“Jo doesn’t need your help,” Axel said firmly.“She has an entire town that will protect her.”
“I respect that,” Dom replied.“However, I have inside information on him and what he’s planning.I feel that I would be an asset in keeping her safe.I’m not trying to come in and undermine anyone in this town.I just want to keep Jo alive.”
“Then it looks like we’re working together,” Axel confirmed as I whipped my head back to look at him.
“I won’t risk losing you, Jo,” Axel said.“I don’t have to trust him or like him.If he has information that can help us protect you, then I’m going to use it.”
“Same,” Keith said, turning to me.“Your life is at risk, so you can’t blame any of us for doing whatever we need to do to keep you safe.”
“So, that’s it?He comes in acting like he’s going to save the day, and you guys just accept him?”I threw my hands up in disbelief.
“I’m not trying to save anything but you,” he replied, locking eyes and holding my gaze.“Everything I do is going to be for you.”
Two
Dom
“Iknow that you don’twant me here,” I said as I sat across the table from Jo and stared at her.
She had changed a lot since the last time I’d seen her, but for the better.She looked genuinely happy and still had that take-no-shit attitude that I always loved about her.
“What gave it away?”she replied sarcastically as she cocked her head to look at me.
The bar was relatively quiet, with her friends sitting across the room from us, keeping an eye on things to make sure she was okay.I knew it was risky coming here, but after hearing what Tray was up to, I couldn’t sit back and let anything happen to her, especially not after hearing all the shit he did to her that I didn’t know about until now.My blood boiled hearing the hurt in her voice as she said those words, but I knew the emotional pain was nothing compared to the physical pain he had caused her.
“I’m not the bad guy, Jo.”
“You’re not a good one.”
I nodded my head and pressed my lips together to keep from laughing.I had forgotten how much of a firecracker she really was.
“I fucked up.I admit that, and I’ll continue to admit that for as long as you need to hear it.But at the end of the day, I’m the one who showed up to help you.And just for the record, I didn’t know any of that shit had happened until today.Tray never said anything about what was happening.I suspected he was hurting you because I saw a few bruises, and I noticed how you changed around him, but I swear to God, Jo, if I knew he was doing that shit, I would have killed him then.”
My jaw clenched as I struggled to rein in my anger at what that asshole had done to her.
“I’m surprised he didn’t brag to you about it,” she said dryly.“He was always so proud of what he did.Why would this be any different?”
