When Jett was eight, it was a challenge at times to deal with his abandonment issues, but later at eighteen, and the time between, that was a whole different story. As he’d gotten older his moods at times became as dark as his black hair. And although we looked nothing alike being half brother and sister and fairing after our fathers, it was funny how we’d both been named for the color of our hair.
Regardless of my brother’s ongoing mood changes, Jett was a good kid, sweet too, even if he tried to hide it. I loved him. And deep down I knew he loved me and Gramps too.
While I had both my grandparents for many years, Jett only had Grams for a few years before she died. I knew he missed her as I did when she was gone.
From that point on, I felt it was up to me to take care of him and my aging grandfather. After finishing school, I worked as a nurse but had to take on a second job later. They were two jobs that were as different as the day and night in which I worked them.
And it was one of those jobs that I believed had brought bad news to our doorstep.
I had to protect my family. Love had no bounds and I loved Gramps and Jett with all my heart.
If someone was going to possibly harm them to get to me, I had to be ready. But I needed assistance. I couldn’t be too proud to ask for it when I was scared and the two most special people in my life were at risk of getting hurt.
There was danger knocking on my door and there was only one place I could think of to seek help.
It was time to pay the guys atNo Surrendera visit. I was just a little nervous about running into one particular man. He had a way of turning my stomach into knots and that wasn’t what I needed on top of everything else going on.
But this was for my family.
Here goes nothing…
ChapterOne
LYRIC
Who was this woman?
The red-headed goddess blew through the doors ofNo Surrenderlike a F5 tornado. Looking wound tight and frazzled, her fiery brown eyes sparked with a tremendous amount of emotions.
Everything inside me went on full alert.
This was not the Ruby I remembered but another version of the very woman that I hadn’t been able to keep my eyes off since the moment I met her. Different or not, I still couldn’t tear my gaze from her. I quickly tamped down the lust that rushed through me so I could focus on what had brought her in and walked straight for her.
“Ruby, what’s going on?”
Instead of answering me, she glanced away from me and toward Brinley. “Remember at the hospital you told me where all the guys worked and what they did?”
I glanced at Brinley as she nodded her head in confirmation. “Yes, I do.”
When I felt Ruby’s gaze come back to mine, I turned back toward her. What she said next had my blood boiling and my protective instinct flying off the charts.
“I need some security cameras and an alarm system put in at my house. I have to protect my family.”
A deep growl built and then erupted from inside me, but I regretted it when I saw Ruby step back, alarm spilling into her beautiful, scared eyes.
My jaw clenched. “You don’t ever have to be afraid of me,” I said quietly.
We stared at one another, both of our breaths rapid, and then in an even softer voice I whispered, “Nobody is going to hurt you or your family.”
The moment she said she needed to protect her family, I was in. Did she have children? A husband? Or was it other family members she was speaking of? I didn’t know but a deep pang pierced my chest at the thought she might be married.
A bit of guilt tugged at me when I glanced down at her left hand to check for a ring. I’d looked before at the hospital and the way she glanced at me from under her eyes each time we’d been in the same vicinity of each other, I had a feeling she wasn’t married. But as my past had proven, I wasn't the best judge of character when it came to women.
Yet something inside told me Ruby was different.
I had to shove aside all my wayward thoughts right then because it wasn’t the time or place for them. I would do anything for my family, was extremely close to my parents and would move heaven and earth to make sure they were safe.
If Ruby and her family needed help, not only did my ex-military background and the cop in me scream for me to do everything I could, but the man my parents raised shouted at me even louder to make things safe for her and those she was close to.
