Page 22 of Crow

Grave drives straight into the compound once the prospects at the gate open it for us.

I steal a glance over at Tarynn. Any regular person would have asked her if she was okay by now, but what is there to say?She’d no doubt politely reply that she is, even if she’s freaking out and falling apart on the inside. Society is so pretentious. I’ve never thought about how exhausting it must be even as a regular person, to try to fit into it.

I try to comprehend what the compound and clubhouse looks like from her point of view. Right now, all she can see are the rows of neatly parked, gleaming bikes, most of them Harleys, and the few cages that my club brothers own parked beyond those.

The clubhouse was converted by our current Prez’s father. He bought out an old warehouse. With it, came an almost overabundance of space on the inside, but the outside met all the club needs. The place was surrounded by asphalt parking lots. It wasn’t much trouble to put up chain link and razor wire to ensure that not just our bikes are protected, but also the main entrance and exit into the clubhouse.

Technically, there’s a front door under the signage on the side of the building that faces the street, but we almost never use it.

I’m worried about getting blood on Tarynn’s bags, so I very carefully slide them out with my good hand and hoist them onto my shoulder. The duffels are full, but they’re so light that they can only contain clothes.

She snatches the backpack before I can reach it and gives me one of those looks like she knows what I’m doing and isn’t going to have any of it. I shoot one back, sayingIknow whatshe’sdoing and it’s not like a little blood and a few cuts won’t stop me.

Grave and Decay head in first, Grave muttering the whole time about how his truck stinks like blood and shit and puke. I’m not sure who or what is responsible for the shit part.

Tarynn sticks close to me. It’s a lucky thing that this entrance leads directly to all the back rooms. Each member of the club has their own. The rooms are larger for officers and are down the long hallway, on the far side.

We walk past door after door. Some of them open, but most of them closed.

Right at the head of the hallway, the club opens up. I quickly cut Tarynn’s view off, aware that the level of debauchery in the lounge last night likely reached peak levels. I spent hours at Archer’s and then stormed directly back to my room here, but no doubt there are half-clad and entirely naked bodies still passed out all over the place.

I basically herd Tarynn down the rest of the hall, until I reach my room. Each door has a code that has to be punched in. I jam my left hand against it, stabbing at the little keypad until I hear the lock click.

I’m used to throwing myself in here like I’m being pursued, but Tarynn lingers at the door. She’s frozen, her eyes sweeping around the large square room.

My room is one of the larger ones, since I’m an officer at the club. There’s an ensuite bathroom, but other than the gap in the wall for the door, every square inch of space is lined with bookshelves crammed to bursting. The rest of the furniture looks like an afterthought, arranged around the rows and rows of books.

“You live in a library?” she breathes.

I drop her bags, step around her, and shut the door.

I hate people staring at me, but having them in my personal space is a no-go. No one else has ever been in this room, at least not after it became mine.

It’s not that I don’t feel that coiled length of rope slipping over my neck to cut off my air supply with Tarynn in here. It’s just… different. Like the noose is there, but no one’s going to tighten it.

I need to clean my hand before I get blood on the floor. I’m meticulous about my space, especially my books. I head straight to the bathroom. It’s compact and simple with a stand up shower, a toilet, and a sink with a small cupboard below and a mirror above.

I have a toolbox of medical supplies that I compiled. No token first aid kit shit for me. I run my hand under water first, washing it out, inspecting it to make sure there’s no glass anywhere. I don’t find anything. It just feels like it was cut up. I raise my pantleg to see what damage Raven did to my leg, but my boot obviously took the brunt of the impact, steel toes and all, and the jeans protected my skin. All I got was a few scratches for my effort.

I catch the faintest movement out of the corner of my eye and find Tarynn leaning against the doorframe, chewing hard on her lip. The sight of her, with her massive green eyes, half scared, half excited, freckles standing out stark against her pale skin, so small and vulnerable, makes something in my chest go tight.

The noose tightens, but then… lets up.

She’s staring right at me. I feel like she can see miles below the surface, through to every single thing about me, but it doesn’t make my skin crawl. It doesn’t even make Raven thrash around. He knows that Tarynn poses no threat.

She can’t say the same about me.

She trusted me enough to come with me, even without knowing him. Me, a man that most people would cower away from, and with good reason. She looks scared, but not of me.

“I found you a place until you can find one of your own,” I tell her, too gruff. My throat feels like it’s lined with razorblades.

It’s a testament to her bravery, or maybe to the shock that’s settling in, that she looks at me with blind acceptance. Her willingness to put her faith in me feels both like a blade in my side and a hot, warm blanket after coming in out of a frigid storm.

“How did you know where I lived?”

Fuck. I keep my eye on my hand as I get out the shit to sanitize and bandage it. “I made a promise, and I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from carrying it out. I asked our IT guy to find it for me.”

I don’t want her to know that long before we ever exchanged a word, I was enthralled by her. Maybe that’s why having her here in my space doesn’t feel wrong. It feels like a dream, but one that these past few weeks have been leading straight up to.

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