Page 19 of These Reckless Hearts

“Safe,” Stone whispers the word with dual meaning. It is safe, and it’s in a safe.

Cole turns on his heel, and I linger only a second before I realize the jeweler’s now fallen asleep. We won’t be getting anything more from him right now, and we might not need to. The next step is to go to his house and get the report he was drawing up. We can’t let that fall into the wrong hands if it hasn’t already.

Stone and I walk slowly away from the bed and turn down the hall. I glance up to find the two guards Cole had posted outside the jeweler’s room following their leader down the corridor. I peek over my shoulder—no one is watching the room anymore. I drop Stone’s hand and walk quickly to catch up with Cole. “Hey, aren’t they going to stay with him?” I whisper.

We enter the waiting room where Wyatt and Lucas sit in chairs. They get to their feet when they spot us.

“Cole?” I urge.

“There’s nothing we can do for him now.”

“But what if they come back to finish the job?”

Cole spins toward me, his lips downturned, but with a firm jaw. “Baby girl, I can’t watch him forever. He’s no longer of use to us, so he’s on his own.”

He turns to walk away, but I grab the sleeve of his shirt, stopping him in his tracks. “I’m not asking you to guard him forever.” I keep my voice low. The guards next to us pretend they’re not listening to the conversation.

Cole puts his arm around my shoulders and leads me from the hospital, guiding me away from the front entrance where he stops me on the sidewalk. “Listen, Dakota, I don’t expect you to understand this....” His guards now stand several feet away to give us some space. Wyatt, Lucas, and Stone hang back, too, though they’re outright staring.

Cole rubs his chin fiercely, looking away before dark eyes return to me. “Okay, the thing is, this is what this life is like. Yeah, they might come for him again. They might kill him. I kept him alive until he gave us the information we needed. He might not die, though,” he offers as an afterthought. “If I had eyes on everyone who gave us information or anyone who I personally believed was worthy of my protection, I wouldn’t have any members left to do other things. You get that, right? I only have so many Dragons with me. I’m stretched thin. I can’t watch over your jeweler, but even if I did, when could I stop? A couple days from now? A year? The threat could come at any time. He was sitting in his living room and the shot came through his window. Who could have predicted that?”

My insides turn to a twisty mess. Logically, I understand his reasoning. But personally, there’s someone in that room that we brought into this fucked up scenario, and he’s now lying there without any guards whatsoever. “He got shot because of us. Because of me,” I grind out.

“Don’t ask me to do it,” Cole snarls. “Just don’t. I don’t want you disappointed in me.”

I nod, already knowing my answer if I were to. I’m not going to pretend to know how to run a gang, I’m just talking about human decency here.

Cole leaves me standing there without another word and approaches his men. “Tell me you searched the room for information.”

His tone is laced with disappointment and warning. His guys stand there with their shoulders back, but I can tell they’re worried by their stiff movements. I wonder what kind of leader Cole is? Does he react first, ask questions later?

One of the Dragons reaches into his back pocket and produces folded papers. Cole takes them from him and holds them out to me. “That’s all we found.” This gang member can’t be that much older than me. Neither can his partner, but the tattoos winding up their arms and the hard set of their features make them appear harder. Stronger. Older.

Looking at Cole, I wonder what he’s had to endure? Not just the death of his gang brother but probably a lot of other things. He told us he challenged the leader of the Dragons for his position. That sounds like it’s a story right there. I watch as he talks with his guys, wondering if I’ll get to hear any more of his past or be a part of his future.

Stone moves to my side, catching my eye then peering down at the papers in my hand. I unfold them as Wyatt and Lucas approach. Several different things are clutched in my fists: White computer paper in the form of a report, but also scraps of a notebook. It’s going to take a minute to go through this if it’s not written up nice and organized for us. As the jeweler said, he was literally in the middle of putting the report together.

Stone reaches out, takes my chin, and makes me look at him. “Hey.” His gray-blue eyes search mine. “I’ve already called in a security team to watch him. Okay?”

I drag in a breath. “But the money.”

“I told you, Lance didn’t take everything from me. Plus, we got some major investments yesterday. We’re going to be fine for a while, babe.”

I throw my arms around Stone, squeezing him. He kisses the crown of my head, lips lingering as I listen to the beat of his heart. Thank God for Stone Jacobs.

After I pull away, I fold the papers and clench them in my fist, “We do have to talk about earlier still,” I tell him, then shift my gaze to Wyatt and Lucas, too.

“I plead jealousy,” Wyatt shrugs unapologetically.

I poke him in the chest. “Plead whatever you want, it won’t help you.”

I walk away, leaving the trio behind. I’m not really mad at them. It’s not the worst thing that could’ve happened, but I do need to remind them that walking around like Neanderthals is not a good look.

Oh, and that I’m a girl and I can handle my shit on my own.

10

Cole leaves with his two guards to do gang leader things while Lucas, Stone, Wyatt, and I go back home. I need a shower, stat. I feel like I could fall asleep, but I also want to learn more about this Queen Maria Luisa. I can’t believe that my family has had a piece of royal jewelry in our possession all these years. I always knew it was special. Just looking at the ring, I could imagine all sorts of different scenarios about princes and princesses. To know that wasn’t far from the truth sets the butterflies in my stomach flapping their wings.

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