Page 96 of Rebel's Fairytale

“Matt. What’s yours?” He smiled and held his hand out to her.

There was no way she was giving this man her real name. “Chantel.” She took his hand and shook it. “Would you be interested if someone was looking for help gathering information on them?”

Smirking, Matt raised a brow. “Maybe.” Then he bit his bottom lip for a moment and released it. “If that someone looked like you, the probability would greatly increase.”

“Good to know.” She started walking away and wasn’t surprised at all when he followed her. Hell, she’d give it a shot. Two sets of eyes were better than one, and he couldn’t be any worse than Niles.

And if she was able to get a few orgasms out of the deal before she left, she wouldn’t object to that either.

Rebel

Ruby didn’t like it, but Rebel had insisted on sticking close to her at the carnival. When they arrived at just before eight in the morning, he had approached Crush and Pinky, who were in charge of job assignments, and requested he be assigned to whatever job they were putting Ruby on.

With understanding in her eyes, Crush had changed the names on the assignments sheet and instructed him to the numbered duck booth. It was probably one of the most laid-back games they had set up. No loud noise. No sudden movements. It would help to keep Ruby from being startled or triggered.

It was a small kiddie pool, the hard-sided plastic ones you could get from any dollar store, filled with water and rubber duckies. On the bottom of each duck was a number. If you picked a duck with an odd number on the bottom, you won a prize. Since it was for charity, and they bought the small stuffed animals in bulk, Rebel was pretty sure every duck had an odd number on it.

Looking at him with narrowed eyes when he returned, Ruby allowed him to take her hand and lead her over to one of the food trucks where they were providing breakfast burritos and coffee for all the workers. He got them fed and supplied with caffeine before they had to be at their booth at nine.

Most of the morning was relatively calm. They had many kids and parents show up at their booth to play the game. Ruby really liked helping the kids pick out their prize when they won. Seeing her eyes light up when talking to them had his heart aching. It was so full of love and pride for her that it almost hurt.

It wasn’t until just after lunch that she started to get jumpy. He didn’t know exactly what set it off, but he noticed her hands began to shake and the smile on her face began to look forced.

When she began to talk to the winner of the game about their prize, Rebel waved over Ross and quietly told him to notify Crush that they needed to be relieved from duty.

Within a couple minutes, Ross and Ryker showed up and told Ruby they wanted to give out some stuffed animals for a while. He was positive Ruby saw through the twins’ declaration, but she didn’t fight it. She just gave each of them a hug and told them to make sure they gave out the best ones first.

Once they told the twins how the game worked, Rebel took her hand and led her to the apartment building. She didn’t say a word as they entered and climbed the stairs.

When he stopped at a door and pulled his keys from his pocket, she finally asked, “Where are we?”

“Members from each of the clubs have rooms here. Downstairs are the Claws’ rooms. Up here is for the Howlers.”

“But… you have a house.”

He finished unlocking the door and opened it, motioning her in. After she stepped through, he joined her and shut the door behind them.

“Yes, but we have parties in the clubhouse often. Sometimes, things get… chaotic, and being on a bike is not a good idea.”

She laughed. “So, basically, you guys get drunk and need a place to sleep it off.”

He grinned at her. “Yeah. Well… and some members don’t have houses, so they just stay here. I lived here until I became responsible for the twins. Then, there’s the obvious doghouse situation for the mated members.”

She was still smiling, but she raised a brow. “Rather than sleep on the couch?”

“Something like that.” He moved over and sat down on the edge of his made bed, glad that he had the twins come and clean up the room. He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her until she sat on his lap. “You were getting jumpy.”

She nodded and let out a sigh. “It was too much stimulation.”

“Understandable.” He caressed her cheek with a knuckle. “You’ve earned some grace, especially with stuff like that.”

“How do you not…” She winced and shook her head.

“What, Ruby?”

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I keep thinking about the moment the knife went into his gut. Then, the sight of your wolf latched onto him and shaking your neck crosses my mind. I just… How do you not… get lost in… knowing you took a life?”

He wrapped his arms around her waist. “You didn’t take his life, Ruby. I did.”

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