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I swallowed thickly, refusing to give a yes or a no. I wouldn’t be the reason a woman might get sent away, but something about this didn’t feel right to me. It felt like there was danger lurking just around the corner. It made me feel cold, and goosebumps crawled over my flesh.
“She may need real help,” Smokey told him quietly, speaking up when I wouldn’t. “I’ll stick by April. She’ll be safe.”
Tank nodded once before looking back toward the clubhouse doors. “Let her in!” he called to Capone.
Tank stayed standing in our doorway, refusing to move. “Come on,” I heard Capone tell her. “Hawke, get her at that table.” I relaxed, knowing he had Hawke with him. Hawke was a force to be reckoned with when it came to any of us, even someone as big and invincible-looking as Tank. He would make sure Capone was safe. “What injuries do you have?”
“Just this cut on my arm, some bruising, and I think my nose is broken.” She hiccupped again. I squeezed my eyes shut, pushing those horrible memories away. Memories of when my own ex had beaten the shit out of me—almost killing me. I’d barely made it back to this clubhouse. I’d felt like I was dying, and I didn’t want my last breaths to be in a hospital. I wanted to be somewhere I knew I’d be safe.
Smokey nuzzled into my neck, sensing my distress. “Stay with me,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to the shell of my ear.
I drew in a deep breath, nodding at him. “I’m still here,” I promised.
Tank glanced at us before looking back toward the main room of the clubhouse where we sat around, chilled out, and ate our meals. “Why did you come here instead of the hospital?” Capone demanded to know. I heard Hawke popping open a first-aid kit. Capone had asked me something similar the first time I’d shown up needing help. I’d told him hospitals asked too many questions.
Capone had sent me away, only for me to return on the verge of death. I knew that guilt still resided within him. It was probably the only reason he’d allowed Tank to make the call instead of sending this woman on her way much as he’d done me.
“He’ll find me,” the woman cried in answer. “Please don’t send me back out there.”
I swallowed vomit. Tank glanced at us over his shoulder again before coming into the room, his eyes steady on mine. “Who?” Capone demanded to know as Tank set the rifle by the bed and slid onto the mattress beside us. Brewer silently took his spot in the doorway. Tank drew both me and Smokey into his arms. I shuddered.
The woman remained silent. My gut cramped. “Who the fuck are you running from?” Capone snapped, getting irritated that he was having to repeat himself.
“My boyfriend,” she blubbered. “He—He—” She sobbed. Chills raced down my spine, but I didn’t know if it was because of the painful memories I was struggling to keep at bay or because I could somehow tell there was something amiss. “He thought I cheated on him, and he beat the hell out of me,” she cried.
“Something isn’t right,” I whispered, looking up at Tank.
He frowned at me and brushed my hair back from my face with his thick fingers. “Talk to me,” he murmured, making sure his voice didn’t carry outside of the room. Brewer glanced over his shoulder at us, obviously hearing us, but he turned back to face what was going on quickly, his rifle held low but ready to be used at a moment’s notice.
“I don’t know how, but I know something isn’t right. I’ve got this bad feeling that something is wrong,” I told him quietly. “Like something is going to happen.”
Smokey cupped my cheek, turning my head to face him. “Do you want us to send her away? Because we will, April. In a fucking heartbeat.Youare what matters. Always. And if you don’t feel safe, we’ll make her disappear,” he promised.
I didn’t want to know which definition of disappear he meant: just sending her away or making her heart stop beating.
I shook my head. “If he really did do that to her, then I don’t want to be the reason she winds up dead somewhere.” Tank and Smokey both flinched, easily remembering Capone sending me away the first time and how I almost hadn’t survived. I cupped Smokey’s cheek, trying to soothe him. He felt everything so much deeper than the others. Tank ran his hands down my arms, bringing some warmth back into my chilled body.
“Then we’ll keep a close eye on her,” Tank promised me. He pressed a kiss to my shoulder, and warmth blossomed where his lips touched me. “Both of you get dressed. Let me go talk to Capone.”
He slipped out of bed, and Smokey got off the mattress before grabbing my hand in his. Once I was on my feet, he silently led me to his closet, where he dressed me in a pair of his briefs andone of his t-shirts that dropped to my mid-thigh. He pressed a kiss to my forehead before getting dressed in a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and his cut. Once his boots were on his feet and his weapons were tucked into his cut, he grabbed my hand in his and quietly led me out of the room, our fingers linked together.
The girl looked up at me in surprise when we emerged into the main area, like she hadn’t expected me to be there. Tank seemed to catch on, as did Smokey and Capone. Smokey tightened his hand around mine.
Everyone in this town knew I lived with these men, and everyone also knew I was theirs—that they shared me.
Her not knowing meant she wasn’t from here. It was a major red flag. Because if she wasn’t from around here, she’d traveled far. She had an agenda.
Something was definitely up, and if my men had any chance of finding out what that was, it was clear we would have to play a dangerous game.
I fuckinghatedplaying these games.
CHAPTER 14
Rider
When we all saw how Malorie ended up looking at April, I herded our woman upstairs to my room, gun at the ready, while Capone worked on getting her name—which I’d caught on my way up the stairs—and where she was from. Smokey camped out in front of my door, and I knew at least two of the guys were outside keeping watch on the property.
Something wasn’t right. Had Malorie been from around here, she would’ve known of April and our relationship with her. Which meant she wasn’t. She’d traveled to come here, and that was suspicious as fuck, especially since there wasn’t much on the way here. We were in a small town in the middle of fucking nowhere.
