“I don’t know,” I replied, shaking my head. “I just…want her in my life. Whatever that might look like. I’ll take it. As long as it means waking up to her by my side every day.”
Ethan nodded and gave Ares a treat, then commanded him to lay down.
“What does your brother have to say? Now that he got hitched, I imagine he would have a few insights.”
I hesitated, fiddling with a pen on Ethan’s desk. My brother had enough on his plate already. Especially if his wife was pregnant with their second child. I didn’t need to burden him with this.
“Don’t let her slip through your fingers, buddy,” Ethan said quietly. “I made that mistake myself, and I’ve regretted it ever since. If you have a chance at happiness, you deserve that, and you better fight for your motherfucking life to keep her.”
A beat of silence fell over the room. When Ethan joined the military, he had a falling out with his high school sweetheart. They used to be so solid, so deeply in love that it seemed nothing would shake them. Then he found out that she married someone else. And it nearly broke him. He never really got over her, dedicating himself to work instead.
He cleared his throat and gestured to his desk.
“We should discuss protection. And surveillance.”
I straightened in my chair, eager to have a task to focus on.
“For the past two weeks, I’ve had one of my club brothers tailing her everywhere she goes.”
Ethan hummed in thought.
“That’s fine for now, but I recommend stronger measures. I’ll call Casper and Bulldog in. They should be free. Everyone else is on assignment, or out of town. Don’t worry, we’ll find a way to keep your girl safe.”
Nearly two hours later, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I could breathe a little easier. On more than one occasion, I had trusted these soldiers with my life. They wouldn’t let me down this time either.
Returning to my bike, I called Shea and relayed the good news. Although I skipped the part about Ritter’s history of stalking. She didn’t need to know that when she was rattled enough as it was.
“You’re going through a lot of trouble for me, Theo,” Shea said, her voice low and soft.
“Does that surprise you?”
She made a non-committal noise. The drone of conversation echoed in the background on the phone, punctuated by Raine’s laughter.
“I guess I’m just not used to it,” Shea admitted at last.
A gust of wind blasted against me. I stumbled back a few steps to catch my balance and glanced up. Dark clouds roiled on the horizon, followed by a flash of lightning and a rumble of thunder. Riding a motorcycle in a storm was not a pleasant experience. I could wait it out here at the agency, or I could hit the road and race back to the clubhouse before the rain started.
“Your dad was an asshole, Shea,” I said. “But I’m not him.”
“And your parents chose to marry the wrong person,” she countered without missing a beat. “But that doesn’t mean you will do the same.”
“We’re not talking about me right now,” I protested.
“If you’re going to drag me into the spotlight and prod at my goddamn abandonment issues, I’m taking you with me. You’re just as fucked up as I am.”
I breathed a faint laugh.
“You don’t pull any punches, do you?”
“Nope,” she replied lightly. “That’s what you love about me.”
I raised my eyebrows and my heart skipped a beat.
“Oh, shit,” Shea muttered. “I just realized what that sounded like.”
I chuckled, climbing onto my bike as the first fat drops of rain began to fall from the sky.
“For the record, you’re not wrong.”
