He blinked slowly, no denial leaving his lips.
“Oh my God. You’re a drug dealer in a motorcycle club, and I’m helping you. I’m trying to get out of one mess and stepping into another.” How could I save my sister if I couldn’t even save myself?
“What mess?” His blue eyes were laser focused on me now. Jameson Knight thought he knew everything about me, but he didn’t know what drove me to take that summer school job in the first place.
I’d known it wasn’t stable, wasn’t smart, was too good to be true. I’d dealt with all those things before. That’s exactly what Felix was in our lives. “Not your concern. Your salary offer will fix my problems.”
“You don’t have debt.” His eyes narrowed on me, searching for answers I wasn’t going to give him.
“Well, we all have secrets, Jameson.” I crossed my arms over my chest, and his eyes flicked down. Oh great. Now we were dealing with my attraction to him too.
“You say my first name only in anger, Mia.”
I scoffed. “I really shouldn’t be saying your first name at all.”
He rubbed a hand across his jaw, a tell I was starting to learn was him trying to wipe away an emotion. “True, and yet I continue to find myself interested in what it will sound like coming from your mouth in a different tone.”
Trying to squelch the heat I felt at him staring at my lips, I murmured, “Maybe try not being in a gang then.”
There was that half smile of his, like I was ridiculous. “Mia, I’mnotin the Heathens motorcycle club.”
“You have a bike.” I pointed toward the door, getting angrier at the secrets because I knew I shouldn’t care about him, but I was finding that I did. I told myself it was just that he’d saved my life at the school, or that he was Franny’s dad and I wanted what was best for her. I’d have to focus on that. “Your daughter said you ride when she’s not around. It’s dangerous.”
“Yes, a Ducati can be dangerous, and when she’s not around, I’m on it.”
“Right. And you helped Jacques, who is—”
“In a motorcycle club.” He sighed like he didn’t want me to put two and two together. “And I’m there when the club needs me, but I’m not a part of it. Don’t make assumptions.”
“So, you just help anyone who pays?” That wasn’t it. It couldn’t be. He held too much authority, and even if he didn’t want me to, I could put two and two together.
“It’s complicated.”
“Or it’s not. You’re secretly in a gang and probably are the head of that gang because they all listen to you. To lead a ganglike that … it’s not complicated. It’sdangerous.” I couldn’t help but take a shaky breath as I paced over to the sink and then turned to him to lean against it.
“Ifthat was the case, Mia, that I was in a sort of gang, would you be nervous for me?”
Was he for real?
“ForFranny,” I corrected him fast, “and myself.”
He took a step toward me, and I leaned back. “It would be no more danger than you were already in when you took the academy job. Less, actually, with me and my men here.”
“It’s true then? You lead them?”
“Are you asking even when I told you it’s best you not know?”
The room was probably holding its breath waiting for my answer as I looked into his blue eyes. “I’m asking what was in that envelope you took at the country club, what club you’re in exactly, and what you do for a living, Jameson. Yes, I’m asking.”
“A lot of questions.”
“And I want all the answers.”
He nodded. “Ileadsomething with a few others, yes.”
“And Franny?” I couldn’t stop myself from whispering because that girl was just a child, just an innocent little thing who deserved the world.
“And Franny has … been born into it. I promise I’m keeping you and Franny safe.”
