“Lock it down, Ryan.”
“How can I be locking it down, when there’s a fucking psycho running around Denver considering my woman his plaything?” I let some of the frustration and anger to seep out.
“Your woman?” Surprise tickled my eardrum.
“Yeah,” I confirmed. “My woman.”
“Does she know that?”
“To an extent.”
“Never thought I would see a day,” he left the rest hanging unsaid.
“She is the one behind the text. She is also the one,” I said out loud for the first time. “The fucked-up thing is, she comes with some heavy baggage and a psychopath on her heels.”
“They always do,” he muttered. “I want to know everything. Liv didn’t know much, and she divulged what you told them, now I wanna know the rest.”
I told him everything. I didn’t hold anything back. Out of everyone, Noah Stone was the man I trusted the most. He was my mentor. He was my brother. And I know he would have my back.
“Fuck,” he spat once I was done.
“Yup,” I watched as Skylar stumbled sleepily down the stairs.
Her hair was a mess; she was rubbing her eyes and yawning. She was cute as hell. She also wore something that could barely pass as underwear. Which meant her legs were on full display. Damn. I couldn’t wait for the day those would be wrapped around my waist and I-
“Ryan!” Stone barked in my ear.
“Here,” I said distracted as I watched Skylar stop, look around then when she clocked me, going full speed until she collided with me.
“You left me alone in the bed,” she wailed.
“Good morning to you, too,” I quipped.
“Don’t ever do that again,” she spat.
“I see you’re a little monster in the morning,” I teased her.
“Only before I have my morning dose of caffeine,” she said irritably.
I held my cup up for her. All irritation vanished from her face. She looked up at me, tears pooling in her eyes, but she blinked as not to let them fall.
“Ryan!” Stone growled in my ear.
“I’m here,” I said into the phone.
I reached out, snaked my hand under her T-shirt and held Skylar close to me while I focused back on the call.
“I hear your woman is up. I’ll reach out to the kid and see where we stand,” he was ready to wrap this up.
“Gratitude,” I muttered.
“You coming back to active duty?” the question came out of left field.
Only the feel of Skylar’s skin kept me rooted in reality. I glided my hand up and down her neck, trying to soothe the dragon that worked just by Stone asking the question.
“You know I can’t, not after what happened.”
Fuck. I didn’t want to talk about this in front of her. Didn’t want to add to her burdens. A time would come when I will have to tell her what happened and why I’m retiring from the force.
But not now. Stone was silent.
“What about you?” I knew the answer.
“I never left,” the stubborn mule said.
“Bullshit!” I watched Skylar bite her lip as she watched mine move. “After that shitstorm, you got a call in the middle of the night, and it was almost like someone lit a fire under your ass. You got to Boulder as you could. Taking your truck and your bike. And now, you’re all worked up because Addison didn’t get her shipment in time. Which I understand, the hell you two went and are still living through would put anyone on edge. It’s downright ugly.”
“Max.” He tried to wade in.
I didn’t give him a chance.
He needed to hear it.
“It’s high time that you pull your head outta your ass and stop trying to be someone you’re not,”
Skylar’s mouth dropped open. I carried on.
“Cut the shit, brother. You are who you are. And you installed that woman into your house as fast as you could.”
“Same as you did,” Skylar whispered and looked away.
I slashed my eyes to her, surprised as fuck. She took a sip and hid behind the cup. Smartass.
“I see Liv has been talking,” Stone stated.
“She talked, yeah. And it’s good she did. Besides, you know as much as I do, you can’t hide anything from Olivia,” at the mention of Liv’s name, Skylar tilted her head, her eyes questioning.
I leaned in and whispered in her ear, “A teammate of mine. You’ll meet her.”
She tried to hide it behind a fake cough. She had a satisfied little smile on her face.
“I just needed to put that past to rest,” Stone tried to feed me some bullshit excuse.
“Sorry to scratch at the old wound, brother. But she was at peace from the moment you were kneeling at that sidewalk, it’s just you who needs to accept that fact. Forgive yourself and be who you really are, man,” I urged. “And as much as it’s ridiculous for a former SWAT, you are a biker. A member of a club that doesn’t walk on a sunny side, holding hands, singing the If You’re Happy and you know it song.”
“I’m not!” He snapped, sounding almost repulsed by the idea.
“So, what you’re saying is, you gave up the VP patch?” I asked.
Skylar was swaying, her eyes glued to my chest. I looked down, trying to see what had her so transfixed, but I only saw the tattoo there. The angel wings. The one I had in memory was of my Dad.
“Don’t,” Stone demanded.
I went back to the conversation but kept an eye on her.
“Or better yet, you gave up your cut and blacked out the half of your thigh?”
He didn’t say anything. The silence was answering for him.
“That’s what I thought,” I sighed.
Skylar peek at me shyly from beneath her lashes. What was that about? I got my answer when she reached out with a tentative hand and traced a feather with her fingertip. The whole time, her eyes bounced from my face to my chest.
“Fuck,” I bit off.
My eyes crossed with the feel of her hot skin on me.
“What?” Noah asked alerted.
“Nothing,” I cleared my throat.
I took Skylar's hand and pressed it against my chest. She wiggled her fingers, so I dragged my hand, holding hers along one wing then down underneath it until we reached the words there. I watched with vivid fascination as a flush crept over her chest, up her shoulder and neck all the way to her cheeks. I needed to end this call. And do it fast.