Page 17 of More than Enough
“I don’t know. What to think yet. But I need. You to stay. Right. Here.” Adrenaline caused his mouth to misfire, making the sentence a series of running starts and stops. He gripped her shoulders and moved her into position next to the door. “If I tell you. Tell you to go outside. You do just that.” Pushing her car keys into one hand, he wrapped her fingers around the phone with the other, gripping them tightly. “And you get in the car. And you go to Wolf’s garage. He’ll be there. Even this early.”
“Blade, you’re scaring me.” Pupils wide, she stared at him, gaze darting back and forth between his eyes.
“I’m just going to check out. A couple of things.” Brushing his lips across hers, he felt her trembling breath. “Make sure we’re good. Good here.” Straightening and looking down at her, he slipped the length of his belt from the loops around his waist. Curling the leather around his fist until he had a short length left, topped by the metal buckle, he gave her a wink and a smile he didn’t feel. “Back in a minute.”
Stalking room-by-room earned him nothing except a more thorough knowledge of her floor plan and furniture placement.Nothing. In the living room, he tested the front door and found it locked tightly. Shaking his head over how his gut had misled him, he lifted one corner of the curtain over the wide windows and saw a shape directly in front of the house.Her car. Something looked off, and he squinted through the misty shadows of predawn.
There was something written on the windows.
Door hanging open behind him, a moment later Blade stood next to her car, scowling down at the words scrawled in white across every glass surface of the car.
Bitch you gonna pay.
The initial thought in his head was the first night he’d met Jenn. That moment in back of the diner when he’d realized what the club’s prospects were up to, and how he’d stopped it before it went any further than attempted intimidation.
But the two men had lost their vests, any chance of earning a patch removed along with the denim. Something they’d been working towards, gone in a moment. Gibby had told him a couple days later that he’d taken it further, making a call to every dominant support club within a reasonable distance, blacklisting the two men.
That’s it. It had to be.
“Blade?” He turned to find Jenn standing on the small cement porch. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know.” He wasn’t lying, because nothing was certain. Just his gut speculating on things with his brain, coming to their own conclusions. “I’m going to find out.” He reached out and found the white letters were still wet. Lifting his finger to his nose, he sniffed, taking in the acrid scent of acrylic.Paint. “I’ll call Wolf. He’s got something that can help get this off. Hopefully without fuckin’ with your finish.” That would give him a chance to bring his brothers up to speed, because if this was the work of those ex-prospects, then Jenn would gain protection from the entire club, not just Blade. “Go back inside, Jenn. The house is safe.”
Phone to his ear, he’d turned away from her and didn’t hear her approach. Her hit against his back was a surprise, and Blade whirled, unconsciously reacting with an arm cocked back for a powerful blow. He dropped his fist and stared at her.
She wasn’t daunted, not losing any of her anger at the unintentional threat he’d offered. “No. You don’t do that, Blade. This is my car, and our house.” Her easy acceptance of what he’d voiced earlier was a shock, and he stood there, mouth open. “And you won’t just go off and figure it out on your own.”
“Yo.” Wolf’s voice in his ear told him the call had gone through.
Jenn tossed her hair back, chin lifted stubbornly. “If you think you’re going to act a Neanderthal all the time, you need to think again. In the bedroom is one thing, but out here we’ll have conversations like real grown-ups.”
He spoke over Wolf’s laughter at her words. “Just a second, brother.” Resting the phone against his chest, he stared down at Jenn. “I’m gonna fix this. It’s what I do, Jenn. That’s me, down to my soul. I’m…I’m a fixer and a man. A man who makes things right. You’re gonna have to give me this one. I’m not going off on my own. I’ve already got Wolf on the phone. I promise you. We’ll talk about it later. But right now, I need to fix this.”
“You know who it was?” The uplift of her voice was a formality, because he saw the certainty in her gaze.
“I think so.”
“It was those men, wasn’t it? The ones who harassed me?” He nodded. “Assholes. No means no, and they need a lesson they won’t forget.” She tipped her head to one side and studied him, gaze traveling down and back up, landing on his face. Her voice was softer when she asked him, “Are you going to teach them that lesson, Blade?”
“Sure am, honey.” He didn’t question her about-face, not sure if the reversal was due to his statement of need or her recognition that if itwasthe ex-prospects, then he’d feel guilty by association if he didn’t make it right. He didn’t care, as long as Jenn let him do this and didn’t hate him for it.
“Then talk to Wolf, and talk to Gibby, and tell me what you need from me.” She glanced at the car and shook her head. “Not just assholes, but stupid. Did they not see your bike parked right there?” Jenn whirled and stomped back to the front door. She stepped over the threshold and paused, turning back to look at him. Her words belied her angry expression when she cooed, “I love you, Nate.”
“I love you, too.” She closed the door and he listened to the silence for a moment before lifting his voice to call out, “Lock the door, honey.” He heard the click as the lock engaged, then the curtains on the window fluttered, her hand appearing with one uplifted finger. Well, maybe she wasn’t entirely okay, but she was somewhat okay.I’ll take it.
Lifting the phone again, he was surprised to still hear Wolf’s laughter. Between wheezes of hard-won breath, he heard the man choking out. “I love you too, honey.”
“Fuck you.”
“Not my type.”
“You’re not mine, either.” He pulled in a slow, steadying breath. “FNGs we cut a few weeks ago, I think they’ve targeted Jenn.” Wolf fell silent and Blade kept talking, fighting to get through the unnatural pauses and stuttering words as he went back through everything he knew or suspected.
There was a long moment of silence when he finished, then Wolf whistled low. “I’ll call Gibby and talk to him. If they know where she lives, you need to stay there, brother. Stay on her, keep her safe. I’ll get Neptune and we’ll come to you, bring a probie to drive the car back to the shop.”
“Where’s Monk?” It was telling that Wolf hadn’t mentioned him.
“Off chasin’ his ghost.” That meant the widow he’d become obsessed with.
