Her cheeks color, but she doesn’t look away. “I mean, no. Please don’t make everyone move because of me. I don’t want to be more of a problem than I already am.”
Problem.
I hear that word and know someone has used it on her until she carries it in her own mouth.
Sophie hears it too.
My ol’ lady to be’s expression softens, and that makes me more dangerous, not less. Sophie has a heart that still reaches for people after everything the world tried to take from her. It’sone of the reasons I love her. It’s also one of the reasons I have to be mean enough for both of us.
“You’re not a problem,” Sophie says.
Amelia looks like she wants to believe her.
She don’t know how.
Royal’s sister came through our gates with secrets and a history that pulled on his throat like a noose. Now Amelia is here with mine. Two women tied to old blood at the same time. Two men in my club forced to look backward when we’ve got enemies moving forward.
It stinks.
I look at Derby. “What did she tell you on the road?”
He shrugs. “Flat tire. Kid. Looking for Mike. Husband not here. That was the important part.”
Derby’s eyes cut toward the stairs before he finishes.
Not Amelia first.
The kid.
Interesting.
Dangerous too, if the fool starts caring before we know what kind of trap this is.
“Did anyone follow?”
“Not that I saw.”
“What did you see?”
Derby’s jaw tightens. He doesn’t like being questioned as if he’s a prospect. Tough shit. This is my table, my clubhouse, my father’s ghost.
“Boxes dumped in the road,” he says. “Truck tire shredded. No fresh vehicle tracks that stood out, but the shoulder’s gravel and half-washed from rain. Kid crying. Her trying not to. No phone in her hand. No weapon I could see.”
Amelia lifts her chin. “I had pepper spray.”
Derby looks down at her. “That little pink thing on your keychain?”
“It works.”
“On mosquitoes?”
“It would have worked on you if I needed it to.”
The corner of his mouth tips. “Darlin’, if you pepper-sprayed me after your panties already assaulted me, I would’ve had to marry you on principle.”
Color rushes over her face.
Sophie makes a sound dangerously close to a laugh.