Wanted: County Knights MC (23 page)

              If he was surprised to hear me yelling and cursing, he didn’t look it and he made no move to stop me either.

              “I tried, Jackson. I tried so fucking hard not to end up in the same life as my mom, and look at me. Right where she was. I may not have a husband who wants to beat me death, but I have plenty of other men that want to.”

              “No one’s going to get to you.”

              “No, because you joined your biker club again—you’re in a gang again.”

              “It’s not a gang.” His forceful clarification didn’t work to soothe my worry or angst.

              “It’s all happening again. To protect me, you’re giving up your life. I won’t do it. I will not let you do this. Not a second time. I couldn’t live with myself a second time.” I wasn’t sure when the tears started to fall, but they were falling fast. 

              His arms wrapped around me, pulling me to his chest. Sloppy sobs ripped through me. I couldn’t let him do it, not again. Not for my stupidity. I had to deal with it on my own. I would have to figure out a way to do it on my own.

              “Shhh.” His hand ran over my hair. He rocked me gently but I continued to cry.

              “I can’t let you do this.” I sobbed into his bare chest, well aware my tears were slipping down his chest.

              “You aren’t letting me do anything.” He pushed me away, wiping the tears from my face. “It’s my call. Just like it was back then. Even knowing what would happen, I’d still have made the same decision. No one lays a hand on my girl.”

              “You left the club—”

              “Let me finish. I said yes on the condition that when this is all over, Sam steps down. He can keep his leathers and his membership, but he won’t be holding anymore chairs.”

              “Why would he agree to that?” I sniffled.

              “Because if he didn’t, the entire club would hear of the fucked up shit he’s been doing, and they would cut him out of the club permanently. He’s a fucked up guy, does stupid shit, but he really does love that club. And so do I, Anna. I only left because I couldn’t go along with him on that shit.”

              “He tried to have you killed!” I reminded him.

              “Yeah. I remember that.” He gave me a half smile. “I’ll handle all of that shit. You just need to keep it together and do exactly as I say when I say it. Got it? Things are getting hotter now. The Reapers know I’m involved, know I suspect them, and they aren’t going to let this just go. Owens is paying them a shit load of money to see this through.”

              I let out a ragged breath. “They want me to let go of the internship, and then they were going to kill me anyway?”

              “Yeah. One in particular.”

              “Hunter?” I wouldn’t believe that. He may have been their VP but he wouldn’t go along with that idea. He may be a controlling son of a bitch, but he wouldn’t hurt a woman. Never. But then again, money spoke pretty loudly.

              “No.”

              “You said you talked with Hunter.”

              “I did. He didn’t know what’s going on, and I think that’s the case for most of the club. He’s VP, he would know if the club had taken a job to kill some bystander. I’m not sure Sam’s right about it being the whole club. I think it’s one guy. One guy who took the money from Owen for the kill. The others, they think they’re just being muscle to get you out of the way of the internship. That’s why they got Sam to handle it, better to outsource trouble, I guess. Keep their hands clean, but get the results they want from Owens.”

              “Why did my life get so damn complicated?”

              “Shit just happens, babe.” He kissed my cheek. “I don’t want you to worry about this. Putting my cut back on isn’t the worst idea. As long as Sam steps down and I can get Tommy to finally step up, the club will straighten back out.

              “Who’s the guy? The guy who has the job of killing me?”

              He eyed me carefully, as though he wasn’t sure he wanted to tell me or not. “Ted Mauren.”

              My brow furrowed and I bit my bottom lip. The name sounded familiar but I couldn’t place it. “Why does that name sound so familiar?”

              “How well do you know Maris’s boyfriend?” he asked.

              “Maris…” It hit me then. “Ted Mauren. I saw his name on a check he left her. He needed her to take his rent check into the office for him. Why would he say yes, how could he say yes? It must be a trick. He must have taken on the job so no one else would do it. Ted’s a great guy. Nice. Totally in love with Maris. He’d never hurt me.”

              “Did you know he was in the Chicago Reapers?”

              “What? No. He never wore any leather coat or vest or anything. I mean, I knew he had a bike, would take Maris out for long rides in the summer, but so what. Lots of guys have motorcycles.”

              “It’s defiantly Ted, Anna. And I think Maris knows it, too.”

***

              Jackson scrambled eggs on the stove while I stood at the back door staring out the window at the birds building a nest in a tree a few doors down. I could feel his eyes on me now and then, but he didn’t speak. Didn’t ask me if I was okay. I wasn’t, and he knew it. 

              Maris was my roommate and only friend for several years. Did she know her boyfriend was out to kill me? The thought at first had been laughable. I didn’t believe Jackson at first. Why would Ted go through all of that? Get a rival club to harass me, only for him to kill me himself? Jackson tried to explain that if he succeeded, then having the harassment coming from somewhere else would take the heat off of him. Besides, why would anyone suspect my roommates boyfriend?

              Even if Ted was involved, I didn’t think Maris would go along with it. Until my phone rang that morning, waking us both up from a fitful sleep. I had left my phone on the dresser, completely out of reach, so by the time I got to it, the call had gone to voicemail. It was Maris. Not wondering if I was okay, or where I was—because it had been a few days since she’d seen me—but to ask if I’d come by the apartment that afternoon. Alone. She needed some girl time she said.

              Jackson asked me if she’d ever done that before, and I could only shake my head. Maris and I led pretty separate lives outside our apartment. We were close friends for roommates, but rarely did we go out together. Mostly because of my schedule and because she worked into the early morning hours.

              “Breakfast is ready.”

The plates sliding onto the table echoed in my mind. Everything seemed louder that morning. It was Sunday. I should be studying. Instead I would be spending the day with Jackson working on not getting myself killed.

              “Thanks.” I turned from the door and took the seat he held out for me. He’d made me toast, too. Butter and jelly—the man remembered so much about me from so long ago. So many things had taken our lives in jagged turns, the fact that we were sitting at the same breakfast table still astounded me.

              “Anna.” His fork lay still on his plate. “It’s going to be all right. Nothing’s going to happen to you, I won’t let it. And now that we’ll have the protection of the club, I at least have somewhere safe to stash you while I go meet Maris at your apartment.”

              I dropped my fork. “No. I don’t want you going back into the club, and I don’t want you to handle Maris. I will take care of this. It’s my own stupidity that got me in this mess, I’ll get myself out. I can’t keep depending on you to be my savior and my body guard.”

              He reached over and held my hand, keeping silent until I looked up at him. His jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. “You can always depend on me to take care of you.” He squeezed my hand when I tried to pull it away. “That doesn’t make you weak. The girl who worked for Grayson, who clawed her way to the top of her class—that girl isn’t weak. But that girl is definitely out of her element when it comes to bad guys. That is my department.” He gave me a tepid smile.

              “I’ll go to my apartment this afternoon. Maybe Maris wants to warn me.” I knew how silly I sounded as the words flew from my mouth, but I needed that little bit of hope.

              “Then she can give me the warning.” He looked at my plate. “Eat your eggs before they get cold.”

              “I’m not that hungry.”

              “Well, it’s this or bar food at the club, I suggest you eat this.”

              “About you going back into the club—”

              “Anna. The decision’s been made. I told you once Sam steps down and we get someone else up on his seat it will be fine. All that illegal shit will stop.”

              “Hunter told me I wasn’t old woman material.”

              He laughed, nearly spitting out the water he just sipped. “Old lady, Anna. Not old woman.”

              I had to laugh at my own mistake. “That’s what I meant. I knew that.”

              “He was right, you aren’t. I mean, not the typical old lady anyway. You’re just as fierce, but you have much softer edges. That’s not going to change. You aren’t joining the club, I am. You’ll be at my side every step of the way, but you aren’t going to have to deal with club shit. Not like most of those guys’ girls need to. You’ll keep going to school. You’ll get your fancy job and build all the skyscrapers you want. None of that changes.”

              “You won’t care if I make more money than you?” I teased. I had no idea how much money he made, and nothing so far indicated he was struggling. Not like me, anyway.

              “Babe, if you want to bring home the bacon, I’ll just keep tinkering away in my garage.” He laughed.

              “You’ll get to keep your garage if you join the club again?”

              “I don’t see why not. A few members are already working for me; I’m far enough away to not be competition for the club’s garage. Besides, just because I’m putting my leathers back on, doesn’t mean I’m moving into the clubhouse. I’m staying right here, with you.”

              I stared at him open mouthed.

              “Once this shit is all done, you’re moving in. And not into the guest room, into my room, in my bed.” He didn’t seem to want to argue the point because he stuffed the last of his eggs into his mouth and carried his plate to the sink.

              “What about Maris?” I asked from the table.

              “I’m going to drop you at the clubhouse. Tommy will hang with you this afternoon. Jerry will be with me at the apartment. I’m going to meet her, see what she really wants. Hopefully, it’s just her. If it’s not, if Ted’s there, I’ll have Jerry as back up. You are to stay where I put you. Do not leave that clubhouse.” His voice deepened as he drew closer to me in the kitchen. I felt his hands on my shoulders and his warm lips press against my neck. “If you don’t, I promise you that little spanking I gave you the other day with my belt will be a warm up to what you’ll have coming to you.”

              “You can’t keep threatening me with a spanking.” I sighed, letting his hands massage my shoulder as he stood behind me.

              “Babe, I never threaten. I mean it. If you leave that clubhouse today, I’ll tan your ass so raw you won’t be sitting for a month.”

              I wanted to argue, to point out that I got along just fine without him for years, but the look I saw in his eyes when I turned made my mouth clamp shut. I held no doubt the man would do exactly as he promised if I were to go against him about the issue. 

              The situation was weird. For years I watched my mother be beat down by her husband, who in turn hurt me as well. To agree to accept physical punishments from Jackson should have set off warning bells, but it didn’t.