“Everything’s property, Jack. Especially when debts are owed. It’s up to you. Either way, that girl belongs to me.”
Like hell she does.
He hangs up.
I stand there, breathing hard, rage boiling. He can’t have her. He’ll have to kill me first.
I head back into the kitchen, shaking it off as best I can. Lennon is washing out her bowl, humming, like she doesn’t know the world is about to catch fire.
She looks up when she sees me, eyes searching my face. “Is it bad?”
“Yeah,” I say, voice like gravel. “It’s bad.”
She puts the bowl down and moves closer. “Are you in trouble because of me?”
I shake my head, touching her cheek. “You’re not the problem. O’Grady is. And I’m not letting him near you.”
She leans into my touch, and I feel something open up inside me, raw and unguarded. I want to promise her forever, but all I can give her is this…protection, as long as I’m breathing.
“Go get dressed,” I say softly. “We might have to leave soon.”
She gives me a quick nod. “Okay.”
I watch her walk away…strong, stubborn, and beautiful. I'm ready for whatever happens next. I’m not giving her up. Not to O’Grady. Not to anyone.
She’s mine. And I’ll tear the city apart before I let anyone take her.
5
LENNON
I’m glad Trent doesn’t bother trying to talk to me. I wouldn’t know what to say if he did. The tension hanging in the air is enough to make my skin crawl, but it doesn’t last long. Only a minute or two after Jack disappeared into the bedroom, he comes out again.
“Everything’s going to be fine.” Sure, he can say that, but I wasn’t born yesterday. And I’m not blind. The look he gives Trent is full of silent warnings.
And I mean, I didn’t ask if everything was fine. When somebody comes out of a room and starts talking right away about how everything is going to be fine, that means the opposite is true, and it’s something really bad.
So it’s no big surprise when he opens a door and pulls out a black leather bag. He’s gotten dressed, changing out of the soft flannel pants he was wearing when Trent showed up and into jeans, a T-shirt, and sneakers.
He kneels next to the bag and unzips it, thumbing through whatever is inside. “Trent, you should go,” he mumbles. “Everything is fine here. You never visited this morning.”
Goose bumps cover my skin. Something is very wrong. I look at Trent, but his expression is unreadable. “You sure?”
“Go ahead.” He doesn’t look up or say another word, too busy going through his bag. “Lennon, go get dressed. I left sweats and a fresh shirt on the bed.” So many questions are running through my head, but I know better than to ask them. He’s tense, in a hurry, and I can imagine why. He doesn’t need to say it. He’s in a hurry to get out of here, and it’s probably because of me.
If anything, I’m glad to have a minute alone in the bedroom. The sight of the sheets and comforter all bunched up at the foot of the bed serves as a reminder of what happened earlier. It was so good. Unexpected but mind-blowing.
I thought I had problems last night? Now we have to leave, and I’m torn about the man who’s taking me away with him. I have never felt so safe and secure as I did in his arms, not to mention how incredible it was to be carefully washed by him. He’s so gentle and thoughtful.
He also works for a man we now have to run from.
The sound of the front door closing gets me moving. I change into the fresh set of clothes, rolling the sweatpants at the waist to help with the length and cuffing them at the ankles before cramming my feet into the shoes I was wearing when I got here last night. My toiletries and everything else are in my backpack, which I sling over my shoulder before marching out of the room to face whatever comes next.
Jack gives me a quick once-over before going back to the gun he was checking when I came out. My breath catches at the sight of it, but I play things as cool as I can, watching him tuck the weapon into his waistband.
“Ready?”
No.
