Page 570 of Hell Hath No Fury
I don’t like what that fucking infers one little bit. “You okay?”
“As you’d expect.” She shrugs one shoulder and then seemingly realizes what she wears. “I hope you don’t mind. I just…my clothes were a mess, and—”
“I don’t mind, baby girl.” I should keep my distance, and force this into nothing more than a friendly interaction when her emotions are so raw and vulnerable, but it’s that vulnerability that draws me to her.
She tips her head back as I near, craning her neck to keep eye contact. I’ve always loved how snug she fits against me. How delicate that makes her seem.
“You sleep much?” I lift a hand to stroke the hair off her face.
She ducks her chin. “Too much, probably.”
“There’s no such thing as too much when your body is worn out from stress.” I twist a lock around my index finger and then watch as it uncurls. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t here when you woke up, is all.”
“It’s fine.” She turns her face away from my touch. “I managed.”
“I’m sure you did.”
The spell’s broken the instant Pres comes crashing down the stairs again. “Where’s Digits?”
Beth frowns at him, shifting her confusion to me. “With you?”
I shake my head and lift a hand to cup her cheek. Thinking I could have lost her yesterday awoke something I’d long tried to deny between me and Beth. It opened my eyes to how much she fucking matters to me. How much it’d rip me apart if that had been her on the floor, full of life one second and gone the next.
Thinking that Digits could have been back here, hurting her, this morning cemented what I’ve tried so fucking hard to ignore: I love this little woman. Probably have for a while now, but never had the guts to fucking admit it.
Maybe she can see it, and that’s why her gaze shies away when we stare too long.
I part my lips, ready to make promises my ego can’t check when the vibration of my phone breaks the moment.
Beth tracks my hand, curious as I pull the device between us and open the message. The video is grainy, but undeniable when it comes from Tuck—the President of the Devil’s Breed. It’s what it means to have Digits showing his face in one of the club’s safehouses, that worries me.
“Boss.” I turn to Hooch, nabbing his attention. “I just got this from Tuck.”
He snatches the device from my hand and watches the same four-second clip that I did. There’s a point where a man loses rationality when it comes to protecting the people who matter to him, and I see that moment play out in his eyes before he tosses the device back with a gruff “What are we waiting for?” His grin grows predatory when he adds, “You better hope you’ve got enough left in the tank because there ain’t any way I’m stoppin’ this time.”
The incensed motherfucker flies out the front door, the flick of his stand echoing back as I turn to say goodbye for one too many times already this week.
“Was that him?” Beth asks, nodding toward my chest pocket and phone.
“Yeah.” She doesn’t object when I take her head in both hands. “Means I gotta go again.” I lean in and place a kiss on her forehead. If I set it on those peachy lips of hers, I could guarantee there’d be no way to get me out the door.
“Crackers,” she says quietly, settling a hand on my wrist. “Promise me something?”
“What’s that?”
She pulls away, nostrils flaring as she swallows. “That I won’t lose another friend.”
“You know I can’t promise that.” Not when I don’t know what we walk into.
Especially not when the second I get back this ‘friendship’ between us needs to fucking die.
“Then promise me you’ll do your best.”
I lift a hand and cup her chin between my forefinger and thumb. “For you, baby, that's all I ever do.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Beth
