AllFreeNovel
Share Us
This man could steal her heart and make her lose sight of everything…but hardening herself against Jennings was impossible.
She didn’t have any weapons in her arsenal for that fight.
Chapter Eleven
The nursing home doors opened and two middle-aged women walked out. One made a comment about the beautiful flowers flanking the entrance, and then they walked to their car.
Jennings stood off to the side, watching all the activity. He didn’t have a reason to be lurking around. He really didn’t have any reason to be concerned for Wren’s safety, but when the urge struck to swing by her workplace, it was too strong to ignore. He’d learned long ago not to let any of his instincts go unnoticed, so here he was.
A lanky guy in a hoodie loped across the parking lot. As he approached, Jennings heard him muttering to himself, too low for him to make out the words. He studied the guy’s face before he entered the building.
Again, a strong pull to go inside and follow the kid was a guiding force he couldn’t ignore. He pushed away from the building and followed him.
After the kid cleared the front desk security, Jennings stopped to give his false name and say he was stopping to give his girlfriend her keys she forgot at home. The clerk gave him a sticker name tag, and he plastered it onto his T-shirt.
The crew was sleeping off yet another heavy party in honor of Matthews surviving his wounds. Since not much was going on around the clubhouse, Jennings didn’t see the point in sticking around watching people sleep or fuck. In the time he was gone, he didn’t foresee anybody making a drug run. Besides, he was in now—they’d call him to ride along.
Trailing the kid through a few corridors, he listened hard, trying to catch whatever he was muttering. The words came in short bursts. Either he was crazy, distraught or high. After seeing his face, he’d lay bets on the last.
The chain on his belt rattled, and he lightened his footsteps so his boots didn’t thump so loud or draw more attention than he was already getting from the nursing home staff, patients and visitors.
Unless he was with his team or his brothers, Jennings was almost always the tallest guy in the room. He garnered a lot of attention too, especially dressed in the black leather that made him stand out in this town as the bad guy. Hell, maybe even evil.
When they drew close to a medical cart full of supplies sitting in the hallway, the kid veered left toward it. He slowed down, looking over the contents. One finger twitched aside some bandages, but he didn’t take anything.
Jennings went on full alert. The kid was definitely sketchy, from his behavior to his actions. He continued tracking him to the end of the hallway, where he turned right into another wing of the sprawling nursing home. He’d been told by a security guard that Wren worked with the patients in this ward.
Swinging his head left and right, he searched for her. She wasn’t standing in plain sight, but more people were sitting in the hallway on chairs or in wheelchairs. A housekeeping worker arranged carts of linens and several people were changing the bed sheets in various rooms as he passed.
The odor of disinfectant and something sour hung in the air, giving him an even bigger appreciation for Wren’s strong character. Caring for people in this stage of life wasn’t easy.
Ahead of him, the kid turned to enter a room. Jennings hung back.
“Hi, Grandpa.”
A faint, thready voice responded.
“It’s Ethan.”
“Oh?”
“Your grandson.”
Maybe Jennings had jumped to conclusions about the guy and he wasn’t sketchy at all. He’d walked on the darker side of life for so long that everybody looked suspicious to him until they proved otherwise.
Then he heard another voice. One that sent a thrill through his core.
“Hi, Ethan. We haven’t seen you around here for a few weeks.” Wren’s clear, high voice was a fresh breeze to his senses, blowing away the odor of suffering.
“I’ve been busy,” Ethan said.
“Well, it’s nice to see you. I’m sure your grandfather appreciates your visits. Isn’t that right, Mr. Craig?”
The man replied too low for Jennings to hear.
“I’ll be right back with your lunch tray and your afternoon medications.”
Jennings dodged around the corner before Wren could spot him. She would probably give him hell for being here and he didn’t want to disrupt her workday with the dark cloud of the situation she was in.
