Page 24 of Under His Watch

Only to find a couple of bikers lurking around.

“Well, wait a second,” I said. “They came here when I was gone. If they were waiting for me to go to trespass, maybe they were after Tessa?”

Franco shrugged while my father nodded, as though he approved of my jumping on his train of thought.

“Or,” Franco argued, “they noticed you coming and going and wanted to wait until you arrived.”

“That makes sense, too. When we rescued Nina from their clubhouse, we killed two of Reaper’s top men,” my father said. “I could see Reaper wanting to strike back in kind, taking out one of my top men.”

Meaning us. Franco and I shared a glance while he waited for his call to pick up.

“Don’t send security out here,” my father ordered. Looking at me, he exhaled a long breath. “You need to relocate. Clearly, they wanted something out here. A chance to hit you. Or this girl you found.”

Franco nodded. “It could just be that the Constella forces are spying on them more and they don’t like it.”

“Tough shit,” I replied.

“I don’t want war,” my father said. “Not with a baby on the way and settling Nina into our new lives. But if they escalate this any further, if they encroach any closer, the time to spy and collect intel is over. We will fight to the death defending what is ours.”

And we will be the victors in any war we engage in. Confidence, not cockiness, had me convinced of it.

“Weston?” Franco asked once a soldier answered his call. “I need you to grab your crew and come my way.”

My father and I turned, leaving Franco with Joseph’s body. As we walked back toward the house, I considered what I would need to do next. Keeping Tessa safe was paramount. I hated to see her so scared, but I felt a bit of relief with the knowledge that she wasn’t helpless. She wasn’t naïve and so stunned that she couldn’t think of defending herself. That steak knife wouldn’t have helped much, but it was the principle of it. She was in a mode to survive.

“You intend to keep her?” my father asked.

“Tessa?”

“Who the fuck else would I be talking about?” he shot back with plenty of impatient sarcasm.

“I do.” Sometime during the moments I held her on that bed, the realization hit hard. I did want to keep Tessa with me, but that was no simple quest.

“Is it like Franco guessed? One look at her and that’s it?”

If he was asking me about my opinions of love at first sight, I was inclined to reply with an affirmative. Love seemed like a stretch. Tessa and I had only known each other for almost one whole day. It was likely far, far too soon for a complex connection like love, but the concern I felt for her was no petty, temporary care.

“It might be,” I replied, hedging on the complete truth.

The thought of sending Tessa away wasn’t one I wanted to hold for long. Being near her felt right. Even though she was still acclimating to the post-trauma phase of what those bastards did to her, she seemed drawn to me, not repulsed or pushed away.

10

TESSA

“That’sDante?” I whispered as Nina and I tucked into my room upstairs. I locked the door as she ran to the window to look out it.

“Yes,” she replied, just as shaken up as I was. Our reunion was unexpected and swift, but we were both too wrapped up in fear to really do more than hurry to safety.

“Damn.” I shook my head, joining her at the window to look out over the weedy lawn. It was extensive, but so thick with grasses and vines from the lack of maintenance from long ago. Multiple seasons, at least. I held my breath as the three men stalked carefully through the yard, looking out for danger.

Nina exhaled a long breath, and I hated the fatigue in it. “I’m sorry.” I winced as I faced her profile, stunned by how healthy and happy she looked. The last I saw of her was at the Hound and Tea, when we’d joked about finding a sugar daddy to make our lives easier. She had, sort of. Dante was at least twenty years older than her. Before she met him and agreed to pretend to be his girlfriend, the tiredness in her eyes made her look haggard and beaten down, just like me.

Now, she was glowing. No bags under her eyes. Less of that constant stress lining her face. And… thicker? She seemed to have put on weight. Or maybe her dress made her boobs look that much bigger.Of all the things to notice, Tess…

“I’m sorry I almost stabbed you. I thought it was the bikers coming to the door and…”

She placed her arm around my shoulders and pulled me close in a side hug. “Don’t apologize for being scared.”

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