“Yeah, some Robin Hood shit, like I need another maniac to worry about.”
“Maniac implies that person was not of their right mind, but they have killed a man undetected, by you or anyone else close enough to hear a gunshot. Unless, of course, you know the identity of this... crazed folklore legend.”
I shook my head, grounding myself in the fact that his hands still gripped my shoulders. “I have no fucking clue. The list of people who might want me dead is much longer than the one of would-be heroes.”
“Were your brothers all accounted for at the time?”
“You think it was an inside job?” I gave him a sharp look, hating that it wasn’t the first time such a thing had been suggested to me recently.
Alexei shrugged. “I do not know your club. Only that beloved leaders often have the worst enemies. Love and hate, no?”
“Saint wants me to stay here a few days.”
“Under my protection?” Alexei’s speculative frown turned to a soft smirk that made my blood rush south. “That is very trusting of him when we have never been formally introduced.”
“I’m not his fucking wife.”
Alexei licked his lips, leering just enough to send another bolt of heat to my veins. “But you are hisfuckingsomething. I just do not know what yet, and perhaps you don’t either.”
“That’s off-topic.”
“But it is more fun to think about than some fool trying to kill you.”
“Fool?”
Alexei’s gaze bored into me, sucking me into a place that made my head spin and my pulse race. “Yes, Cam. They are a fool.”
16
Alexei
Cam stayed with me for three days. We didn’t talk much more about the reasons why, but they were never far from my mind.
Or his. He was a man in high demand. Despite laying low, his phone buzzed and beeped with little respite. I wondered how it was to have so many people so eager to talk to you. Being a lone wolf suited me as much now as it had when survival had depended on it, but I couldn’t deny Cam’s lifestyle fascinated me.
And irritated me. The man I’d killed hadn’t acted alone, and contemplating when Cam’s enemies would strike next kept me awake while he slept beside me, crashed out on his stomach, one arm flung over me as if he was scared he’d wake up alone.
He did not wake up alone. I liked being in bed with Cam. When we weren’t fucking, I watched him while he watched TV, and he seemed to like tracing patterns on my bare skin. The bruises beneath his tattoos began to fade, and the fatigue he’d arrived with eased a little.
I couldn’t define what we had become.
All I knew for certain was that letting him leave was more painful than I had prepared for.
“You do not like my cooking?” I stood with one shoulder propped on the hallway wall, watching him put on boots that did not belong to him.
He shot a smirk over his shoulder. “Do you?”
“Yours is better.” My biker boy was domesticated beyond my wildest dreams. His mother had raised a man. “Perhaps you should stay for the entertainment instead.”
“You don’t want me to go? I thought you might want your space back, considering I never really asked you if I could stay in the first place.”
“Saint didn’t ask me either.”
“You want him to?” Cam stood and came to me. His gaze was penetrating and I didn’t mind. He had seen me in pieces on my kitchen floor. Emotionally, I didn’t have much left to hide from him. “He’d be here in a heartbeat if I called.”
“No doubt.”
Cam cocked a thick, dark brow. “You bring him up a lot. Should I be worried about that?”
