I shook my head. “The takeaway here is that they already knew where to find Lexi. That’s proof enough for me that she’s not safe.”
Stone nodded. “He’s right. As awesome as the story is, we’ve got another civilian in the crosshairs of an issue that never should’ve been ours in the first place. But, now that we are entrenched, we have a duty to the people of our town to keep them as safe as we possibly can while we clean up our messes.”
I downed the rest of my beer. “So, what do you suggest?”
Stone rapped his knuckles against the countertop. “First, you need to get some rest. It’s late, and some of the guys napped. Texas?”
He stood. “Already on it. I’ll go get West and we’ll go perch. Just text us her address.”
I reached up and fist-bumped him. “Thanks, man. I really appreciate it.”
Archer leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. “Is there any reason why we aren’t asking her to just come stay with us at the warehouse? It’s not like we’re hurting for room or anything.”
I let out a bitter sort of chuckle. “Yeah, Lexi and I aren’t on the best of terms.”
Stone shrugged. “Well, get on better terms. It’ll be a hell of a lot easier to protect her if you two aren’t squabbling all the fucking time. Got it?”
I nodded. “Got it.”
“Because the truth of the matter,” he said as he stood, “is that she’ll be a fuckton easier to protect if she’s in lockdown with the rest of the club. So, understand that if she really needs protecting, that’s my goal: to get her here with the rest of us so we don’t have to be tugged in so many different directions. We have to save our patrols for when the cartel’s involved.”
I raked my hand through my hair. “Got it.”
I mean, sure, I understood the mission. But it wasn’t as if I knew how to go about it. Lexi and I had a sordid kind of history that fell squarely onto my shoulders. What the hell was I supposed to tell her? That I got roped into confidential missions as some low-level Army medic that took me off the map? How the hell was she going to take that?
Plus, how the fuck was I going to convince her that she needed to come stay here without letting her on as to why?
Jesus fuck, what a goddamn mess.
“Want to know what I’d do?” Archer asked as he scooted his chair closer to my side.
I groaned as my head fell back. “I’m all ears.”
He placed his hand on my shoulder. “I’d start by telling the truth.”
I scoffed. “The truth will probably make things worse.”
He squeezed it. “You’ll never know until you tell her. You might find that she’s a hell of a lot stronger than you give her credit for.”
I sometimes forgot on my worst days that many of the men that surrounded me had their own squabbles and past issues with their loved ones. So, if there was anything I could learn from their actions, it was to never trust a gut instinct when it came to a potential partner. Our gut instincts told us to protect. To take the bullets. To take whatever came our way in order to protect those we adored.
When really, those that wanted to adore us back simply wanted to be clued in to why we were taking the actions we took in the first place.
But, as I headed back to the hospital that evening, I still didn’t know how the fuck to approach her.
I took a wild guess at her shift time and arrived a few minutes before. I perched in that same parking spot near the back of the parking lot and watched every car that entered and exited. I wanted to make sure I didn’t recognize anyone. I wanted to make sure the cartel wasn’t going to simply show up and show their asses.
Then, I saw Lexi pull into the parking lot.
I watched intently as she parked near the front. She got out and closed the door a couple of times, almost as if it wouldn’t latch, and already I had formulated a plan to get that fixed for her. I knew my way around bikes better than cars, but I knew how to fix simple shit like that on anything. I watched her primp herself before putting on some lip gloss, then she pushed her purse up her shoulder and started in through the E.R. doors.
Her Jeep was in the same condition I remembered it being in.
After torturing myself on whether or not to corner her during her lunch hour or some bullshit, I decided to keep watch. I could nick two birds with one stone and talk to her after her shift while also keeping an eye on the parking lot to make sure I didn’t have to intervene for any reason sooner than that. But things came and went without so much as a peep. Seven o’clock crept steadily closer and I saw the security guards change out. So, I put down my kickstand, whipped my leg over the seat, and went to perch against Lexi’s driver-side door.
Before she came out of the doors herself.
I was infuriated with the way she seemed distracted. She kept digging through her purse while approaching her car as if she didn’t have shit to care about. And maybe that was for the best. It meant that she didn’t know she was in danger.
