Page 102 of The Souls We Claim

“I have repeatedly told them, via messages, that I am fine. Asyoucan see, I am fine.”

Gallagher takes her arm roughly enough to lift her elbow and put her on her toes. And suddenly I know how Spark felt when the federal agent knocked Iris over, possibly hurting both her and their unborn child. Only I’m a hair calmer.

“Get your hands off her before I work with the club’s lawyers to have you charged with assault,” I tell him as I come to stand by Arianne’s shoulder.

Arianne snatches her arm out of his grasp and steps away so that her back warms my chest. I put my arm around her waist and hold her to me.

“You’re interfering with a?—”

“With a what?” I challenge him. “You’re here for some wellness check or some shit. She’s fine. She told you herself, and it’s available through my camera footage if you need evidence of that.”

Gallagher eyes me carefully. “You’re not doing yourself any favors clinging on to her like that.”

“And you are now trespassing on my land,” I say. “Check complete. If Arianne’s parents want to talk, all they have to do is walk up the driveway to speak to us. It’s not that hard. You, on the other hand, need to get the fuck off my property.”

Gallagher puffs out his chest. “Are you threatening an officer?”

I can’t help but laugh. “If I were threatening you, there’d be no question. Nice gold tooth by the way.”

His tongue licks over it out of what I’m sure is habit, and I hope he remembers how the original one is probably still under a bank of lockers at our high school after King punched it out of his mouth.

He turns back to Arianne. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine. If it puts your mind at ease, I left my husband who beat me,” Arianne says with a new confidence in her voice. She looks up the driveway to where her father has gotten out of thecar. “Jackson took me to the hospital to get checked out. There should be a report. My parents have always favored him over me, so they are likely here to convince me to come back home to him, which I will not be doing because he beat me most weeks for the last year. I’m happy to come to the station at some point to report that. But if they call you again, please be assured I am here because I ran here, not because I am being held here.”

Gallagher’s face changes. It softens. And it might be the one move that will save his life somewhere down the line. He hates the idea of a woman getting beaten under his watch as much as I do. “We can help. We could file a restraining order against him and your parents. I can walk you through the kind of evidence we’d need to get a conviction.”

Arianne sighs. “His brother is an influential man back home. I called the police to report what was going on, but his brother made the reports disappear. As you can imagine, no evidence was collected.”

“Fuck me,” I mutter and reach out to squeeze her shoulder. No wonder she’s got an issue trusting anyone. “You deserved so much better.”

Gallagher nods. “And we’re never going to regain public trust until the morally bankrupt cops and city officials are out of jobs. Drop by the station anytime. Mr. Flynn knows where it is. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting him many times.”

“Speaking of Mr. Flynn, do you know where the investigation is into the murder of Mr. Flynn senior and my sister, Mercy Osborne?”

“I don’t because I wasn’t assigned to that case, but if you want to come down to the station with me, we can check.”

Ari folds her arms. “Please just let the detective in charge know I’m waiting for an update.”

“I will.” With that, he takes his ass off my property.

“You okay?” I ask, turning Arianne to face me.

“Seems to be the question of the day. ‘Am I okay?’”

Her body folds into mine when I open my arms. “Sorry you had such an utterly shit run in life, Arianne. But I promise you that no matter what happens between the two of us, I’ll always be on your side.”

She steps up onto the tips of my boots, lifts to her toes, and kisses me softly. “Thank you.”

“You wanna kiss me like that again while I carry you upstairs, strip you naked, and fuck you in the shower, or do you want to deal with your parents?”

We both look down the driveway, where both Arianne’s mother and father are walking toward us. “I’d much rather be getting fucked in the shower, but I need to deal with them, or this won’t stop.”

“Then invite them in, and I’ll pretend I give a shit about two adults who aren’t there for their kid.”

The words make me think about Lola for a moment. I owe her an apology.

As if on cue, I hear a cry. “About Lola. She’s awake, and we can’t pretend she isn’t. I’ll follow your lead, but if you don’t want them to know about her being Mercy’s, just say she’s mine, yeah?”