Page 11 of Royally Embraced: RBMC

Jeter turned onto the highway, pushing the gas pedal down to merge with traffic. He wanted to put as much space between them and the shooter or shooters. Fuck. Why hadn’t his brother shown up and why hadn’t Kendrick called him?

Silence filled the air between them. He looked over, noticing she’d crossed her arms over her chest as she stared out the window. The lack of acknowledgement bothered him on a visceral level. For years, he’d been numb to feeling anything for others. Keeping everyone at a distance except his MC family. Somehow, after he’d gotten discharged, they’d wormed their way into his cold existence. How the fuck did this tiny scrap of a woman worm her way inside? It had to be her vulnerability. Jeter was a sucker for damsels in distress. Feeling better with an explanation, he pulled his cell phone out with one hand.

“Can you try getting my brother on the line for me? He’s the last one I called.” Passing Tori the cell phone he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and hoped she wasn’t stupid enoughto snoop through it. The one other time he’d trusted a woman, he’d nearly lost his life.

Flashes of light burst behind his eyes. Memories breaking through a barrier he’d formed in his mind. His body tensed. Darkness threatened to pull him under as tiny white dots of light sparked in front of him.

“Shit,” he growled at the sound of Tori’s scream echoing around him.

He pulled the steering wheel to the right and fishtailed back-and-forth along the slick freeway until he steadied the Bronco.

“What the hell happened back there?” she asked him. Her face had turned nearly as white as the snow that fell.

Sweat dripped down his temple. He licked his lips, reaching his hand up to his chest, wondering if he could still feel the electric shock of the defibrillator burning his chest all these years later. For years, he’d gotten used to being in the dark as part of the military special ops team, but then he’d found a sliver of light with the Royal MC. It only took a couple of days in his brother’s world for him to get sucked back down, where remembering his own name could become a trial.

“Nothing. It was nothing,” he said a second time, wishing the words made them true. There had been a time he’d welcomed the darkness. Longed for it and even hoped to never leave it. There had been no regrets when you had nothing he’d sworn. However, once he’d clawed his way out of the pits of hell, Jeter knew he’d been wrong.

“Take this exit!” she shouted.

At any other time, he’d have argued with her or anyone who told him what to do. But then again, his head was reeling. He blinked again. Wondering why the fuck sweat was dripping down his temple so damn much? It wasn’t like it was hot in the vehicle. Or at least not enough to make him perspire so damn much. “Is it hot in here?”

Tori looked from the road to him, then to the dash. “Do you need me to turn your side of the temperature down? There’s dual control.” Her hand was already on the dash, turning his temperature from seventy-two to sixty-nine.

His lips twitched.

TORI DIDN’T WANT TOantagonize Jeter while he drove her Bronco at breakneck speed, but damn, he scared her. Not only with his driving but with his sudden outburst. She’d seen men lose their shit many times. But what he’d done, she was sure, wasn’t normal.

“I’m sorry,” he said. His tone came out a low, guttural growl that had her heart hammering.

She opened her mouth to tell him it was fine, but his hand reached for hers. The one that held his cell phone. She’d forgotten he’d asked her to call his brother. Hell, she’d lost track of everything except getting the big, scary mobster to pull off the freeway. The last thing she needed was for them to be flying down the road at over seventy miles an hour and for him to have another freakout. No, thank you.

“Here, I’ll call your brother.” She wiggled her hand out from under his, even though his touch was warm and gentle, and she missed it the moment it was gone.

Of course, she had questions, lots of them. Not trusting herself, Tori leaned closer to the door with the phone close to her ear. The ringing on the other end continued until it went to voicemail. She hung up, then tried again. This time, she put the phone on speaker. “Do you want to leave a message for him?”

The ringing filled the quiet while Jeter navigated the SUV. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel without answering.She was getting ready to hang up the moment the voicemail prompt answered when a male voice barked, “Who is this?”

“Kendrick, it’s me, Jeter. What the fuck happened?” Jeter asked.

“Fuck. Are you okay?” Tori listened to the other man yelling orders in the background.

Jeter held his hand out for the phone, so Tori laid it on his palm, hoping he would pull over before going into a full on conversation.

“Listen, shit went south the moment we got into the car. Leon immediately got an alert. You know he’s a tech wiz. His phone lit up that there was a bomb detected.” Kendrick let out a breath that sounded sad to her ears.

“Did we lose anyone?”

The leather creaked under Jeter’s grip. She wondered if her insurance would replace a steering wheel if he destroyed hers, then felt guilty for thinking about such stupid things when they might’ve lost people close to them.

Kendrick let out a dry chuckle. “See, I knew you still loved us. Leon got a little busted up, but he’ll live. My Bentley didn’t make it, though,” he growled.

Her eyebrows shot up. She mouthed the wordsBentleyand mimed the action of driving to Jeter. He nodded.

Shit. No wonder the man sounded pissed.

“I’ll just have to get a newer model. The leather in the old girl was getting a little faded anyhow,” Kendrick muttered.

Jeter looked at her, rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Only you would think a Bentley Continental GTZ of any year needs replaced. Seriously, though. Someone was out in that alley with a gun and would’ve killed me and Tori.”

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