Page 23 of Dark Biker Protector

"What, helping damsels in distress?" she asked, only mostly joking. I shook my head.

"You know that’s not how I see you," I assured her. "I never would. But...I know how it can be, how the cops can just let this shit slide. You don’t have to worry about that when you’re with me, you hear?"

She smiled.

"Yeah," she murmured. "I hear you."

I squeezed her hand tightly.

"I’ll send my men out on patrol around the city," I promised her. "You give me his description and I’ll pass it on to them. There won’t be a damn place this fucker can hide, I promise you."

The fervency in my voice caught me off-guard, and she tilted her head to the side.

"Why do you care about it so much?” she asked me.

"Because I care about you, Abbey."

"No, but I mean, before the two of us...started this," she replied. "As soon as you found out about Franco, you wanted to help me with it. What happened? Did something go down in the past that made you...made you sensitive to this stuff?"

There it was, the chance to tell her about my sister. Some part of me wanted to just come out with it already – I knew I had hidden so much about my past from her, and this would have allowed her to string the pieces together, make it all fit in a way that made sense.

But, at the same time, when I looked into her eyes, I could see the exhaustion there – I could see how tired she was after everything she had been through, and I didn’t want to put more on her plate for her to handle, not now, not yet. She didn’t deserve to have to wade through my shit as well as hers.

I shook my head.

"I just knew you needed help," I replied. "It’s what I would have done for anyone."

"And would you have done the rest of it for anyone, too?" she asked, smiling slightly. I grinned and pulled her in close to me.

"No way," I promised her. "Just for you, Abbey."

I pressed a kiss against her temple, and she closed her eyes and rested her head against my chest. I smoothed my hand down her back, trying to get her to relax, though I knew it wouldn’t be that easy.

I wished she would have told me what she had done with that other girl, but I got it – there was still a part of her that wanted to handle all of this by herself, though she shouldn’t have had to. She shouldn’t have had to put herself through this alone. That was what Franco was counting on – what he was planning for. The last thing he expected was for her to get help from someone like me.

But when he was faced with a real threat, real trouble, he would think twice about the shit he was trying to pull. He would understand that he couldn’t just do whatever he wanted to these women in his life, use and abuse them as he saw fit. His bullshit was coming to an end – whether he liked it or not.

"Thank you," Abbey mumbled against my chest, and I pulled back so I could hear her properly.

"What did you say?"

"Thank you," she replied, reaching out to cup my face. "I...I know this is a lot to take on. And I know I’m not good at asking for help. But I...I don’t think I would have been able to make it this far without you."

I snorted.

"I think you’d have found a way," I remarked. She shook her head.

"No, I...before we started all of this," she admitted, her voice dropping slightly. "I had just convinced myself that I had to go through all of this alone. I had told myself it was the best I could hope for. But...but having you around, I actually feel like I have a hope in hell of getting through all of this. Thank you."

"Any time," I replied, planting a kiss against her cheek, and I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her in close to me again. I knew there was still so much we had to get through, so much we had to do to bring that psycho ex of hers to justice – but whatever it took, I was willing to do it.

I was in. And when I was in – whoever I was up against didn’t stand a fucking chance.

Chapter Fourteen – Abbey

I hooked my grocery bag over my shoulder as I stepped out of the store, and at once I felt the palms of my hands begin to prickle with sweat.

I glanced back and forth. The street was busy, and there was nothing amiss there, nothing that I could see, at least. And yet, despite it all, I felt like someone was ready to pounce on me at any moment.

---