Page 40 of Demo

Demo reached up and brushed it away with his thumb. He cupped her face in his large hand and Paige found herself leaning into his comforting touch. The dam was breaking again.

“I understand that you might not wantmyhelp,” he continued softly. “I don’t know how else to say it except that I fuckingwantyou, Paige. I want to be a part of your life. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know a damn thing about kids.” After a slight pause, he added, “The fact that I just cursed twice is probably evidence enough of that. But I want to learn. I want to get to know your boys. Not as Lucky’s friend but asyours. Friend. Boyfriend.” He leaned over the table and pressed his lips to her fingertips. “Lover.” His voice was low, sultry. “I want more nights curled up on the couch with you and the boys. Mind, in my vision of that, there’s a TV with a kids’ movie playing”—she flushed—“but that just brings me back to my original point.

“If you don’t want to accept my help, then let’s call Harper and Lucky over. You can tell them everything if you’re not comfortable talking to me about it. Iwishyou would,” he emphasized, “but I can understand if you can’t yet. But please, Paige, talk tosomeone. When I say I want to help, I’m not just talking about money. I got that message loud and clear.” She met his smile with one of her own. “I’m an accountant. I don’t have togiveyou money. I can look at what you’re dealing with and see if we can devise a plan to help get you back on your feet.”

Paige bit her lip, but before she could reply to him, his phone rang.

Her eyes landed on the clocks on her microwave and oven. It was around five in the morning. Who was calling him at this hour?

Demo must have thought the same thing, because he frowned and dug his phone out of his front pocket. “Yeah?” Whoever was on the other end of the phone said something short but it was enough to make Demo stand up suddenly. “The fuck?” he demanded. He handed Paige Nelly Bean a little rougher than he probably meant to, given his previous gentleness with her son. Paige quickly stood and took him. “Tell him to hurry the fuck up,” Demo snapped and then ended the call.

He was partway out the kitchen before he paused and turned back towards her. Rushing over, he gave her a very quick but feverish kiss. “I have to go,” he told her. “Stay here and keep the heat on. We’ll finish this conversation when I get back.”

Paige frowned after him. Something was wrong. She didn’t know what or who had been on the phone. Demo looked angry, but also afraid. “Be careful,” she pleaded, knowing he wasn’t going to give her details even if she asked.

“Always,” he promised. After another quick kiss, he ran out the kitchen and towards her front door.

Demo ran out her front door with his boots unlaced and clutching his jacket and cut in his right hand.

Yes, she reaffirmed to herself. Something was very, very wrong.

CHAPTER 7

Ignoring the bitter cold, Demo ran out of Paige’s house and up her long driveway. His boots weren’t even laced up, causing him to stumble along the way in the fresh snow.Fuck, he’d meant to shovel her driveway before leaving. Damnit! And based on the phone call he’d just had with Steel, he doubted there would be any free members or prospects to come over and help her.

He was tempted to tell her not to leave her house. At the very least, he knew she and the boys were safe and away from club property.

Headlights nearly blinded him as he saw his Bronco make the curve before the entrance of her driveway a little too fast. Thankfully, Pumpkin was an excellent driver, regardless of the road conditions.

The truck never came to a full stop. As soon as he was within arm’s reach, Demo opened the passenger door and hopped inside. He nearly lost a boot in the process, but luckily didn’t. Pumpkin executed a nail biting U-turn that had Demo grabbing the Oh Shithandle and then gunned the Bronco back towards the clubhouse.

“What the fuck is going on?” Demo demanded.

He put his foot up on the dashboard and started lacing up his boot. It had taken some time with an occupational therapist after the accident that had taken his three fingers to learn how to do certain tasks with only the use of his left thumb and pinky finger. On a bet, he’d once taped the pointer, middle, and ring fingers of several of his club brothers to their palms and then had them complete certain tasks they claimed should have been easy regardless of the number of fingers in use.

They’d all failed. Mind, most of them had also been a bit drunk, but Demo still liked to rub it in their faces that they’d lost the bet.

“Bones got up in the middle of the night to get something from his cage. Found a duffel bag lying between his cage and mine. When he opened it, he found a fuckingbomb.”

A fucking bomb. On club property. A cold sweat coated his skin. This was Demo’s area of expertise, but he also hadn’t been near a bomb since one took three of his fingers. “Timer?”

Pumpkin shook his head. “Not that Bones saw. He alerted Steel and Bulldog, then started working on evacuating the clubhouse.”

“The women and kids?” Demo lowered his right boot and lifted his left.

“Back at the trailers with Frankie and the prospects. We weren’t taking any chances there was more than one.”

Demo agreed. “If there’s no timer then it’s remote activated. Does Keys have a signal jammer?” Demo had one in his equipment bag in his clubhouse apartment but couldn’t call Keys to tell him that. Pumpkin and he were nearly to the club property gates.

“I don’t know. I was sent to get you. Steel ordered everyone to turn off their cell phones after he called you and told the ol’ ladies not to take theirs.”

Well, that was something at least. Though Demo wished Steel hadn’t called him himself and had Pumpkin a safe distance away while on the road. But Steel calling Demo did get him ready for pickup faster. He knew better than most that every second mattered when dealing with an explosive device.

“Can you tell me anything about the device?”

Pumpkin shook his head. “I threw SJ into Angel’s arms and bolted to get you.”

Demo caught the wavering in Pumpkin’s usually steady voice and realized his friend was afraid. Pumpkin had always been a loner. Other than his mom, he didn’t have family. There was no one Pumpkin had ever had to look after…until SJ. Demo could only imagine the fear his friend had felt when he’d been woken up to be told there was a bomb outside the clubhouse where he and his son slept. If Paige and the boys had been there… Christ.

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