Page 13 of His Loyal Rebel

He looked into the flame. "I would've asked you, but you weren't there."

She scoffed. While Angie wasn't her favorite person lately, or ever, she didn't want people bugging her sister. She'd seen how Cusclan got their answers. Tarkio probably questioned people the same way, and that wasn't right.

"Stay away from her." She swallowed. "She's happy with Ringtail."

"Are you happy with her being with him?"

She shrugged. "Not my life."

"No, your life doesn't involve Tarkio." His hair fell in front of his shoulder as he looked at her. "You belong to a guy who wears a Cusclan Motorcycle Club patch."

"Who told you that?" She exhaled harshly, realizing that Angie blabbed her mouth. "I don't belong to him. I stayed with him for a month. That's all."

"Is that why you're camping? You have nowhere to go?"

Putting her need to leave and go back to Angie's house out of her mind. She wanted to prove to Whip that she was perfectly fine on her own. If she wanted to sleep in her car again, she would.

She refused to answer him. He had no right to know how she lived her life or judge her for her decisions.

He had no right to ask questions about her or contact her sister. It was a free country.

"Listen, sis." He paused. "Tarkio has no problem with Ringtail seeing your sister after finding out she isn't property of Cusclan. But you are living with her. You're associated with Cusclan. We have a problem with that because we can't trust you're not running to Big with everything you see and hear."

She studied him. It was odd that he would seek her out in his concern for his MC brother. But his trust issues had to do with Ringtail, not her.

Knowing how Cusclan manipulated situations and made sure the ties to the club weren't broken, she suspected he'd come to tell her to stay away from her sister as long as Angie was involved with a Tarkio member.

"Ringtail is a grown man—"

"Who thinks with his dick." Whip straightened and slipped his hands into his vest pockets. "I'm not here because of him."

"Then why are you here?"

"If you'd stop asking me why all the damn time and listen, I'll tell you." He cocked his brow. "Your sister wants you to come back. You're welcome to stay at her house. She's worried about you and doesn't think you'll listen if she asks you to stay."

"So, you volunteered to ask for her?" She snorted, knowing it was Angie's way of using him to get on his good side. Her sister wouldn't want to lose Ringtail and would bargain with the devil to continue seeing him.

"You weren't at the two motels in town when Angie called around, trying to find you. She's worried about where you're staying. I told her I'd look around for you." He glanced over his shoulder before meeting her gaze. "Another Tarkio member spotted your car earlier in the day, and here I am, telling you your sister wants you home."

"Angie never worries about me."

"Take it for what it is." He stepped around the fire.

She held her breath, the closer he came. When he was within reach of touching her, he bent over and picked up the kettle, dumping the water on the fire.

Without the light to see him, she blinked to focus her eyes in the darkness.

"I thought you said Ringtail couldn't be around Angie if I was there," she said, trying to piece together what had happened when she wasn't around. "Are you setting me up to go back and get kicked out of the house again, or do you hope I'll break them up?"

"Slow your roll." He stayed beside her. "Ringtail doesn't want to lose your sister, and he's moving her into his house. Angie's paid her rent until the end of the month. You've got three and a half weeks to stay there. If you want to keep the place, make next month's rent on time. Believe it or not, I think your sister is doing you a favor, considering she mentioned how you were homeless at the moment."

"I'm not homeless," she said.

"Sleeping in your car isn't the same as having running water and heat." He walked away from her. "Or a soft bed to lay your head."

Angie had never gone out of her way to help her before. Why she'd do so now only added to her confusion. She chewed on her lower lip. Her sister must be in love, which was a change for her. Ringtail, for what an asshole he was, must care about Angie to move her to his house.

She hurried through the dark and stopped between her car and his motorcycle. "Are you saying Angie isn't home right now?"

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