Page 11 of Rise By Sin

“What?”

“It’s obvious you’re in pain. I can see it all over your face every time you take a step, so back, or legs?” he repeated.

“Both,” I confessed, too tired to think of any wise remarks to throw back. “I was shot in the back. One bullet left me with a spinal injury, so my back hurts, my legs hurt. Everything fucking hurts, but it’s nothing new.”

“You were shot?” Deak gasped.

“I was a cop, so I really can take care of myself. You don’t have to keep walking with me.”

“Fine, but I’m gonna do it anyway.”

“Why?” I growled and I turned and looked up into his emerald-green eyes. We were under a street light and they seemed to sparkle under it. “You don’t know me. Do you walk every girl who leaves the club alone to her car?”

“I try to. Like I said, it’s not that safe around here. I take my job seriously.”

“So this is just you doing your job?” I asked incredulously. Maybe it was because my job had made me cynical, or maybe it was because I gave up hoping for there to be good in people a long time ago, but either way I was shocked he’d go to such lengths to protect women he barely knew.

“Partly, but it’s also because Colt is a friend, and he would hate to think of you out on these streets alone. If he were at the club, would he really have let you leave alone this late at night?”

“He’s not here though, so what does that matter?” I sighed.

“He’s not, but I am and until he comes back to take care of you, I want to look out for you, okay?”

“I don’t need a damned babysitter!” I snapped.

“Good, because I’d make a shit babysitter. I’m shit with kids,” he stated so matter of fact it made me smile just a fraction.

“You’re friends with my brother?” I asked, changing the subject and accepting he wasn’t going to just leave me.

“Yeah. I’ve known him from the club for years. When I had a change of circumstances a few years ago, he helped me out and gave me the job at the club. I owe him,” Deacon explained.

“A change of circumstances?” I questioned. I was pushing, but that had been such an odd way to phrase it.

“I was training and competing as a strongman. I’d just qualified for World’s Strongest Man and I was at the top of my game. I was engaged and things were perfect, but during a training session I collapsed and got rushed into the hospital. Tests were done and it turned out my heart’s fucked up from all of the training, and the strain it caused. Long story short, I can no longer compete and I had to lose a lot of my body mass to make my heart safer. My fiancé left me too. She wanted to marry a celebrity, not a security guard,” he explained. He kept his voice flat as he spoke, but I could see the hurt and feel his loss from the expressions on his face. He had lost something he loved – his dream. I got that.

“I’m sorry,” I uttered as I studied him again. He was ripped with muscle everywhere I could see, and I had to wonder how much bigger he’d been before. He already completely dwarfed me.

“It’s all good. I’ve moved on, and I have your brother to thank for that.”

“He’s a good person. I owe him a lot too,” I told him honestly. God, I missed Colt so much. I hated myself for keeping him away from me for so long. What if I never got him back?

“What’s going on? Maybe I can help you track him down?” Deak asked.

“Did he say anything to you about borrowing some money?” I asked.

“I knew he was having a hard time because of that bullshit investigation. Has something happened to him?” Deak sounded worried now, and I realized he truly must care about Colt to worry so much.

“I hope not,” I replied. “But maybe. He left voicemails for Jack and Mason last week saying he was coming to stay with me for awhile, but he never showed, than, last night, someone broke into my apartment and said they were looking for Colt, and this guy wasn’t a concerned citizen.”

“He do that to your face?” Deak asked. He moved his hand as though he was going to touch my face, but dropped it just as quickly.

“He was the one who ran off like a scared little bitch in the end,” I assured him.

“So what’s your next move? I’m guessing you searched Colt’s office?”

“Yeah. Nothing there. I’m going to his apartment to check his office there, and I’ll stay there tonight. Mason is filing a missing person’s report too.”

“You’re going to Colt’s place alone?”

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