“Yes, they got involved,” she said. “On behalf of both of us. I was injured, too, and they kept me in the hospital a few days. But Viper has a long reach and a lot of money and influence. Reports were misfiled, people paid off. The social worker disappeared. Viper went to the hospital and made a big show of being a caring dad. In the end, no one could save us.”
Jagger pulled away and looked down at her, aghast. “So you went back?”
When she finally had herself under control, she tilted her chin up and met his gaze. “The day I was discharged from the hospital was the day I put a gun to my head and he let me go. But not Jeff. He said he’d kill Jeff before he let him leave with me.”
“And Leo?”
She gripped his T-shirt, afraid she’d lose herself in the memories if she didn’t have an anchor. “He never gave up. He stalked me for a while, beating up the guys I was dating. But when I got my first gun and threatened him after he broke my boyfriend’s fingers, he backed off. He still harasses me, but not so much.”
“And the nightmares?”
She shuddered. “It’s always the same. Dark. Pinned to the bed. Can’t move or breathe. Might be better if you didn’t hold me. The first night we slept together was the first night I didn’t have a nightmare.”
Jagger hugged her face between his hands. “Do you like to be held?”
“Yes.” More than anything. But only in his arms. She’d never felt as safe as when Jagger held her as she drifted off to sleep.
“Then I’ll hold you. You deserve to be held. Not just tonight but every night.”
“Maybe,” she whispered. Just a few hours ago, she’d been happy, content, satisfied in a way she’d never been before, and now everything was an emotional tangle. Maybe one day when Conundrum was just a distant memory, someone would hold her every night and she would no longer feel afraid.
*
“No party.” Jagger slammed his coffee cup on the worn, wooden kitchen table.
“It’s Dawn’s birthday. I’m not going to miss it.”
Jagger stared at the infuriating woman in front of him and tried to think his way through the impasse. But quietly. Although they were the only people in the clubhouse kitchen, he had no idea who was outside.
“I don’t want you going to some sleazy bar and dancing with men who have only one thought on their minds. Viper is still a threat. Axle is hurt, which makes him more dangerous, and we might have a rat in the club. There’s no way the Jacks just found us at that hill above the ice house. Tell Dawn to come here.” He gave himself a mental pat on the back for coming up with a perfect solution. None of the brothers would dare touch Arianne, and he’d be able to keep an eye on her. Plus he would be saved the hassle of beating up strangers who touched what was his.
“I thought we had an understanding: You pretend to own me. And I pretend I believe it.”
His eyes narrowed. “There is no pretending. Especially after you told me you were going to meet Jeff and trade that piece of paper in your pocket for a passport outta town. There is no way I’m letting you meet him alone. I don’t trust him. Viper’s influence over him is pervasive. He goaded Jeff into shooting that civilian. Who know what else he’ll make him do?”
Arianne gripped her coffee cup, her knuckles whitening, and cut him off with a huff. “This isn’t about Jeff and the passport. It’s about Dawn. I’m not going to sit around locked up at the clubhouse on my best friend’s birthday, especially since it might be the last one we celebrate together.”
Two steps forward. One step back. Last night she’d confided in him, accepted his comfort and protection. He’d held her as she slept in his arms, soothing her when he thought she might be distressed. He’d thought that would be the end of any talk about leaving Conundrum, and then she’d pulled out that damned piece of paper. Totally ruined his morning. And all before he’d had his first cup of coffee, which was rapidly cooling as they spoke.
“I can’t keep you safe in a crowded bar.”
“I know how to keep myself safe.” Her eyes gleamed as she pushed her chair away from the table. The skin on the back of Jagger’s neck prickled in warning, but by the time he was live to the danger, she was sitting on the table in front of him, a feast of curves to sate even the hungriest appetite.
She lifted one long, beautiful leg and rested her bare foot on the arm of his chair, spreading herself for his viewing pleasure, teasing him with a hint of what lay beneath the denim covering the curve of her sex. He licked his lips, remembering her taste, sultry and sweet, the exquisite softness of her pussy, the ripples of her climax around his cock.
Incapable of rational thought, operating solely on instinct, he reached out and she slapped his hand away.
Denied, Jagger rumbled a warning.
“You can send some guards.” She reached behind her to push his coffee cup away and her thin cotton tank top stretched taut over her breasts. A noise erupted from his throat, part growl, part groan, all desire.
Arianne gave him a cheeky smile. “Hungry?”