Page 52 of Decoding Morse

“Is Ted the reason you’ve been sending Tap to help your woman?” Link asked, butting into my self-recrimination.

Startled by the question, I scoffed. “She’s not my woman, Prez. I’m just an old friend of her husband’s.” As she had reminded me, putting me firmly in my place. “And I’m not avoiding her. I delegated her interactions to the most qualified brother for the job.”

“So, it’s all about qualifications, huh?”

I sensed a trap but nodded anyway. “Yeah.”

“Then why the fuck didyoutake Amelia to the doctor?” The smug look on his face shouted checkmate, which was fair, considering I had no comeback. “You stay behind the scenes,” Link continued, driving the point home. “At your insistence. In fact, that was the agreement you insisted on when you joined the club. Yet you’ve led two ops for her. Why?”

“She’s my responsibility.”

“Havoc would have taken her to the doctor if you’d asked him, and he’s way more qualified than you are for field ops.”

“The bikes were the best transportation option.”

The bastard’s lips kept twitching as he tried not to smile. “Havoc has a bike.”

The mental image inspired by his suggestion made me want to wring his goddamn neck. “Julia would lose her shit if he put another woman on the back of his bike.”

Link shrugged. “What about one of the single brothers? Zombie? Frog? Specks? Hell, even Sage has more field experience than you do.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but not having a fucking leg to stand on, quickly snapped it closed again.

Link harrumphed. “Truth is truth, and you fuckin’ know it, so don’t come at me with that qualification bullshit. I know you well enough to know what’s up. You’ve got it in your mind that you’re not good enough for Amelia, so you refuse to step up and take a chance.”

The bastard had already won the game. Why did he have to be such a dick about it?

I didn’t have a worthwhile rebuttal, so I kept my mouth shut.

Link leaned back in his chair, steepling his hands on his desk as he considered me. “I called you in here to let you know Amelia plans to leave Monday.”

“Monday?” Panic, cold and frigid, speared through me, turning my blood to ice. “To go where? We haven’t neutralized the threat to her life.”

“I’m aware. So is she. But she’s in a bit of a bind, and her parents insist she go home to Idaho. She knows the risk, but school’s fucking expensive, and she’s not willing to deprive her daughter of this chance.”

He was revealing information about Amelia that I wasn’t privy to. Information she likely would have shared with me had I not been avoiding her.

He leveled a no-nonsense look at me. “If Amelia wants to go to Idaho, you can’t stop her.”

Technically, I could, but there’d be consequences.

As if reading my mind, he added, “We don’t hold people against their will here. No matter how much we want to.” When I didn’t immediately agree, his eyes narrowed. “You hear me, Morse?”

I grimaced and dropped my gaze to his desk. “Loud and clear, Prez.”

Finished with our conversation, he released me. Rather than heading back to the security room, I stormed upstairs and went straight to the room Amelia spent most of her time in.

Thia answered the door, flashing me a smile that was all teeth and no warmth. “Morse. What a pleasant surprise. Come in.”

The prickling sensation at the back of my neck gave me pause, but I crossed the threshold anyway. “Is Amelia here?”

“Nope. She should be back shortly, though.” Thia closed the door behind me, effectively blocking my escape, and pointed to the couch. “Sit.”

Her tone was half command, half threat, and I didn’t care for it one bit, but I did as I was told, holding her borderline hostile glare the entire time.

Thia joined me on the couch, glancing at her cell phone before setting it down on the arm. She turned to face me and said, “Ask me how I met Amelia.”

Again, her tone rankled, but I let it slide, more than a little impressed by her take-the-bull-by-the-horns attitude. “Fine. I’ll bite. How’d you two meet?”

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