Page 22 of Forbidden Bond

“I’m staying with Conn tonight,” she said before Strat could answer.

“Checking you’ll be safe, sister, not trying to chase you off your hunt.” He kissed her cheek quick. “We’ll get you a phone tomorrow.”

“You can call Strat if you need me. He’ll know where I am.”

“Yeah, I’ve figured that out about him.” Her brother actually smacked Strat’s shoulder like they were buds. “Keep me in the loop.” Her brother urged Ronald out. “Let’s go.”

They sat there in the car, her and Strat, even after father and son had gone inside.

“You sure you want to do this tonight?” Strat asked. “It’s late.”

“The club’ll be open.”

“I know—”

“No, I mean…” Her focus tracked to him. “I need the club first. Please.”

Her sanctuary. The place he’d taken her to find her equilibrium when she’d spiraled before. Without question, Strat peeled away from the curb.

“If he’s hurt bad—”

“I can handle it.”

“You gonna let me finish a sentence?”

Sealing her lips, she pushed them to the side. Yes, adrenaline coursed through her. Fear, hope, anger, need, so much of it swirled in her veins, she couldn’t settle on exactly how to feel.

“Sorry. Go on.”

“Okay. We have to think about this is all. If he’s hurt bad, he won’t be anywhere the other families can get word about it.”

Because losing Conn damaged the family. Weakened their position, unless someone else had taken the wheel. Conn would want the family strong. Any inference of the opposite would stoke his short temper.

“No,” she murmured. “They’d keep him out of view, off the streets. Only those closest to him would know…”

Not only where he was, but how bad he’d been hurt. She couldn’t say the latter out loud, it might jinx them. If she believed in that. Her faith in the man and the myth ran deep.

“Step by step,” Strat said. “We take this one step at a time.”

Yes, good, she could handle that. “After Ronald and me left your parking lot, you went to the club?”

“I went to the loft, where you were supposed to be, where Ire was supposed to be.”

Where they had been until her father’s call. Would she ever forgive herself for dragging Conn along?

“You couldn’t get in.”

“So I went to the club. Was closed by then. A ghost town.”

“Could be everyone was just asleep.”

“Maybe, I didn’t feel like breaking in to find out.”

“Then you went to Lach…”

“If you were in trouble, in danger, Ire would fucking gut me for not going to him first. When I couldn’t find him… any of them…”

She squeezed his arm. “Conn wouldn’t let anything happen to me.”

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