Page 19

Dagger

S he didn’t call me. She found herself in exactly the position I said she’d end up in and when it happened, what did she do?

She called the fucking cops. I was grateful it was Cross who’d answered her call, because afterward he texted Diesel to let him know what had happened and Diesel had let me know.

I stood on her porch, pacing back and forth.

My body radiated with anger and worry while I waited for her to get her ass home.

My hands were balled into fists just thinking about how scared she must’ve been, being chased down the highway and then rammed from behind.

When her car pulled into the driveway, I stopped pacing and watched, waiting for her to exit the car.

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding when she finally stepped out. She was here and she was safe.

And she was apparently angry.

“What are you doing here?” Her tone was ice cold and clipped. She brushed past me, or she tried to, but her legs gave out. I took a step forward and wrapped my arms around her. “I’m fine,” she snapped, smacking at my hands.

I held her close, refusing to let her go because I needed to feel her in my arms, to assure myself that she was safe.

That’s when I looked at her, really looked at her, and what I saw pissed me off.

Her face was red and was already starting to bruise.

“Yeah,” I snorted. “You’re fine, Sinclair.

Your face is gonna be black and blue tomorrow, but yeah, fine.

” The swelling had already started and tomorrow she would be in even more pain.

“Are you okay?” It was a dumb as fuck question, but it was what you asked people in this situation.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I’m fine.”

Fine. Wasn’t that just the worst fucking word in the world when it came to women and their feelings? Fine, in my experience, usually meant not fine , but hey, what did I know? “You’re not fine.” I refused to argue with her because I had eyes, and my arms were the only things keeping her upright.

She tried to swat my hands away, but the effort was half-hearted at best.

I grabbed the keys that dangled from her fingers, opened the door, and helped her inside.

I walked Sinclair to the sofa and sat her down before I went back to lock the door.

She looked so fucking small, exhausted, and still scared as she curled her body as small as possible.

I didn’t want to stress her out, but I needed answers. “Tell me what happened.”

She shrugged. “You’re here, so I assume you already know.”

“Cross called to tell me someone I knew had been in an incident and that was it.”

Her eyes went so wide I thought they’d pop out of her head. “You’re close to the sheriff?”

I shrugged. “I wouldn’t say close, but we often have the same objective, which is to keep Steel City safe.”

Sinclair nodded. “Okay, so you know.”

“No, I don’t. All I know is that something happened.” I sat down beside her on the couch, turning to face her with my arms folded. “Tell me. Please.”

She nodded and stared at a spot on the wall just past me, and then with a heavy sigh she started talking.

“I decided to take myself out for dinner instead of staying inside jumping at every sound. It was a good time. I never go out to eat by myself. Anyway, I was carrying my tiramisu for tomorrow back to my car when I started to feel eyes on me.” She shook her head, and her gaze met mine.

“I rushed to my car and started home when I saw a dark car following me.”

I nodded. “Any description?”

She shook her head. “Dark car, gray or blue with four doors. That’s all I could see. The windows were too dark to make out any details.”

“How did you end up on the highway?”

Her lips stretched into a humorless grin. “I thought I had a better chance of getting away, but that was after taking erratic turns just to be sure I wasn’t being paranoid. They toyed with me, staying on my ass and then slowing down to make me think I was getting away.”

Damn, that was smart, and it only made me appreciate her more.

“I knew I needed to call the police, but I was going too fast and shaking too hard to call while driving, so I pulled over and called 9-1-1. He slammed into me while I was on the call.” Her eyes slammed shut and her shoulders hunched over.

“You hit the steering wheel?”

She nodded. “I was stopped completely and the airbags didn’t deploy.” She rubbed the back of her neck and then looked straight at me. “I’m fine.”

“You know, Sinclair, I’m really starting to hate that fucking word.”

She blinked. “You don’t like hearing that I’m fine?”

“I’d love to hear it if that was the truth, but it’s not, is it?” I shook my head. “You’re not fine, but you keep saying it, and I’m just trying to figure out if you’re trying to convince me or yourself.”

Her eyes flashed with something I couldn’t quite name before she looked away. “I said I’m fine, Dagger. And I’m not your problem.”

I smiled at her words, the determined tilt of her head.

She really was trying to put distance between us, so damn used to doing everything on her own.

So used to having nobody in her corner, no one to rely on but herself.

What she didn’t know was that I wasn’t like all the other assholes in her life, happy to let her handle life on her own.

“Okay, Sinclair, if that’s how you want it. ”

It was imperceptible, that small moment of hesitation, that flash of fear mixed with resignation. She expected me to bounce just when she needed someone. “Good,” she replied, her voice smaller and less sure.

I stood up and moved closer. “You can either agree to go with me to the club, where we have a nurse and a doctor who can check you out, or you can disagree and I can drag you there, kicking and screaming. I’m fine with either option.” And then I smiled while I waited her out.

Indecision weighed heavily on her delicate shoulders. Her eyes darted back and forth while she tried to figure out if I was lying or not. When her shoulders sagged, I knew I had her. “Dani isn’t there, is she? Seeing me like this will scare her.”

Damn, how could this woman have walked through so much of her life alone when she was so kind and so caring? The way she was always so thoughtful when it came to my daughter only made me want her more. “It’s late, Sinclair. She’s at home asleep in bed.”

She blinked, spinning until her eyes landed on a clock. “Oh. Right.”

“You want me to carry you?”

A small smile touched her lips. “No, I’ll walk.”

“Too bad.” I smiled, giving her a few minutes to get herself together while I went outside and checked for signs that this motherfucker had been to her house recently.

“Find anything?” she asked in a small, hesitant voice.

“Nah. There are signs he’s been here recently, but not tonight.”

“He probably followed me from here.”

I nodded because anger grabbed me by the throat and refused to let me answer. I took her hand and pulled her towards my bike.

“I can’t get on that!”

“Sure you can. Your car needs to go back to the shop and your car has been a target of his twice now.”

She paled and I wrapped an arm around her, letting her bury her face in my chest for a long moment. Sinclair inhaled and exhaled deeply before she pulled back. “Thank you, Dagger.”

“Of course,” I told her, and kissed the top of her head.

This woman had gripped me in a way no woman had.

My protective instinct was on high alert when it came to her, which meant it was time to put my foot down about her recklessness.

“Come on. You’ll love it, and even if you don’t, you get to hang on to me, and that’s a win. ”

She rolled her eyes and accepted the helmet I handed to her. “Go slow.”

“Sure,” I snorted, and tightened the chinstrap for her. I didn’t have many women on the back of my bike because it tended to send the wrong message, but fuck me if having her on the back with her chest pressed against mine wasn’t the best goddamn feeling ever.

“Woo-hoo!”

Scratch that, the sound of Sinclair having fun on the back of my bike felt even better.

***

Katey, our club doctor, who’s also Sniper’s old lady, arrived at the clubhouse just as we did, offering a sympathetic smile to Sinclair. “I’m Katey.”

“Sinclair, nice to meet you. And thanks for interrupting your evening for this even though I’m sure it’s nothing.”

Katey flicked a gaze my way. “Maybe, but anything to appease an overprotective man.”

“I’m not overprotective, I’m just protective enough.” I folded my arms, glaring hard at the women, but neither of them were affected.

Katey laughed. “Come on, let’s go.” She guided Sinclair inside and sat her down while she began her exam.

She checked Sinclair’s eyes, pressed on the side of her cheeks, then checked her eyes again, getting her to follow her finger.

“Good news is that nothing is broken, and your neurological exam is fine,” she declared with a friendly smile.

Sinclair nodded. “And the bad news?”

“It’s going to hurt like a bitch for a few days, but nothing that can’t be fixed with a couple painkillers.” She studied Sinclair and then me before she turned back to Sinclair. “I don’t think you have a concussion, but I need to be sure. Do you live alone?”

Sinclair swallowed and nodded. “Yes, why?”

She sighed heavily. “I need you to be supervised for the next twenty-four hours.”

“So I need to go to the hospital?”

Katey grinned. “No, you just need someone to check on you every few hours to make sure you don’t lose consciousness, check on things like confusion, dizziness, or nausea. Do you have someone who can do this?”

“No,” she answered quickly and confidently.

“I’ll do it. It’s no problem.” I kept my gaze on Sinclair until she met mine head on.

“You don’t have to do that. You need to be there when Dani wakes up.”

“She’ll understand. I’m doing it.”

Instead of responding, she turned to Katey. “How much do I owe you?”

Katey laughed. “Let’s consider it on the house, just try not to bite Dagger’s head off too much. He clearly wants to help.”

“I’ll do my best. Thank you, Katey.” She stood and looked at me. “Happy?”

“No.” I wouldn’t be happy until we identified this asshole and I beat the ever loving fuck out of him. Until we figured out who the fuck he was and what he wanted with Sinclair—or the MC—I had to keep her close. “I’m not happy about this at all.”

“Yeah, well, join the club,” she mumbled.

I had twenty-four hours, at most, to figure out how to get her to agree to the crazy plan that was forming in my head.