Page 33 of Warrant (The Berserker’s Rage MC: Wyoming Chapter #1)
“Oh. Right. I might have switched phones with Owen.”
I met his gaze. “Why?” When he just silently took another drink from his coffee cup, I sighed.
It was so I couldn’t track him while he and the others were hunting down the Iron Circle Crew.
I might’ve thought to do that if I hadn’t been so preoccupied with watching the children he’d dumped on me. I was losing my touch.
“Don’t worry, I’ll switch back with Owen later today. And now that you can track me, it’s not creepy anymore.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “Yeah, Warrant. It is.”
Silence fell between us as we sat in the early morning quiet and drank our coffee together.
It was too easy to imagine doing this every day.
Waking up next to him. Drinking our coffee before we parted ways to go to work.
Or I’d go to work and he’d do whatever he did all day long.
Work. How did I go back to work after last night?
“Did you know Beau would react like that to intruders?” I asked when the daydreams of a life with this man and my worries about my career got too real.
“Why do you think I keep him around?” Warrant chuckled at the look on my face.
“To sleep all day,” I replied, cracking a smile. Damn him, he was getting through my shields.
“He’s not sleeping. He’s conserving energy.” He grinned. “He’s fiercely loyal and a great protector.
“I saw that.” We fell silent for a few more minutes, until I broke it. “Why don’t you catch me up on everything that happened?”
He frowned, but he held true to his word and told me everything.
I wasn’t completely shocked. I’d started to fill in a lot of the gaps myself after seeing Jared and then having men break into my house.
“Riggs and the other Austin guys will pick the kids up in a couple hours. They didn’t want to wake them up too early. Figured they needed to sleep.”
“Are they going home today?” I asked, wondering why there was a sudden lump in my throat.
Warrant shook his head. “No, they’re going to talk to the lawyer that was working with Jared’s grandfather. There’s no reason he shouldn’t get his inheritance.”
“What about Christina?” I asked. I shouldn’t. It really was best if I didn’t know, but my curiosity always had gotten the best of me.
“You sure you want to know?” he asked, eyeing me.
“Yeah. Tell me.”
“Butcher, the scary looking one, his old lady is an assassin. She has quite a few contacts that would be all too happy to take care of Christina. So Demo and Rotor drove Christina down to Cheyenne last night and dropped her off. If she can stay ahead of the assassins she can live.”
“What if she does?” I asked. “She could go after Jared again…”
“We thought of that, but the odds are slim. Slim because they’re good at what they do, and because trying to stay ahead of an assassin has a way of taking up all your time and energy.
Besides, he’s going to have his inheritance soon and other than revenge there’s no reason for her to come for him.
Now that she knows the lengths his family will go to protect him, she won’t try. No one will help her.”
“I’m surprised any of you let her go in the first place,” I admitted.
It was so weird to be sitting here talking about all of this like it was completely normal.
Then again, after seeing the way the bikers had come bursting into my house like avenging angels, or maybe seething devils, I wasn’t sure normal could be used to describe any of them.
He shrugged. “Believe it or not we have our own code. Killing Jared’s mother—no matter how big of a piece of shit she is—is crossing a line for us.”
I nodded. That made a lot of sense.
“So now you know,” he said. He was watching me closely. “What now?”
“It’s all so twisted up,” I told him. “I’m not going to arrest any of you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“No, Ainsley,” he said. “That’s not what I’m worried about. I want you to be mine. Be my old lady.”
Wrinkling my nose at that phrase—I wasn’t old, or a lady—I shook my head even though it broke my heart to do it.
I didn’t understand why I felt so connected to him when I’d only known him for a short time, but I did.
“I can’t. Don’t you see? All of this is the perfect example of why we can’t be together.
” He scowled at me but didn’t respond. “I’m a sheriff.
How am I supposed to do my job knowing that you and your brothers are out there doing… God knows what on a daily basis?”
“Just ignore it,” he suggested.
I gave a scornful laugh. “I have my own moral code, Warrant. I can’t just ignore it and continue to do my job.
I still don't know how I’m going to work today.
And tomorrow. Last night changed everything for me.
” Standing up, I went around the table. Squatting down, I touched the shoulder I knew he’d been shot in, though his t-shirt and cut covered it, gently. “Did you get this looked at?”
“Yeah. Pyre practically held me down, the fucker. It’s fine. Just a scratch.”
It wasn’t a scratch. I’d seen what’d happened for myself. But it didn’t surprise me that he was shrugging it off like it was nothing. “Thank you for saving my life, Warrant.”
His eyes narrowed. “Why does this sound like you’re telling me goodbye?”
“I need some space.”
“I fucking hate space.”
It didn’t matter if he didn’t like it. I needed a chance to sort out my own feelings.
To decide what I was going to do. Standing up, I kissed his cheek and walked back to the bedroom.
Grabbing my bag and my dog, I walked out of his house.
I wasn’t sure when I’d see him again, but for now this was all I could do.