Page 51 of Brage & Dinah

Chapter 20

Brage brushed the hairaway from Dinah's face. He'd let her sleep the rest of the day after she'd cried herself into exhaustion.

She'd refused to talk with him after the shock of information she'd received from the man who'd raised her as her brother. Whatever memories she battled against had won the war. Guilt riddled him, having let her learn about her past from Tony Reed.

He wondered if she would've been better off never knowing the truth.

It wasn't hard to figure out from the phone call that Moroad had killed her father and Brad and Tony had taken her and raised her into believing she was their little sister and her parents had died. At that point in the phone conversation, it no longer mattered what the Reed brothers planned for her. They'd ruined any chance at a relationship with her with their web of secrets.

"Dinah?" he whispered, kissing her forehead. "Wake up and talk to me."

"I don't want to talk." Her eyes remained closed.

"Are you planning on going to work?"

"Is Peer working tonight?" she mumbled.

"Ja. Holly's going to watch the baby. It'll be good for him to have a break from caring for the child and clear his head." He rubbed her hip above the covers.

Hating to see her hurting, he wanted to fix everything that made her feel less than she deserved. But she was an adult and needed to make the choices herself.

To lose what she perceived as family, the people who were supposed to love her, and try to dig herself out of the devastation would happen on her own time. She was a strong woman who'd survived on her own before it was socially acceptable and she'd need to find the strength to forge on with her life, knowing that she had first belonged to a different family.

"I'll work." She blinked and lifted her head. "Peer needs the help."

He pulled her into a sitting position. Brad and Tony Reed couldn't kill her giving spirit. She'd spent a lifetime putting who she believed were her brothers first, and even in her darkest moment, she wanted to make life easier for Peer as he struggled with being a single father.

"Up you go." He pulled her to her feet.

Wrapping her warm body in his arms, he inhaled deeply when his cock reacted to having her against him. He kissed the top of her head. "Do you want another shower?"

Earlier, she'd cried hard enough she couldn't catch her breath. He'd taken her into the shower. It was the only thing he could think of to help calm her down. The warm water had worked its magic and relaxed her enough for her to sleep.

She shook her head. "I'll just get dressed. What time is it?"

"Six o'clock."

"Shit." She pressed her hand to her forehead. "I didn't mean to fall asleep."

He let her get ready for work, keeping an eye on her. If she showed any sign of not being able to handle working tonight, he'd take her out of the bar. Even if he had to serve drinks in her place and make an ass of himself, he'd give her that.

With the ride to surprise Brikken in front of him, he wanted to have everything and everyone at the clubhouse in a good headspace. Nobody could let down their guard. The shipment leaving the Seattle Chapter for Norway needed to go out without a hitch in six weeks.

With Moroad in chaos and soon Brikken keeping their eye on Slag, they'd have the attention on them, and the cargo would go unnoticed to Norway.

"Let's go down and grab dinner before you need to leave." He opened the bedroom door.

She followed him out. "I'm not hungry."

"You need to eat something." He slipped his hand into hers. "At least try."

He took her straight to the kitchen. There was leftover food the women had fixed, and he stood back, letting her add whatever she wanted to her plate.

She glanced over at him. "You're not eating?"

Heather entered the kitchen. Brage moved out of her way. "I ate earlier when you were napping."

"He and Roar get to eat first, but since Roar lives away from the clubhouse, Brage gets to be the guinea pig." Heather set out more napkins. "He's always excited when it's my night to cook."

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