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“Wait in the lobby for me. I’ll park the truck and be right back.”
She nodded. “Be careful.”
I gave her a reassuring smile and headed off to park the truck. The wind was relentless, pushing against me with a fierce determination that made me stumble more than once. Finally, my clothes wet once again, I made it back to the hotel and jogged inside.
I found Dawn sitting in a chair in the lobby, her hair matted to her face and her clothes soaked through.
“You okay?” I asked.
She nodded, but I could see the fear in her eyes. “It was so stupid to try to make it home. The whole reason Dad had me go to the Bones clubhouse was because he knew I’d never make it to Lake Worth before it was too late. We even talked about it.” She sounded so lost. Like she thought she’d messed up so bad she’d made an enemy of everyone.
“Why did you change your mind?” I sat in a chair next to her. I’d already checked the app Ripper had me download. Our room was ready, and we had a virtual key on my phone.
Dawn shrugged. “I wanted to be with my parents. Everyone else was in Somerset, but I knew my dad would never leave the clubhouse, and Mom wouldn’t leave Dad. I guess I just wanted to be brave. Like them.”
I could see a sad, miserable young woman looking back at me when Dawn briefly met my gaze. That was something I wanted to get to the bottom of. Not because it was any of my business, but if El Diablo made her feel inadequate, I’d kick his ass on principle. The Devil or not.
“Come on,” I said, reaching out for her hand. She slid her smaller one into mine immediately. Probably a reflex on her part. I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile before pulling her to her feet. “Let’s get settled in our rooms, then we’ll check in with the club and see if we can find something to eat. Sound good?”
“Yes. Thank you so much for coming after me, Ice. I’m in your debt.”
“We’re going to be safe here.” I squeezed her hand reassuringly. “And you never owe me for keeping you safe. All we have to do is ride out the storm for a day or so. Then I’ll get you back to your father and everything will be better.”
She nodded her head slightly as she allowed me to lead her down the hall. Once we got to our rooms, I unlocked the door and let Dawn go in ahead of me. Ripper had gotten us two rooms with a connecting door, just like he said. There was a king-size bed in each room, and we’d each have some privacy.
Like I was going to sleep.
“Why don’t you take a shower?” I opened my duffle and pulled out another pair of shorts and a T-shirt for Dawn. Thankfully, the guys had thrown in two changes of clothing for each of us. We’d have something dry for tonight and we could hang our wet clothes in the bathroom for after the storm passed.
She nodded, taking the clothes I offered her and ducking inside the bathroom. I took a deep breath and let it out before taking my phone out and punching in Thorn’s number. He answered on the first ring.
“You guys good?”
“Yeah. We’re in the room Ripper secured for us. First floor, so I’ll do my best to keep us here rather than relocate to one of the meeting rooms. Hopefully it won’t get bad enough to need more than one room. Tell him thanks.”
“Will do. She OK?”
“Scared. Beating herself up for trying to make it home instead of stopping in Somerset, but she’s not hurt. I got to her just in time, though. A wave nearly swept her car away. She’s probably a bit banged up, but she made it here on her own two feet without much difficulty.”
“Good. Want me to pass that along to El Diablo?”
“Nah. I’ll give him a call. He’ll want to hear from me since I have his daughter in my care.”
“See? You already know how to keep your allies happy.” I could almost see the grin on Thorn’s face.
“Ain’t about keepin’ anyone happy. It’s about letting the assassin know his daughter is safe.”
“Very good point there. Let us know if anything changes or if you need anything.”
“We will. Hopefully we’ll just sit here for a couple days being bored.”
“That sounds like the perfect thing for you guys to do.”
Chapter Four
Dawn
Once inside the bathroom, I shut the door and leaned back against it. Sliding down the door to the floor, I wrapped my arms around my knees and took several deep breaths before I let the tears come. It was the only way I could safely contain what wanted to be uncontrollable sobbing.
