“Chloe, wait!” I roared.
I shoved past Stone, not giving a damn that I had almost knocked him off his feet. They’d all lost their damn minds, and I’d be lucky if I could convince Chloe to stay around after what he had just said. I heard Texas chastising the man as I rounded the corner. Chloe strode into her room and tried slamming the door closed.
But I slid my steel-toed boot in at the last second and stopped it from shutting.
“Get the hell away from me!” she shrieked.
I shook my head. “You need to take a breath and calm down before we talk.”
She ripped the door open. “Me? Calm down? The man that leads you guys just threatened to kill me! I’m not calming down for shit! I’m packing my stuff and booking it out of this fucking place. This has never been home for me, anyway.”
“We’re just trying to keep you safe. Quit being so damn—”
“What?” she asked as her eyes watered. “Difficult? Emotional? Curt? Crass? All of the things men don’t like women being because it makes us complicated? Did you ever stop to think that all you’re doing is holding me prisoner? I’m not your fucking prisoner. I’m not your inmate. And I won’t stay here when I’ve had my life threatened.”
“Your life will be threatened out there, too. Except we won’t be here to help you.”
She pulled a bag out from beneath her bag. “Either help me or get out of my way.”
I slipped into her room and closed the door, then I quietly flipped the lock. We needed a barrier away from the guys that were already running hot in the first place. I knew people were gathering to figure out what the hell was going on. Bootsteps paced back and forth, up and down the hallway. Probably trying to find some sort of tidbit to report back to the homicidal president of our club.
So, I grabbed Chloe and tugged her into the bathroom.
“Oh, for fuck’s—let me go!” she shrieked.
I tossed her into the bathroom and slammed the door closed behind me. “Breathe.”
Her chest panted with anger. “Get the hell out of my way.”
I shook my head. “Not until you fucking breathe, Chloe. We’re all running hot right now, you especially. I get that you don’t like being controlled. Neither do I. But right now, the cartel has us under their thumb and we’re all being controlled until we find a way out of this. Your problems aren’t unique. Everyone here is in your exact situation right now. The only difference is that we’ve come to terms with it.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “So, I’m supposed to roll over and play dead because that’s what everyone else did.”
“Does it look like that’s what we’re doing? Because the last thing I remembered, you weren’t even capable of fighting them off when they took you last time. How are you going to protect yourself out there if you couldn’t do it last time?”
A tear dripped down her cheek. “That’s a low fucking blow, West.”
I took a step toward her. “And it’s the truth. You’ve got to face the truth, Chloe. Just for a little bit. Think rationally for five minutes, and you’ll realize why I’m right.”
She chewed on her lower lip. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”
I took a chance and gripped her upper arms softly, our bodies only inches apart. “Neither do I. Neither does anyone else here. But right now? We’re trying to protect lives. We’re trying to keep families safe. We’re trying to push the cartel out of our territory so that the people of our hometown don’t get hooked on drugs they don’t need. That’s what we’re trying to do. We aren’t here to torture you. That’s a narrow-minded way of thinking about this situation.”
“So, yet again, nothing in my life is about me. Got it.”
I gripped her tighter and brought her closer to my face. “Are you always this stubborn? Because I get why you’re single if you’re always this stubborn.”
Her eyes fell to my lips. “Maybe if men weren’t such assholes, I wouldn't be so damn stubborn.”
I swallowed hard. “Maybe if you listened for once instead of thinking you know everything, men wouldn’t have to be such assholes when trying to get something through your thick skull.”
Her eyes fluttered up to mine. “Fuck you.”
“Don’t mind if you do,” I said breathlessly.
And as I crashed my lips to hers, her curves melted against my muscles.
Allowing me the full scope of her warmth as my hands fell away from her arms and cloaked her back.
