Page 23 of Flame's Fight

“Baby.” He whispers. “Please trust me. Please tell me what’s going on. I can’t help you if I don’t know and believe me, all I want is to help you and be with you again.”

I shift to look up into his gorgeous face. I open my mouth to answer, but then bite my lip. He gently pries it from my teeth and brushes his thumb over the mark I made. “Please.”

“You’ll hate me.” I whisper.

“Did you cheat on me?” He asks, his eyes full of sadness until I shake my head. “Then I promise, whatever it is, we’ll deal with it. Even if you cheated on me, I couldn’t stop loving you.”

I take a deep breath and dive in. “I steal things. Little things. Makeup, knickknacks, accessories. Nothing really pricey, but I can’t help it. If I go into a store, I take something. Every time. I try to avoid going into any store, so thank God for online shopping, but sometimes I have no choice. Once I’m inside, I can’t make myself leave until I’ve pocketed an item.” I tell him. I see the frown on his face and I feel the tears forming. Here’s where he gives up on me. “I know you hate thieves. I’ve tried to stop…”

“You’re a kleptomaniac?” He asks, and I nod.

He tightens his arm around me and kisses my temple. “Sweetheart, that doesn’t make you a thief. You know that, right? It’s a disease, one with treatments. Like alcoholism. You can’t do it on your own; you need help. Have you sought therapy?”

Shaking my head, I snuggle closer to him, hiding my face. “I’m afraid of people finding out.” I admit.

“Hey, don’t. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Deion and his guy threatened to tell your dad?” He guesses and I nod, sitting up.

“They have surveillance video from at least one store, likely others. I only saw the one, but Deion’s bodyguard claimed to have access to more. He said they offer protection to some of these stores, which is why they have the video.”

“Ok, let’s worry about that later. No one needs to know why he’s blackmailing you if you don’t want to tell anyone else. I’m going to support you any way I can. I love you.”

“Even though I’m a thief? You said the night those guys broke into the storage unit that you hated thieves.” I remind him.

“Which is why you started pulling away?” He asks, and I nod. “You aren’t a thief, you have a problem that I’m going to help you overcome, but honestly,” he grins at me, “I couldn’t hate you even if you were a master thief and was the one responsible for England’s Great Train Robbery.”

“Which happened before I was born.” I reply drolly.

“I think the woman I love can do anything…” He says laughing as he kisses me.

Dante enters, followed by Reaper and Ghost. Dante comes over to me and places a hand on my back. “You ok?” He asks and I nod as I slide out of Flame’s bed. Dante moves over to Tanya and introduces himself to her.

“Shield is talking with the security guards. Deion and his man left before they could block the exits.” Dante explains. “Reaper has attempted to contact Deion and his cousin, Killian. My primary concern is to protect the two of you.” He says, glancing to me and then Tanya.

“I’ve reached out to Killian’s sister and Deion’s aunt, Athena.” Tanya says. “I told her what I overheard, that Deion was threatening Brooke to force her to steal drugs from the hospital. I also told Athena about Deion’s threat to physically harm Brooke. She’ll let us know if she discovers his location. Deion had her and Killian fooled. They, like me, thought he would never hurt a woman.” I notice Ghost is standing near Tanya as if guarding her. I suppress a smile and glance at Flame, who is watching his friend.

“You’re both going to need protection until we can either find Deion and talk to him or the police arrest him.” Dante says as Reaper’s phone rings. He glances at Dante and mouths ‘Deion’. Dante nods and Reaper puts the phone on speaker before answering.

“Deion.” Reaper says.

“Look, man, I don’t know if you’re aware of what happened today.” Deion starts and I shudder as I glance at Tanya, who’s glaring at the phone. “But there’s a nurse at the hospital that’s crazy, man. She’s paranoid and thinks we tried to blackmail her into stealing drugs.”

“Is that so?” Dante asks, and the line goes silent for several minutes.

“Who is that?” Deion asks.

“It’s Dante, President of the Demon Dawgs. I thought I made it clear the last time we spoke. You don’t want to piss me off. Trying to blackmail a member of my family and then threatening to torture and kill her is pissing me off. You made a mistake. Here’s how you’re going to fix it. Whatever blackmail material you think you have on Brooke, make it disappear. Now. You will avoid Brooke and Ms. Webster at all costs. If you see them on the street, you will turn around and leave before they see you. If you get injured and need a hospital, you will go to any other hospital but Alvarado. This goes for all your men. Do you understand me?”

“I’ve destroyed the evidence.” Deion says. “But you can’t keep me from Tanya. She’s my woman.”

“Not anymore.” Tanya says clearly. “I never want to see you again. I like Dante’s suggestion. If you see me, run the other way.”

“But…” Deion starts, but Dante interrupts him.

“This is non-negotiable. If you defy me, I will destroy you. You may think you can fight my club, but it isn’t just my club you’ll be fighting. I have chapters all over the states who will come if I make one phone call. Got it?”

“Yeah.” Deion says, ending the call.

“I still want protection on you both for now.” Dante says, looking at Tanya and me. We both nod. “Brooke, you’ve been through this before, but Tanya, this might be new for you. You’ll have a shadow twenty-four seven until further notice. It’s important that you don’t lose him.”

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