She touches my cheek, and it’s gentle, in a way that fucking guts me. “Then stop trying.”
Right before I left Aubrey earlier today, I told her to go straight home and wait to hear from me. If a stranger tries to talk to her, she is to call me ASAP, and absolutely, under no circumstances, is she to go anywhere alone. No questions. I was surprised when she agreed without trying to argue.
Now, here I am, sitting in my room, in the dark, my gun resting on my knee, staring at the wall. Thinking and asking myself how I’m going to handle this situation without anyone getting hurt.
Instinct has me on my feet, gun cocked. When I hear footsteps outside my door. Then, there’s a soft and hesitant knock. I open the door. Why am I not surprised? Aubrey stands there; face streaked with tears.
“Aubrey, what the hell are you doing? Didn’t I tell you…”
“Dean Michaels, I know what you told me, but I’m not sleeping until I know you’re okay,” she says, pushing past me. “You’re not facing this alone. So don’t try to fight me on this.” She stands there with her arms crossed, defiant, ready to fight me if I try to say otherwise. And at this point, I fucking give up.
Finally willing to admit that this is who Aubrey is. If I’m being honest with myself, it’s the very thing about her that I fell in love with.
“You’re playing with fire,” I say before stepping out to check the hall for anyone who may have followed her. Then locking it.
“Well, maybe I like the heat.” She sits on the edge of the bed, staring me down.
I almost smile.
Almost.
“Also, I need you to promise me something,” she adds.
I raise an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
“Let me in, Dean. Let me help you.”
I sink to the bed beside her, head in my hands. “I’m so fucking scared, Aubrey. Not of them…of what I’ll do if they touch you. I’ve never cared what happened to me, but you…” My voice cracks. “You’re everything I never thought I’d have.”
She slips her arms around me, and for a minute, I let myself lean into her. I breathe her in—desperate, grateful, and so fucking lost.
“We’ll figure this out together,” she whispers. “But I need you to be completely honest with me and give me total transparency on this whole situation. Why are they after you? What happened to make them want to hurt you?”
I take a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down and steady my nerves. I don’t want to do this, but I have to tell her. I have to let her in, even if it destroys whatever we’ve built.
“The club had rules,” I start. “Rising Tension MC always said there were lines you don’t cross. No women, no kids…ever. That’s what made it possible for me to stay as long as I did, even when shit got dirty. I told myself there was some kind of honor in it. But that all went to hell one night.
“A rival MC fucked us over. Burned one of our safehouses, killed a kid who’d just been patched in. With that, retaliation was expected. I got a call one night from one of the brothers. ‘Club business. No questions.’ His tone was off, and I got this feeling that something wasn’t right. Still, I showed up. We all did. Some warehouse on the edge of town.
“When I got there, I realized this wasn’t a normal job. There she was, a girl, tied up, shaking. Damn, Aubrey, she couldn’t have been more than twenty years old. She wasn’t one of us, just somebody’s girlfriend or sister. But because of who she wasconnected with, they decided the rules didn’t matter anymore. This girl was going to be a message to the enemy.
“It made me fucking sick.
“I tried to talk them down, tried to make them see reason, but nobody was listening. They were high, angry, and out for blood. And when they started to hurt her, I lost it. I fought my own brothers for some stranger.
“Everything went sideways…somebody got shot, maybe by accident, maybe not. I couldn’t even tell in the midst of all the chaos. All I knew was I had to get her out. I cut her loose, dragged her to my bike, and we ran.
“And I’ve been running ever since. Not just because I broke orders, but because I crossed the one line they finally decided didn’t matter anymore.”
For a long moment, Aubrey just sits there silent, staring at me. Like she’s trying to process everything I’ve said. I brace myself for her to pull away, to be scared or disgusted. But instead, she reaches for my hand, gripping it tightly.
“You did the right thing, Dean,” she says softly, but sounding sure. “No matter what it cost you, you saved an innocent life. And that, Dean Michaels, is why I love you.”
My phone buzzes, and I want to ignore it, and not ruin this moment. But something tells me I shouldn’t. It’s another unknown number, and this time, it’s a picture of Aubrey walking home. My heart stops. I show her.
Her face goes white. “They’re watching me.”
Pure, violent rage ignites within me. “They want a war. Now, they’ve got it.”
