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“Let’s go.” He held his hand out to Poppy, his expression fierce as those eyes stared down at her, daring her to refuse.
She reached out and took his hand, and she knew she surprised him. He had his tells, just as she had hers. Hers were just more extreme, that was all.
Saying goodbye to her friends, she followed him out of the bar. Just because she didn’t fight him in public didn’t mean he wasn’t going to hear an earful from her once she got home. She wasn’t temper-prone, but on those rare occasions that her anger had blown past her laid-back psyche, it hadn’t been pleasant.
And “laid-back” wasn’t applying tonight.
“I’ll follow you home,” he told her as the three men who rode with him moved silently behind them. “Lucas and Hank will be in front of you, Hayes and I will be behind you.”
The fear she’d managed to push back all evening suddenly rushed forward, and she could feel her heart racing in her chest, a sense of panic tightening her stomach.
“What’s going on, Jack?” she whispered, aware that they were walking fast. “You’re scaring me.”
Jack’s arm was behind her back, and she was almost running to keep up with his long stride.
“We’ll talk when we get home,” he told her, his voice barely more than a whisper. “Just do as I told you. Stay on Lucas’s ass and I’ll stay on yours. Hear me? Don’t be scared, baby. I just don’t have time to explain, that’s all.”
Trust was a bitch, she thought as she nodded.
Because it was impossible to get past that innate trust she had of him. She’d always trusted Jack, always seen the good in him, even when it wasn’t apparent.
Like now.
He hurried her into her car and shut the door, then stepped to the Harley he’d parked beside it. When Lucas and Hank pulled out and stopped, obviously waiting for her, she backed out, slid the vehicle into drive, and followed them.
She should be racing to her parents, or to Mac’s place, she told herself. Instead, she was following Lucas’s bike as close as possible as he took several back streets and alleys rather than the most direct route to her home.
When she parked next to the fence surrounding her backyard, Jack was there before she’d slid her seat belt free and opened the door.
“Come on. My place.”
The other three men were waiting at the back of her SUV, and although they didn’t surround her like a wall of muscle, she knew they’d taken protective positions around her and Jack as he rushed her across the alley and into his house.
And if she wasn’t mistaken, they were trying their best to hide weapons they held ready in their hands.
“This is ridiculous!” She surprised herself, not to mention the four men who entered the house behind her, as she stopped, swung around to face them, and all but screamed the words up at Jack. “It’s stupid and insane and I want it to fucking stop.”
Jack didn’t move back, but his head tilted as though uncertain whether or not she’d try to hit him.
“Oh, I just wish I were tall enough to smack that arrogance off your face,” she snarled, and then, before she could stop herself, she planted the toe of her boot in his shin as hard as she could.
He just blinked.
Other than that single movement, he just stood there and stared at her.
“Boss, should I…” Lucas started to speak up.
“‘Boss’? ‘Boss’?” She swung on the other man, watching in satisfaction as he did back up. “Are you on his payroll? Did he hire you?”
Lucas looked at Jack, then at her, clearly uncertain as to whether or not to answer.
“Do you have to ask permission to speak?” She ground the words between her teeth as she glared at him. “I thought you used to be a SEAL? Don’t they teach you how to talk in the SEALs?”
“Hell.” Lucas wiped his hand over his face, then turned to the other two men before turning back to Jack. “Why don’t we wait in the basement. Hayes has leftover pizza, there’s a coffeepot and a TV. Give us a yell if you need us.” Then he turned to Poppy. “See, I talk just fine, ma’am.”
But before she could snap back at him, he, Hayes, and Hank had hurried into the kitchen and to the basement door. Within seconds, it closed quickly behind them.
That left Jack.
