Page 31 of The Oath We Take

I nod towards the phone charging on the breakfast bar. “Guess my battery died on the ride. Not the best timing, I know.”

He looks to Ember. “Ballsy for a civilian to stand up to those men. I should meet the guy who looked out for my daughter.”

Ember shakes her head. “It’swaytoo early for that. It was our first date.”

Butcher raises an eyebrow. “You’re misunderstanding me, sweetheart. It wasn’t a request. I’m one step away from instructing Atom to move into your spare room.”

“What?” Ember and I ask at the same time.

“You heard me. You need protection twenty-four seven until this has been put to bed. Especially if they are going to come back for the cash in person.”

Ember puts her hands on her hips. “No, no, and no. No, you are not meeting a guy I went ononedate with. No, you are not putting me under twenty-four-seven supervision. And absolutely no, Atom is not moving into my guest room.”

Butcher steps closer to her, and for the first time, I feel the need to step between the two of them and put my hands on my president to shove him the fuck away from her. Decades of experience shows me that Ember has always been able to stand up to her father, but watching it after kissing her, after her telling me to choose her, makes me all kinds of pissed off.

“We’re putting protection around you whether you like it or not. But, if you work with Atom on it, we can make it work for you. And I don’t care if this guy has only been on one date with you—this is where a man should step up, not sit back.”

“If it were my girlfriend who had got knocked down, I wouldn’t leave her flying out in the wind until it was resolved,” I say. “I’d be right here, making sure nothing hurt one hair on her fucking head.”

If.

If she were mine, she wouldn’t need to worry or be strong because I’d have her.

“Where is he?” Butcher asks. “Is he coming back tonight?”

Ember shakes her head. “While this is something deeply private that I shouldn’t have to share with you, Dad, he wasn’t supposed to stay last night. But we were both shook up, he was too injured to move easily, and he was worried I had a concussion, which I don’t, before you worry about that too. Plus, we had to give our statement to the sheriff. One date. That’s it. Unlike the two of you, I’m not a one-night-stand, don’t-need-to-know-your-name, kind of girl.”

Her words ease the tension in my gut. They haven’t had sex.

“That doesn’t answer either of my questions,” Butcher says.

“He’s at work. With busted ribs. And no, I don’t expect him here tonight.”

I turn to face Butcher. “So, even if he were here, he wouldn’t be much use.”

“Wraith should be here soon, and we can make a plan to canvas Main Street to see who else is affected. I left immediately, but the rest of the brothers were packing up our camp and heading back.”

I understand why, because there is no way I would head back to Sturgis knowing what’s happening to our town. But I’m frustrated our vacation and trip got blown up.

“Makes sense to protect what’s ours.”

Butcher nods. “Which is why I want you to stay here and protect Ember until we know what we’re up against.” He turns to Ember, who is looking as shocked as I feel. “And you’re going to let him.”

10

EMBER

The sound of the shower makes me itch, even though I’m the one who insisted if Atom wanted to stay here, he needed to get in there. It’s thirty minutes since Dad left, telling Atom to stay, and leaving me with mixed feelings.

Irritation is the first emotion. It irritates me how much better I feel in my own skin knowing Atom is here. Correction—knowingsomeoneis here. I hadn’t realized how many times I’d checked the lock on the external door since Rocco left this morning. But now I can take a breath.

Frustration is the second emotion. I don’t want to be beholden to my father or the Iron Outlaws MC. But I also know that trying to do this on my own would be like taking a fly swatter to a gunfight. I carry a gun. I have several beyond the one the men stole. Am happy to fire one. But one woman against two armed gangsters says my odds are low. Organized crime is called that for a reason. There is a huge organization behind them, whether it’s the brotherhood of the motorcycle club or the families of the Mafia and Bratva. There are lots of them, and only one of me.

The third is exhaustion. If I’m honest, I barely slept last night.

And finally, the uneasy tightening at my core is the one that worries me most. Atom is currently naked in my bathroom. Worse, he’s wet, likely soaping himself up. Running his hands over his body.

And I find my hand hovering over the door handle, just so I can see if he lives up to my every fantasy, even though it would be a massive invasion of privacy.

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