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I felt better now that Joker had taken a good look at the wound and patched Emma up.

He might like to play the clown, but under that act he was one hell of a medic.

If it weren’t for his PTSD, he could have become one of the top surgeons in the country.

Well, his PTSD and his total lack of respect for anyone who hadn’t earned it.

That tended to include his superiors. Most of the brothers had the same issue.

Emma couldn’t be in better hands.

Unless they were mine, of course. I wanted to get to know her better.

Since shipping out over a decade ago, I’d managed to mostly put her out of my mind.

Although I’d noticed her growing into a very sexy young woman, she was too young for me.

I had a decade on her. And she was too fucking good for the likes of me.

She deserved someone better than an ex-Navy SEAL who’d seen far too many dead bodies.

Despite that, my dick stood at attention just having her in the house. It really wanted to get to know her better. A lot better. But hell, she’d dated my kid brother. That made me some kind of perv for the way my cock got hard every time I gave her a sideways glance.

Or did it? Maybe she was one of those women that liked their men with a little more experience. I didn’t see any rings on her fingers. Maybe I was just what she’d been waiting for. Might be worth a shot.

That was going to have to wait, though, until me and the club took care of the unknown gunman, and anyone else who might pose a threat to my woman. Her account of the park thing resembled an execution-style killing, leading me to question what was going on right under the noses of the club.

I risked a peek at the woman curled up against me on the sofa. She looked good there. Looked like she fucking belonged there. Deep down, below the level of logic and reason, when she needed help, I was the one she’d come running to.

That felt good. Real good.

I stuffed those feeling away to be considered later. Right now, I needed to understand the events of the night a little better.

A thought occurred to me, and I frowned. “Do you usually walk home from work this late at night? Where’s your car?”

She sighed. “Damn thing won’t start. Replaced the battery six months ago, so it’s probably the starter this time.

I just forked over all my cash for next term’s tuition, so I can’t afford to fix it before payday.

Until then, I’m hoofing it.” She managed to look everywhere except at me.

“I knew taking the shortcut through the park was risky, but my feet were killing me, and I hoped luck would be on my side just this once.”

She didn’t need me to point out how badly luck had let her down. Again. The fact that she’d been forced to ask me, a guy she hadn’t seen in years, for help was proof positive that Karma had it in for her.

Or maybe Karma thought it was time to do me a favor.

I picked up my phone from the side table, keeping one arm wrapped around her in case she got the silly notion that she could leave. “I need to call a couple of the guys and get them to check out the park.”

She glared at me and tried to pull away. “Check it out? You think I made this up so I could come play snuggle bunny with you?”

I smothered the urge to laugh. She was the farthest thing from a snuggle bunny as I’d ever seen.

“Yes, I believe you. Pretty hard to fake a bullet wound. Issue is that dead bodies tend to attract the attention of the authorities. The last thing the club needs is to have cops swarming all over the place. Which they will, if there’s a dead body found in a public park. ”

“So…? The cops will find the killer and then everything goes back to normal.”

I raised one brow. “You can’t possibly be that na?ve. The first person they’re going to suspect is the head of the local motorcycle club.”

She winced. “Sorry. I didn’t think of that.

I didn’t mean to get you into trouble. I can leave.

Go home and call the cops from there. Leave you out of it.

I just thought…” Her voice trailed off and she shrugged.

“I don’t know. I guess I thought you could protect me. You know. From whoever that guy was.”

“And I can. But getting the cops involved is a no go. I’ll make a couple of calls, and the guys will take care of it.”

She blinked. “Okay. Thanks.”

A tentative smile curved the corner of her lips as she pulled back a bit and looked up at me. Mascara and eyeliner had combined to create black streaks down both of her cheeks. God, she looked so young and vulnerable. “Can I use the bathroom?”

She must have realized I wasn’t planning on going into details about how the guys would handle things. Or maybe she didn’t want to know. Regardless, it let me off the hook.

“Sure.” I loosened my arm to let her stand and pointed toward the hallway. “Second door on your right.”

“Thanks.” She took two steps in that direction and paused then turned back to look at me. “For everything. Thanks for being here. I know it’s been years since we even talked, but you were the only one I could think of that might be able help.”

“Go wash up.” I growled the words out. It was all I could do to stay seated, not jump up and grab her and never let her go.

When I heard the click of the bathroom door closing behind her, I sent a quick text off to my second-in-command, Rattler, outlining the situation.

He replied immediately that he’d get back to me when he had something to report. Typical. A man of few words, Rattler was all action. If he said he’d do something, he did it.

I could hear the sound of the water being turned on, followed by splashing. When Emma emerged, she’d washed off her makeup and combed her thick mane of red hair into some semblance of order. She came back into the room and took a seat on the lounger across from me.

“I can’t go home. They know who I am, or they will shortly. I told you the one guy recognized me from the bar, and if that doesn’t clinch it, I lost my phone in the park. If they have that, they’re going to know everything about me.” Her eyes went wide. “They could know about you.”

“How so?”

She toyed with hem of her shirt. “I have pictures on the phone. Some still on there from when I was dating your brother. You might be in some of them. From holidays, and you know, goofing around.”

Damn. That made it tough. Not that I was afraid of some shit-assed murderer, but if they made me as the Prez of Riptide, then they’d know where to come looking for her. Hell, they could probably look my address up on the web. They’d have this place and the clubhouse.

“You’re staying here tonight.” I made it a statement.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I didn’t think before I ran over here.”

“It was a good plan. I have a spare room you can use. I’m not about to jump you, or any shit like that.”

She frowned. “I didn’t think you were. It’s just… I’ve put you in danger and that’s not fair.”

I had to grin at that. “Life’s not fair. I thought we all learned that back in the ‘hood.”

“Yeah.” A faint smile lifted the corner of her mouth. “I guess we did.”

I had to ask. “You still stuck on my kid brother? Is that the issue?”

She let out a derisive snort. “Hardly. We were never more than buddies, really. Being with him kept the bad asses in the school from bugging me and gave him an excuse when he needed one.”

“Excuse?”

“Like, he couldn’t possibly have broken that window, officer. He was with me all night.” She batted her eyelashes in a poor imitation of a femme fatale .

“So, you lied for him?”

She nodded. “Not like he was dealing drugs or anything. Just pranks.”

“You guys weren’t…?” I wasn’t sure how to ask if they’d been fucking around without sounding like a jealous old geezer.

She giggled. “Hooking up hot and heavy? Nah. He wasn’t my type, really.”

It took me a minute to digest that information. “Not your type?”

She shook her head. “He was a screw-up. I loved him like a brother, but that’s it. I didn’t need that kind of trouble.”

I wasn’t sure if I should be mad or insulted or relieved.

At least I wasn’t lusting after my little brother’s leftovers, which made how I was feeling a whole lot less creepy.

“Well, you haven’t been with anyone else since, or so the local grapevine says.

I was under the impression you were heartbroken when he joined the Army and left you behind. ”

She shrugged. “I can’t help what people think, and in a way, it worked to my advantage. I want to get a degree, get a decent job, and get the hell out of here. I don’t have time for all the drama that comes with a boyfriend.”

She managed a faint smile. “Sorry. Nothing against Justin. We had fun, but it’s not like I was wildly in love with him, and he was fine with that. He left. I moved on, and I imagine he did too. Still in the Army, isn’t he?”

“He is. Says he’s found his place in life.”

Emma yawned, then winced, her hand going to her side. The freezing Joker put in was probably wearing off. Time to pack her off to bed for the night. Sadly, it wouldn’t be my bed.

“The spare bedroom is at the end of the hallway. It has its own bathroom so you can take a shower without worrying I might come in without thinking. I don’t happen to have any lingerie you can borrow, but you can have one of my T-shirts to sleep in.

” I eyed up her diminutive frame. “Should come down to about your knees. In the morning I’ll have a couple of the prospects go over to your place and get you some things. ”

That elusive smile reappeared. “I take it there isn’t anyone who’s going to take issue with me wearing your clothes? I don’t think I have the energy to fight off a jealous girlfriend.”

“Nope. You’re safe on that score.”

For a moment, she looked surprised, then got unsteadily to her feet. “Thanks. I’m exhausted. A shower would be great but…” She gestured at the bandage on her side.

“Yeah. You need to wrap that in plastic if you really want a shower, but I’m pretty sure I don’t have any. We’ll get you over to the clubhouse in the morning, and you can shower there.”

“Sounds like you’ve done this before.”

“Once or twice.” Or more. Active duty didn’t come without risk, and I had enough scars to prove it. Luckily, they were hidden under my shirt. Didn’t want to scare her off too fast.