Page 86 of No Fear
God he loved her. He hadn’t ever thought of Rachel as protective. He was so used to looking at her and seeing a victim. Someone to be protected. But he should have known better because he knew beneath that shy, timid exterior was a strong and capable woman. She had opened up to him, told him how she’d learned to survive and in bed she’d become downright demanding. His woman was a survivor so of course she would want to stand up for herself and for him if she could.
But he still couldn’t let her do this.
“It’s not the same thing.”
“You’re right. It’s not. I’ll just be luring Craig out for Lincoln. I won’t be the one putting myself in harm’s way like you did.”
“You will though. That’s what you don’t understand. Being connected to my cousins, to me, it automatically puts you in harm’s way, babe, and this… helping Lincoln? There’s no way he can guarantee your safety and I’m not okay with that.”
“Remy…”
“No!” He growled, “I’m never going to be okay with you putting yourself in danger.”
“But don’t you see why I need to do this?”
He sighed, “I see why you think you have to. You still feel like you owe me for helping you but…”
“No!”
“Yes!” He raised his voice when she stared at him, “You think you owe me for helping you that night at the barn. You think you owe Sky for giving you a job and being your friend. You don’t have any idea how to simply accept that we’re here for you because we love you.”
Rachel looked hurt by his words so he held her close.
“Baby, we love you and you don’t owe us for that. It doesn’t come with specifications of what you have to give us in return. There are no strings attached to my love for you.”
She gave a small snort, “No? Because it kinda seems right now like the strings are that you have to approve before I can help the family.”
“I’m not going to stop loving you just because we disagree on what you should do, Rachel.” He frowned as he tilted her chin up back up so he could look her in the eye, “But I’m not letting you do this. I’ll tie you to the bed if I have to. The idea of you being in danger, even the possibility that you might get caught up in a firefight or something between my cousins and your brother… it makes me sick.”
“If I don’t call Lincoln, he’s going to tell everyone that I knew Craig was the traitor and didn’t come clean.” Her bottom lip trembled slightly, “They’ll h-h-hate me.”
“Lincoln makes a lot of threats. It doesn’t mean he’ll follow through.” He twisted her hair around his finger, “I’ll talk to him. Give him some time to calm down. He’ll come around when he realizes that you’re not going anywhere. You’re family.”
“But I want to help.”
“You can, okay? We’ll figure out a way for you to help that doesn’t include putting yourself in danger. I’m not letting my cousin use you as bait. I’m sorry, Rachel but you have to trust me that this isn’t the way to make things right. Okay?”
She nodded slowly.
Remy blew out an unsteady breath at her agreement. They were going to be okay. She wasn’t going to put herself in harm’s way. Lincoln would figure out a way to get to Craig that didn’t involve risking the life of the woman Remy loved. If it came down to it, the rest of his family could hate him and Rachel both.
He’d talk to Cash and Colt, explain what had happened and they would understand. Jemma and Skylar already loved Rachel like a little sister. They wouldn’t turn their backs on her. And if those women had any say in the matter, neither would anyone else. He had to hope that would be enough. It was more family than Rachel had ever had. Between him and his brothers and their women, he had to hope that would be enough to make up for losing her brother.
Because she was losing Craig. She’d already lost him. Wherever he was, whatever he was doing, his breaths had become numbered the moment Lincoln put together what he’d done. He’d be in a shallow grave somewhere out in the woods where the Bomars would have plausible deniability if someone ever stumbled across the bones.
The fact that Remy knew things like that, knew that Lincoln would get rid of the body where it would never be found, only reminded him that if he hadn’t left town he’d likely know exactly where those bodies were buried.
He’d left to escape the trauma of his mother’s sick abuse but he’d left more than just Chrissy behind. He’d walked away from what it meant to be a Bomar too. He’d gotten out, gotten away, and his record was clean because of that. Lincoln liked to point out that they were thieves, not murderers, but the truth was that more than one person had gone missing over the years after trying to cheat a Bomar boy. All of their hands weren’t dirty but all of their hands weren’t clean either. He truly believed Craig would be dead within the next day or two and he only hoped that when it happened, wherever it happened, that he could keep Rachel far away from it so she wouldn’t have to witness something that would scar her forever.
“I love you, Rachel.”
She glanced up from under thick lashes, “I love you too.”
“You trust me?”
She nodded.
“Are you sure? You trust me, Rach? Believe me when I say that I’m not going anywhere? That I’m gonna spend the rest of my life loving you and keeping you safe?”
