He dragged his hands down his face. “Baby, you’ll always be a priority to me, but the club is as well, and I can’t promise that there won’t be times you might need to step back a bit.” He moved out from behind his peninsula and turned me to face him, sliding between my legs. “It’s like any job. I’ll share what I can, but there will be times I can’t. You have to get that, baby, or, you’re right, this won’t work.”
I blinked back tears. “My dad kept so much from my mom and it got her killed. I don’t ever want to be that far out of the loop.”
“I willneverkeep you out of any loop that will get you hurt, beautiful. And there’s no way in hell you’ll get killed on my watch.” He stroked my pulse. “We’ll find our rhythm. It’ll just take a little time to figure it out.”
“Do you know why my dad’s been such a jerk lately?”
“Got a guess.”
“Will you share?”
He sighed. “He kicked Wyatt to the curb.”
I gasped. “What? Why?”
“We think she was a double agent.”
“No way. How so?”
“She’s close friends with Sonja.”
Sonja was a hanger on who’d pushed my brother too far when he was first dating Raquel. He’d banned her from the club, which my dad had backed up, and I knew she was trying to make trouble. I just couldn’t imagine Wyatt would do the same.
“Even if she’s close with Sonja, do you really think Wyatt would do something like that?” I asked. “She’s got so much on her plate with her brother and business, what motive would she have to mess with the club?”
“We don’t know. That’s what your dad’s trying to find out.”
I frowned. “What do you think?”
“I don’t know the woman.” He sighed. “But, honestly, she seemed totally confused by the whole thing and she was terrified when...”
“When, what?” I demanded. “Did someone hurt her?”
“No, baby,” he rushed to say. “She was just asked to leave the compound.”
“And by ‘asked,’ you mean ‘forced.’”
“Yeah, but no one hurt her in the process.”
“Maybe not physically, but I know how scary my dad can be when he’s pissed. But if he’s sad? Jesus, he’s downright terrifying.” I settled my hands on his waist. “You should have seen him after Mom died. It was bad, Jasper.”
“I can’t speak to his emotional state, Letti. He doesn’t discuss that with me.”
“He doesn’t discuss that with anyone. That’s the problem.” I bit my lip. “Wyatt really liked him, honey. And he liked her. I don’t think she had anything to do with any of this.”
Jasper shrugged. “Until we sort some shit out, we won’t know for sure, so we gotta err on the side of caution.”
“By vilifying an innocent woman.”
“We don’t know she’s innocent.”
“Pretty sure y’all are going to figure out she is.”
He chucked me under the chin. “We’re changing the subject now.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Fine. But mark my words.”
“Consider them marked.” He kissed me gently and made his way back into the kitchen.
