I jumped up on the couch and grabbed for Tripp’s arm. I locked mine around his and said, “He’s not a bad guy! He’s part of the MC!”
“Fuck, bro,” Harlan groaned, his nose bleeding and stuffy. “What the fuck?”
Tripp looked at me. He looked at Harlan. He then shook me away and backed up from Harlan. But he didn’t stand down. He kept his guard up.
“Harlan, what the hell are you doing?” I asked. I climbed over the couch.
He stood and wiped his nose. Then he grabbed his side. “What the fuck are you, man? A boxer?”
“Protector,” Tripp said.
Ohmyfuckinggod, how sexy.
“He’s here to protect me,” I said. “Stoney said he was coming. Didn’t you know?”
“Yeah, we heard,” Harlan said. “I was here just in case, Winter. That’s all.”
“You had a gun.”
“For you,” Harlan said. “So you could protect yourself.”
I felt Tripp creep up next to me. “She doesn't need to protect herself right now. I’m here.”
Harlan stared Tripp down. “I don’t know who you think you are, man. But my leather cut…”
“Want to go again?” Tripp asked.
“Jesus Christ,” Harlan said. “I’m not the bad guy here. She was left stranded. I was just helping out.”
“Being in her place with the lights off and scaring her is not helping,” Tripp said.
“I was just bringing her a gun.”
“I have a gun,” Tripp said.
“What?” I asked.
Tripp reached back and pulled a gun from… nowhere. “I can take it all from here. Go back to your MC and find out who is after Winter.”
“We’re working on it,” Harlan said. He sucked in a breath and wiped his nose again. Then he looked at me. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said.
“Who is your President?” Tripp asked. “I’d like to meet him. Find out all I can.”
“Really?” Harlan asked. “You’re just going to walk in here and demand things from us?”
“You obviously can’t do your job,” Tripp said.
Harlan’s eyes went wide. He then reached behind his back and pulled out a gun. He lifted it.
“Harlan!” I yelled.
“It’s fine,” Tripp said. He put his gun down on my dining room table. Then he stepped forward. Reaching for Harlan’s gun, he lifted it to his own chest, right to his heart. “Make it count, buddy.”
I could see Harlan’s cheeks turning red. He was big, he acted tough, but I wasn’t sure he could fight his way out of a paper bag.
Harlan lowered the gun. “Fuck.”
“Harlan, go,” I said. “Go back to the clubhouse. Tell Stoney that Tripp is here, okay?”
I walked Harlan to the door and he left. I shut the door and locked it. I put my forehead against the door and wanted to cry. But I had too much adrenaline running through my body to cry.
“Hey.”
I cried out and jumped.
I turned and had my back against the door.
Tripp was right there, inches from me.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s just a lot at once. That’s all.”
Tripp slowly reached forward and pulled at a loose strand of my hair. It clung between my lips, annoying me. He tucked it behind my ear.
“I’m here now,” he whispered. “I’m going to protect you.”
I nodded.
I believed Tripp. I almost instantly trusted him.
Maybe because I was just so alone. And not because Rocky was dead. I had been alone long before that. Of course, all of this Tripp didn’t know about.
Yet.
~
The hot water hit my body. I needed a shower so badly. Truth was that half the reason I just wanted to get away from Tripp for a few minutes.
I shut my eyes and pretended for a few seconds that I was in a waterfall. Letting my mind slip away, I felt every droplet of water hit my skin. Through my hair, down my back. Down the front of my body. Then something happened.
My body started to react. The water that touched my breasts, trickled over my nipples, made me tingle. Down my stomach and between my legs, it was like something had been unleashed. Yet I was alone in the shower.
But Tripp was out there.
I stepped out of the water and shook my head.
I needed to cool off.
Right now.
I finished showering and grabbed a towel. I dried off and wrapped the towel around my body. I walked to the mirror and wiped away the steam. I stared at myself. My hair looked really dark when it was wet. And it got curly. Which was weird because when it dried the curls went away and a more blonde color showed.
I had no idea how long Tripp was going to be here or how bad things were going to get. If Stoney and the Red Aces could track down whoever shot Rocky, then it wouldn’t be all that long. But nobody seemed confident in that. Normally when shit hit the fan with the MC they had a plan in place. They went out and started wars to say they could. This time was different. It was darker, slower, everyone still processing that their VP was gunned down and taken out.
When I opened the bathroom door, I let out yet another shriek.
Tripp was sitting right there, against the wall, one leg bent, the other outstretched across the open doorway.
He looked up at me. “Feel better?”
“Shit. You scared me.”