Page 4 of Deep in Her Marrow

I take the seat that she vacated and cross my arms. “Whadya mean?”

He leans against the doorway and seems to choose his words carefully. “I make people uncomfortable.” He ignores our snorts and continues. “But she watches people. She’s seen me interact with everyone, including her and has realized that I pose her no threat. I also knew from the beginning to be aware of her boundaries and made sure not to cross them. Those jackasses at the gym won’t know that. They think every chick who goes in there is fair game. I wouldn’t put it past one of those fuckers to wait for Jameson to walk away and then approach her. She wouldn’t react well to that and would end up drawing unwanted attention to herself.”

Well, fuck. I hadn’t really thought about it like that. I’ve also never heard the man speak so much. “You think it’s a bad idea for her to keep doin’ this?” I ask him.

His dark eyes focus on mine shrewdly, like he can see into my soul itself. “Yes and no. I think it’s a great idea for her to learn how to properly defend herself, but I don’t like the idea that Jameson could get called away and her be left on her own. It would probably be better if she had another buffer, someone else to keep all unwanted attention from her.” There’s a gleam in his eyes that I don’t understand, but it’s probably just anger at the thought of her being alone and upset. Despite his creepiness, he’s loyal to those he cares about, especially Mel and Cadie.

Edge looks at me briefly before looking at Draven. “Hmm, maybe you or JT can leave and go there with them? At least we know that you two wouldn’t leave her side.”

I give him an incredulous look. “Do you like making money? Who the hell is going to work if everyone is at the gym?”

Edge shrugs carelessly. “I can always alter the hours that we’re open.”

“Marrow has a point. That would be bad for business,” Draven agrees. At least someone here has some damn sense.

Edge throws his hands up. “Well, what the hell else are we going to do? Everyone works during the day. There’s no other option.”

“I work for myself. I can easily do it, without you having to screw with your shop,” I hear myself say, not having meant to actually say that out loud.

“That works,” Draven says at the same time Edge goes, “Okay, it’s settled then.” He nods to himself. “Now help me go through this shit and figure out how much money has been stolen from me.”

I can’t really put my finger on it, but for some reason, I feel like I’ve been played. Not that it matters, getting to spend more time with Cadie will never be a bad thing. Maybe she’ll finally start to see that the last thing I would ever do is hurt her.

It ended up taking us hours to go through all of the invoices and receipts, which meant I couldn’t go to the gym today, but at least we got to the bottom of everything. They’ve been taking Edge to the cleaners for close to two years and for a total of twenty-two thousand dollars. I haven’t seen him that pissed in a long ass time and being the great friend that I am, I refrained from telling him that this probably wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t act like a fucking dinosaur for years and had gotten a decent computer system. Nope, I left quietly so he could plot out how he was going to handle this.

I smirk to myself knowing damn well he’s going to make them regret every penny they stole from him. The man is absolutely outstanding at plotting revenge. I would feel sorry for them if they weren’t thieving assholes.

I shake my head as I pull my bike into my garage and kill the engine. I dismount, hit the button to close the garage door, and open the side door to let myself into my house. I walk in my kitchen and lock the door behind me.

I toss my keys and wallet on the table before walking over to the fridge and grabbing a beer. I pop the top open with the edge of my counter top and toss it into garbage. I take a healthy swig as I walk into my living room and plop down onto my couch. I don’t really care about fancy things but, I made sure to get the best couch and TV money could buy. I’m a guy… sue me. Plus, someone my size needs a big ass couch, one that’s comfy as hell with leather that feels like butter.

I sigh as I turn on the TV and look for one of my guilty pleasures. Finding what I’m looking for, I hit play as I lean back and listen to the British guy talk about how this week’s competition is based on bread. Bread week always seems to throw off some of the contestants, making them struggle a bit.

I shake my head slightly, knowing that if any of my brothers from the club saw me watching this while yelling at the guy about how he didn’t leave his dough in the proofing tray long enough, they would never let me live it down. Which is why I make sure that no one has ever discovered my guilty little secret.

Not that anyone would ever suspect how much I enjoy baking shows, especially this one that I’ve almost seen all of the episodes, which is saying something considering it’s been on almost ten years. I can’t cook or bake to save my life but, I started watching these in the hope that it would help me learn. Unfortunately, it hasn’t, but it has become something I enjoy watching, even if I’ll never tell another living soul about it.

I reach over to my coffee table and grab my laptop. I check on a few things for the club, making sure that all of our investments are sitting nicely. Besides the club owning a custom garage, which makes a shit-ton of money, I set us up with investments years ago. I’m not the type of person who likes to put all of his eggs in one basket, which is why I basically have no job at this point.

Once I left the military, I decided that I was never going to take orders from anyone ever again, well besides Mac. The thought of having a soul crushing day-to-day job makes me want to vomit. And with how good I am with technology, I figured starting my own security company would work out well; I just never realized how well. Alarm systems are a necessary evil in this world and rich fuckers will pay boat loads for top of the line, which mine happen to be. No one has ever gotten through my system, especially since I created all of it from scratch. If someone ever broke through my code and fire walls, I would probably die of shock.

I also make sure that no outsiders work for me. My install crew are brothers from the club who enjoy the maximum payout for only a few hours of work. It works out well for all of us. The garage has even been putting in my newest systems into cars that they fix. It’s amazing to see a fully restored car from the seventies have newer technology than even some luxury cars. To say that it’s been lucrative for all of us is an understatement.

Thinking back on my earlier conversation with Edge and Draven makes me extremely happy that I have so much free time these days.

I smile and shake my head wondering how Cadie is going to react when she finds out that I’ll be there during her training sessions. I have a feeling that part of her is going to freak out since she avoids me like syphilis. I’m sure some part of her understands that I would never harm a hair on her head, but I also understand how intimidating someone my size could be to a tiny thing like her, even someone without her background.

I tighten my jaw as I take another pull from my beer while thinking about what I walked into today. Just the memory of seeing that fucker crowding her while screaming in her face makes me see red. It took every ounce of self-control I possess to not drag that bastard out by the back of his neck and beat him senseless. The only reason he didn’t end up in the hospital is because I didn’t want to give Cadie anymore of a reason to fear me. It broke my fucking heart when I tried to go to her, and she recoiled from me while making the worst keening sound I’ve ever heard. The terror in her eyes is going to haunt my dreams for a long time to come.

I can only imagine what caused that look. No one seems to know exactly what happened to her, except maybe Kealy, but we can all guess. And the sweet little sprite has been doing a lot better from when I first met her. Until assholes, like the one from today, come in and push her backwards. The only positive is that she made it out. Unlike my sister, at least Cadie has a shot at a happy life.

I scrub a hand over my face and mentally give myself a slap. I try not to think about my little sister too often. Well, not about why she’s no longer here. I try to only remember the good days, the ones before she met the fucker who took her life.

I get up and decide to head to bed. It does me no good thinking of those things.

I strip off my clothes and climb into bed. Tomorrow is a new day. I may not have been able to protect my sister, but I sure as hell can protect Cadie from here on, even if it is just from some roided up douchebags who think every woman wants their dumbasses.

I take a deep breath and smile, knowing what my new goal is. Hopefully, the tiny woman who calls to parts of me that have been closed for years, won’t be too upset that she’s going to be seeing a lot of me.

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