Page 36 of Brotan

"What?"

"Her patching you up when I know you made it harder than it had to be." I can almost see him shaking his head. "That kind of steel spine is exactly what Shadow Ridge needs."

I hadn't considered that the same quality that makes me want to put my fist through a wall might be her greatest asset.

"Still not convinced she belongs in this mess," I mutter.

"Yet you're calling me at midnight with your dick in a knot because someone got too close to her house," Hammer fires back.

He's seen right through me, as usual. Each moment with Maya tears away another chunk of armor I've spent years welding in place.

"Someone's raising the stakes," Hammer continues. "The worksite was aimed at our territory. But this? A fire at the doctor's doorstep? That's a whole different level of fucked up. We need eyes on her."

"She won't accept a babysitter."

"Not a babysitter," Hammer barks. "A shadow. If she's breathing, you're there. Clinic, house calls, middle of the night emergencies—anywhere she moves, your ass follows."

The implications sink in, knotting my stomach. "She'll fight me every step."

"She's not stupid. She'll get it." His voice drops dangerously. "Unless there's another reason you're hesitating?"

I grip the phone until the case cracks. "No reason."

"Save the bullshit for someone who buys it," he says. "Start tomorrow. You and Diesel trade off as needed. You're in charge of what that looks like. Keep me in the loop."

The call ends, and I stare at the silent phone, mind racing. Following Maya everywhere. Being close enough to smell her, to see the pulse in her neck, to remember how her lips felt against mine. The tension between us, already a powder keg, with no escape valve.

The fire outside her house might be out. But something else was still burning—something that might consume us both if we stopped fighting it for even a second.

And with Ryker's text lingering in the back of my mind, I know the danger isn't just the fire between us. My past is catching up, and Maya's caught in the crossfire.

ChapterEight

Maya

The clinic walls close in with each passing hour. My hands slam a patient file onto the counter, barely registering the sharp crack as plastic meets worn laminate.

"You're in my way. Again." The words slice toward Diesel, who's planted his hulking frame directly in the path between exam room one and the supply cabinet.

He grins, raising his hands in mock surrender. "Just doing my job, Doc."

"Your job includes hovering three inches behind me every waking moment?"

"Actually, the order was to stay within arm's reach." He winks, completely unfazed by my growing irritation. "Crow's instructions were very specific."

My fingers grip the edge of the counter until my knuckles turn white. Diesel has been my shadow since dawn, just as Crow was yesterday and the day before. Three straight days of being watched, monitored, smothered by orcs who move like silent, leather-clad ghosts. Always present. Never a moment alone.

"I thought Hammer was the one giving orders around here," I say, reaching for another patient folder.

Diesel's laugh fills the empty clinic, bouncing off the freshly scrubbed walls. "Hammer ordered us to be shadows. Crow's the one who decided that meant twenty-four-hour stakeouts." His voice drops. "The only reason I'm here now is because he wouldn't take a damn break and catch some sleep unless I agreed to take over."

This revelation lands hard. Not Hammer's orders. Crow's choice. All this suffocation, this invasion of privacy, is from one man's decision.

"So now I'm under house arrest because Crow can't control his conspiracy theories?"

Diesel cocks his head, gold eyes studying me with unexpected perception. "You know why he's doing it, right?"

"Because he's a control freak with boundary issues?"

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