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He’d warned me about that already, but I still shivered. “I’m so sorry, Digger. I forced your hand.” If he’d been trying to make me feel better, he’d failed.
“You didn’t,” he countered, his tone as measured as his gaze when it settled on mine.
“I did!”
“No, you didn’t,” he snapped, for the first time losing his temper with me. “Ask me about my father, Mary Catherine.”
I straightened up at that, surprise making me gape a second before I sputtered, “Who’s your father?”
His gaze drifted onto passing traffic a second when a truck hooted as it raced down the street. “I don’t have one, Mary Catherine. Back in college, Mom was raped, and instead of getting rid of the baby that that fucker implanted in her belly, she had me.
“When you told me what Bill Murphy was going to do to you, I knew whatIhad to do to stop that from happening to someone else.
“The Sinners will back you as my wife. With war a potential repercussion of us supporting you, there’s a chance the council might not help if your only tie to the club is being Sin’s sister… one he doesn’t even know.”
Unease hit me, not just because he was right, but because I didn’t want him to think I’d misrepresented what could happen between Bill and me.
“He might have been different. I just know what my friend went through—”
“You’re really bad at accepting help, aren’t you?” he drawled.
“No, I wouldn’t have sought Sin out if that were the case,” I argued. “But I don’t like feeling as if I’ve coerced you into this.”
“Baby, no one coerces me into shit.” His smile was genuine, and it made the light in his eyes flare into being.
I liked him when he was grumpy.
I liked him when he had bedhead hair.
Ilovedhim when he smiled.
And Ifreakin’loved it when he called me ‘baby.’
Hesitantly, I warbled, “If you’re sure—”
“In your words, you thought Bill was going to ‘seal the deal’ before you decided to run off. What the fuck do you think he’s going to do now that he knows you’re a runner?”
I shuddered. But not because of Bill. Because of my father.
He pointed at me. “That, Mary Catherine, is why I’m sure.”
I stared at him, and he stared at me.
“Thank you,” I breathed.
“You’re welcome. We’ve got a long ride ahead of us and you ain’t exactly used to riding bitch. We’ll go as long as we can before we get a room, okay?”
Riding bitch?
My nose crinkled at the term, but I didn’t argue. I was in no position to.
This man had admitted to me that he’d buried several bodies, and yet he was being chivalrous by protecting me from a fate that had befallen his mom.
I didn’t know him. Didn’t know who he was or what he stood for, but I already knew that he’d done more for a stranger than anyone in my circle would have.
I straightened my shoulders. “I’ll be fine.” And I vowed I would be.
Digger’s grin made another appearance, and he laughed as he pushed the nozzle back on the gas pump. “You say that now, MaryCat, but you won’t be saying that after ten hours on the road.”
