Page 10 of When It Reins (Three Rivers Trevors Ranch #5)

mitch

I fucking hated being here when parties were raging. It is a fucking Tuesday night, and the clubhouse is partying like they have no cares in the morning.

I suppose they likely don’t. A lot of guys will show up to their jobs tomorrow with hangovers and zero fucks given about how tired they will be.

I am too old for most of this.

And if one more club girl comes over to offer her services to me, I am going to lose my shit.

Desperately, I want to head down the hall to my little room I rarely use and lock the door behind me, blocking out all the sounds that are coming from the speakers, my brothers, and the people who party with us.

They are all over the place, drinking, smoking, dancing. Hell, there is a couple half undressed in the corner of the couch, uncaring they have an audience.

I am only here because I promised Mick I would make an appearance. We received word that due to our careful planting, things have gotten around about David and his company, that what Loki had uncovered is mostly true, but I have a bad feeling there is something more to it.

I am mostly worried that that something involves Juniper, but I haven’t quite put my finger on why she is important to him.

“Having fun?” Mick slides up next to me, his hand wrapped around his beer of choice. Normally, he drank whiskey, but I suppose when the rest of the clubhouse was raging as hard as they were, he was trying to keep his wits about him.

“Loads,” I answer gruffly. I don’t have to bullshit with Mick. He knows exactly where I stand when it comes to this kind of stuff, but as a member of the club, I am required to show up for it. Whether I like it or not.

He whistles lowly and nods to the other side of the room. “Looks like your fun just got funner.”

I glance over to where he nodded, bored with the entire night, until my eyes land on her long brown hair. My chest freezes as she smiles kindly at another brother, and before I know what’s happening, my feet are eating the distance between us.

Juniper Weaver. What the fuck is she doing here?

She’s currently smiling at our road captain, and I have to rein it in, or I might punch him through a wall. I shoulder my way through the crowd, and suddenly I’m upon her.

“Starling.” I don’t mean to use the nickname I keep in my head, but it slips out before I can take it back.

“Hey, man.” I ignore our road captain, my eyes on Juniper’s surprised ones, and my teeth clench.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I want to grab her, to shake her, to make her realize that waltzing into a motorcycle club is not a good idea. I also wonder who’s on the door detail today and who the fuck let her in here.

“I need to speak with you.”

There’s a hard edge to her tone, one I’m not sure how to decipher. So I reach forward, grabbing her hand in mine, and stalk out of the party and down the hall. I ignore the catcalls and whistles. Everyone thinks they know why I am dragging her down to my room, but they actually have no clue.

Juniper comes with me, no hesitation in her step. If I wasn’t so pissed that she is here, I might feel ten feet tall with the amount of trust she is placing in me.

Shutting the door, I finally let her hand go, even though I would love to keep it. I turn to her, fury on my face, and she…doesn’t look at me at all.

No, instead, she’s taking in the bare room, the bed that is made, and the closet that has a couple of shirts hanging in it. Just some extras in case I need a change of clothes, but nothing else. Nothing sentimental.

“You need a decorator,” Juniper says, giving me a far too fucking cute look over her shoulder. She has on a long-sleeved blue top that makes her eyes glow warmly.

She is way too pretty to be alone with me.

I lean against the door for a moment, staring her down and not giving in to the way she is trying to distract me.

“What are you doing here?”

It’s the third time the question has been through my mind, and she still hasn’t answered me. Juniper takes a seat at the edge of my bed, and my manly impulses rage, just seeing her on a bed I’ve slept in.

Hell. I need to get a hold of my damn self.

“I have some questions.” Juniper hedges, crossing her legs and folding her hands as if we are in some sort of business meeting. “And I think you might be the only person who has answers for me.”

“Why would I answer any of your questions?” The gruff question is out before I can control myself. It’s my standard response to anyone in the clubhouse. Even my brothers here get the same treatment.

Juniper flushes, just a little on her cheeks, and says, “Because I know, deep down in that heart of yours, that you do give a shit about me.”

Of course I do. I care about her more than just about anyone. She is right up there with any member of my family.

If I am honest with myself, which I rarely am, she is higher than that.

“What do you want?”

Juniper stands, walking a few feet toward me until I can just barely smell the perfume she wore.

“I want to know if the rumors I’m hearing are true.”

There’s a look in her eye I hate, one that speaks to her vulnerability, and I hold her gaze. “Depends on the rumors.”

She swallows, and I can tell this is hard for her, that whatever rumors she heard—which I highly suspect I know, given that we started them—will probably hurt her.

Selfishly, I didn’t really think that all the way through when the plan formed. I knew David would get burned by the community, that he would become even more of a black sheep than he already is, but I didn’t think about how it would make people treat Juniper.

“That David is…” She blinks quickly and folds her arms over her chest, like she’s prepared to shield herself from whatever is about to be spoken. “That his company is taking out an entire community?”

So the rumor mill was churning well today. I hate it is hurting Juniper, but selfishly, I know that her finding out her boyfriend is a trash human who kept his job secret from her is a good thing.

“What did you think he was doing here?”

Juniper’s brows furrow at my question. “I don’t know.

Land development.” She lets her arms drop and says, “But that can mean so many different things. He could be buying plots of land for new housing developments. He could be checking out stuff for a new shopping center. How would—” She cuts herself off, her expression growing more and more upset.

She marches up to me and looks at the door behind me, licking her lips, her breath coming in angry spurts, and I can see she’s trying not to cry. “Excuse me.”

“Starling…” I don’t move, but gently reach out to grab her arm. She turns to me, her eyes landing on my chest, and I do something I rarely let myself do.

I pull her into my arms and hold her.

The gesture seems to break a dam, and she folds, letting out a breath and quietly cries into my chest. Her arms circle my waist, and she lets me hold on to her.

After a few minutes, where I’ve stood here questioning everything I thought I knew since I met the woman, she pulls back and delicately wipes under her eyes. It does nothing to help fix what crying did to her, but I still give her a smile.

It never mattered to me if she wore makeup or not. The most beautiful part of the woman is the heart beating in her chest.

I shake my head. “Don’t let this guy hurt you, Starling. You don’t deserve that.”

She looks at me and sighs. “I don’t know how to do that, Mitch.” Her eyes glance to the cut I was wearing and her nose twitches. “Or Hero,” I smirk, and she looks back at me, trying and failing to hide a smile. “I don’t know what I’m going to do about it.”

“Don’t do anything,” I respond, my voice hard and worry creeping into my tone. “He and his company are the ones doing this. You don’t need to worry about that.”

She blows out a breath and nods her head. Reaching out, she gives my hand a squeeze. A jolt runs through my arm at the touch, and I brace myself.

For what, I don’t know.

But it feels like her touch could change the course of my life.

I pull away and open the door.

It’s only when she’s safely in her car, heading home, that I realize I never really answered her questions.

Juniper can read me like a book, so my face must have told her that whatever rumors she is hearing are true.