Ike threw out his hands. “Could someone please explain what the hel—heck happened here?”
“Miss Jess rescued Ben and me after we flipped the rowboat,” Sam said, his shaggy dark-brown hair and green eyes so much like his father’s. “Or, at least, she would’ve rescued me, too, if Doc and Pop hadn’t shown up first. But she got Ben back before he completely freaked out and drowned me while he was at it.”
“Did not freak out,” Ben said.
“Did, too,” Sam said.
Ike ground the heel of his hand into his eye, a vain attempt to relieve the throbbing there. The story still didn’t make much sense to him, but if what Slider’s boy said was true, what Jess had done was big. The only thing the club valued as much as taking care of its own was taking care of those who couldn’t take care of themselves.
“I heard them screaming for help from the house,” Jess said. “I should’ve thought twice about running down here, but I…” She shrugged, then shivered. “I just acted.”
Ike gave a tight nod. Her words took the edge off of his anger, although his insides were still keyed up from the fear-based adrenaline flooding through him. Not to mention, the more people who knew Jess was here, the more Ike worried that a single unintentional slip could put her in danger. Again. Of course, everyone here knew that the club had allied itself with Nick and his friends—an alliance that Ike had helped broker given his close relationship with both. And certainly everyone understood what was at stake, especially after an enemy attack on the Hard Ink building had collapsed part of the roof on the large L-shaped building and killed Harvey and Creed, two of their members, two of their brothers. So it wasn’t a question of any of these people putting Jess in danger knowingly. But Ike couldn’t be too careful, not where Jess was concerned. Not given how lethal the mercenaries were that the Ravens and Hard Ink team had been fighting.
Ike heaved a deep breath. “You boys okay now?” he asked, looking between Sam and Ben. They both nodded, and then turned to thank and hug Jess. Ike watched as she interacted with the kids, her behavior so natural and comfortable with them. And it did something…funny to him. Made him think. Made him wonder. Made him want.
And it certainly made him look at Jess in a whole new way—and not just because his mind was playing with the image of her belly rounding with a child. Okay, his child. But because she’d risked herself for someone else’s kids. Given everything Slider had already lost, Ike knew how much those boys meant to the guy, which meant what Jess had done was going to mean a lot to him, too.
Bunny was right. Jess was a hero.
“Well, we’ll get ’em back home now,” Rodeo said, waving the boys into the motorboat.
Ike nodded. “Roger that.”
Bunny stepped in front of Jess and wrapped the younger woman up in a big hug. “You ever need a thing, don’t hesitate to ask. I owe you, Jess.”
“It was nothing. Really. I’m glad I could help,” Jess said, her voice subdued, not to mention a little shaky.
Bunny shook her head. “It wasn’t nothing to me.” As Jess nodded, the older woman gave her husband a kiss. “My car is up at the Alderson’s old place. I’ll meet you back at home.”
With longish gray hair and a beard, Rodeo always half looked like he was smiling, but never more than when he was with Bunny. “All right, darlin’.” She reached for a lawn chair sitting on the dock and he put his hand on it. “I got this.” Bunny gave him another kiss and took off.
Doc limped toward Ike and clapped him on the shoulder. “Good to have you back in our neck of the woods, Ike. Can’t wait ’til everyone’s back.”
“Me, too,” Ike said. Because it would mean that the war someone was waging against his friends—and now his club—would be over. Once and for all. “Thanks, Doc.”
“Don’t thank me. Thank your little lady.” Doc winked at Jess, earning him a smile from her.
And then they were all in the boat and easing away from the dock, the boys’ rowboat tied behind them. Ike returned a few waves and then turned to Jess.
“You’re pissed,” she said. “Ike, I’m—”
Without a word and without warning, Ike grabbed Jess around the thighs and heaved her body over his shoulder, lifting her into a fireman’s carry. He retreated down the dock, scooping up her boots as he went, and ignoring the fuck out of the hooting and hollering he was pretty sure he heard from his friends in the boat.
“Oh, my God, you cretin! Put me down!” She beat her fists against his back and kicked her feet.
Ike used his other arm to still her legs. “No.”
“Ike, what the fuck? I don’t freaking need you to carry me,” Jess yelled, using her arms to try to push her body up.
“Too bad. I need to carry you,” he said. He regretted the admission but couldn’t deny the truth of the words. He needed her in his arms. He needed the proof of life.