Page 5 of Street

“I’m shaking too hard. You know how to stitch. Could you fix Inky for me?” Rosa pleaded, not caring that the bikers were watching and probably thought she was ridiculous.

“I can’t treat animals, sweetheart. But Street can. He’ll fix Inky up,” Razor told her as he handed the needle to Street.

“Please, Street. You don’t have to get me a bus pass. Just fix Inky and we’ll be square. I won’t ask for anything else,” Rosa offered, negotiating everything for her friend.

“Let’s sit down, Rosa.” Street wrapped an arm around her and led her to the two-person porch swing.

As soon as they settled into place, he tucked the stuffing securely inside the jaguar’s belly. Using small stitches, he drew the edges together neatly. Each push through his fur made Rosa wince. That had to hurt. Gradually before her eyes, Street changed the ragged slash into a tidy scar. Inky was a bit slimmer than he had been before, but Razor’s black surgical thread on the black stuffie’s belly was almost invisible. Street tied a knot and snipped the excess string off.

“Inky needs some love after all he’s been through,” Street said, returning the jaguar to Rosa.

She buried her face in Inky’s fur and hugged him gently. Raising her gaze, she said, “Thank you so much.”

“Good job, Street,” Razor told him. “I couldn’t have done better myself.”

Clapping from those who watched drew her attention to the bikers who waited next to their cycles. The large man who’d retrieved her stuffie said, “Well done, Street,” as the others celebrated.

“Thank you,” she called to the bikers. “I know my reaction was silly, but Inky is important.”

“You won’t get an argument from them, Rosa. Several of those guys have adult Little girls in their lives,” Street said quietly. “Would you like to see what else Wraith brought?”

Focusing on the question was much easier than thinking too hard about that term Street kept using. “Please,” Rosa answered before turning to Wraith. She smiled her gratitude at him. “Thank you. You went to a lot of trouble for me.”

“Nah. We were there. I grabbed whatever I could for you. Someone, I’m assuming the Ravagers, had already ripped the door off its hinges and destroyed your room. Your neighbors may have grabbed stuff before we got there,” Wraith said as he brought the duffel bag to her.

“I had nothing to steal,” she blurted.

“I grabbed the clothes I could find that weren’t slashed. They destroyed your furniture,” Wraith said.

“The furnishings belonged to my landlord. All the stuff was in bad shape and smelled worse than it looked. They should have been tossed out years ago. Someone else had probably put them out in the trash before. He’ll definitely keep my deposit, but I’m not going back there anyway so….” Rosa let the sentence hang in the air for a second before adding, “Thank you again, Wraith.”

“My pleasure.” Wraith glanced past her to meet Street’s gaze. “Is she coming to the compound? The others will share their things with Rosa.”

“Yep. She needs to lie low for a while,” Street confirmed.

“What? No. I’ll just jump on a bus going somewhere. You don’t need to worry about me anymore.” Rosa hadn’t allowed herself to trust others for a long time. Experience had taught her the only person she could rely on was herself. Still, from deep inside her, hope kindled in her heart.

“Not happening, Rosa. Why don’t you want to stay with me? I promise you’ll be perfectly safe,” Street said.

“The Ravagers will try to get me if they find out where I am. Your MC doesn’t need that landing on their territory,” Rosa said quickly.

Every member of the MC bristled and straightened. When a fierce-looking biker with facial tattoos stepped off his bike and sauntered up to the front porch, everyone quieted. “The Ravagers will never step a foot on Devil Daddies’ turf. Even they aren’t that stupid.”

“Yeah! That’s right, Diablo,” one of the bikers supported him.

“Thanks, Lucien,” Street said quietly. “I’ll vouch for Rosa.”

“Got it. Let’s ride. The neighbors will have started debating if they should notify the cops,” the man called Diablo and Lucien said.

Rosa didn’t have time to be confused. Street took the duffel from her hand and asked, “Got anything inside you need?”

“No. I’ll close the doors and turn off the lights.” She didn’t want to trust him, but the chance to hunker down somewhere safe with this man who somehow felt right was irresistible. She crossed her fingers, hoping she wasn’t making a dangerous move.

“I’ll get the barn door after driving my bike out. I’ll pick you up here in a minute. We have time for you to potty if you’d like to go.”

Before she could answer, he’d turned and jogged toward the barn. Rosa raced inside. Suddenly, she needed to pee. Quickly, she took care of that and washed her hands, then dried them on her jeans as she checked for lights that were on. Staring at the block of knives, Rosa debated grabbing one and forced herself away. She didn’t know why but Street didn’t scare her at all. She left the back door unlocked. Eddie said that was how everyone in the country grew up. If you knew someone well enough to come to the back door, you were welcome to enter.

She pulled the front door closed and twisted the handle to make sure the lock was secure before heading down the stairs toward Street on his bike. He held out a helmet for her. When she hesitated, suspecting he was offering his own, he simply slid it over her tangled hair and fastened the chin strap.