Page 71 of The Keeper

Fury and hurt ignited inside me like a lit match on gasoline. “A brat?” I exclaimed, struggling against him. “I’m not the one playing vigilante!”

“Those motherfuckers held a gun to your head—they laid hands on you! What the fuck did you expect me to do?” he snapped, releasing me to drag his hands through his hair in frustration.

“Let the cops handle it!”

Dane laughed—a low, menacing chuckle that raised the hairs on my arms. “I look like the kind of guy who’s gonna sit back and wait for the cops to handle it, sweetheart? Someone touched my Ol’ Lady?—”

“I’m not your Ol’ Lady,” I interjected, jabbing a finger into his chest. “I’m not some piece of property for you to defend. I’m a person. A person who’s trying to heal from a traumatic experience. You can’t pull your biker bullshit and call dibs on me like I’m the last slice of cake!”

His eyes flashed dangerously. Before I could blink, he had me up against the wall, his muscular body caging me in, radiating heat and barely contained fury.

“I don’t need your permission to do shit, sweetheart,” he growled, his breath hot against my ear. “It’s cute you think you get a say in the matter, but you’re mine. And I protect what’s mine.”

A shiver ran through me, equal parts fear and arousal. It didn’t matter whether I was awake or asleep, my body responded to him, even when I didn’t want it to. “By breaking the law?” I challenged, meeting his gaze defiantly. “How is that protecting me?”

“In my world, we don’t wait around for the law. We are the law,” he said, his voice deadly calm.

I shook my head and squeezed the pads of my fingers into my palms, overwhelmed by the sheer stupidity of his statement. Was that what my mother had meant by club justice?

“Let me get this straight. You’re going to interfere with an active police investigation?”

“No. Told you already. I’m going to find the fuckers involved and make them pay,” he said.

Needing to put some distance between us before I did something foolish—like strangle him with my bare hands—I brushed past him.

“Where the hell are you going?” Dane caught me by the elbow, his grip like iron.

“Away from you,” I muttered, trying to wrench free.

He chuckled. “I see. You’re good with the softer sides of me, but the minute the not-so-nice parts come out, you’re ready to run.”

“Fuck yes, I am! Because I know how this story ends!” I had a little girl to worry about, and my number one priority was keeping her safe.

The cold look in his eyes returned. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“My father was a biker. He used to beat my mom. The last time, she ended up in the hospital, where she discovered she was pregnant with me. A nurse helped her contact my grandparents, and they drove up to Oklahoma to get us out.” My voice cracked, and I swallowed hard before adding, “If we’d stayed, we’d both be dead.”

Dane’s grip on my arm loosened, his expression shifting from anger to shock. “You think I could do that—that I could hurt either one of you?”

I glared up at him in stony silence, still tugging against his hold.

“Fucking talk to me, Piper.”

“What’s the point?” I looked down, angrily blinking back tears. “You’re going to do what you want even if it puts me and Avery in danger. Fuck what I need, right?”

“What you need is to feel safe,” he said, cupping my chin and forcing my eyes up to his. “Not spend the next few weeks, months, or years looking over your shoulder and jumping at every little noise.”

“But the police?—”

“Are going to follow their law. That means the man who hurt you has the right to a fair trial, the right to a lawyer, and the right to confront you in a courtroom. Let’s say the jury manages to find him guilty. Then he’s looking at five to twenty-five years behind bars with the possibility of parole in five,” he said, stroking my jaw with his thumb.

“What happens when he’s back on the streets, Piper? You going to trust that legal system to keep him from coming after you or Avery?” His eyes burned into mine, dark and intense.

“So you’re—” I licked my dry lips, my pulse thrumming against his fingertips. “You’re good with killing…for me?”

Dane kept his eyes on mine, his grip on my chin tightening. “Darlin’, I’d burn the whole fucking world to the ground for you.”

The intensity in his voice sent a tremor down my spine. “That’s what scares me,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “I don’t want what happened to turn you into something you’re not.”

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