Page 13 of Juan

Arrogant much?

“Amber, come in,” Mantis said, shuffling papers on the table.

“Hold up,” Juan said. His brothers all turned to him, confused by the delay, but he ignored them and approached Amber.

“We fucked up,” he said. She blinked. “You’ve done nothing wrong. We’re not angry with you. This isn’t anything like that. I’m sorry we didn’t make that clear when you first walked into the clubhouse.” Her eyes searched his, and slowly, he held out his left hand. Over the past several days, it had become a symbol of trust between them when she took his left hand in hers. His offer to protect her, her acceptance that she had control.

Her gaze dropped before lifting again.

Behind him, Mantis swore, the light dawning on what she’d assumed.

Her eyes scanned the rest of the men in the room before returning her attention to him. Cautiously, she set her hand in his. He let out a slow, grateful breath that she was still willing to trust him. He turned, and she stepped to his side, facing his brothers together. He knew what it looked like, the declaration he’d just made. But right now, only Amber mattered.

“I’m sorry, too,” Mantis said, running a hand through his hair, then over his face. The rest of the Falcons murmured their apologies as well. “We’re concerned for you, Amber. Not about you.”

She hesitated again, then nodded. “Okay,” she said, drawing the word out, still not entirely convinced, but willing to listen. “What is this about?”

Mantis’s lips thinned. The news he’d delivered to the club less than an hour ago wasn’t something any of them were happy about.

“We’ve heard through the network that someone is looking for you,” Mantis answered.

Amber’s hand jerked in his, and her face drained of color. Einstein rushed over with a chair, and she sank into it, not letting go of Juan’s hand. Hawkeye brought a second for him. He’d stand behind Amber all day, but it was more comfortable for her if she could rest their hands on her lap.

“Who? Not Anthony?” she stammered, the fear in her voice tearing a hole in his chest.

Mantis shook his head. “We have no indications it’s your ex. As you know, we have people keeping an eye on him.”

Unlike a lot of the abusers they came across in their work, Anthony had seemed more than happy to let Amber go without turning into a complete psycho. Juan hated the guy, hated everything about him. But while Amber’s ex was a lot of things Juan wouldn’t waste his breath on, he wasn’t dumb. He’d quickly realized that if he didn’t want a scandal, a quiet divorce was in his best interest. Selfish on Anthony’s part, but for once, his selfishness, his self-preservation, worked in Amber’s favor.

“Then who?” she asked.

“A nurse named Adrian Mills.”

Beside him, Amber tipped her head in thought and frowned. “I don’t recall knowing anyone by that name. Who is she?”

“She’s a contract nurse. She’s hired on at various hospitals when they have temporary openings—like when an employee goes out on family leave, or when they are temporarily short-staffed. We don’t know much more than that. We’ve already asked HICC to look into her, though.”

“Where has she worked?” Amber asked. “Is it possible she treated me at one time or another?”

A vise tightened around his chest, and a not-so-subtle ripple of rage coursed through his body. He and emergency rooms had more than a passing acquaintance thanks to some of the foster homes he’d lived in, but thinking of Amber in those same situations was unacceptable.

“It’s possible,” Mantis said. “She works in and around the DC area.”

Amber and her husband had lived in a small, wealthy community in Virginia. During one of their long talks in the dark of the night and the comfort of her bed, she told Juan that on the rare occasions she visited a hospital, she varied the location and never visited one in her hometown. Her actions had protected her husband, but he also understood that, in her own way, she’d been protecting herself, too. He knew too well how dealing with the pain was sometimes easier than answering certain questions.

“What can I do?” she asked.

“I don’t think you should leave the clubhouse alone,” Juan said. Over the past year, there’d been other situations that required both her and Dottie to have an escort when they left the premises. She’d been amenable then, but those situations hadn’t been about her, so he wasn’t sure how she’d take his suggestion. His suggestion that wasn’t really a suggestion. No way in hell was he going to let her go unprotected.

The room remained silent as she processed the information she’d been given. No one underestimated the impact of it. They’d all come from shitty, abusive backgrounds in one form or another, and the possibility of the past—anyone’s past—making a surprise visit had them all uneasy.

Thirty seconds passed when Amber asked, “Do you know how long this nurse has been looking for me?”

Mantis shook his head. “We heard about it today, but it’s taken a while to travel through the network. Maybe a month? Maybe longer.”

Amber shifted, and his spine tingled with a warning. “Why do you ask?” he asked.

She pursed her lips, then rocked to the side and dug into her jeans pocket. “I don’t think this has anything to do with what you’ve told me. But since it’s two weird things happening at the same time, I should probably mention it.”