Page 26 of Redemption

“I’m exhausted, and the project hit a delay, so I brought us lunch since I’m responsible for notifying our customers,” she says with a shrug. “I thought I’d break the news in person.”

“Bitch, I’m fucking talking to you.” Any stops short less than a foot from Sloane and I can feel the rage rolling off of her. How the fuck did that skank go sideways so fast?

Without a word, Sloane simply raises her hand, drawing her four fingers down to her thumb in a motion for the other woman to shut her trap, and if not for her age, I’d think Any was going to stroke out.

Any’s anger twists her face into something unrecognizable and that’s when I start forward, knowing that she won’t think twice about physically attacking the woman I planned on claiming this week.

“I got us tacos,” Sloane tells me, and while it appears that she’s looking at me, I can see that she’s paying close attention to Any as she steps to meet me.

Rightly so, I think the second that Any takes a swing at her.

Now, Sloane likes to talk about how she grew up in a roughneck family and how close she and her brothers are, but I’m not sure I would have believed this if someone tried telling me second hand.

As Any’s fist flies at her, Sloane simply leans to her right and with Any off-balance from the punch that didn’t land, my woman almost casually claps her on the back—like you do when you meet an old friend. And that’s all it takes to send her sprawling to the floor at my feet.

“Roman?”

“Yeah, Prez?”

“Follow Any to the gate and make sure everyone knows she’s banned,” I tell him, circling my arm around Sloane’s head and kissing her soundly.

The now-ex club whore pushes herself off the floor, pausing when she sees a drop of blood. I stop long enough to make sure it’s nothing serious, and indeed, it’s just a small cut from where her chin hit the ground; so, I tug Sloane in the direction of my room.

Now that she’s here, I’ll enlist her help with the salve.

“Tacos, huh?” I ask her, refusing to spend another second, at least in front of my brothers, on Any.

Sloane seems to understand my need for privacy, but as she’s focused on me she doesn’t notice the nods or looks of approval that she’s getting from the men present.

It was completely unnecessary to tell Roman to spread the word that Any’s no longer welcome at any Northern Grizzlies events, those present will have told everyone else by dinner time.

“Fuck,” I exhale the word once I close my door behind us. No matter how cool she played it out there, I keep my eyes trained on Sloane, watching to make sure she doesn’t look upset.

“How long has she hung around here?” she asks me, laying out the food on the counter to my left.

“I don’t know, maybe a year, year and a half?”

“Did she think you two had something?”

“I never gave her, or anyone else, a reason to think that,” I answer honestly, hoping to reassure her.

“Weird,” she murmurs more to herself than to me. After rewrapping a taco to eat it from the foil, she looks up at me, her eyes clear from worry. “I saw her with some guy in town, about a week ago, they seemedtight. Not to diss you in anyway, but why make a big play for you now?”

“Don’t fucking know, don’t fucking care,” I tell her with a shrug as I dismiss her question. “Babe, the tendons in my leg are twitching and I will do whatever you ask, if you could …”

“Oh! Of course,” Sloane says, balling up the now empty wrapper and hurrying to the bathroom to get the salve.

It’s the soft smile on her face afterwards that tells me how pleased she is that I asked her for help that lets me know we’re alright.

Chapter 10

Sloane

I’m smiling ear-to-ear as we enter the casino. Vector has my backpack slung over his shoulder, with his saddlebags over his left arm as he holds my hand with his right.

We’re a little later than we had planned since I hadn’t given a thought to riding his motorcycle down here and we had to rummage around, looking for a backpack big enough formostof what I had packed.

It’s my first adult vacation, that is, the first one I’ve been on without family and both he and Pops pointed out, repeatedly, that I packed too many pairs of shoes.

---