Page 245 of Sweet Temptation

“Ronan,” he said when he picked up. “I’ve been waitin’ for your call.”

“Do I want to ask about our friend from the motel?” No doubt Piper would’ve updated him by now. Getting into the details over the phone probably wasn’t the best idea. I knew that. But I had to ask.

I had to know.

“He’s been taken care of,” Jude said.

“Taken care of…” I repeated. “Is that biker speak for something I do not wanna know about?”

“Sounds like you were ready to take care of things yourself last night.”

“And yet I didn’t.”

“I hear you have my brother to thank for that.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Maybe. Would be nice if I knew exactly what I was thanking him for…”

“An arrest has been made,” Jude said. “You need any more details than that, you’ll need to talk to my brother. In person.”

An arrest?

What the fuck. Sanchuk had been arrested?

I got right up out of my chair, trying to process this.

“So what happened last night?” Jude asked. “Things got pretty heated? Somethin’ about a power drill and a remote control…?”

I sighed. “I went a little too far.”

“Did you,” he said.

“What would you have done?”

“I’m just wonderin’ what ‘too far’ looks like to you.”

I fucking hated to admit it, to anyone. But I forced myself to. “I’m not sure I can continue on as Summer’s bodyguard.”

“It’s not a weakness,” Jude said. “Caring about someone you’re paid to protect. I love Jesse. Though I wouldn’t fuck him.”

Yeah. Being bodyguard to his best friend, Jesse Mayes—Dirty’s lead guitarist—was probably a hell of a lot less complicated than this situation.

“I’m serious,” I said. But even to myself, I sounded defeated.

I’d had a lot of time to think about it last night. And whether I was or I wasn’t just like all these bikers, deep down, was still up for debate in my mind.

But one thing I knew: I didn’t want to be like them.

And I sure as hell didn’t want to put Summer in any danger.

“So don’t be her bodyguard anymore. Put someone else on her.”

“Yeah. I could probably do that. Should, probably.” I knew I had to, really. I was just still trying to swallow the fact.

I felt like I’d failed her somehow.

“And by the way, this is exactly why I want you runnin’ the crew,” Jude told me. “Because you fuckin’ care. And when you care, you do it large, brother.”

That caught me off-guard.

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