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He tilts his head at me. “Sure,” he murmurs, sliding out of the booth and then stepping aside.
I hardly know what I’m doing as I walk through the diner, rounding the corner to the bathrooms and then – on a cowardly whim – head for the exit instead.
I burst out into the cold and place my hands on my hips, sucking in the icy winter air. I walk away from the diner, into the deeper darkness of the parking lot.
I try to get my breathing under control.
This is it. Oh, God, this is where it could all go wrong.
I promised Saul I’d be brave, but it turns out it’s easier to be brave in the bedroom than it is when facing down your best friend.
Facing her down with news that could emotionally scar her for life.
What have we done?
But I wouldn’t take it back.
I know that with an iron certainty.
So what the heck am I supposed to do?
“Look here, fellas,” a voice says from behind me.
I flinch and turn, realizing that in my anxiety I’ve walked right to the edge of the lot, near where it runs down into a ditch and then across some snowy fields. The stars and the moon are hidden tonight, giving the world an eerie quality.
My eyes move to find several men sitting on the hood of a car parked down in the ditch, a big off-roader with the lights turned off. I feel my blood begin to freeze as their eyes turn on me … there’s at least seven of them, big burly men with heavy jackets and boots and jeans. They wear leather jackets, I see as they get closer – like a mass, a single organism – a skull and bones emblem on the breast.
A biker gang.
The man at the head of the group is at least as tall as Saul and just as wide, a big bull of a man with more tattoos and piercings than I can count. His bald head is exposed to the swirling snowfall, but he doesn’t take any notice.
“Didn’t expect you to just come wandering over, darling,” he drawls.
“I don’t want any trouble,” I say, spine-tingling as the men begin to spread out.
“Nah, neither did we,” the bald man says. “We just wanted to rehome some poor doggies and make some money doing it. But then your friend in there got it into his head to be a hero.”
I gasp, remembering the story of how Saul got Jasper.
He freed him from a cage, a cage owned by criminals … are these the men?
“I thought you were in prison,” I gasp.
“Aww, how cute,” the man chuckles. “It seems you know who I am. Don’t matter. I’m sure there’s lots we got to learn about each other yet. Why don’t you come with me, darling? I’ll treat you better than that wannabe white knight in there.”
“Saul’s twice the man you’ll ever be,” I hiss, my hackles flaring at the insult.
The man tilts his head at me appraisingly. “Now hang on a sec, it seems we’ve struck gold here. You haven’t got a crush on the big ugly bastard in there, have you?”
“Ugly?” I snap. “Have you looked in the mirror lately?”
It’s not the world’s best insult, but it’s all I can come up with as fear forces me to back step toward the diner. But the men see what I’m doing and surround me like hyenas, converging in a great mass of intimidation until they’ve got me covered on all sides.
“Nowhere to run, you fucking b—”
“Lay one hand on my woman,” Saul’s voice snarls, “and I’ll take your goddamn head off, Jett.”
The bald man – Jett – smiles broadly and turns to Saul, who stands at the edge of the group with his fists clenched and his eyes narrowed.
“Now it’s a party,” he grins. “So you and this thing, you’re an item, eh?”
“You insult her again and you’ll be picking your teeth up off the concrete,” he growls.
Saul, I want to cry, there are too many of them.
But my throat feels as though it’s closed up with panic, my heartbeat thumping inexorably.
“Like to see you try,” Jett laughs grimly, his hyenas cackling along with him.
“Get away from her,” Saul snaps, stalking closer now, closer.
“Or what?”
“Men like you,” Saul spits. “So brave when you’re in a group. You think numbers are going to keep you safe? I’d die before I let you touch her.”
Jett turns fully now, all the men, aiming their rage at him. Jett reaches into his jacket and comes out with a gleaming blade.
“That ain’t so tough a task,” he snaps. “I’ve cut men for less than what you did to me.”
“What about what you did to those dogs?” Saul snarls. “That’s my lady there, that’s my fucking woman. A little letter opener like that doesn’t change a goddamn thing.”
