Page 8 of Talon
It took him a couple of minutes to read through the long message.The more he read, the angrier he got.She had someone stalking her and the police would do nothing.
**Talon: Are you safe?Do you need me to come stay with you?
He didn’t know what else to do, at least not right now.While he couldn’t get there immediately, he could be there before bedtime.He wanted to make sure she was safe.
**Talon: I’ll come over and sleep on the couch if it will make you feel safer.
**Talon: I hate that this is happening to you and that the police won’t do anything.Tell me, please, if there’s anything I can do to help.
He sent all three messages as quickly as he could type them, not waiting for Madison to respond.Then he sat staring at the screen, waiting to hear something from her, anything.But nothing came.
He drained the beer and sat up, taking the footrest down as he went.After depositing his can in the recycling bin, he went to the fridge and debated having another beer but grabbed a can of soda instead, in case Madison got back to him and said she’d feel better if he was there.
If she decided she wanted him there, he didn’t want to have anything hindering him going to her.
As he popped the top on his Mountain Dew, he wondered what it was about Madison that made him want to make sure she was safe.How was she any different from any other woman he’d met?She wasn’t the only one to do something nice for him, why did he feel like he needed to know more about her?To make sure she wasn’t in danger?To make sure she not only was safe but felt safe?
Unable to sit still, he glanced at his brothers, who were still engrossed in the video game, then stepped outside.There was nothing going on out there, which was what he’d been hoping for.A chance to walk around, thinking as he waited to hear back from her.
“Hey,” Jake said, coming around the corner of the bunkhouse, likely coming from the trailer he shared with his old lady, Heather.“Thought you were done for the night?”
“I am.Just had enough of the back and forth about the game.Decided to go for a walk.”
“Cool.What’s on your mind?”
Talon shook his head.He might be one of the newest people around here, and still a prospect, but it hadn’t taken his brothers long to get to know him and his habits.
“I met a girl yesterday, she helped me get the hose for my bike.I’ve been texting her a little and she was telling me about these notes she’s been getting.How she’s taken then to the police, but they won’t do anything.”He shrugged.“It’s got me a little on edge.I asked if she wants me to come stay with her, sleep on the couch so she feels safe.I’m waiting to hear back from her.”
“What kind of notes?Does she know who’s leaving them?”Jake asked, his brow creased.
“Vaguely threatening, but nothing blatant enough the cops will do anything.I get it, their hands are tied unless there’s something specific, but she’s scared, and I don’t like it.”Talon continued to pace the open area in front of the bunkhouse.The picnic tables were still scattered around the area from when the Tucson chapter had come up to visit and took Tuck and London back with them.It made a good place to walk in circles while he thought.
Jake didn’t say anything, at least not right away.His not moving or saying anything made Talon look at him, trying to gauge what he was thinking.Jake still didn’t say anything but watched him with one lifted brow.
“What?”Talon asked without stopping his pacing.
“Just wondering something.”
“What?”Talon stopped in front of his friend, his soon-to-be brother, he hoped, and scowled.
“You said you met her once.Why are you so worried about someone you spent what?Twenty minutes with?”
“Almost two hours, because I convinced her to let me take her to dinner as a thank you, but I get it.I don’t know why I care so much or why it bothers me so much that this asshole is bothering her.”
“You didn’t say if she knows who it is.”
“I’m not sure.She didn’t say.At least not yet.”He lifted his phone and checked the screen just in case he’d missed the notification, and she had replied, but there was nothing there.“But I get the feeling she does.I don’t know why, just like I don’t know why I care so much.”He shook his head and went back to pacing.
Jake tilted his head and watched him a moment longer.“I think something about her got under your skin.Two hours?I’ve seen you spend that much time with some chick at the bar, only to walk away once you both got off.There’s something about this woman that you can’t keep her off your mind, right?You find yourself thinking about her when you’re doing other things, even things that usually hold your focus?”
Talon stopped walking and spun on one heel to scowl at Jake.“How did you know?”
One corner of Jake’s mouth lifted.“Because that’s how I’ve always been about Heather.You know we knew each other in school, but my dad moved us away before we graduated.I thought about her for years.Granted, as more time passed, it wasn’t as frequent, but I still thought about her.”He narrowed his eyes at Talon.“Do you want to spend the rest of your life thinking of her, wondering what might have been?Or do you want to possibly spend it with her?Making sure she’s safe and that she knows exactly how much you think about her?”
Talon stared at him for a moment, not sure what he should say.Was the reason he couldn’t keep his mind off her because there was something between them?Destiny was something he’d never thought he believed in but the way Jake talked and how he felt about Madison made him think maybe he’d been wrong.
The phone still in his hand vibrated.He picked it up and found that it was a message from Madison.
