It’s the whole reason I was standing on this doorstep now, my hand raised in a hesitant fist as I hovered outside her door. The only reason I was there was because her boss reached out to me. He said that she wasn’t doing well mentally and was afraid she’d end her own life.
Ruby Tyler.
I traced her name with my finger about thirteen times before I finally picked up the phone to call her. She never answered. Now I was standing outside her door, my heart racing inside my chest, afraid for the future of a woman I had never met before.
Would she answer the door? Was I too late? Would she even be open to my help?
These questions flew through my mind as my fist pounded on her door.
KNOCK KNOCK.
No answer…
I knocked again. This time, even louder. Her bike was in the driveway, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed. To help a fellow biker would do my heart some good. If she was suffering and in pain, I would be there for her,a Guiding Lightto get her through her darkness.
Still no answer.
I don’t know what compelled me to place my hand on that knob, or to turn it to see if it was open. Something inside me was urging me to go inside—a ghostly voice guiding me to help her.
When the door gave way and opened, the house was eerily quiet. Not a single sound came from anywhere.
“Hello?”
More silence.
“Mrs. Tyler, are you in here?”
A large thump came from a back bedroom, sounding eerily like a body hitting the floor.
Fuck!
My feet moved so fast I could barely keep up, and when I threw open the door, the sight I saw shattered my very existence.
There she was, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, convulsing on the floor with an empty bottle of pills lying next to her. There was no hesitation. I moved with the speed of a jet, dropping down beside her until I had her cradled in my arms. This wasn’t my first rodeo, so before she could protest, my fingers were shoved down her throat, forcing her to throw up whatever was in her system.
Her eyes violently flew open as she choked on my fingers, the gagging forced all the contents of her stomach to empty onto the floor beside her. I held back her hair as she continued to purge herself of the pills. She needed a hospital, but for now, she had me. I sent up a silent prayer, hoping that no matter what happened, I could help her. I wasn’t in time to help Nathan. I’d found him after the fact, a memory that still fucking haunted me. Seeing the road Leo was going down scared the shit out of me. I imagined I annoyed the hell out of him, forcing him to do more than just exist in a bottle of whiskey each night and whatever Fallen Star was available to warm his bed. For some reason, saving this woman was as important to me as saving my brother.I needed her to pull through this. I needed her to fight for her future.
“Ruby, come on, girl. Spit it all out. Get that poison out of your system.”
She coughed. God, she coughed so much. It didn’t seem like enough, so I kept forcing her until she was nothing but dry heaves and tears. When I knew her stomach was empty, I brought her up against me, brushing my fingers through her hair as I tried to soothe her the best I could.
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m here now.”
She sobbed against my chest, coughing periodically as she attempted to rein her emotions in.
Her bright blue eyes looked up at me. A wall of tears shimmering over those pain-filled orbs that mirrored the ocean.
“Who are you?” she croaked out between sobs, her fingers digging into my arms as she continued to hold on to me for support.
She needed me. I could feel it in the way her body trembled against me. She was so broken and lost, her pain nothing more than compressed air beneath a corked bottle, erupting all at once when the top was blown.
Her boss was so right… Ruby fucking needed me.
“I’m Nicholas, I’m here to help.”
“Help me what?”
I lifted my eyes so they met hers, ignoring the questions I knew she had.
