Page 4 of The Vigilant

There was no kid left to the woman in front of me, and that was even before I noted the tattoos—the ones I could see. A giant flower capping each of her shoulders. A branch of thorns wrapping along her left forearm, and some kind of bee or wasp on the inside of her right wrist.And the piercings.Studs all along her ears. One through her eyebrow. And a hoop through her septum.

What the hell had happened in the last six years?

My friend’s daughter had turned into some kind of mythical badass.The goddess of trouble.Her hips swayed in a way that was nothing but pure hypnosis as she approached, a slow smile curling the ends of her full lips.Dammit.I should’ve been more concerned about the next six minutes than the last six years.

“Uncle Tynan.” Her voice was honey laced with sarcasm. “Sogoodto see you again.”

I swore my jaw cracked.

“Six weeks. Six weeks until her parole ends. Six weeks until I suggest you start letting her clean up her own messes,” the officer said low, and I realized I didn’t even get his name…and neither did I care.

I spun and stepped close, lowering my head directly over his, his wide eyes bulging and red splotching his cheeks.

“Get. Out.” I couldn’t remember the last time I was this…furious. The last time my emotions had threatened to take over me.

I blinked and the miserable mouse had scurried back to his car, next to which still sat Dare on his bike.Dammit, why the fuck was he still here?I glared as my friend finally revved his bike and took off down the drive.

I was going to have to explain myself—explain this—later.

“Sutton.” I turned back to the problem in front of me.

“You don’t look very happy to see me,” she pouted, her lush, fucking lower lip jutting out so full I saw the damn tattoo stained to the inside.A dagger.

Was it a warning that her tongue was sharp? Or that her mouth was a weapon? Whatever it was, my dick interpreted it in a very singular and far too fucking explicit way.

“You shouldn’t be here.” I banded my arms over my chest, my mind rioting with my emotions to think logically. It had been so long since I’d felt…anything as strong as this. I wasn’t prepared. A muscle unused in the aftermath of war. “What have you done, Sutton?”

She was on parole. For what? And what had she done to violate it?

“You heard the man,UncleTy.” Her voice mocked me with its huskiness as she stepped closer to me, the scent of jasmine invading my nostrils. She wasn’t even as tall as the piece of shit officer whose card was crushed in my fist, and yet she faced me with more gumption than he had in one of his fat fucking pinkies. Her head tipped up, the corner of her pink lips quirking. “I’m your problem now.”

I managed to force in a single deep breath before I followed her inside the garage.

“Wow, this place is impressive,” she said when the door clicked shut, her tone as appreciative as her actions were careless.

My jaw locked as she strode up to the closest bike—the newest restoration project we’d taken on—and dragged her hand along the body like it belonged to her.

“Don’t…touch,” I warned through tight jaw.

Her head tipped over her shoulder, and she laughed.Fucking laughed.Her long hair shimmered down her back, the waves moving like dark water over pale skin.She had another tattoo,I realized just as she pulled her shirtback up her shoulder and covered whatever it was.

“Or what?”

What the fuck had happened to this woman?

Air hissed through my lips, watching her slide her fingertips onto the seat, the black tips of her nails gently marking the leather. And then her eyes danced.

“Sutton—” I warned too late.

She turned and swung her leg over the seat like a hundred-thousand-dollar motorcycle that didn’t belong to her was nothing more than a public playground.

Goddammit.She snapped my control like a toothpick.

I stalked over to her and growled, “Or this.” I bent, snaked one arm around her soft middle, and hauled her off the bike and over my shoulder, silently relishing her gasp and then curse of surprise.

“What the fuck—put me down,” she demanded, burying her fist into my low back right where my kidneys were with enough force to make me grunt.

Damn.

---