I nodded, emotion swelling in my throat.“Okay.”
He leaned in and kissed me—the kind of kiss that didn’t ask for anything, just promised.
I moved closer, tucking myself into his chest, and his arm came around me automatically.My head settled beneath his chin, and his heartbeat was steady beneath my ear.
“Get some sleep,” he murmured.“I’ve got you.”
I believed him.
God, did I.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Cole
Wrecker stood with his arms folded over his chest, jaw tight, posture solid.The kind of solid that only happened when he was two seconds away from doing something he couldn’t take back.
Mac sat in the chair near the desk, one leg crossed over the other, looking calm on the outside.But I knew her now.I’d seen her fight for her kid in a way that matched any ol’ lady I’d ever known in club life.She might not have worn a cut or carried a prospect patch, but she had bite.
And she wasn’t blind.
The air in the office was thick.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
I didn’t pull it out yet, but my body tightened automatically, like my blood recognized the vibration before my brain did.
Half an hour ago, Mason had called.
We got him.We’re on our way.
They were headed to the Social Club right now.
The second that call came through, the entire clubhouse shifted.Guys who had been pretending to play pool or scroll through their phones suddenly stood up straighter.
We were waiting.
Waiting was the hardest part.
“Shut them off,” Wrecker said with his arms folded over his chest.
“No,” Mac said.
Wrecker’s eyes narrowed.His voice dropped into a growl that wasn’t for show.“Just for half an hour.”
Mac shook her head.“You guys signed a contract agreeing that the cameras stay on,” she argued.
“Yeah,” Wrecker snapped, “we signed that before some idiot jumped your daughter.We need them off for half an hour to take care of business.”
Mac looked at Star with concern, and Star shifted in my arms like she felt the weight of it in her bones, too.
“Come on, Mac,” I called, keeping my voice lighter than I felt.“We’re just going to have a chat with this guy.We don’t need it to be on camera.It’s going to be boring.”
Mac leveled her gaze on me.
Yeah.She wasn’t buying a damn word.
“Yeah,” she said slowly, “I think that ‘conversation’ is going to be anything but boring.”
