Page 18 of Saved By the Rogue

"Or I can make it so you never have to worry about seeing a doctor again," I replied. "Your choice."

He sighed, knowing he didn’t have much of a choice in this.

"Fine," he snapped. "Let’s go. Fast. I don’t have time to waste."

"Don’t tell me what to do," I replied, as I pushed him towards the door, to the bikes waiting outside. "And put your helmet on. I don’t need anyone seeing your face."

As I forced him outside, my head was reeling. This was a lot worse than we had imagined. Lombardi was one thing, we had dealt with people like Lombardi before, but her father? Yeah, he was something else entirely, he had the kind of cash and influence behind him that I didn’t know if we could take on.

I glanced up towards the apartment block where I had left Star sleeping, and silently promised her that I would do anything and everything I could to make sure that she got through this in one piece. Even if her father used every bit of his strength to try and get to her – he'd need to push through me first.

And I wasn’t going to make it easy.

Chapter Eleven – Star

"Hey."

I lifted my head from the pillow, and grinned when I saw Jaxon sitting at the edge of the bed. He was fully dressed, and I had no idea how long he had been up for, but he had a coffee in his hand that smelled delicious.

I propped myself up, and he handed the mug to me – an expression on his face that I couldn’t quite get a read on. I stared at him for a moment, wondering if he wanted me gone.

"Is everything okay?" I asked him, my voice feeling small in my chest. I knew some guys lost interest in girls after they’d been with them once – just because I’d never had sex before didn’t mean I was ignorant of that fact, a few of my friends in high school had been through it.

"We need to talk," he told me, and I swallowed hard. Oh, I didn’t like the sound of that, not one little bit. I straightened up, gripping on to the coffee cup a little tighter, trying to focus on the feel of it burning against my hand.

"About what?"

"About your father."

I bit my lip. Okay, I had been worried about this. It had only been a matter of time before the truth of my life before this had become an issue, and, though I had hoped we might be able to last a little longer before this conversation happened, I guessed now was as good a time as any.

"What about him?"

He sighed, and he reached over to give my knee a squeeze.

"I don’t know how to say this," he admitted to me, and I breathed deep. Had something happened? Had something gone down while I had been sleeping? I had woken up to find him not there, but had dozed off quickly again, too exhausted after the emotion of what had happened last night to stay awake.

"But the guys who were following you before, they came back to the shop," he explained. "One of them...I was able to get some information out of one of them. And he told me that your father was the one who had hired them to get you back. Not Lombardi. Like I thought."

"My father?" I whispered. I knew he was crazy – shit, I got that, after I’d heard him talk about marrying me off to a criminal mafia boss. But this? He was willing to send lackeys after me to track me down and bring me back and make sure I didn’t get away? Yeah, it was...it was a lot to take in...

He nodded.

"They came in armed, with guns," he explained. "Threatened me. And if you’d been there..."

He trailed off, like he could hardly even finish up what was on his mind. Guns? I’d never seen a gun in person before, not even in the hands of the security guards who patrolled our mansion. But this...my father was willing to send someone after me with weapons, someone to take me down and bring me in? And if they hadn’t been able to do that...would they have killed me?

I shivered at the thought. I mean, I knew my father was capable of a lot, but that...that seemed like more than I could wrap my head around. Even for him. Even knowing the kind of people he worked with, even knowing who he had associated himself with.

"I know this must be a lot for you to take in," Jaxon told me. I managed a small, wry smile.

"I thought you were going to dump me," I admitted. "I think that would have been worse."

"You thought I was going to...?"

"I know a lot of guys just dip after the first hook-up," I explained. "I figured you might have been one of them."

"No, never," he replied, almost fervent. "I would never do that to you. Not after your first time, especially."

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