“Shh, shh, shh, shh,” I said softly as I walked Rose over to my bike, “it’s okay. I gotcha. He’s gone, I promise.”
Her legs locked around me and electricity coursed through my body. My heart slammed against the wall of my chest, threatening to pound right through and break my sternum. My brow furrowed tightly as I cradled Rose against me. Rose, the girl that used to be my best friend.
Rose, the girl that had dropped me like a Hot Pocket.
Rose, the girl that needed my help.
“I can’t believe I agreed to this,” I murmured into her hair, “but I refuse to let that asshole bother you anymore.”
She sniffled and placed her cheek on my shoulder. “I should head back upstairs so that we can go over everything. We’ll need a backstory in place and all.”
But just like clockwork, my cell phone rang.
And there were only a handful of people that ever called me in the middle of the day like that.
“Do you need to get that?” Rose asked.
I shifted her entire body weight into my left arm and held her like a child. “Yeah, but you’re good. Just pretend you’re not listening.”
She smiled against my shoulder. “I can do that.”
I shoved my hand into my pocket and pulled out my cell phone. “This is Reaper.”
“Reaper?” she whispered.
“Reaper, it’s Viper.”
I blinked. “Hey there, I figured you were Fangs annoying us with another church meeting.”
He barked with laughter. “You wish. Listen, you need to get back to the clubhouse. Wes tried to escape.”
I groaned. “Fucking hell. All right, I’ll be there soon.”
“Everything okay?” Rose asked.
I jammed my cell phone back into my pocket before I made my way toward the elevator.
“I gotta head into work. The club needs me right now.”
“You have to go now?” she asked.
Her voice was so soft, and so sheepish, and I couldn’t blame her. After what had just happened with that Blake fellow of hers, I knew she didn’t want to be alone.
But as I slipped into the elevator, I placed her back down onto her feet.
“Okay, okay,” she said with a soft sigh, “I understand.”
I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I have to go during moments like this, but I’ll be back later on. I’ll bring dinner, okay?”
She nodded softly. “Okay.”
“Hey, look at me.”
Her eyes peeked up toward mine. “Yeah?”
I gripped her chin, forcing her to focus. “I’m coming back with dinner. No later than eight, okay? Then, we can eat and work through the shit we need to know about one another.”
She tried to smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I know, and I can’t wait to see you.”
