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My watch starts to vibrate again, and I roll my eyes as I pat around the bed to try and locate my phone.
“Scott, I told you I’m fine.” I giggle as I answer.
“This isn’t Scott, sweetheart.” The voice that speaks back to me must be scrambled through a machine to make it unrecognizable. And when Isaac sees the horror on my face, he takes it out of my hand, puts it on speakerphone, then nods for me to continue.
“Who is this?” I ask, watching how Isaac’s forehead creases while we wait for a response.
“You’ll find out.” The person on the other end of the line chuckles. “I have every intention of us being together very soon.” Before I can say anything back, Isaac snatches the phone from my hand and presses it to his ear.
“You listen to me, you gutless son-of-a-bitch. You ain’t gonna even get close. I’m gonna find you, and then I’m gonna do the most brutal things you can imagine to your body before I kill ya.”
The line goes dead, and I watch Isaac’s nostrils flare as he breathes.
“You really meant that, didn’t you?” I swallow thickly when he drops the phone onto the bed beside me.
“Every fuckin’ word,” he warns. “We better get some clothes on.” He stands up and starts pulling on his jeans.
“Why, where are we going?”
“We’re taking this to Prez.”
* * *
I sit awkwardly in the chair opposite the Dirty Souls’ president and watch as he listens to Isaac explain. The fact he calls me afriendand leaves out the part about how we met in Paris hurts a little, but right now, I have to focus on the matter at hand.
“I need to find him, Dec, I figure we can ask Jessie’s old lady to help us. She can trace that call Ava just got, right?” I can tell how worried Isaac is from how desperate he sounds.
“I’ll call up Jessie and ask him.” Dec nods his head in agreement, then focuses his eyes on me.
“She claimed?” He speaks as if I’m not right here in front of him, and I feel Isaac’s hand slide onto my shoulder and squeeze.
“Yeah, she’s claimed.” I don’t know why, but I like the way that sounds.
“You're safe here, just so long as you do what we say. No one's gonna hurt ya.” Dec tells me directly. “Gimme ya phone; I’ll have it back to ya by the end of the night.” When he reaches his hand across the table, I hand it over to him. “And in the meantime, I suggest you take yourold ladydownstairs and introduce her to the others. Jesus Christ, Cobe, this place is gettin’ as bad as Colorado.” He shakes his head and sniggers as we leave, then when we reach the bottom of the stairs, and Isaac turns to face me, I interrupt before he can say anything.
“What does it mean, being claimed? And what the hell is an old lady?” I shake my head in confusion.
“It means exactly what I told you in my room. That ya mine, and that no one can take you away from me.” His hand feels almost tender as he cups my face in his palm.
“Don’t you think this is all going a little too fast?” I can’t stop the smile from forming on my face, even if I’m trying to be sensible.
“All I know is that I’ve thought about ya for the past 380 days. You came to me when you were scared because you knew I’d protect ya, and I can’t do that if we’re not together. I promised myself that if I ever saw you again, I wouldn’t let ya go a second time. And I won’t.” He’s looking deadly serious, and as much as I just want to kiss him and agree, there are so many things that have to be considered.
“Isaac, I told you I start a new job next month. I need—” He silences me with his lips, and makes me forget any obstacles that are in the way of making us work.
“We’ll figure it out,” he tells me firmly, taking my hand again and leading me into the lion's den.
Isoften the blow by introducing her to Beth and Levi first. Beth’s the caring kind, and I know she’ll be welcoming. And as I watch Ava look around the room nervously, I point out some of the other brothers to her. “That’s Bulletproof; the guy beside him is Lucky,” I explain as she takes everything in.
“Do you all have strange names like that?” she asks.
“Not all of us.” Levi pulls his arm away from Beth’s shoulder to reach forward and crush out his smoke.
“There’s gotta be a reason behind it. Bulletproof’s been shot at twelve times. He don’t dodge bullets; he takes ‘em. He’ll happily show you the scars.” Levi laughs.
“And Lucky? Guess he always falls on his feet, right?” Ava asks with a huge smile on her face as she looks over at them both.
“Not exactly.” Levi chuckles back at her. “We call him that ‘coz he’sluckyto ever get anywhere. You got him ridin’ up front, ya guaranteed to get lost. He’s a lethal fucker, but he got no sense of direction.
