“Tex is coming in tomorrow for a visit,” Wolf replied. “He’ll know what to do to check it.”
“No,” Rose said softly. “Not until I have every single one of these photos downloaded and know they are safe.”
“I will not risk bringing a tracker into my home,” Wolf said mildly. “But we’ll figure it out. I’ll call Tex. He might have an idea of where it could be.”
“Go ahead,” Dalton agreed.
“We will protect her,” Caleb said as a statement rather than a question. Dalton and the guys better not disagree with him. “I don’t care who is following her or why. We do not leave any woman with her ass swinging in the breeze with a fucker like that asshole after her. Especially not her. Period.”
“I’m not sure what gave you the impression that we were going to do that,” Dalton said. “When the fuck have any of us ever not helped when someone is in the shit?”
Caleb scrubbed his hand down his face. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s just…” He trailed off.
“She’s yours to protect?” Wolf punched in numbers on his phone.
“Yeah.”
“We get it, man.”
“You’re talking about me as if I’m not standing right next to you,” Rose said bitterly. “You’re all just like every other man in my life.” Rose pulled the sim card out of the camera. “Why did I hope for something different? Stupid. I’m so freaking stupid to allow hope—” She cut herself off as if she was swallowing a scream which built up inside her. “I will not allow you all to put yourselves and your families in danger because of me.” She lowered her eyes to where his fingers plucked at a loose thread on her sweater. “I’ll just leave, and you all will be safe.”
Caleb growled under his breath. He couldn’t believe this woman. From what little they knew, she was in more than a little trouble, and she was trying to protect them. He reached for her, but she sidestepped him. He matched her move for move until he could snag her wrist and tug her into his chest. “You don’t have to do it all alone.” He tucked one finger under her chin and tipped it up. He needed to see her eyes because everything inside him screamed that if she walked away now, then she’d disappear. He didn’t want that to happen. “Please don’t leave. Let us—let me help you.”
“Why should I trust you?” She pulled out of his arms and stepped back. His heart sank as she stubbornly reminded them, “You all have families. It’s safer for everyone if I go.”
Admirable as your intentions are, that’s not gonna fly, sweetheart.
Fuck. He balanced himself lightly on his feet, ready to pounce if she tried to flee, and glared at her. “You act like we,” his gesture took in all of the guys, “are a bunch of pussies who can’t handle some shit or have no idea what’s coming.”
“It doesn’t matter.” She tried to cut him off, but he spoke right over her.
“Don’t be one of those too stupid to live people like in the fucking movies,” he growled. “You are better than that.” She had to understand he could freaking help her if she’d let him.
She must be thinking she was getting freaking nowhere or maybe trying to figure out how he didn’t understand her point of view, but Caleb figured if she’d just given him a second, he could make her understand. He narrowed his eyes when she slipped the sim card into her pocket, and then her hands opened and closed into fists. She’d made a decision; hopefully, it was to thump him and knock some sense into him. But as she sidestepped to go around him, he knew she was going to run. “It’s bett?—”
He caught her by the wrist. “No, it’s not. Please don’t run from me, Rosey-Posey. Let me help you.”
“I can’t. I won’t risk you all.”
“Damn it.” That caveman he’d been resisting for the last hour decided, fuck it, he’d make her see sense. It took over, short-circuiting his brain. He scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Anyone would think I can’t keep you safe.” He strode toward his truck. “You’re coming home with me until we figure this shit out. Because if you think I’m leaving you out here on the streets to do it alone, you’ve lost your damn mind.”
She’ll think you are a caveman.
I am a fucking caveman.
I don’t care if she knows it.
8
She lifted her head. Her fists raised to thump on his back, then huffed in annoyance when she made eye contact with Wolf, Dalton, and their men. These people were going out of their way to help her. She’d be an idiot to refuse them, but everything she was deep inside cautioned and reminded her that aid from anyone, especially a man, usually came with a price. More shocking was the realization that she trusted Caleb not to hurt her, physically at least. Emotionally—she already knew in her soul he had the capacity to destroy her. “Put me down.”
“No.” Caleb paused on the other side of his truck. “Not until you promise me you won’t run.”
“Why would you believe me even if I did?” she retorted.
“I can feel your need to run,” he muttered. “Don’t ask me how because I can’t explain it. But everything I can see tells me you want to bolt.”
He wasn’t wrong. “I won’t run.”
