“I’d like to put someone in the house with you to keep an eye on things.”
I roll to my back, still nestled within his arm, and sigh. “You want to give me a babysitter.”
“I want to give you protection.”
“Who?” I try to peer up at him, but fail from my angle. “The crazy dude with the face tattoos?”
Vanessa snorts a small laugh as she carries over his coffee and snack. “I see you’ve met Circus.”
“Darlin’,” Jinx warns. “We’ve got some talking to do if you think I’m going to put you up in that house with another man, the two of you knocking around with all those empty rooms.”
“You make dangerous assumptions about my character there, Jinx.” Humor always deflects from the real emotion.
He weaves his fingers through the loose strands beside my face. “I’d never dream of it.”
“For how long?” Him and me, if I read what he says right. All by ourselves. No influence from the club or my parents.
It might be the most dangerous thing we’ve done.
“As long as I need to.”
Smooth.The Kings kill a rival club member, and voila, Jinx has an instant reason to move his ass into my house under the excuse of protection. Although, as I twist to be able to see his face, it becomes evidently clear he’s serious in his intentions.
“Take the offer, Kyra,” he says quietly, gaze searching mine. “Ease my stress and just take the offer.”
“Okay.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
JINX
I’ll pickmy bike up tomorrow. It’ll probably give Chaos reason to clench his fucking asshole when he spots it in the driveway and assumes I'm third-wheeling his time with Vanessa, but it won’t take him long to figure out I’m not still there.
Kyra holds my hand as we head for the farmhouse, her focus on the road before us. The light’s gone—the moon hides behind clouds tonight—and it’s hard to see where we walk. But I don’t need much light to fuckin’ fall in love with her every glimpse I get.
She faced the unknown today, and she didn’t break. I don’t know for sure that it’s not some delayed response—that she won’t fall to pieces later when the world goes quiet. But if her resilience isn’t enough of a sign that we just might have a chance at this, I don’t know what is.
I’m not a good man. I’ll only ever be good for her.
She needs to be okay with that.
“Penny for your thoughts?” she asks, still staring at the ground.
“Wondering what you were thinking about.”
She glances up at me, her face a shadowy outline in the night. But I can still make out the things I love about her. “Role-playing how the argument with my father will go when I show up to get some things tomorrow.”
She wears a borrowed sweatshirt of Vanessa’s, clean and smelling like vanilla after a quick shower. It didn’t take much to convince her to stay with me tonight. I get the feeling that if I hadn’t told her that’s what we’d be doing, she would have brought it up herself.
As tough as she is, I don’t think she wants to be alone right now. But I don’t think she wants to be with just anyone, either.
“Do you win the fight?”
She makes a little huff of amusement. “No.”
“You don’t have to go by yourself.” I glance at the farmhouse porch and find the light is on, with dark figures seated out in the night.There goes sneaking her inside.
“Jinx,” Kyra admonishes. “If you come with me, it’ll give him ten times the reason to rip me to shreds.”
