Page 24 of The Oath We Take

“You’ve gotsome nerve coming here,” Ember says when she opens the door to the bar after I hammer on it.

It’s an odd combination in my brain. She looks pretty as a picture. Sundress and cowboy boots are my catnip at the best of times. But she fills out the dress to perfection, and the boots make her legs look like they were meant to be wrapped around my waist. The neckline reveals the curve of her ample tits. But her face is all mean scowl and narrowed eyes and a snippy tone that could cut glass.

“It’s too early in the day for you to bethismad at me without me knowing why,” I say, shoving my hands in my pockets in case I do something stupid like reach out and grab those hips of hers. Bet she smells as good as she looks too. Always does.

Unlike me, who probably stinks of the hangover seeping through my pores, a sweaty ride home in the sun, and three days without a shower.

She points to the sun, high in the sky. “It’s the middle of the afternoon.”

“Semantics,” is all I can muster.

“You’re meant to be in Sturgis.” She glances left and right down the street, biting down on her lip, and it takes all I have to not reach for her and tug her to me. I’m so fucking relieved she’s in one piece.

“Came to get details about who asked you for protection money.”

She puts her hands on her hips. “Don’t pretend like you don’t already know the details. I know you have spies in this place. A constant rotation of hangarounds and prospects. If one of them saw it happen but didn’t step in to help, I’ll shoot them myself. How else would Dad even know it happened?”

“Butcher called?”

She rolls her eyes. “I ignored him. He sent several very clear messages about two hours ago that I need to call him to give him details.”

“So, that’s what has you in a sour mood? You think I somehow found out about some shitheads coming here to threaten you and instructed the prospects to do absolutely nothing about it? And ran to your dad to tell him all about it?”

She sighs, but she doesn’t say a word.

“Unbelievable,” I say.

“What’s so unbelievable? You told Dad about the guy who was talking to me at the bar the other night. He spoke to me about that too. Hence why I was mad in the barn. As I already said, I don’t need you interfering in my business, Atom.”

“Was he the guy who answered your phone?”

She crosses her arms over her chest, and it’s all I can do to maintain eye contact instead of checking out her luscious tits. But it’s fucking impossible when she practically presents them on a platter to me. “So,you’rethe one who called? I didn’t recognize the number.”

“Well, now you have it. You find yourself in trouble, you dial it. Where is the fucker now?”

“Rocco left.”

I huff. “That’s big of him, leaving you alone. I should beat the shit out of him for abandoning you.”

“He didn’t abandon me, Atom. He stayed the night because he got beaten up by those goons.”

I laugh at that. “Should have defended himself better.”

She shoves at my chest. “He pushed me behind him; he told them to leave. Even you wouldn’t have been able to fight them off when there were two of them, both armed, and you were caught unprepared.”

I glance down at the holster of my gun, the knife on my belt. “Really, you think I’d ever be caught unprepared? And for the record, I wasn’t interfering in your business. You made that clear in the barn.”

Her cheeks turn an adorable shade of pink. Her eyes might be spitting fire my way, but her lips are lush and soft as ever. “I don’t believe you.”

I step closer to her, and she backs up such that I’m able to kick the door closed behind me and lock it. “If I were interfering in your business, you’d know it, Ember.”

“That still doesn’t sound like a denial.”

I tuck a lock of hair behind her ear, and she bats my hand away. “You want a denial? I did not tell your dad.”

She rolls her eyes like she was expecting me to say that. “Right.” The way she says it is like there are thirteen ‘i’s in the word. “Then how on earth did he know? Why are you even here?”

It galls me that I even have to explain myself. “Wraith got a call from Margie, who told him a few others had also gotten the same visit as you. Wraith told me. I called you to see if you were affected. We decided to not tell your dad until he woke up, which he probably did in the last five hours while I was driving here. Wraith must have told your dad. Your dad was worried about you, so he called. Was nothing to do with me or any spies you’ve convinced yourself I have.”

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