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S aint woke up to the smell of coffee and if he wasn’t mistaken, pancakes. It had been some time since his home smelled like pancakes—since Dare used to live with him after their parents passed. His little brother loved to make pancakes on the weekends when he didn’t have school, and he wondered why Dare would randomly show up at the house to make them for him now.

He stretched and shouted out in pain. His arm hurt like a son of a bitch, and he pulled the sheets down over it. “Fuck,” he swore. For just a second, while still in sleep twilight, he had forgotten all about breaking his arm. “How the hell did I get home?” He sounded like a crazy person asking himself that question, but he had no memory of driving back to his house or getting in his bed. The last thing he remembered was Juno telling him that her car was on fire.

“Shit,” he grumbled, getting out of bed and finding a pair of sweatpants to pull on. He didn’t bother with a shirt because that would have taken him way too long to maneuver over his arm. He needed to call Juno and find out what the hell happened after he was discharged from the hospital, then he was going to have to find a way to get his truck back from her place, and he was hoping that Dare could help him out since he wasn’t allowed to drive for two weeks. He’d eat some of the pancakes that Dare was making for him and take his pain meds before heading out. planned on following the doctor’s orders to a tee because there was no way that he wanted to go through an operation to fix his arm.

He walked down the hallway to his kitchen, his stomach growling from just the smell of breakfast. He didn’t realize how hungry he was until now. “You know, you didn’t have to come over here just to make me breakfast, little brother,” he said, turning the corner into the kitchen. He stopped dead when he found Juno standing in front of his stove, flipping pancakes.

She smiled over at him and nodded. “Good morning,” she said.

“I thought that you were my brother, sorry,” he said.

“Not a problem. Dare did stop by the hospital last night,” she reminded.

“I remember that much,” he said, “unfortunately, the rest of it is a bit fuzzy. Did you drive me home?” asked.

“I did,” she said.

“Oh, I appreciate that,” he said. “How did you get me up to my bed?” She was so tiny compared to him, there was no way that she’d be able to get him upstairs on her own.

“That part wasn’t easy. You’re heavy. But you woke up enough to lean on me and practically walk upstairs with help from me. We did have to take a break about halfway up the stairs. You said you needed a nap, but I was lucky enough to convince you to stay awake long enough to get the rest of the way to your room.”

“Well, that doesn’t seem like an easy task,” he said.

“It wasn’t, but I made it work,” she said. She filled a plate with pancakes and poured him a cup of coffee. “How do you take your coffee?” Juno asked.

“Black,” he said. “Thanks for doing all this for me. I bet you’re exhausted. You must have only gotten about an hour's sleep before you woke up to come back over here.”

“Oh, I stayed here and slept on your couch,” she admitted. “Unless you’re hiding a bed somewhere, I’m guessing that you only have one,” she said.

shrugged, “Nope. I never needed a second bed, so I turned the second bedroom into a home office. It comes in handy during tax season,” he said.

“Tax season,” she repeated, “what happens during tax season?”

“I’m an accountant and tax season is insane. It’s nice to have that little room upstairs to work in late at night.”

“Well, I’m sorry that you had to sleep on my sofa,” he said. “I’d be happy to have you sleep in my bed,” he teased. “It was nice of you to put up with my sofa, but you didn’t have to babysit me,” he insisted. The last thing he wanted to do was put anyone out while taking care of him. He could figure out how to take care of himself.

“I wasn’t babysitting you, I was trapped here,” she said.

“Trapped,” he asked. “How were you trapped?”

“I don’t expect you to remember that my car was on fire. I didn’t want to borrow your truck to go home without your permission and well, you were a little out of it.”

“Wait—your car was on fire in the club’s parking lot?” asked.

“Actually, it was almost burned out by the time we got there, but yes. Someone set my car on fire and now, I have no job and no car.”

“What did the police say? Do they have any leads about who did that to your car?” He had a pretty good idea about who did this to her old car—Bruno. The guy seemed pretty pissed at her and maybe firing her wasn’t enough for him. He seemed like the kind of guy who would want the last word and setting Juno’s car on fire would definitely give him that.

She sat down at the table next to him with her own plate of pancakes and a cup of coffee. “Um, I didn’t call the police,” she admitted.

“Why the fuck not?” asked. “Your car was vandalized, and you didn’t think to call the cops?”

“Well, you were passed out next to me, and calling the cops and sitting there until they showed up, wasn’t something that I wanted to do. You know how bad that side of town is. The cops would have shown up when they had nothing better to do and we’d probably still be sitting in that parking lot waiting. Plus, my car was old, and I probably won’t get anything for it from my insurance company.”

“You still have to report it, Juno,” he insisted.

“Come on, , you and I both know who did this. What’s it going to help if we call the cops? My involvement in the club would become public knowledge and I don’t want that to happen.”

“You can’t let him get away with this, Juno. It’s bad enough that he sexually harassed you and got away with it. He needs to be stopped,” insisted. “If you don’t do it, I will.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” she breathed. Juno dropped her fork on her plate and shoved it back from herself. “You’d throw me under the bus like that?” He would and with good reason.

“If you don’t call the cops, Bruno will just keep coming for you. He feels that you wronged him in some way, and he won’t stop until he’s satisfied that you’ve suffered enough. I’ve known guys like him, and I know what he’s capable of.” Being the enforcer for the Royal Bastards, he came across all types of assholes who wanted nothing more than to hurt him. He couldn’t let Juno get hurt in this mess, and he knew of one sure way to stop Bruno from doing so. He’d have to call the cops, and Juno would have to tell them about the sexual harassment and her burned car. It was the only way.

* * *

waited until they were finished breakfast and Juno was washing dishes to call the cops. He felt horrible that he couldn’t help, but she insisted that she didn’t mind. also felt like shit that her car was set on fire. If they had taken her car to the emergency room, instead of his truck, she might still have her car. Bruno didn’t know what he was driving, and Juno seemed to be the guy’s target, not that it made feel any better about the whole situation.

He was hoping that the cops would show up at his place and Juno would cave and agree to file a report about what had happened to her the night before. just needed them to show up before the pain pills kicked in and knocked him out. He was sure that would happen in the next twenty minutes since he had just taken his pills with breakfast, and he wanted to be there for Juno. But, if he couldn’t be there for her, he knew one person who could be, and she wouldn’t tell anyone about Juno working at the strip club.

She walked out to the family room, where she had banished him, telling him to sit with his arm on a few pillows. Juno was right that he needed to elevate his arm, but he wouldn’t tell her that. His fingers were swelling, and he was sure that it was because he had used his arm more than he should have already. She seemed to always like being right, and that wasn’t something he was going to let stand.

“Done the dishes. Would you mind if I took a quick shower? I’m going to have to call one of the girls to come get me and run me home. I don’t want them to see me in my club makeup. They’ll ask questions since I don’t usually wear this much makeup.” He had seen her around Savage Hell when the Harlots and Bastards shared the clubhouse for the night. Juno barely wore any makeup at all, and he thought that she was hot as hell. He really didn’t think she needed any makeup but telling her that wouldn’t end well. She still seemed pissed at him for everything that had happened the night before.

knew that if she got in the shower before the cops came, she might just hide in his bathroom until she could get one of the women in her little click to come pick her up and take her home. He was going to have to stall her if he wanted her to give the officers a statement.

“How about if you sit down and take a break?” he asked. “You said yourself that you didn’t get much sleep last night.” He hadn’t really slept well after they got home from the hospital. His painkillers were barely taking off the edge and trying to sleep while his arm was throbbing didn’t work out for him.

There was a knock at his front door, and he let out his breath. “Are you expecting company?” Juno asked. He shrugged and got up to answer the door.

“It’s probably just someone who heard that I broke my arm and is stopping by to check on me.” She nodded at him and sat back on his couch, seeming to buy his stupid excuse.

unlocked his door and pulled it open to find Banshee standing on the front porch. “Nice house, ,” she said. “Where is she?” Banshee wasn’t one to make small talk. It was probably because she had no extra time for that nonsense, being the Prez of the Royal Harlots in Huntsville.

“She’s in the family room. I’ll take you there,” he offered. Banshee stepped into his entryway and shut the door behind herself.

“I’m glad that you called me, even though I don’t fully understand what happened to the two of you last night. Judging from the cast on your arm, it was a wild evening.”

“Not just evening, but it was a wild morning too. We didn’t get back here until almost dawn. We’re exhausted, but I’m really glad that you agreed to come by and help Juno out. She needs her club right now.” They walked back to the family room and Juno shot a nasty look. He could tell that she had caught onto his plan, but there was no going back now.

“Why are you here?” Juno asked Banshee.

“I’m guessing that didn’t tell you that he called me and asked if I could stop by to check on you,” Banshee said. He was glad that Banshee didn’t spill the beans about the cops coming over. He was sure that Juno would take off if she had.

“You called her?” Juno stared him down as if daring her to answer her question.

“I did,” he admitted. “I thought that you’d want her help when the cops got here—you know like moral support.”

“I shouldn’t need moral support because I told you that I wasn’t going to file a report,” Juno insisted. God, she was the most stubborn woman on the planet, and even when she was mad at him, she was still hot as hell.

“Can one of you tell me what the fuck is going on here?” Banshee asked. Juno pressed her lips together, and knew that she wasn’t sure what to tell her Prez. She’d never want to lie to her, but he could. He’d stick to the truth as much as possible though. just wished that he could remember what he had told his brother, but his pain meds seemed to wipe out most of his night.

“Juno and I are dating,” he started. Juno held up her hand, stopping him from going forward with their cover story.

“No, we are not dating. Thanks to you, she’s going to find out the truth when the cops question me,” Juno said. He hadn’t really thought about that part when he called the police, but it was too late to call them off. His doorbell rang and he sighed.

“Hold tight,” ordered, “I’ll answer the door and let the cops in. Just answer their questions, honey. You’ll do great.”

He walked out of the family room and was on his way to the front door when he heard Juno say, “Asshole,” and all he could do was laugh. Her sass was going to be the end of him, and for some crazy reason, didn’t care.