Page 56 of Asking for Trouble

“Oh?” His eyebrows jumped up. “How might you do that?”

God, why was this so hard?

I knew it was the right thing to do. The only thing to do if I wanted to get myself out of this mess of a life I was living. So why was I reluctant?

Rooster and Hazard were bad men who had done awful things to me. This was my chance to take my powerback.

But years of abuse and power imbalance stood between me and Lion Danner like an un-scalable ice wall. I’d spent so longnottalking about it when I was young and then even in my years away from them that it was like I didn’t have the vocabulary to talk about my abuse.

Lion sat forward, his handsome face earnest and open. “Is this about your father?”

I nodded, trying to swallow down the beginnings of a panic attack.

“Okay,” he soothed. “You know, I’ve never been in a situation like yours. But my wife was in an abusive relationship before we got together. He tried to rape her with a knife, and she ended up taking his life to save herself. She wouldn’t mind me sharing that with you, I think, because she’d get you needed to hear this. You aren’t attacking him by protecting yourself. You aren’t doing anything wrong. In fact, you’re doing the only thing that’s right for you.”

I sucked in a sharp breath to mortar my flesh to my bones so I wouldn’t fall apart in front of a virtual stranger.

“You know,” he continued. “Harleigh Rose and some other women in the club have been through hell and back before they got their happy. Maybe I could give you some numbers in case you needed to talk to someone.”

“Aaron told me to avoid Harleigh Rose,” I admitted before I could curb my response.

Thankfully, Lion only tipped his head back to laugh. “Yeah, I can see that. People think I named my company after myself, but honest to God, I named it for her. She’s my lion-hearted girl.Braver than anyone else I know ’cause she took her own life back for herself. She can be a little intimidating, but she’s the best kinda woman to have in your corner. And I think she’d like you.”

His gentle manipulation was obvious, but truthfully, it helped to hear their story.

I wanted happy so much I burned.

And somehow, Aaron had got all tangled up with my definition.

Maybe, if I was brave and bold, I could have both.

So I opened my mouth and said, “I want to help you take down the White Raiders. I don’t care if you use the information I get to give to the cops or to the club, but I want to be free of them.”

“Okay,” he said simply as if this wasn’t the biggest wish I’d ever had laid bare in front of him, like my bleeding heart still warm from my cracked-open chest. “We can do that.”

“Yeah?” I asked, almost wincing at the hope in my tone.

“Not gonna lie to you, Faith. It’s a dangerous prospect. Your father and his crew are gunning hard for The Fallen, and they find you are working against them, maybe even with The Fallen, it could end badly.” He opened his palms wide. “I’m just laying out the facts so you know there’s a slim chance of a bad ending, but I’ll do anything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“I’m living there anyway to keep people I care about safe. So I figure I can make the sacrifice worth it in two ways if I try to help you put them away while I’m at it.” My hands twisted in my lap, damp with nerves and adrenaline. “I know it’s dangerous. But if the only move I have to make is sacrificing my queen to end this, I’ll do it.”

Lion leaned across the table slightly, grass-green gaze intense. “And I’m saying you aren’t the only piece on the board anymore. You’ve got me, and I gotta sense you’ve got The Fallenif you want them too. I suggest with the adversary we’re facing? You tag them in. They can more than take care of themselves and you.”

“I don’t want them to know I’m doing this,” I clarified because I didn’t think Aaron would take it well, and Ineededto take action for me. “I think they’ve got their hands filled already, and I want to remain an anonymous source.”

“That’s probably best,” he agreed. “There’s been some developments and I’m not so sure there isn’t someone on the inside working with the Raiders.”

“I can try to find out who,” I suggested. “They don’t tell me much, but they also don’t care much where I go or what I do in the house.”

He considered it with an unhappy frown. “Fine, but be careful. I’ll give you a burner so we can stay in touch.”

“I have one,” I offered, blushing even though he didn’t know I had it so I could have a lifeline to Aaron. “I can give you the number. Only one other person has it.”

He ducked his head to grab a pen, but I could see his slight smile. “Good. So try to keep an ear to the ground and let me know what you find. If anything goes down that you think spells danger for you, you call me, yeah? Not after it happens, before. And I don’t give a fuck if it’s a false alarm. Call me anyway so I’m on standby to help you.”

“I’ll be fine,” I told him, the words automatic on my tongue. “Before I go, what do you know about getting an uncontested divorce?”

His head snapped up, eyes bright and when he saw my expression, a slow smile pulled his lips wide. “Not much, but I know a guy who can help.”