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Me: Is Tatum there too?
Nitro: No, thank fuck. Although she’d probably take the guy down given half a chance.
Me: True. Hyde’s on his way. I already phoned him.
Nitro: Let me know when you’re done.
I slid my arm around Hailee’s waist and kissed her. “Thanks for dinner. I’ll text you when I’m done and see if you’re still awake.” I didn’t think she would be because she’d yawned her way through the TV show.
“Okay,” she said, but as I moved to leave, she grabbed a handful of my shirt and held me in place. “Be safe.” I heard the concern in her voice.
“There’s nothing to worry about. Nitro’s just overprotective.” I wasn’t sure, though. Nitro might have been extremely protective of Tatum and Monroe, but he wasn’t the type to worry easily. However, I wanted to put Hailee’s mind at ease.
She let me go and said, “I’ll talk to you later. And, Devil… thank you for humouring my grandmother and watching television with her.”
I smoothed her hair back off her face. Fuck, she had no idea how far gone I was. “Hailee, I want to know every little thing about you, and part of that is your family. I’d have gone to Mars with Jean if that’s what she wanted.”
Her eyes lit up, and I knew I’d said the right thing. I hadn’t been stretching the truth, though. Not that lying was my thing with women, but I’d been known to smooth the truth over a little in my time. With Hailee, I didn’t want to chance fucking this up.
She shooed me away with the flick of her wrists. “Go, before I beg you to stay.”
On the way to Monroe’s place, it struck me how different Hailee was to all the other women I’d dated. She hadn’t sulked or tried t
o stop me from leaving. There was none of the guilt trips I was used to from women. And she’d been more concerned for me than she’d been disappointed I had to leave. It was a fucking refreshing change.
Hyde was already at Monroe’s by the time I arrived.
“Just got here about two minutes ago, brother,” he said. “You hear anything else from Nitro?”
I nodded. “Yeah, apparently someone was threatening her.”
“Okay, you want me to take the back?”
“Sounds good.”
Hyde headed around to find the back door while I investigated the front. I couldn’t hear any yelling or arguing and all seemed to be okay. So, I knocked on the door and waited to see if Monroe answered.
She did, after she checked me out through the curtain and unlocked a bunch of locks on her front door.
“Thanks for coming, but the guy’s gone. He did, however, do something I think you might be interested in seeing and hearing about,” she said as she motioned for me to enter.
I stepped inside her tiny home. It was one of those brick boxes that probably only had two bedrooms and not much living space. But, she’d made it homely, and I found myself drawn to the framed photographs lining her walls. That, and the crazy wallpaper. I wasn’t sure, but I could have sworn I saw cats on the wallpaper in her lounge room as we passed it.
She led me into her very retro kitchen. Between the aqua coloured stove and fridge, to the red-and-white chequered floor, to the zany, weird multicoloured ornaments she’d filled the room with, I didn’t know where to look first. Not until a guy came into view. And then all my attention zeroed in on him.
Before I could say anything, Hyde entered the kitchen, too. My gaze met his. “You pick the lock or break the door?”
“Fuck,” Monroe muttered, looking at Hyde. “Tell me you didn’t break my door.”
Hyde stilled for a moment in a way I’d never seen him still. His eyes ran all over her. He took so long to answer her that I cut into whatever thoughts were running through his mind.
“Hyde. You break the door, brother?”
His gaze snapped to mine. “No.” Glancing back at Monroe, he said, “Your door is in one piece.”
Relief filled her features. “Thank fuck. That’d be an expense I could do without at the moment.”
I eyed the guy sitting at her kitchen table. Jerking my chin at him, I said, “What happened?”
