The drive was silent but not tense, which was weird because things were always tense when we were together. Maybe it was being stuck in the small space of my car together or maybe it was the break-in hanging over us. I didn’t rush to try to fill the silence, just accepted it.
I jumped out as soon as he killed the engine and started towards the stairs. “You can stay out here,” I told Sledge without stopping or looking back.
“Yeah, that’s not fuckin’ happening.” He caught up to me quickly, hovering while I shoved the keycard in three times before I got the damn green light. “I’ll go in first,” he insisted, bracing a large forearm across my chest.
I froze and stared at him for a long time. It was instinct to put up a fight but there was something in his tone that stopped me. “You think someone could be in there?”
“I’m not ruling it out,” he said. “Stay here.” Before I could argue, he pushed the door open with one hand, gun aimed into the room with the other.
I gasped and covered my mouth with both hands, willing my heart to slow down before it shot out of my chest. Twenty seconds later, he stuck his head out, too close, and grinned.
“All clear.”
“Okay. Thanks.” I stepped inside, my gaze sweeping across the room quickly. Everything looked as drab as it had when I left for work this morning. “Things look undisturbed so that’s good.” I hadn’t bothered unpacking anything other than what I needed last night, including pajamas, toiletries, and a toothbrush, so packing was quick and easy.
Sledge’s big body took up space in the room even without a word. His presence filled every square inch, making it impossible to ignore him.
“Okay. Ready.”
He blinked, staring at me from the chair near the window. One ankle rested on his knee, arms folded over his broad chest. “I know you’re scared, Eliana and I really fuckin’ hate that, but I promise that I’ll keep you safe. You have my word.”
I believed him instantly. “It’s not that. I mean, thank you, obviously, but it’s the invasion, ya know? Not sure how I’ll feel safe for a long time.” I let out a shaky breath. “It’s not your fault, let’s just say I’m prone to danger-based anxiety due to… life circumstances.”
“Well now I’m intrigued.” He leaned forward, wiggled his brows until I laughed.
“Don’t be, it was a frightening experience.” I didn’t want to share it with him but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I needed to if I wanted him to trust me with Zoya. And withhissecrets.
“I’m a former SEAL, Eliana, frightening is right in my wheelhouse.”
“That explains it,” I said, suddenly even more intrigued than I was ten seconds ago.
“What, the scar?”
I shook my head. “No, the whole confident swagger, bad-ass, lived through the shit, way about you.” It really made a lot of sense. “That’s an odd transition, isn’t it, from SEAL to biker?”
He shrugged. “Maybe for some, for me it was a natural fit.”
“A perfect non-answer,” I shot back, dropping onto the edge of the bed to watch him.
“Ah,” he grinned. “That’s because we’re talking about you.”
“I guess we were.” I nodded, leaning back on my palms in search of a casualness I didn’t feel. “I had a brother,” I began, taking a deep breath as I prepared to talk about the thing that had stolen my voice for too many years. “His name was Carlito. Actually,” I smiled. “I have four brothers, but this is about Carlito.”
Sledge’s expression shifted immediately, his features softened, and the usual rough edge in his gaze had smoothed out to understanding. He leaned forward slightly, elbows resting on his knees, like he already sensed this wasn’t small talk. “Older or younger?” he asked quietly.
“Youngest brother,” I answered, shaking my head. “But he was older than me. I’m the baby.”
He flashed a soft grin that gave me the courage to keep going. “I’ll bet they were protective as fuck.”
I nodded. “They were. They had to be because I hid behind them anytime I could.” I smiled at the memory, the last good memory of my childhood, ripping and running behind my brothers. “Marco is the oldest, he’s the responsible one. Roberto and Leo are twins who couldn’t be more different, but back then they were typical twins. Then there was Carlito and then me. A big family in East Vegas, and not the shiny Strip part that came with fat tips and tourists. Nope, we lived on theother side, that’s how people said it, you know?” I didn’t wait for his response, just pushed on. “The cracked sidewalks, the homes that had seen better days, and corner stores that closed at sunset. It wasn’t a bad area, just working class, but we’d hear the occasional gunshot from thebadpart of the city.” I let out a bitter laugh. “Until the day Carlito died, I never realized just how close the bad part of the city was to where we lived.”
Something changed on Sledge’s face and he didn’t interrupt. He waited patiently, giving me the room to think and to breathe.
“Anyway, Carlito was my best friend,” I said, smiling despite the heaviness that grew inside my chest. “We did everything together, especially when our older brothers went places we weren’t allowed. We used to pretend we were space travelers, cowboys, and living in underwater cities—whatever our minds conjured up.” Tears stung my eyes at the memories that had been too painful to revisit.
He nodded again, his jaw tight and eyes dark with tension as if he understood what lay ahead.
“We had big dreams that took us all over our little slice of town. One night, when I was eight and Carlito was ten, we were playing kickball with some neighborhood kids. It got dark, and since we were supposed to be home before the streetlights came on, we took a shortcut through some of the older houses, at least that’s what we thought. Turns out we got spun around and were heading in the opposite direction of where we thought.”
