Her fingers drift to her hair. “I’ve caused you so much inconvenience.”
I reach out, wrapping my hand around hers to stop her from pulling at her silky soft strands. “I haven’t noticed,” I lightly tease.
She holds perfectly still at my closeness.
“Maybe it’s not what’s out there that scares you … maybe it’s what’s in here.” I twirl my finger in front of her face. “Maybe it’s me.”
She pulls away and yawns. “I’m still so tired. Maybe you’re right. We can discuss this tomorrow. I hope you sleep well.”
I’ve hit the nail on the head.
“Goodnight, Serenity,” I say quietly as she disappears into her room.
After I clean up, I check on Mila and find her curled up and sound asleep.
Peanut is laying in the hallway between their rooms. I try to call him into mine, but he remains where he’s at.
“Good boy,” I say, scratching his head. “You keep an eye on our girls, yeah?”
He gives me a little snort in response.
When I get into bed, I look at the camera footage on my phone from the past few days. I watch Serenity flit around my house, but most of the time she’s in Mila’s room working. I don’t have cameras in the bedrooms, but I do monitor the doorways in and out of all of them.
I rewatch the part of the video where Serenity stands in front of my bedroom door. She didn’t open it, but she damn sure wanted to.
She’s curious about me.
I have to say I’m a bit curious about her too.
Chapter Twelve
Serenity
It’s just one night, and Rage is probably right. The Scorpions don’t know I’ve gone rogue yet, but I don’t think they’re going to let my brother’s debt go unsettled. I can run, but I’ll always be looking behind me. I should just suck their dicks for as long as it takes and then maybe, just maybe, I’ll finally be left to a life of peace.
Rage and his club act like I’m fine staying here, but even if that was a possibility, I’m not sure I would want to stay. I mean, nothing here speaks calm.
I toss and turn all night, then finally decide it’s best if I sneak out before he wakes. A clean getaway would be best for everyone. Rage has enough to think about now that his sister is living under his roof. She needs to be his focus.
I’m so pissed Cole unloaded my entire car into my room. Now I have to try and load all this without waking Rage. The sun isn’t up quite yet when I begin loading boxes into my car. Peanut follows me in and out a few times without incident, but then he begins to block my way, and I keep having to work around him.
“Peanut, please move,” I say, trying to lug my larger suitcase out the door. I manage to get it off the front porch, but before I make it to the car, he grabs ahold of one of the side handles with his teeth.
We begin to play tug of war as the sun peeks over the horizon.
When I pause to catch my breath, Peanut starts dragging my bag back toward the house. I blow my hair out of my eyes, readying myself to face off with him. “Goddammit dog, you’re not helping!”
A chuckle comes from the porch as Peanut and I resume our tug of war.
“What’s going on out here?” Rage asks, bringing a cup of steaming coffee to his lips.
“What’s going on is that your dog is being a menace. Can you not control him?”
He shrugs. “Looks like he’s doing his job to me.”
“Keeping me hostage?”
Rage ignores my accusation. “Fun fact about cane corsos. Their bite grip is as strong as a lion’s.”