Page 5 of Ruthless Redemption

A spot in his arms where safety wasn’t a question, but a right.

Chapter Three

Izzy

I had barely enough time to shower and crawl under the covers before someone started pounding on Houston’s door.

Exhaustion had set in sometime while the doctor stitched up my head and gave me something for the pain, all while urging me to return to him if my symptoms changed in any way. Now I wanted nothing more than some peaceful quiet and sleep.

I contemplated ignoring the intrusion, but after several minutes and on a heavy sigh I shoved back the blankets and stomped to the door. Whoever it was wasn’t going away. No one around here ever did. Every last one of them were as persistent as a blood sucking mosquito on a hot summer night.

For about 2.4 seconds I contemplated who I would find on the other side, but my gut knew. While Axel liked to be all in my business on an almost daily basis, the rapid staccato of my heart beat told me it was Houston who wasn’t going to let this go.

He’d gone to take care of ‘club business’ and for once I hadn’t cared what that meant. Not that my mind hadn’t already contemplated the scenarios of what they’d done with the men who’d attempted to kidnap me.

The pounding grew louder.

“I’m coming. Hold your horses!”

“Open the door, Izzy.” Houston’s low growled demand went straight to my heart. As I knew it would despite everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

What was it about him that I couldn’t seem to let go?

I unlocked the deadbolt, yanked open the door and remembered instantly every reason why.

Gorgeous.

Intense.

In charge.

Bad ass.

He might have a bit of white knight complex that made him massively over protective, but he’d been there when I needed him the most and that counted for everything.

“Why are you pounding on your own door? Don’t you have a key?” I blinked at the sound of my own voice. Breathless, goddammit.

“I didn’t want to just barge in. We both need rest, but we still need to talk.” I lost some of my intensity at the gruff and tired sound of his voice.

Despite everything I ached to reach out to him and pull him into my arms. It was then I finally noticed the dark circles under his eyes and the rumpled look of his shirt under his vest. We had both missed out on rest last night, but he looked even worse for the wear. How long exactly had it been since he’d had a good night’s sleep?

I stepped back in silent permission for him to enter. I was still mad, but dammit he looked even more miserable than I felt.

If that made me a sucker, then I would just have to live with that.

“What’s going on between you and Axel?”

That question came from so far out of left field it caught me completely off guard. It also pulled me back to a place I didn’t want to be anymore.

So much for sympathy.

“Seriously? That’s what you want to talk about right now? Screw you. Not sure you deserve an answer at this point, but there is nothing at all going on between me and Axel. Although if there was it would be none of your business.”

He stepped forward, forcing me to step back until my butt bumped the back of the couch. “Everything about you is my business. I thought you’d learned that by now.”

I honestly didn’t know whether I was going to scream or break down and cry. The events of the last twenty-four hours had done a number on me and exhaustion had already set in after my shower. I couldn’t respond like an adult right now. I just couldn’t.

“You don’t own me, Houston.” The words were harsh, but my voice was not. The urge to fight with him had fled. “The club does. Just like they do you.”

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