Brent finally came back to his office, but we didn’t speak. He looked even more beat up than he had that morning, and I felt like I’d been knocked down several pegs, so we just let each other be. I worked on his office, and he scribbled things in a new notebook. His presence was comforting.

Jack stuck his head in every so often, but he didn’t disrupt us. Lunch came and went, but we still worked. The next time Jack stuck his head in, he had lunch for both Brent and me.

“Both of you need to eat. I got you both cheeseburgers with onion rings and milkshakes.” He put the food down on the coffee table and clapped his hands together. “Food. Now.”

I moved closer to him and frowned. “How do you know I like burgers?”

He grunted. “I can tell you’re more yourself than before. You’re back to wanting to argue with me.”

I sat down on the couch and pulled my feet underneath me. “Don’t be a jerk. It’s already been too long of a day.”

Brent grabbed his burger and nodded to me. “I’ve got a thing. I’ll be back before the end of the day. You okay here?”

The thought of running into more of his motorcycle buddies had me nodding. While I’d like to spend time with him, I wasn’t that desperate. I’d had my fill of bikers for the day. “I’m good. Thanks.”

“Try not to mess anything up while I’m gone.”

“Try not to forget to watch all of your angles, while you’re out there cracking skulls.”

“Touché.”

Jack watched his brother leave and then sat down on the couch beside me. “You seem to be good for him.”

I rolled my eyes and took the first bite of my burger. “Your brother has a death wish.”

“I don’t know if I would say death wish. He’s just a bit rowdier than a lot of guys. We get to take different routes to get the answers we need. He likes it.”

“Too much. He only really smiles when he’s beating someone up.” I took a big pull from my milkshake and groaned. “This is so good. Thank you.”

“He seems to smile plenty when he’s around you.”

I cut my eyes at him and frowned. “I don’t think I like your tone.”

He laughed. “You two seem to have a connection.”

“Jealous?”

Jack held my gaze. “Yes. Unfortunately.”

I groaned and took another pull from my shake. “You have a fiancée, Jack. You’re not supposed to say things like that to me.”

“About that.”

I held up my hand and waved off whatever he was going to say. “I don’t want to hear any of it, Jack. I have other things that I should be thinking about.”

He cleared his throat and settled back into the couch cushions. “Okay. I reached out to a friend in the local police force. They’re putting an APB out on Snake. We’re not usually on the offensive in this business, but I really don’t want to wait until after he strikes out to figure out what to do with Snake.”

I put my food down and shook my head. “No, because his strikes usually hurt pretty bad.”

“Was he always like this?”

I curled even further into myself and shrugged. “I don’t know. My mom always hung around the clubhouse, hoping that one day someone would make her an old lady. Instead, she got hooked on heroin and died when I was barely sixteen. She’d managed to keep me away from Snake before that.

“I never really interacted with him until she died. Then, he had me brought into the clubhouse. Told me that I could stay with him, and he would take care of me and burying my mom, or I could be homeless and figure everything out on my own.”

Jack stood up and paced in front of the coffee table. “You were still a child. Did he…?”

“He didn’t touch me at first. He waited for a few weeks. Real gentleman, that one.”

“When we busted the place, you were older, right?”

I nodded. “Twenty-one. I’d been with him for five years. Somehow, I never broke. I just wanted to get away. You gave me that chance, but then he found me. After that, it was worse. He knew how I really felt about him. He hit harder and got meaner. Not just to me, either.

“For whatever reason, he would never brutalize me the way he would the club girls. He’d bring them in front of me and make me watch as he fucked them. If I looked away or closed my eyes, he’d just be rougher. I never got used to their screams. I kept waiting for the moment he decided I wasn’t special and he did it to me. I’m pretty sure I’m at that point with him, now. If he gets me back, I’m done.”

Jack stopped his pacing and shook his head. “He’s not getting you. Nothing is going to happen to you, Red.”

I shrugged and picked up my shake. “I hope you’re right.”

“Come on. I could use some help in my office and there’s no point in you sitting in here and drowning in your own thoughts.”

“I should finish in here.”

He scooped up the rest of the food and held his hand out to me. “I’m not taking no for an answer. I’ll even let you help with the detective work.”

“Fine. Just keep your hands to yourself.”

He snorted. “I will if you will.”

“Then we have nothing to worry about.”

*

“Loosen your finger, Red. You don’t need to snap the gun in half for it to work.”

I snapped my teeth together to keep from being an asshole to Jack. He was just trying to help me, but my nerves were shot. It’d been a really long day. After my morning run-in with the bikers and then finding out about Carly, I was more exhausted than I wanted to admit. I’d also spent the second half of my day in Jack’s office, calling people for him.

His “detective work” consisted of having me call around to see if anyone in the area had run across a man selling a particular set of earrings. I had no idea why I was doing it, just that people didn’t seem to like me doing it. After the third or fourth time a pawnshop owner called me a pig, I was beyond annoyed.

Then, to top off my day, we practiced my self-defense moves, and then moved on to shooting. I hated guns. I didn’t want to use one, but I was willing to learn because, if given the chance, I planned on putting a bullet into Snake. It was stressful to learn, but useful.

Jack had been breathing down my neck for hours, it felt like, and I was starting to come unhinged. He was too close, too present, and too fucking touchy. He’d casually touched me all day long, to the point that I was ready to either orgasm or just spontaneously combust. I hated my body for reacting to him so eagerly, but there didn’t seem to be any stopping it. If a crazed killer attacking my best friend and closing in on me didn’t get it in check, I didn’t know if anything ever would.

“Hey, pay attention. You can’t get this distracted when you have a gun in your hand.” He moved in behind me and wrapped his arms around me to help line up the gun. “Just take a few deep breaths, Red.”

I tried to, but his scent was driving me insane. I shook my head and groaned. “I don’t want to do this right now, Jack.”

He pressed even closer to me. “Come on. You need to learn. Take a deep breath in and find your target.”

He slipped the large noise-canceling headphones over my ears and pressed his lips against my neck.

I took a wild shot and then held the gun away from me as I stepped out of his arms. “I’m through for the night. My head hurts and I’m just done. I want to go home.”

He took the gun from me and pressed the safety on before sliding it into the waistband at the back of his pants. He’d untucked his shirt as soon as we’d entered the shooting range and casually pulled it down over the gun then. “Okay. You need more practice, though. Today’s been a long one, though, so we’ll try again tomorrow.”

I nodded and let him lead me out of the range and into the underground parking garage. He opened his truck door for me and then waited while I climbed in.

“You’re holding yourself together pretty well, all things considered, Red. You’re tougher than you look.”

I gave him a small smile and nodded. “That’s where Snake always went wrong. He underestimated me. I’m not just going to cry and let this life happen to me. I’m not going to let him happen to me.”

Jack nodded. “And you’ve got a pretty strong army behind you now.”

He closed my door and got in on his side. “Do you need anything before we head home?”

I shook my head. “Food and a bed. And a shower. Maybe a beer.”

“Can do.”

He drove through a fast-food place and ordered dinner before driving through a liquor store and getting a six-pack of beer. Then, he drove us to the guesthouse and walked in with me while I gathered my stuff.

Staying with him wasn’t the best idea I’d ever had, but it beat staying alone knowing that Snake would be in Memphis soon, if he wasn’t already.

I didn’t take the time to look around once we were in Jack’s house. I just let him lead me straight to a bedroom. I took a steaming hot shower and dressed in a set of jogging pants and an oversized T-shirt before joining Jack in the kitchen. He’d lined our food up with a couple of beers and was already starting in on his burrito.

His hair was wet from his shower and it piqued my interest in a dangerous way to know that he’d been showering while I was. I couldn’t stop my mind from gathering illicit images of him naked and sudsy.

“You look like you tried to boil your skin off.”

I looked down at my red skin and nodded. “The hot water is amazing. My apartment didn’t really get hot water.”

He pushed my beer closer to me. “That doesn’t sound like a place I’d enjoy.”

I gripped the beer cap with my teeth and easily pried it off. “You mean you don’t want to visit my tiny apartment in Jackson? Color me surprised.”

“I do own a bottle opener, you know?”

“I didn’t need it. I’ll let you know if that changes.”

I dug into my food and ate like I’d never seen food before. I also easily made my way through three of the beers. I never drank anymore, so I was a little more than tipsy by the time I finished them. “I have to put myself to bed.”

Jack finished his third beer and nodded. “Sounds good to me. If you need anything, just yell.”

I stared at him for longer than necessary, thinking about all the things I could need from a man like Jack. “Sure thing.”

Before I could get myself into more trouble than I was already in, I stumbled off to my new bed. I needed to be put away for the night so I didn’t try to steal another woman’s man. It wasn’t my style, and I wouldn’t let beer change that.