Page 39 of Hero: Claimed

Where is Levi? Why would he just abandon me at work? Not even bothering to arrange a ride home for me? I matter so little to him?Whoa, calm down, Brin. You’re just upset over the news. There’s probably a perfectly good reason why he left me tonight.Okay, that sounds as bad thinking it as it would coming out of my mouth. What excuse could he possibly have for leaving me? At that moment, my cell lights up with Caitlin’s name. I let it ring a couple of times while I get myself together and then hit theanswerbutton.

“You ready?” I ask.

“What’s wrong?” she asks instead of answering my question.

Clearly, I’m not going to explain my heartbreak over a man I honestly had no right to fall for in the first place, so I give her the other development. “My situation just got dicier, but I really don’t want to talk about it right now… Tell me that’s okay.”

“Sure—for now. But you know you’ll have to pony up the information sooner than later.”

“I know. Just not now. I’ll meet you over at the clubhouse?” I ask.

“I’ll stop by to grab you, then we can go in together.”

While waiting for Caitlin’s knock, I busy myself by slipping on my shoes and jacket. After a couple of minutes, there’s a rap on the door and I shoot up to answer it. She stands shivering on my stoop. I shut the door behind me as we begin the brisk walk over to the clubhouse. The blustery wind from a couple hours ago has picked up to an outright squall, whipping my hair around my head and stinging my eyes and nose. This sleety-rain, the coldest rain imaginable pelts us, coming from every-which-way. There’s no escaping the deep, bone-chilling, cold. I’ve never been so thankful for someone to pull on a doorknob. The rush of heat that greets us isn’t as intense as the heat from my place, but it serves the purpose.

Several of the brothers call out theirhellosto us as we pass through the common on our way back to the hallway, because after a quick scan, neither of us sees Blaze in the big room. At his bedroom door, I knock a couple of times and wait. We hear shuffling inside—the kind of noise like someone quickly tidying up on the other side.

“Come in,” he calls to us, slow and mellow. Caitlin and I open the door to Blaze sitting on the bed, leaning back on his hands. It’s too staged and his eyes look funny. I’ve seen this before, that look right after a junkie gets his hit.

I look over to Caitlin and she nods. She sees it too.

“Duke need me?” he asks Caitlin, wiping at his face.

“No,” she replies.

He looks to me. “Hero?” I bite my lip, shaking my headno.

“Well?” he asks, rather irritated.

Now or never. I look over at Caitlin for reassurance. She smiles, nodding, and I take in a breath to calm my nerves, then tell him why we’ve come. “We know you have a problem, Blaze.”

His body jolts as he stands quickly, predatorially stalking toward me. “The fuck you talking about, Brinley?” He stops way too close, practically nose to nose, and it’s intimidating as hell, though I’m trying really hard not to let it show. “Don’t go spewing shit you can’t back up. It won’t end well for you.”

“Back up,” I order. When he doesn’t, Caitlin clears her throat and he whips his head to look at her, as if he’d already forgotten she was standing here with us. Gritting his teeth, he takes a step back.

“We’re here to help. We’reonlyhere to help,” says Caitlin, placing a hand to his arm, which he promptly shakes off.

“Nothing to help with, Caity. So go—I got shit to do.”

“We’re not going until we get things settled,” I bite out. “I saw, Blaze. I saw the spoon and the lighter. Ring any bells? I’ve spent twenty-two years around addicts. I know one when I see one. Please, let us help you.”

Like a light switch flipped, he rages at the same time he sounds remorseful and full of fear. “They’ll kick me out. I got nowhere to go.” The wild in his eyes has me stepping back, fear momentarily taking control of my senses, but I hate looking vulnerable, so I lift my chin defiantly and move right in his face.

“I can get you into rehab,” Caitlin says. “I have a friend who owes me a favor. They’ll have a bed ready for you. All I have to do is call.”

“No—no rehab. The brothers’ll find out. It’s all your fault anyway,” he says to Caitlin. “You and Liv. If she’d have kept her ass here instead of taking off, I’d never have gotten shot in the first place.”

Deflecting. A total addictive behavior.

“It’s Houdini’s fault,” she says. “He’s the one who shot you, and you went along with the brothers willingly. No one forced you to go.”

He won’t look Caitlin in the eyes when he yells, “Fucking bitch! If you’d just given me the script… You know about the pain—that fucking nerve damage is too much to take and you fucking refused to help me. What kind of doctor refuses to help a patient?”

“The kind who was worried about opioid addiction, imagine that,” she counters. “But that’s not the point. Come with us tonight—none of the brothers have to know.”

“No—no. I’m not strong enough. I’m a Lord. I can’t appear weak. I’ve seen what happens in detox. It almost killed my dad. The inability to regulate his body temp. Sweats and freezing. Sick stomach. You think I want that?”

“It doesn’t have to be like that. There’s a drug—”

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