Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 31414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
The meal finished too soon, and by the time we made it back to the room, my body felt heavy with exhaustion. But my mind wouldn’t shut up.
Lainie flopped onto the couch with a dramatic sigh, stretching her arms over her head as though she didn’t have a care in the world. “Okay, the food coma is setting in. You good to grab the bathroom first?”
I hovered near the edge of the room with my arms crossed, my pulse still a little jumpy. “Uh, yeah. Maybe in a minute.”
She blinked at me, then shrugged and started scrolling through her phone, completely unaware of the storm swirling inside me.
I didn’t even know what I was waiting for…until a knock came at the door.
I startled slightly, then padded across the room to open the door. Talon was in the hallway, a folded black T-shirt clutched in his hand.
He stepped close enough to hold it out to me, his eyes heavy-lidded and unreadable. “Brought you this in case you need something to wear to bed.”
I clutched the soft material to my chest, barely resisting the urge to sniff it to see if the shirt smelled like him.
“Need the flash drive,” he said gruffly.
Hesitantly, I dug into my pocket for the security badge I’d clipped the drive to.
He watched me with those intense gray-blue eyes, and I marveled again at how this stranger could make me feel so safe.
Holding out his hand, he murmured, “Trust me, baby.”
I was completely shocked to realize that I did. Somehow, in the small amount of time I’d known him, he’d managed to gain my trust.
When I set the badge in his hand, his fingers curled around it. Then he leaned in and brushed his lips over my forehead in a firm, lingering touch that sent a shiver down my spine.
“You’re safe now,” he murmured, the words like a vow. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
He was gone before I could react, the door clicking softly shut behind him.
I stood there for a long second, shirt pressed to my chest, heart racing like I’d just run five miles.
“You gonna sleep in that or just stand there holding it all night?” Lainie asked with a smirk.
Heat rushed to my face as I turned away. “Shut up.”
We both knew I didn’t actually mean it. Not when I curled up on the bed twenty minutes later with Talon’s shirt hugging my body…and his scent wrapped around me like armor.
4
SAVAGE
Leaving her room was one of the hardest things I’d done in a long time. The only reason I managed it at all was because Tamara was curled up in my shirt, wrapped in my scent, tucked safe inside our walls. If I hadn’t seen her with my own eyes, holding that soft cotton to her chest like it was armor, I would’ve been parked outside her door all damn night.
That girl was mine.
And now that she was under my roof, under my protection, nothing else took priority.
Not the bar. Not club business. Not sleep.
Only Tamara.
My boots echoed against the hallway floor as I made my way to the office I had in the clubhouse. I did most of my work at Midnight Rebel, but I was also set up so I could work here.
The air felt different. Thicker somehow. I wasn’t sure if it was the adrenaline, obsession, or both. Either way, my pulse hadn’t settled since she’d walked into that bar and flipped my world upside down with one look.
I dropped onto my chair and turned on the lamp, shadows spilling across the papers strewn on my desk. Numbers, invoices, bar orders…all of it faded from view as I inserted Tamara’s flash drive into my laptop and downloaded all the files. Then I grabbed my phone and hit Deviant’s number.
“Sav,” he answered on the second ring, his voice low and rough like he hadn’t slept in a couple of days. In the past, he probably wouldn’t have. But the tech genius’s old lady kept him from getting lost in the work like he used to.
“I need eyes on that clinic,” I said without preamble. “Cross-check their patient lists and transfers. Look for licensing issues. Track where the money’s coming from. Find out if they’re backed by anyone—government or private. There’s a file labeled Transfers—Internal Use Only. Tamara got it downloaded onto a flash drive. Sending it to you now. She thinks patients are disappearing.”
He was quiet for a beat. “You think, or she thinks?”
I leaned forward and growled, “She thinks. So I know.”
Another pause. Then a low whistle. “Got it. Want traffic cams, too?”
“Pull everything. Traffic cams. Street surveillance. Anything pointing at that mobile clinic. If you find movement at odd hours or missing time stamps. If something so much as breathes near that place, I want to know.”
“On it. I’ll ping you when I have something.”