Page 8

EMBER

“I’ll see you later,” I call out, hopping off the back of Cerberus’s bike and fixing my hair. “I’ll be outside at seven. Or at least a few minutes afterward.”

Cerberus doesn’t answer, and I don’t think anything of it when he switches his bike off. His hand flashes out and snags my wrists. “Not so fast, babe, you can wait for me.”

“Wait for you?” Why would I need to wait for him? The building is secure.

“Yeah, you need to wait for me,” he says, swinging a leg over and getting off the bike.

“You got time, I’ll take you to get your damn coffee then take you in the building.

” He jerks his chin toward the dispatch center.

“Now come on, you bitched enough to get it, it better damn well be worth the headache.” Taking my hand in his, he guides me over to the little coffee shop and bakery.

I’d found it not long after starting at the dispatch center when another dispatcher told me about it.

The owner of the shop is only open until noon for customers.

The rest of the time, I knew she spent it baking for her clients.

I didn’t understand why she didn’t just keep her shop open later, she’d gain so much more traffic, considering how good her stuff is, but that’s her decision.

Cerberus and I walk in together, order two coffees and a large blueberry muffin for me. Once we both have what we ordered and paid for, we head to the dispatch center.

When I thought he’d leave me at the doors of the building, he surprises me by opening the door for me and allowing me in first. Cerberus follows right behind me.

“I’m in the building now, Cerberus. You can go,” I tell him.

Rather than doing just that, he smirks and shakes his head. “I’m not leaving you alone.”

“What’s that mean?” My heart flutters, and blood roars in my veins. What does he mean he’s not leaving ?

“Means, baby, I’m not leaving. I pulled in a favor, got clearance to be wherever you are.”

Did he just say . . .

“How the hell did you pull that?” I blurt the question.

“My cousin is one of the supervisors here,” he answers with a smirk. “Didn’t go into detail but told her I was your security detail for the time being and needed to be able to get to you at all times.”

“So, you went to your cousin?” I cock a brow at him while trying to figure out who the hell his cousin was. I thought I’d met all of his family years ago, but I guess not.

“Yeah, Jesse,” he says, giving me the name of his cousin.

“Do you mean Jesse Mariono?” It’s a stupid question to ask. There was only one Jesse who worked at the dispatch center. That being Jesse Mariono.

“That would be my cousin.” Cerberus nods, a grin on his face, his free hand going around my waist, tugging me to him.

“Now here’s what’s gonna happen. I’m gonna escort you up to where you need to be.

Then I’m gonna come back down and hang with the security while you work.

After you get off work, we’re gonna grab some food while we’re in town, talk some shit out, then head back to the clubhouse.

I’ve got your schedule for the next two weeks, so I know what’s what. ”

He’s got to be joking?

Maybe that’s not the thought.

Nope, it’s not.

One look at his face and I know he’s not joking. He’s being serious. He intends to make my life hell while he’s playing guard.

Damnit.

Why did Reaper have to put him in charge?

I don’t bother speaking another word to Cerberus about this. There’s no reason to argue it. Plus, I don’t have time. I need to get upstairs.

Cerberus lets me go, and I do just that. I’ll think about everything else later after I get off work. Right now, what I need to do is help people, and that’s what I’m gonna do.

“Is everything okay?” Jesse asks, finding me at the end of my shift.

Smiling at the woman the best I can. It’s not easy when I’m still upset with the fact that this woman gave Cerberus clearance to be here throughout the whole day.

He’d come upstairs twice during my shift.

Once, to bring me lunch. To make it worse, he’d gotten it from my favorite place in town, Spuds.

The second time he’d come up was just to check and make sure I was doing okay.

He didn’t say anything either time, just came in to check that I was good and left me alone again, even with my lunch.

“Everything’s good, Jesse,” I tell her, and finish gathering the rest of my things together. I wouldn’t say that it was a slow day today, but it was steady.

“You know what I’m talking about,” Jesse says, placing a hand over mine. “Jase is my cousin, I’m sure he told you. I hadn’t ever heard him talk about a woman like I heard him talk about you when he phoned.”

“Talked about me?” That’s something I didn’t expect to hear.

“Yeah, he didn’t go into details or anything,” Jesse explains. “Jase and I are somewhat close, so I know you two have history.”

“You do?” Now, this is news to me.

“During the time you guys were seeing each other, I was in Florida going to school. I came back after that and found out about you.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you knew who I was when I first started working here?” I find myself asking without meaning to.

“I try not to, butt into anyone’s business.

The way I see it, what happened between the two of you, that’s between you two, no one else, plus you’re good at being a dispatcher and actually like it.

Some people who work here just don’t get it.

They come to work, do their jobs, but don’t appreciate what they’ve done or do. ”

“I can understand that,” I agree. There were a few that worked the same shift as me that just came in to do it as a job and not really care about helping the person who’s on the other end of the phone.

“What I’m trying to get at is that I’m not going to pry into what’s going on with you and my cousin. You want to talk, I’m here,” Jesse states with a smile sliding into place. “I’m also here if you wanna hear embarrassing stories about him when he was a kid and not some hot badass.”

“You realize you just called your cousin hot, don’t you?”

Jesse grins bigger. “Yeah, it’s totally gross, but I’m not blind. I know a hottie when I see one. He and all the guys at that club of his are hot.”

“I’m just gonna take your word on that, considering I’ve lived with most of them since I was a kid and they’re all family to me.” There’s no way I was going to admit that any of them were hot. It makes me want to cringe at the very thought.

Jesse giggles and jerks her head toward the elevator. “ Let’s get out of here. I’m sure my cousin is sick of being here all day.”

“And just think he’ll have to do it all again tomorrow.” I laugh. Maybe he’ll decide to put someone else on me after being here all day. He’s probably been bored as shit.

Jesse laughs as the two of us make our way toward the elevator. The moment we step into it and the door closes, sealing us in, my heart begins to race. I know once the doors open again, Cerberus is going to be there waiting for me.

Thoughts of this morning’s conversation filter in my head, and I don’t know what to do with them. I managed to not think about it throughout the day, but now . . . it’s all I can think about.

He wants to know things that I’m not willing to share.

The doors open before I can finish going down the rabbit hole of my thoughts, and there he is waiting, eyes meeting mine.

“Ready?” he asks.

“Yeah,” I lie. I was definitely not ready to go anywhere with him unless it was to the clubhouse where I could hide away in my room.

Cerberus takes my hand and guides me out of the building, straight to his bike. He lets my hand go long enough to climb on his bike. He offers me his hand to help me on, but I don’t need it. I swing my leg over and settle in behind him. My arms immediately go around his waist, holding on tight.

Being this close to him, smelling the scent of leather and sandalwood, makes a part of me quiver in a way it hasn’t in so long. Not even when I was with Dex did I feel this.

Shoving the thoughts away the best I can, I yell at myself inside my head. I can’t be thinking these thoughts. After what happened years ago, I should be over it. Even more so when I came home, and he’d been at the clubhouse. Worse had been there and looked right through me.

Now he’s expecting me to go sit down and talk to him.

I can’t do that.