“If it keeps you talking to me, you can do it some more.”
“Rooster, I–”
“I know. It’s been years. And I shouldn’t have told you any of that, but what are the odds I’d run into you?”
“About that, I really do need to get home tomorrow–”
“No.”
I smirked. “No? I’m sorry. You and I can work out catching up more, but we really need to get back to our side of town. I mean, assuming you want to catch up.”
He ran his thumb over my cheek. “I do. But you can’t go home until I can go with you.”
“Very cocky, aren’t we?”
“I’m serious. Those guys messing with your cousin are bad news. Had some run-ins with a few of them in Georgia. We thought they were gone but clearly, they just moved north. But I need to check your place before you go in. Even then, it may not be safe to stay there.”
“I knew I had a bad feeling. Bit never hooked up with that guy,” I shot out. “We’d just seen them there before and he was definitely hitting on her. We ended up sneaking off. I didn’t know if they’d be back again since it looked like they were from Cincy.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure why they’re so far from home either.”
Rooster’s club was in Georgia, but they had dealings up this way. I didn’t know why or exactly where. Just that it’s what brought him to Jersey to begin with. “Maybe something like you guys? But what kind of bad news?”
“Sex trafficking. So naturally I couldn’t leave you two there.”
I gasped. “Oh my God.”
“Do you understand now?”
Nodding, I said, “Yeah. But when are we going, then?” We had some dumb luck that Rooster and his brothers showed up. Imagining what may have happened turned my stomach.
“We gotta help Sawyer with a run. Should just be a day, maybe two. Then I’ll let Hawk know we gotta get y’all home.”
Nodding again, I stared up at his dark eyes.
He cupped my cheeks. “I won’t let anything happen to you. You have my word.”
My lips parted and I looked down at his. Looking back up, he was watching me, and once our eyes locked, he leaned in. As his lips brushed over mine, I whimpered.
“Sparrow.”
My hands pulled at his leather, and finally his mouth covered mine. My body flooded with heat as his tongue brushed mine. His body pressed to me, and I lost all will to fight. I let myself feel him, taste him. Maybe I was hard up, but it was even better than I remembered. His strong grasp tilted my head back as his tongue plunged further inside. I whimpered again and forgot where we were until we were interrupted again.
“Ah-hem.” Bit made it a point to be loud.
We both pulled away, but he didn’t let me go.
“It’s late, Kristie,” she said, her tone motherly.
He sighed. “She’s right. We gotta help Sawyer get the load ready and finalize plans tomorrow. Where’s your phone?”
Realizing it wasn’t in my hand, I panicked. “Oh, shit.”
We both started looking around and it lit up on the ground.
“Helps if you keep the ringer on,” Bit said. “That’s why I came down. I texted you three times.”
Rooster picked the phone up and touched the screen, grimacing at me. “Seriously? You don’t have a lock on this?” He shook his head, but proceeded to type something.
