“You can and you will. You know about the second house that I use as a rental, the place that Zoe and Keira just moved out of. I’ve been looking for a tenant and had zero luck so it’s standing empty, but not for long. You’re moving in. Tonight.”
“Silver…”
“No arguments,” he growled. “There’s cameras and security codes and a top-of-the-line system. You’ll be safe there, baby, I promise you and by the way, this ain’t a negotiation or even a discussion. It’s a done goddamn deal and my word on this matter is law. We’re going over there now and you’re sleeping there tonight.”
Stunned, Jo just stood in front of him, his large hands tangled in her hair, her own hands curled around his massive biceps, feeling his strength and centering even through his cut. She was starting to crash now, her knees were turning to jelly as the adrenalin wore off, and she wanted to just cry with frustration and exhaustion. All her hard work, all her struggles and plans… all gone now.
But maybe – maybe something else was starting to move into its place. A whole new life, yet another one, one with The Road Devils acting as a broad, strong, ferocious human barrier all around her. Placing her in its center, in its heart… keeping her safe from Brian because they were far more dangerous than he could or would ever be.
Did she want that, though? To be totally dependent on Silver, Wolf, Scars, all the rest of them? To have them all know her history with Brian, what she’d been through and what had happened, what she was terrified might happen again?
She looked at Silver standing in front of her in his Road Devils cut and she decided that no, on the whole, she didn’t want that. She didn’t want to depend on anyone ever again; she’d learned the hard way that handing over all her power to a man was a huge, heartrending, life-destroying mistake. Handing it over to a dozen-plus men with dark pasts just seemed even more stupid, more precarious.
And anyway, she didn’t trust any of them. Not the way that she trusted herself. It had been aa long, hard road to trusting herself again after the gaslighting done by Brian, but she’d promised to always believe her own gut, her own eyes, her own thoughts.
As if he heard those exact thoughts, Silver said gently, “Jolene. I’m asking you to trust me.”
She started in surprise at his words, and he saw it. He felt Jolene lose her balance and her legs start to go under her, and he lowered her to the sofa again, sat down next to her trembling body.
“I know it’s a lot to ask, after how I’ve treated you and what I’ve done, I get that – but I’m asking anyway.” He hesitated, took a deep breath. “Please angel, I’m trying to protect you, even just for tonight. Let me do that, OK? Trust me to do that.”
Silver looked down at her, not liking her silence. He knew that she’d had one hell of a bad night, and he was pretty sure that him giving her ultimatums about staying at his place wasn’t helping her head space, but goddammit. If her abusive ex had found her, then this was a no-brainer, wasn’t it?
“Jolene?” he said softly. “You with me?”
“Yes,” she responded and she sounded clear and present. “I just – I don’t know what I think about what you said.”
“About staying at my place? Or about the guys keeping you safe?”
“Both. All of it. I don’t know…” She sighed. “I don’t know if I want to stay here.”
“Here with us? At Satan’s and The Garage and Blue Dragon?”
“Here in Denver. I – I just don’t know, Silver.”
Silver sucked air deep into his lungs, buying time for patience to set in because he wasn’t feeling very patient right now. The urge to just throw Jolene over his shoulder and drag her bodily to his house, keep her under lock and key and security code, was overwhelming. But this wasn’t his decision, as much as he wanted it to be; he couldn’t make her stay, as much as he wanted her to.
Funny how in less than ten minutes he’d gone from wishing her gone, to fervently hoping that she’d stay. He probed his feelings and motivations, concluded that his prime worry was her leaving Denver alone and her dickhead ex finding her… and the next time that he did, Jolene might well not live to see the sunrise over whatever city or town she’d landed in.
Silver was going to do everything he could to prevent that, short of actually kidnaping the woman – and even that was sort of on the table, if he was being honest.
So… he had to stay cool and rational.
Dig deep, man, and make her feel safe with you. Tall order, seeing as you’ve been a prime jackass to her, but this isn’t about you. This is about making sure she stays alive and healthy.
“OK,” he said calmly. “What do you need? I mean, right now? What can I do?”
Surprised at how his caveman-dragging-woman-around-by-her-hair tone had softened, how he’d gone from issuing demands and orders to asking what she needed, Jo genuinely considered his question.
“Uh, well.” She was thinking out loud and absently tracing the tattoos on his wrists, beautifully visible where his jean jacket sleeves had ridden up slightly. His whole body warmed at her sweet touch. “I have a change of clothes here, so no need to go back to my place for that.”
“OK.”
“I am tired,” she said, and he could tell that it cost her something to say that to him, to admit weakness and need. “I want to lie down in a bed.”
“Do you want me to take you to the hospital? Get you checked out?”
“No. No, I’m really alright.”
“Can I see?”
“See…”
“Your cheek and mouth,” Silver said quietly. “Where he hit you.”
“Oh.” Jo blinked at him, still not quite trusting his gentleness and kindness. “Ummmm. I guess. I mean – OK.”
Silver took another breath, reminding himself that no matter how furious he was, he couldn’t show her that. Not fully. He now understood that Jolene had known violence and hurt in her life – quite possibly a lot of it – and the last thing that she needed in this vulnerable, open state was his unpredictability or rage.
Plenty of time to punch something later at The Rock. Right now, he had to be her rock. Her safe place, her touchstone.
He had to be better than he’d been ever since she’d first turned around in this very office and announced that she was the new accountant.
Time to be a good man for her, partly because I suspect that she hasn’t known a good man in a long time. Also partly because I’ve been one of those not-good men to her.
Her lip was actually not bad and if he got some ice on it soon, it wouldn’t even bruise that much. Slowly, gently, not wanting to frighten her, Silver brushed her hair up and away, off her face and behind her ear. She winced and he paused right away.
“Hurts?”
She nodded. “He actually hit my ear more than my face.” Gingerly, she touched it, felt that it was hot and a bit swollen. “It was ringing for a while but it’s stopped now.”
“Alright. I’ll be careful.”
He didn’t touch her cheek or ear, but used his fingertip on her chin to tilt her face to the side and turn it to the light. She watched as his eyes turned smokey-gray, then as hard and cold as steel. That gorgeous mouth tightened, even his cheekbones looked somehow more angular and sharp. Fearful, she waited for him to start throwing out demands like machine gun fire, and she wondered how on earth she was going to resist him when she felt so shattered and small.
“Oh, baby,” he said quietly. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
“I – you – uh.” Jo swallowed as longing washed over her, slow and hot as a molten wave: hearing him call her ‘baby’ in that voice over and over was making her unravel a bit. “I’m OK. I mean… I will be OK.”
“I know you will. You’re tough as nails, way tougher than I’ve ever given you credit for.”
“Maybe. Maybe sometimes.”
&nbs
p; Their eyes met and held, and that energy, that electricity that had first sparked and blazed between them at The Roaring Red was back, back with a vengeance. Jo’s nipples hardened helplessly under her blouse, Silver’s cock hardened helplessly in his jeans. Her breath came short and shallow, his deepened and darkened. At the same second, they both looked away, unable to stand the raw, aching want.
“So…” He dropped his hands to the sofa, and she missed his touch right away, missed it somewhere deep inside. “What do you want me to do? What do you need tonight?”
“I… I need a night to think. To decide.”
“So somewhere safe and quiet.”
“Yes.”
“You want me to take you to the most secure hotel that I know? I’ll pay, then I’ll sit in the lobby all night. If you describe him for me, I’ll keep an eyes out for your asshole ex, make sure he never gets anywhere close to you if he shows up.” Silver shrugged. “Not that I expect him to show up… I can make sure we aren’t followed.”
“You – you’d do that?”
“Do what?”
“All of it.”
“In a heartbeat.” Those eyes were blazing down at her again, but not with anger this time. With fierce, furious protectiveness, and Jo felt her resistance start to crumble a bit. Oh, Lord, he was just so, so damn sexy and she was only human, after all. “You say the word and we’re on our way.”
She thought about that for a minute, or not even a minute, because really, what choice did she have? Brian was here, he knew where she worked and who knows how much else about her, and she was hurt and tired. She needed a shower, a glass of wine, a bed with soft, warm sheets – and time to really reflect and think. Weigh her options, consider all scenarios, play some mental games of chess as she predicted events a good eight moves in advance. She had to decide her next step – because whatever she did now, it was going to set things in motion one way or another, like dominoes falling.
She didn’t want the last domino to fall to be her death at the hands of her brutal, sick ex.
Another ‘capital d Decision’ to be made.
“Silver?”
“Yeah?”
“Please take me to a hotel for the night. I’ll – I’ll take the time and I’ll tell you tomorrow morning what I want to do.”
Relief flooded his broad chest, and he realized just how worried he’d be that she’d decide to dash to the bus station with just the clothes on her back, with her psycho ex in hot pursuit. He was sure that he wouldn’t have been able to live with that outcome – with Jolene out there in the world on her own and with no idea if she was OK. With a crunching feeling in his stomach, he realized that it might still happen, that she might still get her cute little ass on that bus after all.
God, please have her decide to stay here. Where I can keep her safe from harm.
“We’re out of here then,” he said roughly, determined to cross and burn that goddamn bridge if and when he came to it. “Grab what you need, and let’s go.”
Chapter Fourteen
Jo wearily wrapped her wet hair in a hotel, swathed her naked body in the warm, thick bathrobe. She examined her lip and cheek in the flattering candlelight and was relieved to see that the redness and swelling were almost gone with both. There would be no bruise, no mark. No sign at all that Brian had re-entered her life in his usual violent way.
She sighed and blew out the candles that Silver had insisted on lighting as he’d run the water and dumped in copious amounts of bubble bath provided by the hotel. Since they’d set foot in the room, he’d seen to everything, from getting ice from the mini-bar for her lip, to checking that she had a complementary toothbrush and toothpaste, to pouring her a massive glass of white wine for her to enjoy as she soaked.
She heard the TV out in the living room and she rolled her shoulders back, trying to ease out some of the tension that she was holding there. Silver had told her that he’d stay upstairs with her while she was in the bathroom to make sure that she could totally relax, and she knew that he was as good as his word. She also knew that he was going to sit down in the luxurious lobby all night, watching to see if anyone matching Brian’s description came into the hotel while she slept.
She knew that he was going to keep her safe, because he’d promised her that he would. For Silver, it was done and no discussion.
Jo tightened the belt around her waist, made sure that the robe wasn’t gaping in the front, then opened the bathroom door. She picked up her half-empty glass of wine and went into the master bedroom. She stared around, taken aback yet again at the opulence: she was shocked that Silver had brought her to such an expensive hotel and she was already planning how she’d pay him back, or at least pay half. She was sure the cost would make her eyes water, but no way she could let him foot the whole bill. That wasn’t his responsibility – and seeing as the man was about to go sit in a lobby all night, she thought it totally unfair to make him lose both sleep and money.
She dried her hair roughly, then ran a comb through it as best she could. Her thick, wild curls couldn’t be tamed or even contained by a plastic hotel comb, but she struggled on, wincing as the teeth hit snarls and knots. Finally, she shrugged at her reflection, accepted the straggly mermaid vibe as the look of the evening.
Silver looked up as she entered the living room. He was on the sofa, arms stretched across the leather back, his jeaned legs spread wide and making his thighs muscles strain against the denim. With grim determination, Jo forced her eyes away from the bulge between his legs, both loving and hating that she knew exactly how he looked, sounded and felt naked.
Nothing and nobody had ever felt better.
“You feeling better?” he asked her, and she was once again startled at how the man seemed to say aloud the very words that she was thinking, like an external echo of her inner world. He reached for the wine bottle in the ice bucket. “Maybe a top-up before bed?”
“Oh, no.” She held up her wine. “These glasses are the size of soup bowls, I swear. I think you poured half the bottle in here.”
Silver held the bottle up to the light and squinted at the remaining contents. “Yep. Pretty damn close.”
Jo sat at the far end of the sofa and curled her legs under herself, practically climbing the arm to keep from touching him. Frankly, she was still adjusting to this gentler, kinder Silver – if truth be told, she was feeling more and more like she was with Zeke.
All alone.
In a gorgeous hotel.
Naked under her robe.
With a massive bathtub and even more massive bed just a few steps away.
Stop it. Right. Now.
“So.” He was looking at her, those eyes seeing way, way more than she wanted them to as he repeated his question. “You feeling better?”
“Much better, thanks. Almost human.”
“Hungry?”
“Ummmm. Actually, not at all. Are you?”
“Yeah. I’m going to order room service.” He picked up the phone, pressed a button. “They make the best damn bacon cheeseburger here that I’ve ever tasted, honest to Christ.”
At the words ‘bacon cheeseburger’, Jo’s stomach gave a loud, long rumble. Astonished, they both stared at it, then burst into laughter.
“You sure, sweet thing?” Silver teased her, his eyes dancing and his lips curled up in a drop-dead sexy grin. “‘Cause it sounds to me like you could use a bacon cheeseburger.”
Like some bizarre Pavlovian response, her stomach growled again.
“Uh, well,” she said, attempting dignity in her robe, with horror hair and her stomach howling. “Maybe I could eat.”
Still grinning, Silver called down and asked for two burgers and two orders of fries. Jo sipped her wine with as much decorum as she could muster under the circumstances, and considering that she looked like a drowned rat. He hung up, then looked over at her.
> “They’re busy, so it’ll be a long thirty minutes, but these burgers are worth it. Try not to not gnaw on the sofa leg while you wait, huh?”
She giggled, taking them both by surprise. There was a pause while they gazed at each other across the leather Grand Canyon of space between them, then Silver dropped his eyes to her sweet naked toes. Her curvy legs were tucked under her perfect ass, and she was resting her weight on her generous hip. Her toes were somehow endearing in their innocence and vulnerability, and the subtle rose nail polish just emphasized that.
“So.” He cleared his throat, wrenched his eyes away from her adorable and kissable feet. “Can I ask now?”
“Ask what?”
“Ask some questions about your dickhead ex,” he said shortly. “I know you said that you weren’t going to tell me a single goddamn thing about the man, but you’ve kinda started telling me stuff, right? Maybe you can carry on a bit?”
“Silver –”
“Nuh-uh, Jolene,” he interrupted sternly. “We’re way past the point of you keeping any secrets, don’t you think? Look, you’re in potential serious danger and whatever the hell happened between us – good or bad – all I’m focusing on now is the fact that this guy has somehow found you. I’m gonna set aside all the tension and weirdness with you and me, and I’m gonna ask you some things that I want answered. Silence is golden and all but enough is enough, angel. Time to open that mouth and start helping me to help you.”
“OK,” she said, knowing that he was all kinds of right. “Ask.”
“Good girl,” he said softly and her stomach fluttered. That was better than growling with hunger, of course, but still not terrifically comfortable. Or desirable. Or too desirable? “Now… how much of an asshole is this guy, exactly? By which I mean: how bad did it get for you with him and how bad can it get again? What are we dealing with here?”
“We’re dealing with a monster. A brute.” Her throat closed up and she had to force out the words. “A – a creature that I never thought could take human form. And he did things to me for six years that made me think that I was crazy, and he hurt me, and I don’t want to talk about any of it. Please. Please don’t make me. I can’t – I can’t go back there, not even in my head. I just –”
The Devil's Silver (The Road Devils MC Book 2) Page 23
