Page 12 of The Paths We Cross
“They’ll tell you everything,” Sophie assures me. “And they’ll make sure you’re safe.”
I whirl around to face her. “You know?”
She winces. “Only a little.”
I feel, rather than hear, Rowan approach. I turn around and frown at the serious look on his face. “What is it?”
“Hey Ash, why don’t you go help Chef in the kitchen?” Grayson tell his son, who doesn’t respond, just heads in that direction.
Rowan takes the seat that Asher vacated next to me, his thick thighs stretching the jeans he wears. Why am I checking out his thighs right now? I shake my head to clear my thoughts and wait for him to respond.
He looks at Grayson and Axel for some sort of assurance and then sighs. “We want to tell you everything that we know, but I need you to stay calm, okay?” I nod my head. “We just found out that Travis and his dad have been working with a small motorcycle club that’s trying to push into our territory. The clubhired them to set them up here in Silver Springs, only your fiancé and his father didn’t do that. They took their money and didn’t do a damn thing for them.”
I frown. Travis and Russel are lawyers. I wince at my thoughts and correct myself. Travis was a lawyer at his father’s firm. I know that they set up businesses for some clients and things of that sort, but I didn’t think that was a big part of their business.
“The night that you were run off the road,” Rowan continues, and my throat constricts. “I was behind you guys. I saw three Devil’s Knights members fly by me and run your vehicle off the road,” he rasps, clearly reliving that night. He clears his throat before continuing. “I called emergency services and got Travis and you out of the vehicle, but it was too late for him. By the time the EMTs got there, he was gone.”
My mind is reeling right now. I knew that Rowan was the one to save me, but I didn’t realize that he saw the entire accident. No, not accident.Attack.
“I saw them ride up on us,” I whisper. “I warned him.”
“What did he say?” Grayson asks.
“He kind of freaked out and told me to tighten my seatbelt. It’s like he knew something bad was about to happen,” I mutter. Rowan’s large hand settles on my knee, and I stare at it for a moment before resting my hand on his.
“When Asher and I ran into you at the grocery store, I saw a Devil’s Knights member watching you in the parking lot. He took off when he saw me, but I told Grayson about it, and we all decided to put you under club protection. You’ve had a Sovereign Sons prospect watching you the last two days.”
“What?” I ask confused. “Why would a prospect be watching me? How is that any better than the Devil’s Knights watching me?”
“Because we’re the good guys,” Axel says with a smirk.
I snort.
“After the bear that was left on your vehicle today and the note that you said you found recently, we’re not really sure what they’re capable of, but make no mistake, those were threats,” Grayson murmurs.
“We think that it’s best for you to stay at the clubhouse for a while, until we can be sure that you’re safe,” Rowan tells me. “We’re worried that they could hurt you, or the baby to get back at Travis and Russel.”
My heart starts to race at his words. “Why would someone hurt my baby? They have nothing to do with what Travis and Russel did.”
“We know,” Rowan murmurs as he gently squeezes my knee. “These guys aren’t honorable. They’re career criminals who don’t care who they hurt as long as they get what they want. They can still use your baby as a way to get Russel to do what they want, and I won’t let that happen.”
His words send goosebumps down my spine. Murderers are coming after my baby and now I have to trust people I barely know to keep me safe.
8
ROWAN
I can see the panic attack happening before it even starts. Everly is anxious as hell, and I can’t blame her. We just dropped a lot of information on her.
I lock eyes with Grayson, and he dips his head in acknowledgement. That’s one thing that’s nice about being so close to my brother, we can have a conversation without ever speaking a word to each other.
“Come with me, darlin’,” I murmur softly to Everly before standing and offering her my hand.
She looks up at me with worried eyes but takes my hand anyway. I gently pull her from the couch and guide her through the clubhouse to my suite. We have suites, basically apartments, for all our club officers. At one point, it was just a bedroom for everyone, but we remodeled everything a while back and that was one of our requests.
The second story of the clubhouse is a long hallway full of our suites. The officers don’t have to stay here, in fact, most of them don’t every day, but it’s a luxury that we’re afforded, especially when we have to be close by. All our suites are identical, except for the president’s suite. It’s the nicest of all of them, but not all too different from ours.
I lead Everly up the stairs and down the hallway to my suite. She’s silent as I punch in the code and open the door for her, and while I lead her into my living room and over to my couch.
