Page 34 of Rox

“I can take care of myself, Max.”

She’d hung up after that. I then understood why Prez and Angel do things behind her back. She isn’t listening to reason. I can’t sit back and allow someone to take her from me, which is why I’m pushing my chair back so I can get to her. The exact thing I should have done when I knew she was gone. If anything has happened between them and now, it’s entirely my fault.

“Sit down, Mimic. Kraken, head over to Stanford’s shop and keep an eye on things.”

“Prez,” I plead..he holds up his hand, stopping me.

“I understand what you’re going through, Mimic. That’s my baby this fucker tried to kill. But you need to be here, coming up with the plan to bring this asshole down. Kraken, go.” Prez says.

I look over to Kraken, hoping my eyes make it clear to keep my woman safe. He nods and is out the door.

“Okay, we’re covered until we devise a real plan of finding out who did this. It wasn’t a one-off attack. I’ve reached out to Knuckles out in Wyman, but there isn’t a lot he can go off of.” Prez says, his gaze cuts to me. “He’s gonna see if anyone aroundRox’s house has door cameras. He’s great at hacking those, but if they don’t, we’ve got jackshit.”

“Rox has been followed a couple of times after leaving work. Then there’s the night you went to her place. That was the first night.”

The revelation has Prez clenching his jaw. I can hear his teeth grind and see his eyes shift. It’s been discussed he doesn’t hide who he is, but witnessing his “demon,” as he calls it, come forward is terrifying.

I am so fucked.

“It’s why she came to the ranch that night, but she turned around and came to my house. She’d called me when she realized she was being followed. I told her to get to the clubland. My theory was if this person were local, they wouldn’t be stupid enough to follow her there.

“I don’t know what made her decide to come to me, but it wasn’t long after Angel stalked her to my house.” I grimace as I remember the fight and the pain on my brother’s face.

“And you’re just telling us about this now? Why didn’t she tell me when I showed up at your place?” Angel shoots up from his chair, launching it backward into the wall.

“You weren’t in the condition to hear anything of that nature that night, brother. You were already trying to control certain aspects of her life. She could control this, and I was there to handle it.” I snap back. Prez sits back in his chair and steeples his fingers. I’m not sure if he’s going to hit me again or see reason.

“My first reaction is to take you out at the knees for not telling me there was a danger to my child. I still just might. But I’m seeing that Angel and myself were not in a great head space then to deal with this.” While I’m shocked over his admission, I won’t let my guard down and think he won’t still retaliate. “Do you have any reason to believe this guy was going to pullanything? Or were you under the impression they only planned on following her?” Prez asks.

“From what she has told me, they’ve followed her. Never tailgates or speeds up to catch her. I haven’t seen it with my own eyes, but the way she talks about it is strange. Tonight was the only time I had seen the van. Whoever is doing this went from zero to sixty overnight.” I try to explain.

“You don’t know that for sure, though. They could’ve followed you both in other cars when they knew they couldn’t snatch her up. Doing their own form of recon.” Angel points out, venom still in his voice.

“True, but why would they go from stalking her to attempting to kill her so instantly? They nailed the windows shut from the outside! They wanted her dead!” I feel even more guilty about the windows because how could I not have heard them?You were so lost in her screams that nothing could have stolen your attention.I toss my hands in the air. “I can be a bit distracted around Rox, but I’m not stupid enough to miss when the same people are always around. I even show up over an hour before she’s off work most days to take note of who’s around. We’ve spent more nights at her house than mine, and that window was always open. It wasn’t nailed shut until tonight.” I try to defend myself while also getting the point across.

What was this asshole’s catalyst?

“Have you been flaunting your relationship around town?” Mammoth asks.

“No. Honestly, if we had, I think Prez would have known we were together long before a few days ago. We’re pretty low-key as a couple.” I shrug, leaning back in my chair and running my hands over my face. “Angel has been around her at work more than I have.” I point out.

“What does that mean? I’m at fault?” Angel snaps at me, pushing himself up.

“Sit your ass down and listen. The only one to blame right now is the bastard who torched my little girl’s home. If this person has eyes on Roxanne, they’ve seen you coming and going. If they’ve seen Mimic, they can take both of you as a threat. This person knows Roxanne’s schedule. It seems they know yours and Mimics, too.” Prez pointing a new truth gives me a light bulb moment.

“We need to set a trap.”

* * *

Hours later, I almost felt as if nothing had been accomplished. It’s not because of the plan. It’s because I wasn’t able to figure out who attempted to kill Rox. This devil of a human decided that someone as beautiful as Rox deserved to have darkness thrust at her again. She hasn’t gone into detail about what happened, and neither has anyone here who knows the story, but I know she didn’t deserve what happened then, either.

“You need to tell her what the plan is,” Burrito says to me.

“I’m fully fuckin’ aware of what I need to do, man.” I snap. “She’s mine. Her safety is what matters most to me.”

Burrito raises his hands. “I’m not saying it isn’t. It is. But we can’t delay.”

“You’re only pushing because you have the first shift at her shop.” He looks back and forth, and I know I’ve busted him. “Right?”

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