“You waiting for your man?”
I glanced up to find the dark-haired woman behind the bar watching me expectantly. She was the one who’d kept my drinks coming the night before. I shook my head. “No, I’m not with any of the bikers.”
Frowning, she cocked her head. “What about that guy you were with last night, just before you left?”
“Nope. I’m stuck here with him, but he’s not mine.”
Still frowning, she said, “Huh, coulda fooled me. The way he hung off every word you said and the way you guys argued… I would have sworn you two were together.”
My belly fluttered. I placed my hand on it as if to tell it to settle the hell down. “You misread him. Nitro doesn’t hang off any words I say. Although, if I were to tell him I wanted sex, he’d probably hang off those words.”
She laughed but her expression soon turned serious. “I know what I saw and trust me when I tell you that I don’t generally misread people. I have a kind of sixth sense about people.”
I paused for a moment. “Are you a psychic or something?” She did have that look about her with her long wild hair, crystal jewellery, earth-mother waif figure and flowing dress.
She hit me with a brilliant smile that turned her pretty face into magnificent beauty. “I wouldn’t say that, but I do sense things.” She held out her hand. “I’m Kree by the way.”
I shook her hand. “Tatum. Nice to meet you.” And I actually meant it. I didn’t bother with most people anymore, but Kree had an energy that drew me in.
“You want a rum?”
“God, no.” Memories of being sick during the night ran through my mind. “But I would love an orange juice.”
She frowned. “It sounds like that rum last night didn’t treat you well.”
“Let’s just say I won’t be having any more for a long time.”
As she poured me a juice, a blood-curdling scream filled the bar and I turned to see who it came from.
King had a petite woman in his arms just outside the doorway and I could vaguely make out her head buried in his neck. Loud sobs came from her. And then she lifted her face to his and screamed, “No! He can’t die!”
King said something to her that I couldn’t hear, and she once again placed her head on him and sobbed. He held her for a few minutes. I was fairly certain he would have held her for longer except for the fact a screeching noise outside distracted him and he left her to go out there.
The woman leaned against the wall near the bar entrance and I watched as her body slid down it to the floor. Shudders racked her body. The pain she felt was palpable. So much so, it pierced my heart. Feeling my way through that pain, I slid off the bar stool and made my way to her.
Joining her on the floor, I pulled her into my embrace. Running my hand over her hair, I tried to soothe her and take some of that pain from her. But I knew—God, how I knew—people couldn’t carry your load; they could only wipe your tears and wait your time out with you.
I’d only been sitting with her for a few minutes when King stormed back inside. He halted when he saw me, surprise in his eyes. A beat of silence passed between us and then he nodded, as if he was pleased with what he saw.
“Can you take her to Nitro’s room?”
I put two and two together and knew why he wanted her taken away. Nodding, I said, “Yeah.”
“Thanks,” he said gruffly. It was the first sign of emotion other than anger or frustration that I’d seen from him.
He turned and exited the clubhouse, and I somehow managed to get the woman to a standing position. Her arms clung to me and her head remained down while she cried.
I placed my hand under her chin and tilted her face to look at me. “I’m going to take you somewhere quiet now. You good to walk?”
Eyes that held her distress stared back at me. She didn’t speak but she did nod, so I held her close and led the way to Nitro’s room. I laid her down on his bed and settled myself next to her, sitting with my back to his headboard with my arms wrapped around her.
We sat like that for a long time. I wasn’t sure how long it had been when she sat up and said, “I-I need to go.” She stumbled over her words and gulped back a sob. “Need to know if he—” Her hand flew to her mouth as her face crumpled. “Oh, God.”
Her long hair had fallen across her face so I tucked it behind her ear. “King will come to you when he has news. He knows where you are.”
She blinked a couple of times as she processed what I said. As she did that, her vacant stare seemed to shift and her awareness altered so that she actually saw me. “Who are you?”
“I’m Tatum. You?” I didn’t bother giving her any further details because I figured she was in no frame of mind to even want them. She surprised me, though.
“I’m Evie, Kick’s wife. Are you with one of the guys or a family member?”
“Neither.”
Her forehead crinkled. “Huh?”
“It’s a long story.”
She grimaced. “I have time.”
Yeah, I guessed she did and maybe I could help her pass it. I leaned my head back against the headboard and exhaled. “I’m here because Nitro’s under orders to keep me alive. Silver Hell want me dead, and Storm want me alive because of my ties to a guy they’re in business with.”
“Why do they want you dead?”
“One of their guys murdered my brother. I was involved in his death recently and they found out.” The words came out clinically as I stared straight ahead and concentrated on keeping my mind as blank as the wall I was looking at. Concentrated on keeping my sadness at bay.
She reached for my hand and held it. The gesture took me by surprise. Touch was something I’d denied myself for a long time. Well, except for sex, but that didn’t count anymore because that was purely physical. There were no emotions tied to it. Evie’s gesture was bound with emotions and I sucked in a sharp breath. Monroe was my person. My only fucking person. No one else was allowed to breach my walls. And yet, in the space of a few days it felt like my damn walls were being scaled all over the place.
I ripped my hand out of hers at the same time the door flung open. Nitro entered in a gust of caged energy, his eyes wild, his face covered in blood, his clothes torn and dirty. He came to a sudden stop when his eyes landed on us.