Page 18 of Where We Promise

I stared at her, my brow rising curiously because if he had kept her safe then why did she need to be traded to the Stone Riders?

I didn’t want to press, so I let it go. I could tell Natty was starting to feel cagey about sharing information.

“Want to go grab some food up at the clubhouse?” Natty asked with a beaming smile, as if we hadn’t just talked about her dark past.

I wanted to figure her out. She was like a fictional character, always smiling, happy and nearly unreal. It made me want to dig into her sternum, just to make sure she wasn’t made of cotton candy and glitter.

“Yeah, that sounds fun.”

She moved around the room, grabbing her coat. “I can show you my room in the club too, that way if you ever want to chat while you’re visiting, you’ll be able to find me.”

“That sounds nice.” I smiled, hiding how badly I didn’t want to be around the club at the moment. Ironically it was the Stone Riders who had come to my aid, it wasn’t that I was afraid of them…but I was embarrassed that my own club thought so low of me that they would literally go so far as trying to hit me with one of their bikes.

Heat wound around my neck as tight as a noose, suffocating me.

I followed her anyway.

Natty took me in through the door shown to me when I had first arrived, the one I was told I could use for washing my clothes. I still hadn’t built up the confidence to do it. I had been washing my clothes in the shower and hanging them to dry with fishing line.

The club was muted from the back, which was nice as it gave me a little bit of time to acclimate.

“Should just be mostly old timers right now,” Natty said, sliding her coat off and hanging it over her arm.

I followed her through the kitchen into a dimly lit hallway. We passed by an office that boasted of natural light and hanging plants. After a few more doors, we were cutting across the main gathering space, where pool tables, couches and the large flat screen were set up. Natty was right, there were several old timers scattered around a rectangular card table holding cards.

But there, in the center of the room, leaning against the stone mantle was a man who looked like death himself.

His inky black hair fell slightly over to one side, while being cut close on the sides. He had a wide, firm jaw that pulsed as he stared at the woman in front of me. His eyes were a blueish hue but had more white than seemed natural. It was unsettling. He wasn’t wearing a cut, or anything that would have told me where he might be from.

Natty had stopped walking mid step, her gaze fastened on him.

“Do you know him?” I whispered, nervous at the way she was tensing.

I glanced up again to catch the man’s expression. He only continued to stare at her, that muscle in his jaw jumping.

Natty took one step forward, and I followed.

It brought us closer to the man, which made me nervous until I realized Natty was…blushing.

She continued toward the stairs, faltering slightly when we were within a few feet of the man.

His eyes seemed to burn as he searched her from head to toe, and then gruffly said, “Ne ingrediaris silvam solum.”

Natty glared up at him. I looked between the two because they were speaking a language that didn’t sound familiar at all to me.

He held out a small, folded note to her. “Promitte mihi.”

Her hand came up, gracefully taking it as she replied in the same perfect accent as he’d used, “Promitto.”

The man’s gaze briefly flicked to me before returning to Natty. He didn’t waste any more time before tucking his hands into his pockets and taking off.

I waited until we’d scaled the stairs, and Natty shut the door to her room before I spun on her.

“Who was that? What language was that?”

Natty hung her jacket, and then gave me a small smile.

“This is my place.” She held her hands out wide. “It gets good lighting, but I’m too afraid to try my hand at keeping any plants beyond succulents.”

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