Page 76 of A Brother At My Back

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Tiffany…

Nik pausedwith the door half open and then shut it firmly. He turned and took me by the arms and drew me a little closer. The look on his face was indescribable and totally terrifying but I knew so completely that I had nothing to fear from him.

“Listen to me,” he said. “You are safe, everyone in this club is safe, but your ex-man? His buddy? Not so much when we find them.”

“You mean if you find them,” I said, because I didn’t really believe that they would. Silas was slicker than owl shit. Nik shook his head, once left, once right and the look on his face was stone-cold.

“There is no if in this scenario, Wahine. It’s when, and when we do, he’s going to have a really bad day.”

I sighed and stared off over the freshly fallen snow, so calm and so serene. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” I said. “I just don’t want to go through believing I’m going to be okay when it comes to Silas, only to have it yanked out from under me again.”

“That’s fair enough,” he said softly and sighed himself.

He knew how much and how many times I’d been let down before. We’d talked about it. I hated that I was so damaged, and while I trusted him and he knew I trusted him, there were still just some things I couldn’t trust anything about anymore. Silas was a big one of those things. So was law enforcement and the system that had failed me time and time again.

“Come on,” he said and reached out, hauling open the door.

I was enveloped in warmth as I went through the door, and he stepped in quickly behind me, shutting it firmly. We wound our way through a dim hall into a wide spot with open doorways leading into bathrooms, but not like the locker-style ones we’d used in the outbuilding. The one or two I could see were more like something in a home.

The other doors, I had to guess, belonged to more bedrooms, except for one large set of double doors. They seemed to lead into some sort of media room with a large couch and recliners in front of a TV bigger than I had ever seen before.

I followed Nik through an open archway and into the more familiar barroom I’d first entered this place through. A few women were sitting around a table, coffee cups steaming in front of them.

“Hey, Zeb.” A small woman with dark hair that was in the in-between phase of short and growing it out long smiled at us, her expression as warm as the coffee cup she held steaming between her hands.

Another woman, equally small but more delicate, with long auburn hair, turned around in her seat. She had some expensive-ass contacts in that turned her eyes a bright gold and she looked me over with such an expression of sympathy I shifted on my feet.

“Hayden,” Nik nodded to the first woman. “Ashton,” he greeted the second. “This is Tiffany.” He put his hand on my lower back and gave me a light shove forward. “Tiffany, Hayden is Reaver’s woman and Ashton is Trigger’s.”

“Oh, thanks for letting me borrow your guys,” I said and kicked myself immediately for how it came out. “You know, for teaching me self-defense. Sorry, that came out real bad, probably the last thing you want to hear out of a stripper where both of your significant others are concerned.”

They both laughed a little and Hayden stared down into her coffee cup, a charmed smile playing on her lips. Ashton stood up and pulled out a chair at the table saying, “Please, come sit with us. I’ll get you both some coffee from the kitchen.”

“I’ve got it,” Hayden said, standing. “I think you and Tiffany have far more in common and you two should talk.”

I took a halting step forward and froze at Hayden’s words, asking, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Please, sit and I’ll tell you,” Ashton said, smiling.

Nik’s hand returned to my lower back beneath my jacket, a warm and heavy comforting presence. He wanted me to sit and I trusted him, but still, I was apprehensive.

“Okay,” I said carefully, drawing out the word.

“Boy, we’re batting a thousand already,” Hayden remarked with humor, her tone light, and made her way behind the bar.

“Sorry, but word has gotten around about your situation with your ex.” Ashton put her hand on mine where I rested it on the table and I stiffened. “I’m so sorry to hear about your friend,” she said softly and it hit me right in the feels. I averted my eyes and stared at a random point in the room until I was sure I wouldn’t cry.

“Me, too,” I murmured, choked.

“My ex-husband was a real piece of work,” she said and I turned back. “The club fixed the problem for me. They will for you, too.”

“You sound awfully sure about that.”

“Reeeeally not their first rodeo,” Hayden said setting a tray with two coffees, cream, and sugar on the table. I flinched, and she froze, asking, “Shit. What’d I say?”

“He’s some sort of rodeo cowboy, her ex,” Nik explained. Hayden visibly cringed.

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