to before.’
‘Well, he’s serious now.’ I held her gaze. ‘He’s going after you with the big guns, too. Single mom. Shitty apartment. Biker boyfriend.’
Her eyes widened, then flared with anger. ‘No. Oh, fuck, no! He’s not using you. The prick!’
That’s what I loved about Cat. She always had my back. Always.
She shoved herself out of her chair, pacing angrily in front of the coffee table. ‘Why now? He hasn’t wanted this before. I don’t get it. And anyway you’re my friend—not my boyfriend.’
‘Yeah, but that’s how he’s going to play it. Fuck, if I wanted my kid, I’d tell every lie I could to get them back.’
She stopped and stared at me. ‘Not helping.’
‘Hey, that’s what he’s doing. I’m just telling it like it is.’
‘Well, don’t.’ She resumed pacing. ‘This is crazy. He’s doing it to hurt me. He doesn’t really want Annie—he never did.’
‘Why he’s doing it doesn’t matter. All that matters is how we stop him.’
She came to a halt again, her hands in fists at her sides. ‘Yeah and how the hell are we going to do that? He’s a lawyer. It’ll be his word against mine.’
That was the problem. He was a fine, upstanding member of the community. A professional. No one knew he was also an abusive prick. No one except me and Cat.
The thing was, I’d already had to stand on the sidelines once to watch him take out his anger-management problems on someone I loved. I wasn’t going to do it again. Still less when the person involved was a kid.
I needed to talk to Keep—see what he could do about the situation. He was friends with the police chief now, and that asshole was the chief’s son. He’d be able to work something out. After all I was Keep’s nephew, and he’d always told me that if I needed anything I only had to say the word.
I’ve never wanted to put anything on Keep—it wasn’t his fault his brother was the biggest asshole ever to walk the earth. But this wasn’t about me. It was about Cat and what she needed. And she needed something now.
‘Don’t worry. I’ll deal with it.’ I put as much authority as I could into my voice.
‘What do you mean, you’ll deal with it?’ she demanded. ‘How?’
‘Doesn’t matter how.’
‘Bullshit.’ Her whole posture was tense, almost vibrating. ‘Don’t give me that biker-secrecy crap—not when it involves Annie.’
I leaned forward, put my beer down on the table, then pushed myself out of the chair and came around the table to where she stood. Then I pulled her into my arms. She made an angry sound, putting her hands onto my chest and shoving, holding herself away. Her cheeks were flushed and she wouldn’t look at me.
She was pissed and, hell, I understood. She was trying to protect Annie and she wanted to know what was going on. Except I wasn’t going to tell her. Not until I’d worked it all out myself. Mainly because I knew she’d hate it.
Her mouth was a hard line, her body tense. It was difficult being close to her. Difficult having all that soft warmth against me. It made me feel guilty and it made me hard, both at the same time. Over the years I’d got better at hiding how I felt about her, but there were times when I couldn’t quite do it—and tonight the interrupted blow job only made it worse.
Cat’s familiar scent filled my head...a sweet, musky smell like jasmine and sandalwood mixed together. Fuck knew what it was, but it always made me feel good. Made me feel like I was home. Made me want to wrap her in my arms and hold her close, put my face between her breasts and inhale her.
A bad move.
Cat had never shown any sign that she wanted me and I’d never wanted to put our friendship at risk. It was too important to me and so was she.
So I told my goddamn dick to calm the fuck down and held her like I always did. Giving her comfort the way a friend would.
‘I know you’re scared,’ I said. ‘I know you’re worried. But let me help you and Annie.’
Her palms were resting on my chest and I could feel the heat of them settle right down through me, burning through my T-shirt and onto my skin. She was staring at them, and not at me, as if the backs of her hands were the most interesting things in the world.
‘I don’t want to involve the club,’ she said quietly. ‘Please, Smoke. You know how I feel about that.’
I did. But this wasn’t just about her. This was about Annie, as well.
‘Remember that the club hasn’t done anything to you. And if they can help Annie, isn’t that more important?’
‘It’s not... It’s not about Dad.’
Sure it wasn’t. Her father had been a biker and a nasty bastard. Like mine. Except her dad hadn’t beaten her half to death every time he got drunk. No, he’d been more the absent type—away a lot on club business and not much interested in anything else. Especially not the poor little rich girl he’d got pregnant or the daughter he’d fathered.
Anyway, I called it like I saw it.
‘That’s a piece of shit, Cat. And you know it.’
Her body tensed and she looked up at me, her eyes sharp as green glass. ‘This is about Annie, not Dad.’
‘Yeah, it is.’ My hands were on her hips and I found myself tightening my hold on her, as if I could make her see that her fears were all the product of her past with nothing but the strength of my grip alone. ‘Which means if you want to make sure she’s safe, you need to let me handle this.’
An expression I didn’t recognise moved in her eyes. Anger and something else, too. Something unfamiliar. Then her gaze dipped and—holy fucking shit—she was staring at my mouth.
I went still. Completely and utterly still. She’d never done that before, and there was only one reason in the entire world she would.
Obviously picking up on my shock, she pushed at me again. But I held on. No way was I going to let her go—not now. Not when I’d caught her looking at me the way I never in a million years thought she would.
‘Smoke.’ She pushed harder, her cheeks flushed, her thick black lashes veiling her gaze.
‘No.’ I tightened my grip, suddenly desperate to know what the hell was going on. ‘We need to talk, Cat.’
‘What? No, we don’t. Look, I’m tired and—’
‘We need to talk about what you saw in the hallway tonight.’
Cat
I
