rather take you out to dinner if that’s okay?”
Her head tilted slightly to the left as she closed the fridge. “Sin…”
“I didn’t say shit to Drummond when I was leaving,” I told her honestly. “Hell, I didn’t even know I was leaving until they called me to the warden’s office. At first, I thought they knew what we’d done. But I figured out really quick that they had no clue about that. Do you know who Lynn is?”
“The Lynn that’s always hanging out with my grandfather?” she asked. “The ex-FBI guy?”
“The ex-something guy. I’m not actually sure which branch of ABC agency he’s in. All I know is that he’s crazy good at what he does, and he offered me a job.” I paused. “That’s why I was transferred to Bear Bottom Penitentiary. Lynn offered me a job and a way to get out of prison early if I took it.”
“What is this job?” she asked. “Something dangerous?”
She leaned her hips against the counter and crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her breasts together and letting me know that she wasn’t wearing a bra underneath that tight t-shirt.
I blinked my eyes and looked away from her breasts to her face.
Her mouth was curled up in amusement at having caught me looking.
“Sorry,” I muttered. “Anyway, how much have you heard about the human trafficking going on in these parts?”
Blaise’s face fell. “More than I want. My brother said that young teens are disappearing at an alarming rate. That’s all we’ve talked about lately on the phone. Him working a case or whatnot.”
I nodded once, crossing my arms over my chest, mimicking her stance.
“Lynn and six other men are going to help with combating this issue in our neck of the woods,” I explained then what Lynn wanted from me. “He pulled a few men out of prison just like he did me. There are two that were already with him. Apparently, the front he wants us to use is forming a motorcycle club. So there can be an explanation as to why we’re all in the area. Because you know we’re going to draw attention. All these ex-cons in a certain area that is getting some really bad press due to the number of teenage girls disappearing.”
“You’re going to be in a motorcycle club?” she asked curiously. “Which?”
I remembered then that Blaise’s entire family was in one.
I wasn’t wearing my cut today, or I would’ve turned around and shown it to her. Had she really not seen it yet?
“Souls Chapel Revenants MC. Apparently it had already been semi-formed before I arrived. A few ‘members’ were there already. I haven’t met any of them yet. You were my first stop,” I explained.
Her shoulders slumped slightly.
“Are you sure about this, Sin?” she asked. “It sounds like a lot of… pressure.”
I shrugged. “Being in there without…” I stopped myself from saying ‘without you there.’ “It’s really hard. I would do just about anything not to be in there anymore. It was killing me.”
She nodded once, her spine stiffening slightly as she looked at me for a long time before coming to a decision.
“I don’t mind you coming to doctors’ appointments and stuff,” she looked up at me. “But I think you need some time. My original plan still needs to stay in effect. I’m here if you need to talk. Need to assure yourself that I’m well. But take some time to think. To make sure this is really what you want.” She gestured to herself. “I don’t need dates. I don’t need false platitudes. If you’re going to be in our life, you need to be in it. And I think that you need to find yourself, get yourself settled, before you add me and this baby into the mix.”
I wanted to argue with her, but she was right.
I didn’t need to be starting anything with her right now, anyway. I had a hundred million things that I needed to do.
But none of those things was more important than this.
“Blaise,” I said carefully, feeling like I was talking to a scared puppy and not a grown woman. “What is this really about?”
She swallowed hard. “What are you talking about?”
I knew there was something more.
Something she wasn’t telling me.
But I didn’t know what that something was.
“I just think you need time,” she murmured. “I don’t want you to jump into it without first knowing what you’re looking for at the finish line. I don’t… I think we both need some time to settle