Page 21 of Bear

“If she stays in your corner, we will protect her to the death. You know that.”

“I’m telling you right now, Rocket. I believe her. I believe she’s told me what she knows and that she’s the only innocent party in all this. God knows I’m not.”

“You know what?” Lemon stood up straight then. “Crush. Where is this fucker?”

“Roadside motel. Other side of town. Him and the other guy.” Crush met my gaze. “Goes by Boon.”

That surprised me. “Boon? Paul Jacobs?”

“He was on that same team when you were in Tripoli, wasn’t he?” Rocket raised a questioning eyebrow at me.

“Yeah.” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Christ, Rocket. Boon was the only man in that group who questioned our orders. The others were ready to go, but Boon stayed with me. I told him I could help him get out if he wanted to, but Boon had a family. He didn’t want to uproot them. I have no idea what happened to him after I came here, but that whole unit was reprimanded. We weren’t active military, so the CIA was able to keep it interagency.” I shrugged. “They protected their men in the long term, but short term, it was a fuckin’ shit show.”

“Yeah,” Crush confirmed. “He took the brunt of it all. Probably because he backed you up. Me and Rocket kept you out of the loop because you had enough on your plate, but Boon spent some time in prison because of that incident. He took the fall for them.”

“Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me?” I paced across the room. “Christ, Rocket! Why would you keep that from me?” For the first time since I’d known Rocket, I felt a sense of betrayal even as I knew he’d probably been right to keep me out of it.

“You were injured, comin’ off that mission, knowin’ you hadn’t been able to stop a massacre. Your head wasn’t in a good place, and I wasn’t about to make it worse.”

“I could have helped. Maybe kept him out of jail.”

“Oh, really?” This from Lemon. “How could you have done that?”

“By testifyin’ he wasn’t there. That he was with me.” The second I said it, I knew how utterly stupid I sounded.

“Right,” Lemon continued, not pulling any punches. “The CIA is gonna believe you, a man who disobeyed orders and vanished off the face of the earth, over the man who was expecting to be the director of the CIA?” She snorted. “Honey, you ain’t that convincin’.”

I glared at my vice president. Rocket sighed. “Lemon, you don’t have to be so fuckin’ blunt.”

“Ah. My mistake. I’ll pussyfoot around it, put some sugar on it, and tell him the exact same fuckin’ thing. Don’t change the message. Bear is many things, but he’s not a fuckin’ pussy. He needs it raw and unfiltered to get through his thick skull.”

Despite the gravity of the situation, I couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “Don’t listen to him, Lemon. You keep givin’ it to us straight. Keep us honest.”

She lifted her chin. “It’s part of why you guys voted me in. I know it hurt, Bear. I know you don’t like it.” She turned to her man then. “But Bear’s also right, Rocket. You should have told him. He had the right to know. The other men in Grim could have kept him here or helped him figure out a way to help Boon if he insisted.”

Rocket glared at Lemon. “You’re not helpin’.”

“And you know I’m right.” She pointed a finger at him, poking him in the chest. “So the question now is, what do we do about this Leon Black guy?”

Ringo shrugged. “He wants to talk to us? I say we give him what he wants.”

* * *

Olivia

“I think I should go with you.”

Bear told me the club planned to nab Mr. Black and the man with him and have a come-to-Jesus meeting with them. Much as I wanted to stay as far away from the man as I could, it felt like the coward’s way out.

“Not in this lifetime, baby.” Bear didn’t even look back as he readied himself, dressing in black jeans, a black T-shirt, and his MC vest.

“Bear, please.” I approached him from behind and laid a hand lightly on his back. “This is something I need to do. I have to face this.”

“No.” He growled, low in his chest, but the menace in it was clear. “No fuckin’ way.” He didn’t even turn around.

I changed tactics. “You know, we had the most fantastic sex in the world, and I don’t know your real name.”

That made him stiffen. His shoulders rose and fell once as he took in a deep breath before turning around. “It’s Gailyn. Gailyn Hoover.”

---