I take a seat beside her, pulling her into my side. “Nah, we had a lovely day yesterday.” I run my hand along her arm as she leans into my kutte. She nods. “So, what went wrong?” I ask.
“He showed up at my house,” she says, sniffling.
“Who?” I have an idea, but I need her to tell me. I need her to open up and trust that I have her back.
“He was so mad, he grabbed me,” she sobs harder. I stiffen, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. I gently turn her to face me. “Bella, who the fuck grabbed you?”
She sobs uncontrollably, her hair sticks to her tear-stained face. I move a strand behind her ear.
“Look at me.” She raises her head, taking a breath. “Who grabbed you?”
“My ex,” she whispers. “Liam.”
“Did he hurt you?”
She shakes her head. “He grabbed my arm to stop me running back inside. He’s never been violent before, but I’ve never seen him so angry. He grabbed hold of my face, forcing me to look him in the eye.” She looks away trying to compose herself. I feel the anger bubbling in the pit of my stomach and clench my teeth, not trusting myself to speak because in this moment, I want to teach the prick a lesson.
“He accused me of stalking his woman and my kids,” she cries, the pain clearly evident in her voice.
“My fucking children.”
I lift her chin with my thumb, lifting her gaze to me. “You’re coming with me.”
She shakes her head and runs her hands over her face, trying to dry her tears. “I’ll be okay.” She smiles, but it’s forced. There is no way she’s going back home on her own. He already tried to lay a hand on her.The fucker will lose his hands.
“It’s not a request, Belle,” I say more sternly.
“He won’t do anything,” she argues, but it’s not with the same conviction as before.
“We aren’t taking that chance. I’ll be back after your shift to collect you. You do not leave here without me.”
“You’re overreacting.”
I slide my hands along her jaw, cupping her face.
“No man should ever lay a finger on you. You’re lucky all I’m doing is taking you to the clubhouse. The fucker is lucky I’m not rocking up and breaking his fucking fingers.”
“Please don’t,” she whispers. “It’ll make it worse.”
“Then you’ll listen and come back to the clubhouse.” I stand from the sofa, and she nods, giving in to my request.
“I’ll collect you at seven.” I go to walk out of the staff room but glance back over my shoulder.
“Belle?” She looks up from the floor. “I’ll fix this.”
That fucker laid a hand on her. It isn’t enough that he’s broken and destroyed the woman. Now, he feels the need to intimidate her. He doesn’t realise who he’s crossed, but he soon will.
I throw my leg over the bike and dial Drifter’s number. He answers on the second ring.
“Pres?”
“All okay, Clay?”
“The woman I’ve been helping needs a place to stay. I’ll be bringing her back later.”
“Shouldn’t this be discussed first? You’re my VP, and I respect you, but we can’t just be taking in strays with all the heat on the club at the minute.”
“Pres, she’s good. I’ll take complete responsibility for her.”
