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“That would be wonderful. I’d owe you one, Thorne,” Savage said.
“No big deal,” Thorne lied. He was sure that helping out Savage’s cousin tonight would only lead to him getting no sleep.
Savage nodded, “Follow me,” he said. Thorne did as ordered and followed Savage into the back of the house to the kitchen.
“Hey, Thorne,” Bowie said. Dallas kissed his cheek and asked if he wanted some dinner, and he lied and said that he had already eaten. The sooner he could meet Rose and get her, and her kid settled, the sooner he could crawl into his bed and get some shut-eye.
Savage nodded to the petite woman in the corner holding a toddler. “That’s my cousin, Rose, and her daughter, Sadie.” He took a step toward Rose, and she backed further into the corner. “Rose this is Thorne. He’s a friend and you can trust him.” She looked at Savage as though he might have lost his mind and Thorne wanted to laugh. He knew what she saw when she looked at him. He was covered in tattoos and looked more like a criminal than someone who was there to save her.
“Good to meet you, Rose,” Thorne said. He smiled and waved to the toddler, “You too, Sadie.” The little girl smiled back at him and waved. Well, at least one of the women he was going to have to protect seemed to like him.
“You’re going to protect us?” Rose asked.
“I am,” Thorne said. “If that’s okay with you both. I’m good at what I do, and I will have no problem keeping you both safe.”
Savage stepped between them and turned to Rose. “Listen, I know Thorne’s a bit rough around the edges,” he said.
“Gee, thanks for that,” Thorne muttered. Savage shot him back a look and turned back to face his cousin.
“We all are,” Savage covered, “but, I’d trust Thorne with my life, and I know that he’ll keep you and your daughter safe if you’ll let him.”
“I trust you, Savage,” Rose said, “it’s why I came to you in the first place. If you say that Thorne will help us, then I trust you. Sadie and I will go with him.” She turned to face Thorne and pasted on her best smile. “Thank you for offering to help us.”
“Of course,” he agreed.
“You’ll stay in touch?” Bowie asked Thorne.
“Yes,” Thorne agreed, “as soon as I get them settled, I will check in with Savage. I’ll keep you guys in the loop.”
“Thanks, man,” Savage said. “I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you for doing this for my family.”
“I’m sure I’ll come up with something,” Thorne joked, slapping Savage on the shoulder. He turned back to Rose, “How soon can you be ready?” he asked.
“We’re ready now,” Rose said. “I just need to change Sadie and then, we can be ready to go with you.” She walked past him, and he caught a whiff of her strawberry-scented shampoo and Thorne made a mental note to stop sniffing the pretty girl. If he was going to keep his promise to Savage, he would need to keep his head in the game—strawberry-scented shampoo or not.
Rose
Rose peeked backat her sleeping daughter and smiled. As soon as Savage helped her load in the car seat and put her belongings into Thorne’s pick-up, they took off. She barely got to tell her cousin how much she appreciated his help or even tell him and his beautiful family goodbye. Savage insisted that none of that was necessary because they’d be seeing each other again very soon, but she didn’t believe that. Her ex would make sure that she’d never see anyone she loved again, if he had his way, including Sadie.
Thorne was hard to decipher. He wasn’t much of a talker and sitting next to him in complete silence made her uncomfortable. “So, you have a family?” she asked, trying to break the annoying silence. She was usually a talker and verbal diarrhea was her specialty. When things were too quiet, she usually tried to fill the gaps with chit-chat that had no rhyme or reason.
“No,” Thorne breathed.
“Um, okay. Where are you taking us?” she asked. All Savage had told her was that his friend was going to take her and Sadie someplace safe, but nothing was really specified.
“Someplace safe,” he said. Rose rolled her eyes and sighed.
“A little more detail might help here, Thorne,” she grumbled. “I don’t know you and I’m trying to figure you out.”
“Well, don’t,” he said. “I’m not much for talking and there’s nothing to figure out. I’m taking you and your kid someplace safe and then, I plan on getting some sleep. It’s been a long fucking day.”
Rose peeked into the backseat to make sure that Sadie was still sleeping. “First, my kid’s name is Sadie and second, I’d prefer that you not cuss around her. She’s a sponge and picks up on everything right now.”
“Yeah, that probably won’t happen. I don’t have kids, so cussing isn’t something that I have to worry about. I’ll try to cut it out, but no promises,” Thorne said. Geeze, this guy was a real asshole.
“I’d appreciate that,” Rose huffed. She crossed her arms over her chest, pissed that she had gotten nowhere with the guy. The least he could do was tell her where they were heading.
Thorne sighed, “Tell me about your ex,” he said.
