Jack grunted. “Great.”

I turned to face him and couldn’t help but stare. He’d showered and changed into a suit that fit him perfectly. I was pretty sure that he could’ve paid for my apartment twice with what the suit cost.

I hadn’t expected him to look so refined, and it left me tongue-tied for a second.

“Sit.” His deep voice left no room for question.

I didn’t want to sit, but I didn’t want to be rude to someone that I was going to ask a big favor of, so I sat. I stared across the table at him and blew out a shaky breath. “Thank you for meeting with me.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“Snake went to jail a little over two years ago. It was supposed to be for ten years. I thought I had time.” I sighed and leaned back in the oversized chair. “Two nights ago, he was waiting in my apartment for me.”

His eyes went to my neck. “Doesn’t look like he likes you anymore.”

I snorted. “It doesn’t, does it?”

“You escaped.”

I nodded. “I went to the police. Snake has people in the place. I’d barely been there for ten minutes and he was already waiting outside with a cop. I… I didn’t know what to do. I still had your card.”

“So, you came here.”

“I don’t know if I’m right, but I felt like you were different back then. You seemed trustworthy.” My face tinged red as I said it, and I wanted to run out of there as soon as I could. I felt so out of place.

“What do you want me to do, Red?”

I met his eyes and cleared my throat. “Help me. I don’t have anyone else to turn to. I don’t want to go back to that place. I don’t want to go back to Snake. I don’t think he’ll let me go again.”

Jack leaned back in his chair and stared at me for what felt like hours before he sat up and sighed. “I’m not a cop anymore. I haven’t been for a long time.”

I felt my hope slipping and leaned toward him. I didn’t want to beg, but if I had to, I would. “I have nowhere else. I can’t chance getting my friends involved. They’re too close, anyway. Everyone I know is in Jackson. I came here on a whim, and I used my emergency cash on the trip here. I’m fucked. Do you know anyone down there that can help? Anything?”

He took out his phone and punched at it for a minute before slipping it back in his pocket. “I’ve got a guy checking on it. He’ll get back to me in a couple of hours. I’ve got a meeting to go to right now, though.”

My heart sank, and I pushed away from the table. “Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it.”

He hesitated for a minute, and then sighed again. He was a big sigher. “Stick around here. There’s a cafeteria on the second floor. I’ll be back and then we’ll see where we should go from there.”

I grabbed the back of the chair I’d been in and squeezed to keep from running over and hugging him. “Thank you, Jack.”

“You’re welcome, Red.”

I made a face. “My name is Raelyn.”

He flashed me a grin that damn near made me forget my troubles. “We’ll see.”

Just like that, he disappeared. I stared after him and shook my head. I’d been trying not to notice, but the man was hot.

Bo filled my vision with a knowing grin. “Looks like you’re with me today.”

“You don’t have to babysit me, Bo. I’m really okay on my own.”

He shrugged. “Boss says entertain the pretty redhead, and I entertain the pretty redhead.”

I laughed and the sound was outlandish to my own ears. I frowned and shook it off. Laughing didn’t feel right in my situation. “Sure. What are we doing first?”

He pointed down at the obstacle course. “It’s my turn to oversee the guys. Your lucky day. You get to help me scream at men for not running fast enough.”

I had a slightly different idea. “Do you think I could do it?”

He raised both eyebrows. “You want to run the course?”

I stared back down at it and felt the unused energy flooding my body. I needed to get it out somehow. “Yeah. I do.”

After staring at me for a while, he nodded. “Okay. I think we have some extra training stuff downstairs. Come on.”

*

“Faster! Run faster right now!” Bo screamed from the sidelines. His face was red from shouting, and he’d come alive. His whole body buzzed with barely restrained violence. “My fucking grandmother could run faster than this!”

I watched from beside him, waiting my turn. It turned out that I’d arrived at Stone Security right at recruiting season. They were running men ragged, trying to determine which ones deserved the chance to work with them.

I’d changed into one of their T-shirts and a pair of gym shorts. Instead of my heels, I was standing bare foot because they didn’t have tennis shoes. Bo had looked at my toes wiggling where I stood and shook his head. I didn’t mind. I just wanted to run.

When it was finally my turn, I lined up with the other men who’d been waiting. They seemed to think it was funny that I was in line with them. A particularly buff guy with spiked hair found it especially funny.

“Honey, you don’t have to do this. There’s a Curves down the road.” He elbowed the guy next to him and snorted.

I tuned him out and bounced on my toes, ready to go. My nerves were so wound up that everything seemed to be humming around me. I shook out my hands and then leaned into the starting line. I just wanted to go.

Bo fired a blank into the air and screamed at us to run.

I didn’t need to be told twice. I poured all of my energy into my legs and pushed off. The first obstacle we came to was a rope wall. I jumped as high as I could and then pulled myself over it with ease. I didn’t have the weight that a lot of the other guys did. After that, I dove under a rope net and crawled to the other side.

“That’s it! You’re all done! We’re just going to hire Raelyn! Look at her!” Bo kept up his screaming, but I didn’t let it faze me.

I charged through the course until I crossed the finished line and then moved to Bo’s side. “Can I go again?”

He lowered his stopwatch and stared at me with wide eyes. “You’re serious?”

I nodded, still running in place. “I have a lot of energy built up.”

Bo just laughed and gestured at the next line up. “Go right ahead. Try not to beat them so badly this time, though, would you? I’ve got to keep some of these idiots.”

I was still running the course when I felt someone watching me. I was climbing the rope wall and turned to find Jack standing next to Bo with his arms crossed over his big chest.

Something about seeing him there got to me. I lost my balance and tipped backwards, onto the cushioned mats below. It was enough to knock the air out of my lungs and embarrass the hell out of me.

“That’s good! You’ve killed our guys enough, Raelyn. Come on over.”

I sat up slowly and groaned. “Just great, Raelyn.”

A shadow fell over me and I looked up to see Jack extend his hand. “Nice landing.”

I put my hand in his and felt warmth take over my face. As soon as I was standing, I turned away from him and headed toward Bo. “Thanks.”

Bo high-fived me and grinned. “You killed it until that last landing. You looked a little distracted.”

I cut my eyes at him and shook my head. “I just misplaced my hand.”

Jack gently grabbed my arm and pulled me away. “I think two, six, and eighteen were okay, Bo. Cut the rest free.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

Jack led me back into his building, and then up to the conference room. He didn’t say anything the entire time; he just watched me silently.

I kept my face forward at all times and tried to remember that he was the guy who was supposed to help me. It was easy to be distracted, though. Jack was more handsome than anyone I could remember. That was a lot to try to ignore.

Especially when he was looking at me with his eyes all squinted, as if he was studying me. I sucked in a shaky breath and blew it out while still staring out the windows in front of me.

He still didn’t say anything, and I felt myself growing so nervous that I wanted to fill the silence with random facts and thoughts. I bit my lip hard to stop it.

“Benson got back to me. Snake got out because of an issue with the trial. Most of the Rage brothers got out.”

I shivered and crossed my arms over my chest, the sweat on my skin suddenly turning chilly. “I don’t care about why he got out. I just want him back in prison. Is he going back?”

Jack shook his head. “Not for that. And not unless he gets caught for something else.”

I paced circles in front of him. “Which he won’t, because the cops there are in his pocket. How is that even possible? He’s been locked up for a while, and the brothers left in the club were a shit show. How does he still have cops in his pocket?!”

“It doesn’t take much for some cops.”

Fear pulsed through my body. “I’m a goner.”

“You’re not.”

I hit insanity. “Yes. I am. I don’t have anywhere to go. I’m in a strange city with no money and one pair of shoes. Stupid shoes, at that. Snake is going to find me on the streets and he’s going to take me back to Rage and kill me. Slowly.”

Jack reached out and snagged my arm. He pulled me to a stop and gently shook me. “You’re going to be fine. You can’t freak out, though.”

He was so close to me. He’d pulled me nearly into his chest and his smell was surrounding me. I looked up at him and felt my breath quicken. My reaction was insane, especially considering I could very well lose my freedom to Snake, but I couldn’t help it.

He’d been so kind the first time I met him, but he was also alarmingly attractive. I’d spent many nights wondering about him.

“I think it’s too late for that.” My voice came out breathy, and I blushed under his inspection.

From that close, his eyelashes looked almost heavy and I could see traces of darker blue in his eyes. He stared down at me with an unreadable expression on his face. “You’ll stay here until we get it sorted out.”

I wanted to rub my face against his stubble. I wanted to feel it lots of places. The thought scorched my face, and I stumbled away from him. That wasn’t a great idea. “Here?”

He blinked and then shook his head before crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the wall behind him. “I have a guesthouse you can stay in. Sometimes clients use it.”

Staying in his guesthouse? That close to him? It seemed like a bad idea. I shook my head and backed away even more. “I can’t be a client, Jack. I don’t have any money.”

With an almost inaudible sigh, he straightened. “Doesn’t matter. You need help. Come on. I’ve got meetings, but I’ll have a car take you to the guesthouse. Unless you want to run the course some more?”

I shook my head. The exercise, mixed with the inappropriately timed lust, had left me tired. “No more running.”

He met my eyes and nodded. “No more running.”