Page 7 of Saved By the Rogue

"It’s not worth us getting into the middle of it either way," he replied firmly. "We need to get her out of here. Get rid of her before she gets us in more trouble than we can handle. The last thing I need is Salina bringing his force down on the Dogs. We only get away without the cops at our door because we’re not worth it. She’d make it worth it for him, I’m sure of that.

I grimaced. Yeah, he had a point. But when she had pleaded for my help, I had seen the real panic in her eyes – the kind of panic you couldn’t fake, the kind of terror that came from someplace deep down inside of her. She didn’t want to go back there. She couldn’t face it. And I didn’t want to send her into the viper’s nest that was waiting for her if we turned her around and kicked her out.

"A few days, then," I bargained. "Just to get back on her feet. Same thing you offered me when we first met."

Chuck sighed.

"Yeah, and look where that got me," he pointed out, gesturing in my direction. "I haven’t been able to get rid of you since."

A crooked smile quirked up his face as he spoke, and I knew he didn’t exactly mean it. He might have talked a big game about being a hard-ass, but he was a decent guy underneath all of that. A decent enough guy that, when he had found me slumped and overdosing outside the club’s bar, he had dragged me inside and given me a shot of Narcan to keep me breathing. When I had woken up, he’d been standing over me, and told me I had a few days to get my shit together and then I was out again.

But I was a Dog from that day forward, and he knew it. After he saved my life, I had promised I would do anything to repay him, and if that meant taking on the title of one of his men, I’d be proud to. It was a hell of a lot better than the life I had been living before, that much, I was certain of, and I was glad to have something to focus on in those early days of sobriety, the better part of ten years ago now.

And when I looked at her, I saw that same doubt, that same fear I’d felt when I had been alone on the streets. When I had been out there, in the dark, by myself, feeling like I didn’t have a hope in hell. I never would have wished that on anyone, not in a million years, and I didn’t like the thought of just turning her around and sending her back out into the world with no help.

"How long do we give her?" Lee asked. "It’s not going to take much to bring back those guys who were looking for her..."

Chuck nodded grimly.

"Yeah, the longer we keep her around, the harder it’s going to be," he muttered. "Especially if she’s never dealt with any of this before. She doesn’t know what she’s up against. Doesn’t know how to keep her head down. Shit, she walked in here looking for a tattoo, for fuck’s sake – not like she’s bothered to keep herself undercover..."

"I can teach her," I offered without thinking. Chuck turned to me, an incredulous look on his face.

"You’re really set on keeping this girl around, huh?"

"Think about the money she could bring to the club," I replied gruffly, trying to spin it like I had a real reason, beyond just my emotions. "She could make a real difference around here. Bring in some real money..."

"What, you think her father’s going to be keen on investing in us when he finds out that we’re keeping his daughter under wraps?" Chuck shot back, shaking his head. "Nah. There’s no good reason to keep her around."

"I don’t need a good reason," I replied, without thinking. "I don’t want to send her back out there. She doesn’t know what she’s dealing with. She doesn’t know how to handle herself. She deserves a chance to get out."

"You think she’d have any idea what it means to stay with the Dark Dogs?" Lee pointed out. "She’s in too deep. She comes from money. She doesn’t know what she’s getting into with any of this."

"But she trusted us to help her," I shot back. "And you did. You could have sold her out the minute you saw her hiding, Chuck, but you didn’t, did you? Because you knew she needed our help."

He grimaced slightly, clearly wishing he had something to brush me off with, but I had seen how he had reacted to her presence. He could have told her to get the hell out, handed her over to them right then and there, but he didn’t. He pushed a hand through his hair, the one with love tattooed over the knuckles, and sighed.

"Fine, she can stay," he snapped back. "But it’s on your head, Jax. I don’t want to hear a thing about her. Not a peep. She’s your problem, you hear me?"

"Got it," I replied. It was the closest I was going to get to his blessing, and I was sure as hell going to take it. I would take anything I could get right now. I knew Chuck wasn’t the hardass he made himself out to be, and the sight of Star so in need of help had stirred something in him, even if he wanted to pretend otherwise.

"Go," he told me, jerking his head towards the door. "Before I change my mind."

I headed for the door, and glanced up the stairs to the room that Star was sleeping in. I almost wanted to go up there and tell her that she was safe for the time being, she could rest, but she needed sleep more than anything right now, and I wasn’t going to wake her up.

I headed back out to the store and leaned on the counter, staring at the spot where I had done her tattoo. I hoped it was healing okay; I guessed if she was sticking around here, I could keep an eye on it, make sure it came together the way it was supposed to.

I had a few tattoos of my own, but mostly on my legs, where I could do them myself – the majority of them had been practiced and they hadn’t come out too well, but there was one that I liked, one that I had done way back in the day to test out my line work. I could still remember sitting up in that bed, the same one Star was in right now, my tongue between my teeth as I pressed the gun against my skin. The pain hardly registered, my veins were so blown out from injecting, but I was determined to put something better there than the abscesses I’d gotten shooting junk.

It was only about an inch across, and it wasn’t much. You probably wouldn’t even notice it unless you were looking. But it was there, clear as day, on my left thigh.

A star.

And I couldn’t help but feel as though that was a sign. Not that I believed in that shit, but if I did, then I would have believed that the universe had put her in front of me for a reason. A woman looking for a tattoo that matched one of the first I’d ever given myself, a woman who was named after the glittering celestial body. A woman who needed my help, even if I didn’t know what chance I stood against someone like her father.

But I would do what I could. Do everything I was able to. And if that meant taking on the Salina family? So be it.

How bad could they be?

---