the mirror, I find Rocker standing at my back and Jinx off to the side. As if I need a reminder not to trust a single man in my life ever again, I turn my eye back to my reflection.
“I need to go back to work, but—”
“You don’t,” Rocker assures me with a gentle hand on my shoulder.
I don’t flinch, but the pressure of it burns through my t-shirt making me uncomfortable. When my gaze focuses on the contact, he pulls his hand away, his face barely able to hide his own disappointment.
Jinx, easier to agitate than Rocker mutters a curse, pulls out his cell phone, and walks out of the apartment.
“Want to watch some TV?” Rocker offers after we stand in utter silence for what seems like an eternity.
“No,” I answer softly before walking away and leaving him standing in the middle of the room.
He’s probably questioning my sanity. My moods are shifting to extremes like I’ve never experienced before and I hate that there are two men witnessing all of it. Can’t they understand that I just want some damn time to myself. I just want a few minutes to catch my breath and figure out what is going to come next for me.
I don’t have long to get lost in my own thoughts before there’s a soft knock on the door. Groaning in frustration, I stand from the bed and contemplate opening the bedroom window and climbing out just to get away from them, but the tentative knock makes me curious.
“Seriously?” I hiss as I walk across the room. “Can’t I get one damn—”
It isn’t Rocker or Jinx standing in the hall when I open the bedroom door. Two smiling women face me, and at the first sight of them, I want to cry even harder. They’re clearly a little older than me, the fine lines around their mouths and eyes indicative of very happy lives spent with loads of smiles and laughter. My first thought is one of the two nuisances sent their other women to look after me in my state of utter messiness.
But then, the woman closest to me reaches her hand out with a kind and generous smile. “I’m Emmalyn.”
She doesn’t need to say another word. Everyone in town knows Kincaid, president of the Cerberus MC, and his wife is mentioned just as often. Kincaid has been to the bar a few times with some of his men, but I’ve never seen Emmalyn there before.
“And I’m Misty,” the other woman says, offering me her hand when I release Emmalyn’s. “I’m Morrison’s, I mean Shadow’s wife.”
“May we come in?” Emmalyn asks, and for some reason I immediately step to the side.
My nerves are frazzled, and I’m on edge. My mind is racing as I try to figure out why they’re here. I’ve gotten two of their husband’s men tangled up in a mess worthy of a two-part Jerry Springer show, so them being here can’t mean good things for me.
“You’ll have to forgive us for not introducing ourselves sooner, but the guys didn’t want you bothered at the hospital,” Misty says as she settles a large case I didn’t notice until now on the top of my dresser.
“It’s fine,” I respond because what else am I supposed to say.
The case is snapped open revealing loads of makeup, but before I can open my mouth to ask questions, Emmalyn begins to speak.
“The first time my husband hit me, I questioned everything I’d done in life.”
My eyes widen, burning from tears that suddenly feel the need to make an appearance.
“Not Diego, dear.” Emmalyn gives me a small smile. “I was married before him. Diego rescued me from that man a very long time ago.”
“Oh.” I sound like a complete idiot. “Wh-What happened to him? Your ex-husband?”
Her eyes sparkle as she watches my face. “He’s dead.”
My pulse pounds harder, and I’m at a loss of what to say, so I focus my attention on Misty who is steadily pulling things out of the makeup case and lining them up on the dresser.
“I didn’t have the luxury of slaying my own demon like you did but let me tell you the relief I felt knowing he was gone.”
Misty, finished digging in the case, approaches me, leaning forward to look appraisingly at my face.
“B-but you wish—”
“Of course,” Emmalyn answers, somehow knowing what I was going to ask. “I know you can’t understand it right now, but the power you’ve gained from fighting back is something that will never be