“So you don’t care about me anymore?” she asks, sounding hurt. “I thought we were friends. Friendship doesn’t just go away, Cam. You obviously cared enough to come looking for me with my cousin, who is both a cop and a stranger to you.”
She was just a cop and a stranger, but now she’s a lot more than that. I don’t know how to break it to her that, yes, of course I care about her, but I didn’t exactly think of her a whole lot over the years. She was just a friend that I had and lost, which isn’t exactly an unusual occurrence for me. My friends and family became the Wild Men MC, and now I’ve even lost them. Talon is the only man still standing.
“Of course I care about you,” I say, lying back on the spare bed. “You never mentioned Jo to me before.”
“We didn’t really talk about our families,” she says, yawning and covering her mouth with her hand. “You especially didn’t want to, remember?”
No one would if they came from where I came from, but I guess she’s right. We lived in the moment; we didn’t really discuss the past. We got to know each other in other ways: what we liked to eat; what we liked to do in our spare times. I know she likes the beach, apple martinis, and to dance all night long to any music the DJ plays. That’s what I remember the most from that vacation.
“I guess you’re right,” I murmur, turning my head to look at her. “Do you need anything?”
“No, I’m good,” she says, then lowers her tone. “I feel tired, but it’s like my body won’t let me fall asleep, like I’m scared to or something. Like it will take me back there.”
I instantly sit up, walk to her bed, and take her hand in mine. “I’m here, watching over you, and you know I won’t let anything happen to you. Sleep, Elizabeth.”
“I’ll try,” she says, closing her blue eyes, a shade darker than Jo’s. When she falls asleep, I send Jo a text, asking her what she’s doing, and then send one to Faye too, with two words:
Mission complete.
My phone rings instantly, and “What You Need” by The Weeknd fills the room. I answer it quickly, not wanting to wake Elizabeth up.
“Hey,” I say softly.
“?‘Mission complete.’ That’s all I get, really?” Faye says into the line. “Tell me everything. How did you find her?”
I give her a quick rundown of everything that happened since I arrived here. Well, not everything, but everything to do with finding Elizabeth.
“You and Jo did so well, Ranger,” she says, sounding both excited and impressed. “How is Elizabeth doing?”
“She’s okay,” I say, glancing over at the woman in question. “Her family will get here tomorrow, so I’ll probably come home in a day or two.”
“Sounds good,” Faye says. “We miss you. Even Clover’s been asking where Uncle Ranger is.”
My heart warms at that. I know that all the Wind Dragons have really tried to make me feel welcome in their MC, even though I don’t seem to be fitting in as well as Talon has. They’re good people, and Faye is an amazing woman.
“I’ll be back soon enough,” I say, tone gentling. “But I’m done with your heroine shit, Faye, all right? No more cases. I’m going back to dealing with biker shit.”
“Fine,” she grumbles, saying ’bye, then hanging up.
I’m not being fair. If it wasn’t for Faye, I probably wouldn’t have met Jo, and the cops might not have found Elizabeth in time, so I don’t have any regrets. I just don’t want to return to the clubhouse only to have Faye dangle another file in my face. I’m going to leave this shit for the professionals . . . unless Jo needs help with something.
Knowing me, I’ll probably want to check on her and make sure she’s okay when she’s doing something dangerous, which is probably going to be twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Yeah—talk about a full-time gig. The thought makes me smile. I’d like to be around her that much. I check on Elizabeth once more, then allow myself to get some rest.
SEVENTEEN
Johanna
I STEP into the room quietly, coming to a stop as I see them together. Elizabeth has moved from her bed onto the one Ranger is on, and her head is on his arm. I don’t really know what to say or do right now, and I don’t want to wake them, so I slowly leave the room and turn to Helen.
“She’s sleeping.”
“I’ll go in quietly,” Helen says, eyes red like she’s been crying. “I just need to see her.”
“Okay,” I say, touching her arm. “She’s in there with Cam.”
“Cam who?” she asks, brown eyes flashing with confusion.
I realize that I don’t even know his surname.
“I don’t know,” I admit, wincing. “The guy she met overseas years ago.”
Helen’s eyebrows rise. “Cam, as in her old friend and so-called love of her life?”
I cringe—I can’t help it. To me, he’s not Cam the love of her life, he’s Ranger, the man I’ve become so close with in such a short amount of time. There’s a connection with us, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to turn my back on that, especially when I’ve never experienced it before. In fact, before meeting him, I would’ve denied a connection like that could even exist. I actually let my guard down with him, and I don’t want to put it back up, but realistically I might have to.
“That’s the one,” I say, unable to keep sadness out of my tone. “They’re asleep.”
“I won’t wake them,” she says, silently making her way into the room. I sit down in the closest chair and wonder how the hell I’m meant to deal with this right now. Seeing them together like that . . . knowing she has feelings for him, is a hard pill to swallow. I don’t want to see her hurt. But I don’t want to see Ranger with any woman other than me. I don’t know what to think; I’m all over the place. Maybe now that reality has hit, he thinks that all bets are off and we’re back to being a cop and a biker? I guess I won’t know what’s going on in his head until he tells me. There’s no point guessing. He said he wanted to come with me last night, and he texted me too, and I doubt he’d have done that if he thinks we’re done.
Helen walks out and sits down next to me with a sigh. “She’s still fast asleep. Cam’s awake though; he was asking if you’re here yet.”
I decide to change the subject. “I wish your parents could have made it.”
Elizabeth and Helen’s parents are much older, and live in a retirement village. They weren’t able to fly in because of their health, but Helen and our uncle and aunt did.
“I know,” she says, sounding tired. “They’ve been worried sick about her and can’t wait for her to be brought back home. Jack and Shane have been so worried too.”
Jack and Shane are our other cousins. I look up as the door opens and Ranger walks out.
“Hey,” he says, eyes scanning me from top to bottom. “Did you manage to get any sleep?”
I nod, straight-out lying. I didn’t sleep a wink, and no one can blame me.
“You met Helen, Elizabeth’s little sister, right?”
He nods, and gives her a brief glance but then brings those hazel eyes right back to me. “I’m going to go back to the hotel and shower and change. Are you going to be here?”
“Yeah, I’ll be here. My aunt and uncle will be here any moment.”