Page 12 of Devil's Due: Sarge

How do I stay strong with him continuously muddling my mind?

My resistance is slipping and that scares the hell out of me.

Thankfully, Nicola pulls up a barstool at my side with her drink in hand, to pull me out of my Sarge-fueled fog. “What was that about?” she asks.

“That?” I ask stupidly because we both know exactly what she’s referring to. “That was nothing.”

“Are you guys a thing now?”

“No. We are so far from a thing. I’m not even interested in him. I think it was just the alcohol.”

“Sure,” she says. “You keep telling yourself that.”

I’m trying… Trust me, I’m trying...

I slam back the last of my drink then turn around and order yet another from Jinx. I think it safest if I keep away from Sarge for the rest of the night.

4

Sarge

For the rest of the party, I keep my distance from Greer, yet at the same time, keep watch to make sure none of the other brothers disregard my warning. She’s mine. But dammit, she’s been staying at a goddamn safehouse, well, except for tonight. We set her up in an empty room here at the clubhouse for tonight.

I shouldn’t have kissed her. I shouldn’t have, but I want her so damn much. There’s a reason she’d ended up in a safehouse and I need to find out her whole story before taking this… this… whatever it is any further. I won’t hurt her. She’s been hurt by men before, that’s a given, I need to know the extent. The how. A good leader doesn’t go into a mission without gathering as many facts as possible. Greer is my mission. Not just to keep her safe, but to make her mine—my woman—in all the ways a woman can belong to a man.

Staring too long down at the bottle of beer in my hand, I close my eyes and try to focus on the alcohol flowing through my system. It’s not enough. It’s my fourth and I might as well be drinking water. What the hell, did we start serving Near Beer? I open my eyes to look back at the label to make sure, and no—it’s the brand I always drink. Then it’s just me. While Dark takes his shot at the pool table, I walk over to the bar to get something stronger. Something to help me forget that she’s here.

“What can I get you?” Jinx asks.

“Bourbon. Just hand me off the rest of the bottle.”

“Bad night?”

“Fuck, you got no idea,” I mumble as I’m rubbing my face. Having her under the same roof only serves to fan the fire desire ignited. And despite that… despite how badly I long to drag her down to my room and show her all the ways I can make her feel good, to show her that not all men are bad… my hands are tied. I can’t take this anywhere close to where I want to go. She’s been hurt. How do we get over that?

Jinx turns back with the bottle. I wrench it from his hand a little more aggressively than I meant to and guzzle at least three shots worth before swiping my arm across my mouth to wipe away the drips. The sooner I can get it working in my system, the sooner I can reach oblivion and, fuck, if that’s not what I need right now.

Sometime in the early morning, Greer wanders off to bed. I track her out of the corner of my eye. She doesn’t know I’ve been watching. As a matter of fact, I’ve made it a priority for hernotto know. But I watch as she drunkenly stumbles into her room—alone. Good. At least I don’t have to kill one of my brothers, and make no mistake, I’d kill any one of them for touching what’s mine. By then, there’s no use for me to keep pretending I’m having a good time and I haul my ass down the hall to my room—alone.

The rest of the night, I toss and turn, unable to find a sound sleep. I wasn’t lying. The connection we had was immediate. The moment we locked eyes, and my heart began to pound painfully in my chest, she became my woman –thewoman, the only one I want to care for and protect. I don’t know where it comes from. Wanting to claim a woman you’ve never even fucked? It’s ridiculous. But it’s also one hundred percent true.

When the sun peeks through a small part in the curtain, it manages to hit my eyes, forcing them open. I feel like a wreck. I can already tell I’m going to be in a pissy mood all day. Coffee. I need coffee. It takes an effort to push up out of bed, but it’s the only way to haul my sorry ass into the common room to get caffeinated. Feminine voices fill the entire space with their laughing. One of them is Greer’s. I’d know her melodic voice anywhere.

“Hey, Sarge.” Nic greets me with a huge smile, while Greer stares at me, a mug of coffee raised halfway to her mouth. I recognize a hungry look when I see one. I don’t know, maybe that’s why I didn’t put on a shirt before I left my room. Maybe I want her to see me and want me so bad that she can’t control herself. My head’s too messed up and I’m four cups too low to deal with it right now.

My head continues to pound. I pinch the bridge of my nose and clear my throat. “Hi, Nic,” I grumble, then tip my chin up at her. “Greer.” She looks gorgeous this morning. This would be so much easier if she let herself go a little. “What do we have on the agenda for today?” I ask.

“Dusty and I are heading up to the cabin. If Greer feels like it, you both can join us too. We’ve got more work to get done making the cabin ready for the new girls, who should be arriving any day now.” Dusty’s the shit-hot P.A. who works with the women at the cabin. She provides the medical care they need. We used to count on Dr. Brennan-Ellis, but she has a thriving practice and lives over an hour away. And with Nic still in mother hen mode, she’s hardly let Greer lift a finger since coming home from the hospital.

I look to Greer. “It’s your choice. Head to the cabin, or do you want to stay here? We can do whatever you want to do.”

“Don’t you have a job you have to get to or something?” she asks. “I feel bad about keeping you from your life.” And I’ll note she says it not looking at me, but rather looking down into her mug as she finally takes that sip of coffee.

“Baby, for now, you’re my job. My president put me in charge of keeping you safe, but you and I both know it goes deeper than that now.”

“Holy cow…” Nicola says under her breath.

“The cabin,” Greer answers quickly. “I need to help out at the cabin.”

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