Page 58 of Jersey

The porch light shines on Lark's face, his eyes locked on the tiny area where I'm holding the curtain back.

He gives me a quick dip of his head, his breath coming out in cloudy puffs due to the frigid air outside. Spring hasn't had the ability to take much of a hold on the weather, and the nights in the mountains have been as cold as ever.

"Are you okay?" he asks, his voice easily carrying through the thin glass of the door's window.

Instead of holding a conversation with him freezing on the back porch, I flip the deadbolt and turn the lock on the doorknob, opening the door and taking a step back so he has enough room to enter the home without needing to touch me.

"Are you okay?" he repeats, stepping further into the house to close the door.

I wrap my arms around my middle, both in a bid to keep myself safe and to shelter myself from the cold air he let in.

"Jersey is out of town, or he'd be here himself."

I blink up at the man, wondering if he's just saying that to make me feel better or if it's true.

Either way, it doesn't matter. I didn't get Roman's number from the man himself. Anyone being here at all is about Nolan and Eli and the boy's therapy. I'm not being protected by this group of men for any other reason, and it would be smart to keep that in mind.

"There was someone in my backyard," I say, not breathing any more life into his statement than needs to be there.

"I saw tracks in the snow," he says, surprising me because I hadn't even realized we had gotten snow. "I was going to follow them all the way out, but I needed to make sure you were safe first."

"I'm fine," I say with as straight of a back as I can manage.

He doesn't look any more convinced than I feel.

"You look like you've seen a ghost."

I glare at the man. It's common courtesy not to say such things to a woman. It's akin to telling someone they look tired. Might as well say I look like shit and move on.

"Where's Rom-I mean Jersey?"

Lark gives me a slow smile as if I've revealed something of substance with my question.

"Nolan… umm Jericho gave me his number in case of an emergency."

"Jersey is working. He's out of state," he answers but doesn't offer anything further. The tone suggests he wouldn't tell me anymore either. "I just want you to know you're safe."

I take a step back when he takes a step forward, and like I've seen most of my life, his lips form a frown.

It's a form of rejection, and I've found that men take a hard strike to their ego when they realize they've been shunned. I start to tremble when I realize I don't know this man at all. Despite his claim that he's here to make sure I'm safe, I don't know how much faith I can actually put into it.

He takes two steps back, giving me as much room as the small kitchen allows, but it only calms that scream inside my head a little.

Chapter 24

Jersey

It doesn't matter that I'm going to have a front seat in taking down one of the most notorious sex traffickers the modern world has ever seen.

All my attention and focus are back home on a little house tucked away in the mountains.

Lark has assured me that she's fine and that there was someone outside her house, but whoever it was is gone now.

I know exactly who the fuck it was, and the first chance I get when I get back to town, I'm going to beat his head in.

"We've got the upper hand," Zeus says, looking more than a little annoyed that he even has to say the words, as if I'm some rookie who is letting the adrenaline take over.

We knew we had a little time when the sedan that Adair climbed out of drove off once the kingpin was in the house. The man on the porch snuffed out his cigarette and stood up a little straighter as if he was now tasked with the biggest job of his life with Adair inside.

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