Hold Close (Biker Daddy Bodyguards #2) - Sue Brown Page 0,22

by a thread. Craig was by Louis’s side in an instant.

"Tell me what's wrong," he ordered.

"It is nothing." Louis refused to look into his eyes.

"Baby, I know there’s something wrong. You have to tell me what it is."

"The last time I was here…"

Louis didn't have to complete the sentence, Craig knew exactly what he meant. The last time Louis had been here was the day he’d been beaten up and left for dead.

Craig gathered Louis into his arms, and Louis pressed his face into the crook of Craig's neck.

“It’s all right,” Craig soothed. “I’m here for you. The boys have your back. I won’t let anything bad happen to you again.”

“You can’t stay forever,” Louis said, his voice muffled.

Craig wanted to tell him he would stay, he would be by Louis’s side forever, but he couldn’t make that promise yet.

Louis sighed as if he’d gotten the answer he expected. “I feel so weak."

"You're not weak," Craig assured him. "You're one of the strongest people I know."

"If I was strong, I wouldn't have let you walk away."

Craig wanted to protest that he hadn't been the one to walk away, that Louis had been the one to make him leave. But Louis didn't need to hear that now.

"You're not weak," he said again. "What happened between us had nothing to do with being strong or being weak. Neither of us wanted to make compromises to our lives. I think if it had been now, maybe circumstances would have been different. But hindsight is a bitch."

Louis nodded into his neck, but he didn't raise his head, and he didn't pull away. He needed the comfort, and Craig was prepared to give it. Finally, he felt the tension ease in Louis’s muscles and knew the moment was over. Craig stroked his hair, kissed his cheek, and Louis stepped back. He looked better, and managed to smile at Craig.

"First, coffee. Then we'll beard Mr. Holden in Jamie's den.”

Craig wrinkled his nose. “That whole sentence sounds wrong."

Louis chuckled. "Let's go find Vera, before she shouts at me for not bringing you in straightaway."

Vera squealed the second she saw Craig standing behind Louis.

"About fracking time," she bellowed.

Louis winced because most of that was in his ear.

Craig chuckled, moving around Louis to hug the pint-sized dynamo that was the club's chef.

Despite the early hour, the kitchen was a hive of activity, and Vera drew Craig away to show him the line, and the new recipes she was testing.

Craig looked over his shoulder to make sure Louis wasn't annoyed. It had always been amusing that, while Louis was her employer, it was Craig that got all her attention. Craig knew why it was. He liked cooking, whereas Louis didn't know how to boil water. But Louis just waved and mimed he was going to the bar to make coffee. Craig wouldn't have left him, but he knew Jace and Padraig were just outside the door. He suspected they were waiting on their morning coffee too.

The second the door closed behind Louis, Vera rounded on him. "You'd better not be here to break his heart again."

Craig took a step back, surprised. "I'm not here to break his heart. He came to find me."

"He shouldn't have looked for you again. It can only end in disaster."

Craig could have been the burned scrapings at the bottom of the pan, from the curl of her lip.

He narrowed his eyes. "Why do you think that?"

Vera shrugged but Craig wasn't letting her get away with that. She didn’t get to accuse him of anything without backing it up.

"Why do you think it will be a disaster?"

She bit her lip and then looked up at him. "You won't hear this from anyone else, but he fell apart when you left. If it hadn't been for Jamie and me, he wouldn't have any business left. The club would have gone. I don't think we can go through that again."

"So this is not about Louis, it’s about you and Jamie. Do you both think like that?"

"You don't understand."

"Then make me understand."

"Louis is a very proud man," Vera said.

Craig nodded. “I know that."

She gave him a knowing look. "Do you? You see the boy whereas most people see the businessman. But Jamie and I see both. We are probably the two people who know all about Louis Romero. More than you, Daddy Craig."

Craig opened his mouth to protest, but she scowled at him and he subsided.

"I would do anything for Louis. Don't you ever doubt that. And if I