Page 21 of Biker's Dark Revenge

But now...now I didn’t have any choice but to accept that my life had just gotten a whole lot bigger. It wasn’t just my life anymore, it was Kara’s. And I... I didn’t know if I was up to the task of being everything she needed me to be. I wanted to be, of course, I did, but I just didn’t know if I had it in me. To be a... caregiver? A parent to her? To a little girl who had been through the kind of hell most adults wouldn’t have been able to live with? It didn’t feel like it was real, didn’t feel like it possibly could be.

But there was nobody else who understood it. Nobody else could wrap their head around it, not like me. I had seen it, in stark detail. I was the only one who got it.

And that meant I was the only one who could give her what she needed.

Well, maybe Lee, too.

She seemed so attached to him, and there was no doubt that he was amazing with kids – it was in the way he carried himself around her, with this gentle, sweet curiosity, as though all he wanted was to take care of her. I knew there had to be more to his past than he was telling, but whatever it was, that wound that remained, he obviously didn’t want to deal with.

I headed into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea; I didn’t have a whole lot to do these days, now that the Kennel had been destroyed. There was some talk of rebuilding it somewhere else, but I knew it would be a long time before I could get behind the bar again. I had a decent amount of savings, enough to keep me going for the time being, and I was okay with relying on that for now – though I knew I would have to start the hunt for a new job soon.

A job that I could use to support both Kara and me. And I would need to get a bigger place. She would need her own room soon, right? And would I have to go through social services to explain exactly how I had come into caring for her in the first place? Where exactly did I start with that? And what were the chances that they would even believe me if I told them every inch of the truth?

Before I could ponder on that for too much longer, I heard a key in the door – and turned to see Lee stepping inside a moment later. I had given him a key a few days ago, it just seemed to make sense; I liked having him around, and, if he was working late, it meant he would never have to worry about getting in. He had been so busy that I’d hardly had a chance to catch up with him about everything that had been going on, but I felt a smile spread across my face the moment I saw him step over the threshold.

"Oh, there you are," I murmured, and as I went to hug him, – I noticed him flinch slightly, and I pulled back.

"Are you okay?" I asked with concern, looking him up and down. He nodded.

"I’m fine."

"No, you’re not," I told him, and when I saw his hands – I noticed they were grazed, marked with light scratches across his palms. My eyes widened.

"What happened?" I asked, gasping. He shook his head.

"It’s nothing," he replied, tucking his hands into his pockets quickly. I planted my hands on my hips.

"If you think I’m going to believe that you must think I’m stupid," I remarked, raising my eyebrows. "Come on. Tell me. What happened?"

I led him into the kitchen, where I kept a small first-aid kit – nothing much, but it was enough to help me out when I got little cuts and bruises on the job from hefting around big crates of beer. I gestured for him to take a seat at the dining table, and he slumped into it, exhausted.

"I was at Lombardi’s compound," he muttered. "One of the men caught me. Attacked me."

"Holy shit," I breathed, as I grabbed bandages and antiseptic. "What happened?"

A small smirk crossed his face.

"They got the worst of it, trust me," he replied. I figured it was best I didn’t hear more. I could only imagine what he had done to deal with that fucker.

"Here," I murmured, and I turned his hands over and rested them on the table. I dabbed some of the antiseptic onto them, and he winced but didn’t protest.

"Thank you," he told me, as I worked to clean him up. Given that he’d had a scuffle with one of Lombardi’s men, it seemed like he was in better shape than I would have expected – but then, it wasn’t like Lee didn’t know how to handle himself, that much was obvious. I wrapped a bandage around each of his hands, carefully tying them off, and then slipped into his lap.

"What did you find out?" I asked him softly, brushing a hand through his hair. He linked his hands around my waist to hold me up, gazing up at me.

"Where Lombardi’s hiding out," he explained. "It’s not much, but it’s a start. We know what compound he’s hiding in, and that means we know where to hit when the time comes."

I sighed, resting my arms on his shoulders.

"You think you guys are going to be able to take him on?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Of course we will," he replied, a smile crossing his lips. "You trust me, right?"

"I trust you," I replied, smiling back. God, I really did. After all the shit I had been through, he was the one person who had seen all of it – and the one person I knew didn’t view me any differently because of it. He didn’t see me as some helpless victim. He knew I was capable of handling myself. I just needed a little help from him to make it happen, that’s all. Especially when it came to flat-pack furniture.

"So, how’s your day been?" he asked, as he brushed his nose against mine. Something was intoxicating about being this close to him, and I was sure he knew that.

"I missed you," I admitted softly. God, it was so strange, laying myself out on the line for someone like that. When I had worked at the Kennels, I had been used to deflecting the interest thrown my way. It just felt safer like that, like I could handle myself better if I didn’t take anything too seriously. But with him? Yeah, with him, it was different. I wanted him to know every part of me, everything that was on my mind.

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