Jeremy glares at him. “I have every right to protect my son.”
“Our son,” Amelia says.
“Then act like his mother.”
The words hit her.
I feel it.
Her whole body pulls inward like he struck her without lifting a hand.
That’s it.
That’s the line.
I step in front of her.
Not all the way. Not so she disappears. Just enough that Jeremy has to look at me if he wants to cut her again.
“She is acting like his mother,” I say.
Jeremy’s eyes move over me. “And what are you supposed to be?”
The question hangs there.
I could say brother.
Could say club.
Could say nothing.
Behind me, Amelia’s breath catches.
At the gate, Jeremy waits, smugness crawling back into his face because he thinks he has found the weak point. Amelia alone. Amelia surrounded by men who may protect her but don’t have a name that means anything in his kind of world.
I look at Legend.
His eyes narrow slightly.
He knows before I say it.
Hell, maybe I know before I say it too.
I turn back to Jeremy and smile like I’ve just made the worst decision of my week.
“I’m the man she came to.”
Amelia goes completely still behind me.
The yard shifts.
A few brothers look over.
Oaks’s mouth twitches.
Whiskey’s eyebrows lift like he just watched paperwork catch fire.
Sophie says nothing.