Page 54 of A Brother At My Back

“Pictures?” I echoed, surprised.

“Yep.” Mali popped the ‘p’ a little and winked at me. “It’s what my man does best. Digs up all the dirt. If there’s records or pictures, he’ll find them. Speaking of which, if there was any record of you or your current whereabouts on the net? He wiped it before your ex even got out of prison. If he’s looking, he’s hitting nothing but big roadblocks full of a whole lot of nothing on you.”

“Really?” I asked. “How did I not know about this?”

“Ah, I guess I forgot to mention it,” Nik said.

Mali rolled her eyes and lifted her jacket off the corner of the ring. “Way to go, Romeo. Probably could have saved her a little anxiety, don’t ‘cha think?”

Nik colored and I blinked. It took a lot for a man with his dusky skin tone, not unlike Mali’s, to visibly blush even though he wasn’t especially dark.

“I’ll call you,” Reaver said, buried in his phone and heading for the door.

“Thanks, Bro!” Nik called after him.

“Later, you two,” Mali said walking backward at first, before turning and following Reaver out.

I turned to Nik and felt my shoulders drop. He pulled me into his arms and wrapped them around me, holding me tight, chin on one of my shoulders before pressing his lips to the top of it.

“Thank you,” I murmured.

“For what?”

“Getting me wiped off the internet, I guess? She’s right. That takes a load off.”

“Ah, yeah, I can’t take credit for that. That’s all Data, and, I’m betting, Dragon.”

I closed my eyes and nodded. “I don’t know if I should feel guilty, I mean, I haven’t exactly thanked him lately.”

“Haven’t seen him, have you?”

“No. No, he hasn’t been into the club,” I said, meaning Sugars. “Not since I went to see him, but that isn’t exactly unusual.”

“You could text him, eh.”

I shook my head. “Never did get his number. Our, ah, arrangement, wasn’t like that. That’s why I went to the motorcycle club in person in the first place. I didn’t know how else to get a hold of him without waiting for him to come into Sugars.” Which could have been any time, and at the time, I didn’t think it could wait… I still didn’t. I couldn’t tell Nik or Reaver, or any of the MC just how grateful I was for their help and if Delia was okay, it was seriously worth any price they wanted me to pay down the line.

“Talk to me,” he said softly, and I sighed and held him tighter.

“A lot of judging going on,” I said.

“Eh, yeah, Mali was out of line. I’m sorry about that.”

“Don’t be, and I didn’t just mean Mali just now. Delia has had some pretty harsh judgments about you all. Honestly, I was afraid if any of you knew, none of you would be as willing to help me or her.”

He leaned back and cocked his head and said, “What she thinks doesn’t have a lot to do with you. What you think is what’s important, isn’t it?”

“True, and what I think is that you all are far kinder than anyone gives you credit for and at this point, I will gladly pay any price for the kindness you all have shown me.”

He smiled a little and shook his head, “If it comes at a price, it isn’t kindness, now is it?”

“No, I suppose not,” I murmured.

“Is that what she thinks? That you’re going to somehow owe us for what we’re doing?”

I nodded and sighed, “I know, it sounds awful –“

“It does,” he said, cutting me off.

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