“Mind if I head on back to the safe house?” I ask Roman.
“Unless you need to go to the ER and get that leg checked out first,” Roman mutters as he slants his head to look at the hole in my jeans where blood is oozing out.
“It’s just a scratch. I’ll slap a bandage on it, and it’ll be fine.”
“Go take care of it and check on our girls,” Roman says with a clap to my shoulder. “I’ve got the first six-hour shift with Conrad and then I’ll head over.”
Chapter Eighteen
Zoe
* * *
I can’t help but check my phone yet again, but there are still no messages from Winston.
“We should’ve heard something from them by now,” Tessa says, echoing my sentiments.
I’ve been hanging out in the living room with the girls, watching the television, or at least staring at it, for the past few hours. Dad and Deb said they were exhausted from traveling and went on to bed, most likely because they had no idea what her son was up to right now.
“They’ve probably just been busy,” Charlotte assures her friend.
Resting her chin on her knees that are pulled up to her chest, Tessa mutters, “What if someone’s hurt or dying? It’ll be all my fault.”
“It will not be your fault!” Charlotte assures her, reaching over to give her hand a squeeze. “And they’re not just doing it for you. They’re doing it for all the other women, and to stop these men from hurting anyone ever again.”
“Easy for you to say now. What if Roman’s dead? You’ll blame me for making you a widow all over again!”
Charlotte goes a little pale in the face before she responds. “Roman will be fine. He’s smart and wouldn’t be doing this if he didn’t have a very strategic plan that ensured his brothers would be safe. And I can’t be a widow again, even if something happened to him, because we’re not married.”
“May as well be,” Tessa says. “I bet he’s going to ask you any day now.”
“We’ll see,” Charlotte says with a sigh and a smile. “What about you, Zoe? How long have you and Winston been together?”
“Well, ah, he’s been my stepbrother for fifteen years,” I begin. “We slept together one incredibly hot night once, about ten years ago, then I left and didn’t talk to him or see him again until this week. About three days ago, we started going at it again like horny rabbits until our parents came home early from their vacation and caught us in a very compromising position.”
“Jeez,” Charlotte says as she blinks in surprise after that rapid amount of information, I spewed at her. “That sounds…complicated.”
“Guess that’s one word for it,” I agree. “Earlier, during the awkwardness with our parents, Winston told them that he loved me and wanted me, so I don’t know what happens next.”
“Well, it seems obvious,” Charlotte remarks. “He wants to be with you.”
“Maybe. For now. But I live and work in New York while Winston’s here. There’s no way he would give up the MC or leave his mom. The best thing would be for me to move back to town so that I can be with him and see my dad more, but I just…I worry that I’ll move back, things won’t work out with Winston, and it would cause our parents problems. Then I’ll have to see him with another woman at Christmas or around town, and…I don’t know, I just don’t think I can handle that.”
“It does sound like a risk,” Charlotte agrees. “Do the potential benefits outweigh the hypothetical future problems?”
“I’m not sure. I do want to be with him. I’ve missed him for so long and I was angry at him for all this time. I just…I worry that we could be jumping into something too soon. It’s all happened so fast.”
“Doesn’t it always,” Tessa mutters.
“Fast or slow doesn’t matter,” Charlotte tells us. “It comes down to how he makes you feel.”
“That’s the thing. I don’t know how Winston makes me feel yet, other than in the bedroom. And yes, it’s amazing in there, you know, but what about when we’re out of bed? Is it just great sex, or is it more? I’m not sure what it is for me or for him. When I was a teenager, I thought I was in love with him. What if that was just a crush, and now the sex is only lust and we’ve made a huge mistake?”
My phone dings with a new text message and the relief I feel seeing the words from Winston, that he’s on his way back, is such a relief. It’s like I can finally breathe again without fear squeezing my lungs.
“What is it?” Charlotte asks.
“He’s on his way back,” I tell them with a smile, clutching my phone to my chest.
“Did he mention how it went? If the other guys are okay?” Tessa asks frantically.
“No, he didn’t, sorry.”
“Ugh! At least we can grill him when he gets here,” Charlotte says, just as the rumbling of a motorcycle can be heard outside. “Is that him already?” she questions, as all three of us jump up and rush to the front window in the living room to peek out the blinds. It’s too dark to see anything other than a single headlight.
“I doubt that’s Winston,” I remark as the biker comes closer. “He wouldn’t text while riding.”
“Then who is it? Roman, maybe?” Tessa asks.
“No, he said he probably wouldn’t see me until morning, if everything went according to plan,” Charlotte explains.
The bike comes to a stop in the driveway. The engine cuts off, but the light stays on. In the darkness, it looks like the rider removes his helmet, but I can’t get a look at his face.
As he comes closer, his face is in the shadows when he reaches up to run his fingers through what appears to be short hair.
Tessa gasps. “It’s Verek!”
“Who’s Verek?” I ask at the same time Charlotte says, “Are you sure that’s him, Tess?”
“Yes!” she exclaims before she hurries over to the front door.
“Don’t unlock it until we hear his voice!” Charlotte warns her in a hushed whisper.
Tess rolls her eyes at her and shakes her head. “I’m not stupid enough to let in a stranger.”
Knuckles rap on the wooden door and then the man says, “Hey, it’s me, Verek. Open up.”
Tessa looks to Charlotte with her brows raised in question and Charlotte finally nods her head. “Let him in.”
It takes a second to get the deadbolt and lock all turned to get it open and then Tessa throws herself at the tall, lean man on the other side, hugging him tightly. For a second, his hands raise as if to hug her back before he lowers them again. “You’re okay! Is everyone else?”
“Yeah, everyone’s fine,” I hear him say, causing me and Charlotte both to let out sighs. “We caught him, we’ve got one of the men who hurt you.”
That news has Tessa letting him go and taking a step backward. “You did?”
“Yes.”
“Which one?”
“The fucker with the dagger tattoo.”