Singe (Guardian Protection #1)

My chin quivered. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. He followed us up, saying he was sorry. I had to scrape him off the door.”

Guilt soured in my stomach. “He lost everything because of me, Johnson.”

His lips thinned. “Jude lost everything because of Jude. You do not take on that responsibility.”

But I had. For four years. It was the only thing that had kept me from reaching out to him after I’d gotten out of the hospital.

And, tonight, when he’d suddenly reappeared in my life, I had run.

I threw both hands up to cover my face. “Oh God. He’s going to think I’m crazy.”

Johnson pried two fingers away from one of my eyes and declared, “He thinks you’re crazy, I’ll kill him.”

I didn’t believe he would commit an actual homicide for me. Though, I wasn’t about to chance it when it came to Jude.

“Please don’t,” I begged.

He shook his head and stood up off the bed. “I’m not going to kill the guy. At least, not yet. But I do need to know how you want to handle this.”

“Well…” I started, sitting up and uncovering my face. “First off, I’d like a do-over at the bar. Perhaps one where my sociopath brother doesn’t show up and I don’t end up making a fool of myself. Maybe, this time, I could do something bold like say hello to Jude. Or, hell, I don’t even have to talk. What about a wave? That’s still considered polite, right?”

He grinned. “Bad news. Last I heard, Doc was off trying to find Marty. We’re gonna have to wait a few years for the DeLorean.”

I closed my eyes and dropped my chin to my chest. “That’s unfortunate news for me.”

His big hand patted me on the back of my head. “It wasn’t that bad. Levitt will forget about everything by the morning.”

“You’re such a liar.”

“Yes, but I’m also worried.”

“I want to see him, Aidan,” I confessed.

He sat back beside me on the bed, his hand going to my knee, where he gave me an encouraging squeeze. “I know. But I think you need to give it some time. I have to go to Indy for a few days. What if I drive back Monday night? We could all go out to dinner. I’ll be there if things get rough. You give me the word, we leave.”

“You think Apollo’s going to try to get closer?”

“No,” he stated firmly. “I think it’s going to be fine. But if—and that’s a big if—he shows and you lose it, I’m gonna be there to make sure you get home safely.”

I dropped my head onto his shoulder. “Jude saved my life. I bet he could get me home safely.”

His entire body stiffened, and I tilted my head back in question, only he looked away before I could read his face.

“I’m asking you to give it a few days,” he said. “Think about it. Prepare for it. And then let me be there just in case. Jude seemed genuinely apologetic tonight. But I’ve seen this guy in action. I don’t trust him. Not with you.”

“I trust him,” I whispered.

He groaned. “And that’s the problem, Rhion. You don’t know him.”

I closed my eyes to keep the pain from showing.

He wasn’t wrong. I didn’t know Jude.

But, in my heart, I did.

“A few days, babe,” he urged.

I could do that for Johnson. He’d done so much more for me.

“Okay,” I relented. “But I’m not paying you extra for after-hours protection when we go to dinner.”

He grunted. “You buy me a steak, we’ll call it even.”

“Christ, a steak? I can’t afford that!” I teased. I was loaded. Though I’d been trying to be a little thriftier recently. “Perhaps we should go ahead and get married. My monthly Guardian bill is doing a number on the old purse strings.”

He laughed loudly, a huge grin splitting his mouth. “You grow another appendage since the last time we had this conversation?”

“Hey, I know for a fact you’ve slept with at least one woman!”

He arched an incredulous eyebrow. “You know for a fact, huh?”

I scoffed. “I’m not thinking there’s any other reason a certain blonde nearly beat down my door last year. I could be wrong, but women usually reserve ‘cunt-ass whore’ for people they assume are sleeping with their man.”

I’d barely finished talking when his eyes flashed dark and his smile transformed into an angry scowl.

Uh oh. Maybe bringing What’s Her Name up wasn’t the best idea.

If I’d actually taken the time to think about it, I’d have remembered that ever bringing up What’s Her Name was a bad idea.

I decided to carry on and hopefully he’d forget I’d mentioned her. “It’s not like we would be sleeping together anyway. Given your affinity for big, buff men, I’m not thinking I could do much for you in that department. But you could move into the spare bedroom and we could both sneak boys over in the middle of the night.”

He glowered at me.

I prattled on. “Or…women. If that’s your thing this month.”

He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “We seriously gonna have this talk now?”

“I’m just sayin’…since you and Chris broke up—”

He let out a suffering sigh. “Women are always my thing, Rhion. Just as long as there’s a man on the other side of her.”

My mouth fell open. “Both…at the same time?”

He shrugged as if I’d asked him if he liked ketchup.

Well, that explained a lot about Johnson.

I curled my lip. “Okay, see, I’m all for open communication in our marriage, but I didn’t need to know that. Maybe sexual exploits could be a closed portion of our relationship. I could have a whole contract drawn up.”

He rolled his eyes. “It’d be easier if I adopted you.”

I gasped and shot him a wide smile. “Where do I sign, Papa?”

He shook his head, but he did it while chuckling as he stood up off the bed. “I need to go home and pack.”

“See, if I were your daughter, you could just walk into the room at the end of the hall.”

He headed for the door, calling out, “If you were my daughter, you’d never see Jude again.”

I suddenly froze, and my breath caught in my throat.

He turned to face me, a sad smile curling one side of his mouth. “You forget I made the grave mistake of reading some of your books.”

A heavy douse of embarrassment washed over me as I cut my gaze to the ground and whispered, “They’re fiction, Aidan.”

“I hope so, babe,” he replied somberly. “I really fucking hope so.”

A knot formed in my stomach, because deep down, a part of me really hoped they weren’t.

He whistled low to catch my attention. “So. Monday? Seven? I’ll set it up with Levitt?” he asked.

I nodded without giving him my eyes.

“And if you change your mind—”

“I want to see him. That hasn’t changed in four years. It’s not going to change over the weekend.”

“All right, then. That’s all I needed to hear. I’ll see you on Monday.” He walked out the door only to stop and lean his upper body back in. “After tonight, I’ll expect there to be a chocolate croissant waiting when I get here on Monday.”