ignoring my hand. “I’m not helpless.”
Oh, I knew that. I leaned forward, bracing my hands on the bike to trap her in.
“You are the strongest woman I know,” I said softly, for her ears only. “But sometimes even the strongest fucking people need some help. Don’t push me away, Rox, not now.”
“What about you?” she asked, her eye searching mine. “Do you need help, Neil?”
I swallowed hard, knowing she was testing me.
“All the fucking time,” I finally admitted, desperately wanting to touch her skin, now marred with tiny cuts from the glass. “And you are the only person I would ever tell that to.”
Her eyes widened as I pushed back, walking away from the bike even though I wanted to haul her off and carry her into the clubhouse to make a statement. No doubt she would gut me for that sort of display.
It wasn’t long before Rox appeared at my side, so close I could reach out and grab her hand. I didn’t, liking the hand I had currently, but I did allow her to walk into the clubhouse first, releasing the breath I had been holding as she did so. I was dealing with a tough woman, probably the only one that could put up with me.
Now, if only I could get her to not want to kill me,,,
Ignoring the stares as I walked through the club, I led Rox to Grant’s office in the back of the clubhouse, a path I had taken dozens of times. After each trip, I came here to give him a full report, to mark off the list the men I had killed or had seen so that we could track the next person. Grant was always welcoming whenever I showed up, eager to catch Grayson for what he h
ad done to Harley and to the structure of the DHMC to begin with. Grant had trusted Grayson, even allowing him to make some of the decisions with the club.
There wasn’t one person in this club that had seen this coming, except Grayson Barnes.
Grant was seated at his desk when we walked into his office, surprise filtering through his expression.
“What happened?”
I cleared my throat, realizing he was eyeing the cut on my forehead.
“Rox’s salon was bombed a few minutes ago.”
“Bombed?” Grant repeated, looking at Rox. “Are you okay?”
She tilted her chin upward, and I couldn’t help but feel a small measure of pride at her show of strength.
“I’m fine.”
“And you?” Grant said, turning his attention on me. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” I bit out. “Someone is targeting Rox. I want to offer her the club’s protection.”
“The club’s protection,” Grant repeated, narrowing his gaze.
I nodded, daring him to challenge me. Rox was in serious danger, and regardless of what Leo had done or didn’t do, we still had a responsibility to protect her as one of our own.
“That’s not what we discussed,” Rox muttered.
I swore under my breath. Of course, she wouldn’t keep her mouth shut. What had I been thinking?
“Oh really?” Grant asked, his attention back on Rox. “What did you discuss then, Miss Tate?”
She straightened beside me.
“Neil was going to camp out at my place until this all blows over.”
Grant’s eyes filled with laughter, and I wanted nothing more than to walk out of the office. I knew what he was going to say, and I was going to hate it when he said it.
“Well then, you don’t need my help at all. Neil is my best sniper. He could single handedly take down anyone that comes after you, Miss Tate.”
“I don’t know why he even asked,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Show him the letter, Neil.”
Cursing, I pulled out the letter and tossed it to Grant, watching as he unfolded it. I had wanted to do this another time, when we were all thinking clearly and Rox was safe from whomever was tracking her. Her safety was my first priority, though she was making me out to be a fool for even walking into this office.
Grant read the contents while we stood there, my head still aching from the events of the day. I wanted nothing more than to grab a few drinks at the club bar and crash on my bed for a few hours, to forget that day had ever existed.
But now I had the responsibility of keeping Rox safe, and if that meant sleeping on her couch, then I would. Leo hadn’t written in that letter for her to trust me for me to turn my back on her.
“Well,” Grant finally said, wiping a hand over his face before handing back the letter. “To be honest, I never thought Leo was a traitor.”
Rox let out a strangled sound, but I stared at the president.
“You didn’t?”
Grant shook his head.
“No. Of all people, Leo wasn’t one that seemed to want to turn his back on the club. If you can find the proof, I will clear his name with anyone that listens.”
I didn’t dare look at Rox. This was something I hadn’t anticipated from Grant. He had been so adamant about tracking down the traitors and dealing with them with the swiftest force possible. But to go back on that word… I was floored that he would even consider it.
“Leo was no traitor,” Rox said softly, emotion in her voice. “I will prove it to you.”
“Good,” Grant said, leaning back in his chair. “Neil will help you and also protect you until we find out who’s targeting you. If it gets too bad, you will move in the clubhouse until we can hunt them down.”
It wasn’t a request.
“Okay,” Rox said, surprising me.
Grant eyed me. “If I need you, you will still be expected to come, and someone will replace you as detail with Miss Tate. This does not excuse you from hunting down Grayson Barnes, do you understand?”
I had no intentions of stopping that hunt until his blood was in my scope.
“I understand.”
“Get out of here then,” he said, waving us away. “Find the proof. Find Grayson Barnes. End this shit so we all can find our peace and move on.”
I moved out of the office, Rox not far behind as we walked back through the club and out into the Texas night.
Well this was a turn of events.
Chapter Nine
Rox
My head hurt. My entire body hurt.
But nowhere near as much as my heart did.
I clung to Neil as he headed to my apartment, wanting nothing more than to take a shower and forget the day had ever happened. My shop was gone, Neil was coming to stay at my place, and I felt like I had been stung with thousands of ants from the glass cuts all over my arms.
But one thing was for certain: I had Grant Travis’s promise that he would clear my brother’s name if I could find the proof to show him. That was the last thing I had expected to get from the DH president, but I wasn’t going to throw away the chance to do this for Leo’s legacy.
Neil pulled up to the apartment and shut off the engine. My shirt was sticking to my back, slick with sweat. Even in the evening, the temperature was unbearable.
He climbed off the bike, and I did the same, reaching into my bag to find my keys.
“You don’t have to do this,” I tried one more time, looking at Neil.
“I do,” he growled, no ounce of tenderness in his expression.
I sighed and headed up the stairs to the second floor, inserting the key into the lock and pushing open the door. Neil was there in a minute and I was surprised to see the gun in his hand as he pushed past.
“If you hear anything, you run.”
“What?” I asked but he was already inside the apartment.
I waited until he returned, all of five minutes, my arms crossed over my chest.
“What were you doing?”
He tucked the gun in the waistband of his jeans, smoothing his hair back from his face.
“I was clearing the apartment. You can go in now.”
I let out a sound and pushed past him into the cool interior. This was ridiculous. I heard Neil walk in behind me and shut the door, throwing the locks. Suddenly the apartment seemed much smaller than it already was.
I dropped my bag on the counter and turned toward him. All the times we had been together, we had been at his place or the salon, but never here. I had been ashamed of my hovel, wanting to be somewhere other than here whenever I was with Neil.
But now, I was embarrassed as his eyes swept over the small place.
“I-I’m going to move into Leo’s house as soon as I get it cleaned out,” I found myself saying. “Well, I was going to. Before the salon blew up.”
His eyes fell on me, and I saw the conflicting emotions in them.
“I’ll help you get there.”
“I don’t need your help,” I bit out, not liking the tenderness I felt. “I’m going to take a shower.”
Without another word, I marched to the bedroom, grabbing a change of clothes before moving on to the shower. I cut the water on hot as I stripped off my clothes, wincing as the material slid over the cuts and bruises that were forming on my body. I had taken more of a tumble than I had realized.
I stepped in and shut the curtain, allowing the water to run over my bruised body. When had my life fallen so apart? First Leo’s death, then my relationship with Neil falling apart, and now I had lost my salon. It was like I had pissed off someone high above, and now they were making me pay for my sins.
Sighing, I grabbed the soap and started soaping my body, the burn of my cuts making me stay in the reality that was my life. This was no dream. I had lost everything, including the love of the man in the living room right now. The day he had told me he loved me was the best day of my life. I had loved him for so long that I had never thought it wo
uld be returned to me. I had seen a future that was far different from what my childhood had been, one that would be built on love and not fear or anguish.