“So you’re not kicking me out?”
“No.”
She stared at him, her gaze a cross between grateful and suspicious. “I want to ask why, but really, I should just shut up and be grateful.”
“Why suspicious?”
“Because the last time I let someone help me out of a bad situation, I ended up in something much worse.” Her hands were fisted in front of her on the blanket. She was sitting up, refusing to get comfortable. She looked like she didn’t know the meaning of the word anymore.
He hated that. Wanted to make it his mission in life to make her goddamn smile, just for the way she’d helped Avery alone. “This isn’t anything like that, Drea. I can promise you that.”
And he could, because he had connections. He could make sure, even if shit rained down on S8, she could escape without a scratch.
“Don’t, please. Promises . . . I don’t believe them anymore. Just tell me you’ll try—I’ll believe that much more.”
“I’m a man of my word. I don’t think you’ve met many of them—any of them—so you might find it hard to recognize them. Recognize.”
She stilled and stared at him. Raised her chin like she wanted to defy him, but fuck it, he wouldn’t let her— not for something like this. “I’ll try.”
“Talk to me, baby. Tell me what I need to know. Always helps to know what I’m up against and why.”
“I figured,” she said softly. So reluctant and he couldn’t blame her.
He started, leading her. “What’s your connection to the OA?”
Drea stared up at him, her amber eyes troubled. “Danny’s my ex. Danny Laurel. He’s the enforcer of the New York chapter of the OA. Wherever I move, he’s got people . . . following me.”
“Because he doesn’t want to be your ex?”
She nodded, chewed her full bottom lip for a second. “You bought a world of trouble when you kidnapped me, Jem.”
“Don’t you worry about me.”
Her face clouded when he said that, but she schooled her expression quickly. “Right. Because this is what you do. You save people.”
“Right.”
“So you guys could just put me somewhere to start over. Maybe you know someone who could just switch the names on my medical license? It’s not like I didn’t earn it.”
“I know someone who could do that,” he agreed. “But if you stayed with us, you really wouldn’t need to. Course, you couldn’t work in a hospital either, but I’m betting we could keep you busy.”
She nodded, relaxed her hands a little.
“We’re getting ahead of ourselves. Tell me more about Danny. I know you didn’t just meet him one night and ended up not being able to shake him.”
“No, that’s not the way that happened. We went to school together in New York. I was raised in Hell’s Kitchen by my grandmother. At least until my mom got her shit together—pretended to. Grams never would’ve given up custody, but she had a bad heart. She died when I was twelve and I went to live with my mom. God, it was horrible.”
He’d been there. Wanted to get into bed with her and give her a hug, but couldn’t afford to let her stop talking. And if he got closer to her, he’d be kissing her.
“Danny was . . . he saved me when we were in high school. He got me out of my house when I was just a freshman. And I couldn’t have stayed there, not much longer. His father was a member of the OA, so Danny was a legacy, although he still had to prove himself. But his father didn’t care that Danny moved a girl into his bedroom. And I was never so grateful for that kind of permissiveness. When my mom came around, demanding I come back, Danny and his father . . . they made sure she was too scared to ever try to get me again. Talk about out of the frying pan.” She had her arms wrapped around her knees, and her hands were white because she clutched them together so hard. “At the time, I needed him. He was my whole goddamned world. And as long as he stayed that way, we were fine.”
Her voice got thin in the dark. He reached over and turned the light on dim, and she nodded her approval, looked around as if she expected to see Danny in the room. And Jem would motherfucking kill the bastard when he saw him. And he would make certain their paths did cross again.
“I tried to separate from him. He knew I wasn’t comfortable with the club stuff. Didn’t want to become anyone’s old lady in any way, shape or form. I had to pull myself up and out of that shit. Too much poverty. I had to break the cycle. And I did.”
“You were in the Army.”
She didn’t seem surprised that he knew. “I was a reservist. Paid for my schooling.”
“You lied about the loans.”
“You were doing background checks on me. I’m surprised you didn’t find that.”
He grinned. Held up his phone with her Army record. “I did.”
She shook her head. “Maybe I should’ve stayed in. Danny couldn’t touch me there.”
“So why didn’t you?”
She shrugged. Didn’t want to tell him, not yet, and he’d respect that as long as he could. But if it meant the OA would come knocking at his door sooner rather than later, Drea would have to spill.
“Danny’s still in New York, right?”
“Yeah, but he finds me every time, because of my medical license. I chose Tennessee because the charter’s pretty small. I figured they wouldn’t bother me all that much—their violence seemed pretty low-key. More petty stuff like robbery. Small-time. But it didn’t stay that way. They saw pretty quickly that taking care of me the way Danny wanted entitled them to a lot more of the club’s respect. Danny made sure they got in on some of the drug business. Pretty soon, I was on call constantly for them.”
“Dammit, Drea. You should’ve gotten out of there.”
She glanced at him. “I don’t like running. And I can take care of myself, you know. Those guys . . . they don’t force me to do anything but fix them up after they’ve been fighting. A few bullet holes here and there.”
“I’m sure dating’s a real bitch.”
“Honestly? I haven’t even bothered trying.”
“Worried about him?”
“More like burned by him. I dated him in high school and it’s still haunting me, Jem. One mistake like that and . . .” She shook her head. “It’s been thirteen years and I can’t shake him. My past will not stay past. Do you know what that’s like?”
He glanced up at the ceiling and gave a full-body sigh. “Little bit.”
“Did your brother really beat up three OAs?”
“Without breaking a sweat.” She gave a low whistle and he smiled. “Sometimes the good guys do win, you know.”
Of course, they had to have enough bad in them to do so, but he kept that part to himself. She’d discovered that already.
“You’ve got a lot of security here?” she asked now.
“You mean, besides me?”
Her next words were so soft he barely heard them, but they were enough to make him go cold. “If they find me, they’ll break my hand, smash it with a hammer until they pulverize the bones. And they make good on their threats.”
He was out of his chair and next to her in seconds, her hand in his as he stroked the nimble fingers. “I will kill them before they touch you.”
“Can’t keep me in your sight forever.”
“Watch me.” He got into bed with her. Pulled the covers off and yanked her close to him, her body so hot against his.
“Boundaries?” she inquired.
“Were made to be crossed,” he finished. “Consider yourself crossed.”
