Pursuit: Blood Bandits MC (9 page)

My phone buzzed again. I held my breath, hoping he wouldn’t notice it that time either.

“Do you wanna take care of this?” he asked, picking up the phone to hand it to me. He must have seen the name on the ID before he did, however, not to mention a snippet of the text which showed up on the home screen. He sat up, all pretense of joking or teasing me ending. “What is this?” he asked, looking at me, then back at the phone.

“That’s…the reason why I’ve been home all week.” Something about admitting the truth to him felt even better than it had when I told my Mom. There was something different about Dom, something that made me trust him even though I didn’t know the first thing about him aside from his club’s name and the fact that he was the best kisser I’d ever kissed. A burden left my heart. I felt lighter than I had in days.

“Because of this? He’s been harassing you all week?”

No point in lying. I nodded. “It started that day, or rather, the following day. After the diner. The following morning was when it started. He’s been changing numbers, so blocking is no good. At least he stopped leaving voicemails. That was the worst. The things he said…” I shivered.

“You stayed home with your kid rather than leave?”

“I couldn’t leave her,” I explained, shrugging. “He wants her, and he’ll stop at nothing. I can’t send her to preschool, or else he might take her while she’s there. I don’t want to leave her here either. Without me. So I’ve been staying with her. I’m the only person I trust to keep her safe.”

Dom nodded thoughtfully. “You’re gonna have to add another person to that list,” he said.

“Who?”

“Me. Who else do you think?”

“You? Oh, no. I mean, no offense, but no.” I couldn’t help laughing at the thought of the big, bad biker hanging out with my daughter. Granted, she would have him wrapped around her finger in no time, but it still didn’t present the best example to her.

“It’s not just her I wanna protect, Kara. It’s you, too. I wanna stay here, on the couch, to make sure you’re safe.”

“You’re serious.”

“Dead serious.” His face told me the same thing. He meant it. He intended to spend whatever amount of time it took sleeping on my sofa, just to be sure I was safe. I didn’t know what to say. On the one hand, I was terribly flattered…and more than a little bit turned-on. A sexy man, sleeping just feet away from me? Yes, please. Still, it was totally uncalled for and beyond strange. The three of us in a tiny apartment? Not the best idea.

“I don’t think it’s going to work,” I said, shrugging. “I’m sorry, I just don’t. This place is too small. You could never be comfortable. I don’t love the idea of my daughter’s exposure to…club members.”

“She had exposure to her father,” he pointed out nastily.

“Yeah, which is why I left.” I glared at him, daring him to come back at me with anything else. I was about sick to death of his attitude, his arrogance, the cocky way he had of getting the last word. He managed to stay silent.

Then he sighed, rubbing his large hands together, then rubbing them over his jeans. “You wanna know why it’s important for me to stay here? To protect you?”

“Very much.” I held my breath. He wasn’t going to say he was in love with me or anything crazy like that…was he? Or maybe he was on the run from the law.

“I couldn’t save my fiancée,” he murmured. I had to strain my ears to hear him. When I realized what he’d said, my heart sank.

“What happened to her?” I asked softly.

“She died. A gun fight. I couldn’t save her. She was innocent. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I should have made sure she stayed far away from me. I was selfish to keep her in my world, where she didn’t belong. She was good. A doctor. She helped people. What did I ever do to help people?” He smiled bitterly, still looking down at the clasped hands in his lap.

Then he looked at me, and the pain I saw in his face, especially in his eyes, nearly broke my heart. He looked a lot older all of a sudden. “I couldn’t protect her. I’ll protect you now. I have to do this. Don’t you get it?”

I understood what a big deal it was for him to admit that to me. I didn’t know a lot of men like him—or any, frankly—but I had the feeling they didn’t walk around talking about things like that all the time. But he’d shared it with me to prove a point. He had a reason for being there with me.

There was nothing I could do but say, “Okay. You can stay. I appreciate your help.”

We did need him. I knew that much. It was the feeling that I was about to get more than I’d bargained for which left me unsettled and a little excited.

Dom

The first thing I noticed about the apartment was the size. A shoebox might have been more comfortable. How could she live there with a little kid? Kids needed space to run around. I didn’t have much when I was a kid, but I had that at least.

It was shitty. That was the next thing I noticed. The carpet might as well have not been there, it was so old and worn out. It needed a new coat of paint, all over. I could see into the kitchen from where I stood in the living room, and it didn’t surprise me how old and rundown the appliances looked.

But she had tried to do her best with it. I noticed that, too. Kara had hung pretty pictures on the walls. There were bright, cheerful curtains on the one window, the only window I could see from where I stood. A slipcover on the couch. I guessed it covered up how old the couch had to be. And it was clean, neat, tidy. She wasn’t a cluttered person—she couldn’t be, or else she wouldn’t have been able to move in the place.

But it was her home. I hated that sonofabitch ex of hers for putting her there. Even if he hadn’t physically put her there, he was the reason she ran away. He was the reason she couldn’t afford anything better. She deserved so much more than what she could afford. I would bet her kid deserved more, too, and I hadn’t met her yet.

Kara looked at me, and I could tell she felt embarrassed. “It’s not much,” she said, spreading her hands.

“You don’t have to be that way,” I said. “It’s not much better than what I grew up in, though it was a house, not an apartment. But this looks familiar.” I sat on the couch, feeling the way the springs sagged. I couldn’t wait for the chiropractor bills after I spent a night or two there.
Well, it was my big idea
. I would have to live with it.

“Can I get you something to drink?” she asked, moving toward the kitchen. The awkwardness in the air was almost crushing.

“No, thanks. Don’t worry about it. Sit down, please.” She waited a second, like she couldn’t figure out what I wanted from her. “I just wanna talk to you. I wanna find out more. That’s it.” I had never bothered to care what women thought about me. They usually wanted to screw me, which was fine as long as I wanted to screw them, too. But I didn’t care if I scared the rest, or I didn’t until I met Kara. She made me want to talk a little slower, a little quieter. I wondered if it was the wounded look in her eye, like she was just waiting for me to explode. That was what she was used to from men, I guessed. A dog could only get hit so many times before it flinched when it saw a hand coming at it.

“What do you want to know?” She sat at the opposite end of the couch, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. She wore a pair of stretch pants with a big, baggy shirt. She looked like a little kid, swimming in a grownup’s clothes.

“When did it start? When did you leave? How long has it been?”

She laughed, shaking her head. “Wow. You just jump right in. Why should I tell you all of this? It’s kinda personal.”

I shrugged. “I wanna know more about the guy who’s making your life hell. That’s it. The more I know about him, the better I can keep you safe.”

She thought about it, nodding. “Fair enough.” She laughed shakily. “I wish I had a drink. A real drink. It’s a long story.”

“I have the time.”

She grinned. “Okay. Let’s see. Um, I married Eric the week after I graduated college. He was a teacher’s assistant, a grad student. A big, mature man.” She chuckled. “I thought I knew so much back then. So we dated for a couple of years, got engaged in my senior year, and got married almost right after. By that time, he had his master’s in finance and his career had already taken off. It seemed like a no-brainer, right?”

“How did he treat you then?”

She looked at me, eyes narrowed. “He was possessive. I felt flattered, though. Like…he cared enough to feel protective. He didn’t like me talking to other guys because he didn’t want them to steal me from him. Because he loved me so much.” She laughed, running her hands through her dark hair, shaking it out. “Ugh. It’s like a miniseries about the typical idiot girl who should have known better than to marry the creep.”

“It’s easy to look back and see everything we missed,” I said.

“Yeah. That’s the truth. So anyway, we got married. The first time he hit me was about a month after the wedding. He found out I hadn’t sent out the thank you notes yet. I didn’t have a job—I mean, I had just graduated, and he didn’t like the idea of me working outside the home, anyway—so what else did I have to do? That was the way he thought about it. I was doing everything I could to get us set up in our condo. I made practically gourmet meals for him every night. I liked doing that back then. I liked being the happy little homemaker. And I’d forgotten the thank yous. So he slapped me around.

“You know what the worst part is? I thought it was my fault. If I weren’t so stupid, I wouldn’t have forgotten the notes. I finished and mailed them out the next day. I got comments from friends on how surprised they were to see them so soon, since most people don’t send theirs out so early. You know, because they have lives.”

She sighed, pulling her legs closer to her chest. “A few weeks later, I found out I got pregnant on our honeymoon. Timing, right?”

“You were, what, twenty-one?”

“Yeah. Twenty-two when I gave birth to Emma. I convinced myself I was being selfish, wanting too much, so I had nothing to complain about. Besides, I had a daughter to think about. I had to keep things stable for her.” She shook her head. “It wasn’t enough. I left. That was eight months ago.”

“And you’ve been here since then?” When I saw the way her face changed, I knew that came out all wrong.

“Yeah. I’ve actually survived here ever since. Crazy, huh?”

“I didn’t mean it that way. Like I said, I grew up just like this. It’s not something to be ashamed of.”

She looked around. “It’s a pretty far cry from the life Eric gave me—the things, that is. The house, the car. I still drive the car, lucky me, since he put it in my name. One of the only things he let me have. We had a huge condo. More space than a family twice our size would have needed. I had help around the house sometimes. I could get my hair and nails done—I had to, to keep him satisfied. I was never happy.” She smiled sadly. “I’m actually happier now. Can you imagine that?”

“I can. Hopefully, once this douchebag’s out of your life, you’ll be even happier.”

The sad smile never left her face. “He’ll never be out of my life.”

I heard a noise down the hall, and Kara almost jumped. “Emma,” she whispered. Like I needed her to tell me once I saw the little person come around the corner, rubbing her eyes.

“Mama?” she whispered, but she looked at me when she said it.

“Emma, honey, this is one of my friends. His name is Dom. Can you say hi to him?” The little girl scrambled up onto her mother’s lap and put her face to Kara’s neck. Kara laughed. “Oh, come on. Are you gonna be shy now? The most talkative person I ever knew.” She laughed again.

“It’s okay,” I said. “You can be shy, Emma.” I didn’t have any idea how to act around kids—I was just glad she wasn’t one of the ones who walk up to people and start asking questions right away. I wouldn’t know what to say if she was.

“She’ll warm up to you,” Kara said.

I smiled like I was glad. I didn’t care if she did. I never liked kids all that much. Whiny brats, snot-nosed, throwing temper tantrums when they went out. Whenever I saw a kid throwing a fit like that, I would thank God I didn’t have any kids of my own.

Emma whispered something in Kara’s ear. Kara pulled away, frowning at the kid. “What an interesting question.”

“What did she ask?”

“She wanted to know if you’re a giant, because you’re so big.”

I had to smile. The kid looked at me with wide eyes that reminded me a lot of her mom’s. “No, I’m not a giant. I used to think my dad was one. You think I’m big? He was a really big guy. When I was little, I thought he was the biggest man in the world.”

“You were little?” she whispered. She had a sweet little girl voice. I grinned.

“We all start out little. I was as little as you.”

“No way.”

“Yeah, I was.” She sat up. I guessed she thought I was okay—I talked like a normal person, and I smiled. I didn’t growl and roar like a monster.

“When was that?”

“What? When I was little?”

“Yeah.”

I cleared my throat. “I’m thirty now, so that was a long time ago.”

“Like a million years.”

Kara laughed. I had to laugh, too.

“Yeah, well, sometimes it feels that way.” I met Kara’s eyes, and for the first time since I met her, she looked happy. She looked young, as young as she really was. I knew how to do math—if she was twenty-two when Emma was born, that made her twenty-five. When she laughed, I could believe it.

Emma looked at Kara. “I’m hungry.”

Kara looked at the clock. “Yeah, I should get dinner started.” She looked at me. “Will you join us?”

“Depends on what’s for dinner,” I said.

“Spaghetti!” Emma clapped her hands.

“Her favorite,” Kara said, rolling her eyes. “And meatballs.”

“Guess what? That’s my favorite, too.”

“Really?” Emma asked. “Mama makes the best meatballs in the world.”

“I guess you would you know, since you’re a pretty big girl.”

She smiled at me, and I thought all kids might not be so bad. She was polite, she didn’t yell or scream. I had only known her for less than five minutes, though. But I could usually tell right away if a kid was trouble—it wasn’t hard to tell. She seemed okay.

“Do you mind if I leave her out here with you while I make the meatballs?” Kara asked. I looked at Emma, squinting like I thought about it.

“I don’t know. Is it okay with Emma?”

“We can watch TV,” she said, getting off Kara’s lap to sit on the sofa.

“I guess that’s a yes,” I said to Kara. She smiled like she had never felt so relieved in her life. I thought she might have needed a lot more help than she would admit. She had been alone with the kid for a week, too. That might have had something to do with the way she smiled.

Emma turned the TV on. It was already on a cartoon channel. I could handle cartoons. “Is this a show you watch a lot?” I asked.

“Mm-hmm. It’s my most favorite.” She twirled a strand of dark curly hair around a finger, watching the TV. I watched her. She looked mostly like Kara, but there was enough of her father in her, too. Like the shape of her nose and mouth. It was weird, seeing that nose and mouth on a face I didn’t want to crush with my fists.

I looked around the living room. There were a lot of books—I could already tell she was a smart kid. A few toys. I wondered how many more were in her room. I wondered if she missed her father, her old bedroom. Kids were pretty good at getting over things, though. The big things. They just wanted to love. I knew how that felt. I might have been a grown man, but I remembered the little kid who just wanted his mom to come home at night so he wouldn’t be alone.

I heard pots and pans making noise in the kitchen. “Need any help?” I asked.

“No, I’m fine. I love to cook.” Right, the gourmet meals for Eric. It was a shame she had wasted so much of herself on him, but she was still young. She had time to find a good man—most girls her age were still dating around.

I could see her from where I sat. She had a smile on her face, even though she didn’t know I could see her. I wondered what she smiled about. Was she relieved that somebody was finally taking care of her? If that was true, I was glad I could do that. I was glad I could make her smile. She had spent too long crying.