Page 87 of When It Reins
“How does blowing us up get him money?” I ask, wondering what he was thinking right now.
“He’s desperate right now. He’s also pissed that we messed it all up for him.”
A horrible thought occurs to me, and I gasp, starting to move from the counter. “Rosemary! What if he knows?—”
“Loki and Atlas are over there with her now. They’re not leaving her until we find him.”
I calm myself down and nod in relief. “So the police are looking for him?”
Mitch shrugs. “Maybe. I have no idea what the hell they’re doing.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“They might be out looking. They haven’t notified me,” Mitch answers, reaching up to swipe away hair from my face.
He keeps his thumb rubbing over my cheekbone as I puzzle together what he means. “So when you say find him, you mean?—”
“I mean, when my club finds him. Because we will, and then he is going to pay for what he did to you.”
My hands grip Mitch tighter, and I stare at him, wondering what I want to say, what I need to say to keep him safe.
“I don’t want you doing anything that could jeopardize your safety.”
Mitch looks at me then, and his expression would almost frighten me if I didn’t know the man inside and out. “Juniper Weaver, someone came after my woman, nearly killed her, and tried to, twice. You are my priority.” His hand grips my jaw tightly, and his eyes search mine. The desperation in his gaze has me gripping his wrist tighter. “If someone hurts you, they have to deal with me. I take care of what’s mine.”
“I know you do,” I say quickly, understanding where he is coming from. “But that doesn’t mean you go off all half-cocked and loaded, ruining your future over this!”
He must have been able to tell I was starting to panic because he brings us closer together, holding my forehead to his own, and kisses my lips gently. Enough to stop the conversation for a moment and calm us both down.
Emotions are heightened. We’ve been through so much in the last two days, having been nearly broken up and blown up and hospitalized, to now having to stay with his brother and my sister because we don’t have a place we can go.
I try closing my eyes, kissing him back, and breathing deeply. The inhale brings me his scent, and I’m able to chill out long enough to get myself under control.
“I will not let him get by with this, Starling.” His words worry me, but he takes my chin, tilting my face up to him, and looks at me with the more confident look. “When I find him, and it will be me, I’m going to protect my family from him. I won’t be alone when I do it,” he says, probably guessing what I was about to accuse. “But I’m going to be the one that takes care of it.”
“Mitch,” I mumble, feeling about thirty seconds away from crumbling.
Without another word, he steps back and strips off his shirt, then his pants, before he marches over to the tub and starts the shower, letting the water run over his hand before pulling the curtain closed.
I say nothing as he comes back over to me, standing there in only his boxers, and takes off my shirt, letting it slide over my head as my hair falls all around me. He reaches for my hips and pulls me down, and I let him take full control.
Before long, he’s got us both undressed and under the warm spray of the water. Something about being surrounded by him, with the calming sound of the shower, seems to slow everything down. I breathe deeply as he turns me, using shampoo to wash my hair.
He thoroughly scrubs every inch of my body, not lingering for too long in any one place. For a moment, I wonder if he wants to go further, but he keeps washing me, taking the handheld sprayer off of its mount to wash me clean. He is taking care of me.
It is that complicated and that simple all at the same time.
It is something I never even realized I wanted or needed, and yet, he is able to give it to me without question.
Mitch knows me, probably better than I know myself anymore, and I’m ready to be taken care of.
Then, when we’re finally clean, he lets the water spray down on us and just holds me in his arms until the water goes cold.
41
mitch
LeavingJuniper was much harder than I expected it to be, but I was leaving her here for her safety, with my brother and his family to watch out for her.
