Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 63608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Before she can reach me, Ledger steps slightly between us, not blocking, just hovering protectively.
“Easy,” he warns.
“I’m not going to tackle her,” Ally snaps. “Unless she scares me again.”
Ledger mutters something that might be a curse or a prayer. I follow them inside slowly. The cabin smells like cedar and smoke and something warm I can’t quite place. Something like comfort.
Ledger leads me to a large bedroom with crisp sheets, a fluffy duvet, more pillows than any man ever cares to have, and blackout curtains from floor to ceiling in a way I can only assume means the windows are that big.
“You’ll stay here,” he says. “I’ll be in the room down the hall. Brothers will rotate outside. You will not be unprotected.”
It should terrify me. Instead, the weight of safety settles over my shoulders like a heavy blanket.
“Ledger?” I whisper.
He turns, hand still on the doorframe.
“Thank you,” I manage barely above a whisper.
He swallows visibly, like the words knock something loose inside him.
Then he steps closer. Not touching. But close enough that warmth radiates off him.
“I meant what I said,” he murmurs. “I won’t leave. Not until you remember. Not until you’re safe. Not until you tell me to.”
My heart flips. “I don’t want you to,” I confess.
His breath hitches. For a moment, a long, quiet moment, we just stand there, staring at each other, the space between us charged and soft and terrifying.
The moment is disturbed by a noise on the other side of the curtains. Outside there is a crunch of gravel.
His entire body goes rigid. He steps in front of me without hesitation, hand already on the gun at his hip.
“Stay here,” he orders. “Don’t move.”
My pulse races as he slips out the door silently, a shadow of lethal intent. Apparently there is a balcony of sorts or something on the other side of this room. I wonder what pushing the curtains back would be like, but don’t dare try.
A second later, I hear voices.
Low. Urgent.
Not angry, but alert.
Then footsteps return.
Ledger steps back inside, shoulders tight, jaw clenched.
“What happened?” I whisper.
He shuts the door with a soft click.
“Someone was watchin’ the cabin from the tree line,” he says, voice dark.
Ice floods my veins. “Who?”
He shakes his head once. “Didn’t see his face. But he ran.”
My breath trembles. Ledger steps closer, eyes fierce with a vow he doesn’t say out loud. “You’re safe,” he murmurs. “I’ve got you.”
“You’ll be here tonight, right? Don’t leave me.” The last sentence comes out on a whisper.
And for the first time since waking in that hospital bed, I believe this is one truth both from the past and here in the present.
Nine
Ledger
Someone came for her once. The stupid fucks will try again.
And they’re gonna see how ready I am.
* * *
Kelly’s door clicks shut behind me, and I stand there for a long moment, jaw tight, pulse hammering against my ribs like it’s trying to break out.
Someone was watching the cabin.
Watching her.
The last twenty-four hours were already a nightmare, but this? This pushes it straight into war.
I move through the cabin in silence, not because I need to, but because I can’t let myself explode. Not yet. Not with her resting ten feet away, fragile and foggy and trying to hold it together.
She trusts me. The thought hits like a blow.
She doesn’t remember me. But she trusts me.
She asked me not to leave her.
And for a man who’s spent years convincing himself he’s better off alone, that hits deeper than I want to admit.
I step onto the front porch, where Mellow and Shaft stand at the edge of the yard, guns out but lowered, eyes still scanning the woods.
“Tracks?” I ask.
Shaft shakes his head. “Ground’s too firm. Whoever it was bailed fast.”
“Any idea on size? Weight?”
“Not enough to know, brother,” Mellow mutters. “Could’ve been human. Could’ve been a raccoon with a grudge.”
I glare.
He lifts a hand. “What? You told me to consider all possibilities.”
“Shut up,” I growl.
Mellow grins. “There he is. I was waiting for you to stop being emotionally constipated and go back to being the bastard I know.”
“Keep talkin’,” I warn. “I’ll constipate you for real when I shove that gun so far up your ass you feel it in your throat.”
Shaft laughs easing the tension built up inside me. This is the thing about brotherhood, they read me and know how to calm the beast inside me.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. Chux.
“Yeah,” I answer.
“You at the cabin?”
“Yeah. Brothers are here on lookout. ‘preciate it, brother.” I give my gratitude where it’s due. I didn’t even have to ask. Chux being my biological brother knows I’ve been fucking Kelly. Not because I tell him shit like that, but because Ally who is Kelly’s best friend is his woman. Chux knows Kelly matters to me and to Ally. Without hesitation he made sure the club closed in so I can focus on what Kelly needs and they can keep watch.