AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I pat the sides of the bed for my phone to check the time. Instead, I find an arm that doesn’t belong to me. A glance reveals Rigger’s strong profile, and I can’t help but smile.
He stayed. Despite finding out my darkest secrets, he stayed.
My touch was enough to make him stir, and I watch with rapt attention as his eyes blink open and he sucks in a sharp breath, no doubt trying to figure out where he’s at. He turns his head and rolls to his side when he sees me.
“Hey,” he says in a voice husky from sleep.
“You’re here.”
After he put me to bed, he had to leave to handle “club business.” I told him not to, but he stationed a prospect outside my door so I could sleep knowing I was safe. He promised to return as soon as he could, but I thought that meant the next day.
“I hope that’s okay. Didn’t want to leave you alone in case you needed anything.” He sits up, digging his palms into his eyes and revealing his bare chest, littered with the many tattoos that decorate his skin. I wonder what they all mean, if they mean anything, and when he got them. It’s something I’ll have to ask when my head isn’t pounding.
“I’m glad you did.”
He tosses back the blankets and quickly throws on a pair of jeans on the floor next to the bed. “Sorry, I tried to sleep with my clothes on, but—”
“It’s fine.” Knowing he must think his nudity is offensive to someone who just went through what I did, I’m quick to put him at ease. “I swear it.”
What happened was new information for him, but it was just another night for me. The only changes I went through were admitting it to someone and deciding that it’ll never happen again. If anything, I’m feeling calmer today than I have in a long time.
He pushes back the curtains, spreading sunlight all over my trashed room, reminding me that yesterday was a shit day for everyone.
“Everything here okay?” I ask.
“Yeah, a bit of a clusterfuck, but it’s fine.” He finds his shirt amongst the other clothes scattered on the floor and throws it on.
“Good.” I struggle to sit up, the pain more intense than yesterday.
Rigger rushes to my side. “Don’t get up. You’re banished to bed for the day.”
“No, I’m okay.” I close my eyes and take a couple shallow breaths.
“I mean it, Navy. Betty’ll be here in”—he pulls his phone out and checks the time—“ten minutes. She’s gonna bring you some food and sort your shit out so you don’t have to look at this disaster all day while you rest.”
“Where will you be?” I ask.
“I got some shit to do at the clubhouse, then I’ll be back.”
A pang of disappointment hits me, but I shake it off. What did I expect him to do? Hang out here all day? That’s stupid. Besides, I don’t need him here. I’m good on my own, the way I always have been. It’s not like him knowing my secret changes anything.
Except it feels like it does. I’m feeling vulnerable and in need of reassurance. I hate it. Things were better when no one knew, and I could protect myself.
He scans the labels on my pill bottles, shaking an appropriate amount into his palm before setting them on the nightstand. “Take these after you get some food in your system.”
“I can take care of myself,” I say with more confidence than I feel.
“I know you can.” He cages me in with an arm on either side of my legs.
“Then let me get my own pills. I’m fine.”
“That’s not how this is gonna work.”
I give him a confused look. “I don’t understand.”
“I know you don’t, and that’s my fault. I abandoned you, left you to fend for yourself in a bad situation. That’s my fault, and I’ll live with that regret for the rest of my life.”
“I’m not your problem to fix,” I say softly.
