for someone like me.
She needs a man to protect her and give her a normal life.
While I can protect her, better than anyone else ever could, I could never give her a normal life. I smile when blood splatters on me. My heart skips a beat when I pull the trigger of my gun. I’m a fucking monster. I’m darkness.
Thea’s all light. My darkness would destroy her light.
And I can’t; I won’t, let that happen.
I drive a few minutes down the road before pulling my bike out of sight in an alley and walking back to Thea’s house. No way in fucking hell am I leaving her alone after the note she received. She may not think it’s a big deal, but my gut tells me otherwise.
And trusting my gut has saved my life more times than I can count. Not trusting my gut got my sister dead.
Thea has multiple neighbors on both sides of her house. A street full of houses. If she screamed, I know someone would hear her. But people are stupid. They hear a scream, and the only thing they do is look out the window to see what’s going on.
I plop my ass down on the sidewalk across from Thea’s house and settle in for a long night. I don’t bother trying to hide. If someone even thinks about breaking in and hurting that little woman, they will answer to me.
The thought alone makes me want to smile.
Whoever the fuck is after my girl, I mean, Thea, is going to die a slow and painful death.
And I can’t fucking wait.
◆◆◆
The night was uneventful, but my gut is screaming at me that this isn’t something to take lightly. Just as dawn breaks, a red car pulls into her driveway. I tense, ready for a fight.
Moments later, Thea walks out of her house.
She’s perfect. Her smile holds so much joy for the person inside that car.
I want to kill the fucker.
An older man exits the car and pulls Thea into his arms.
Killing him slowly sounds real good right now.
“Thank you for coming to pick me up this morning, Ted,” she tells the man.
Ted. Her boss. The man she called last night to come and pick her up.
He can live. For now.
They both enter the car and drive off without glancing in my direction.
Good. It’s better if she didn’t know I was here. I walk back to my bike and head home to take a nap. I’m exhausted. And starving.
And hard as fuck. A nice hot shower while stroking my cock to thoughts of a small blonde, blue green-eyed beauty sounds really nice.
Chapter Eight
Thea
“Do you want me to stay with you today?” Ted asks.
“No, thank you,” I tell him. “I’m truly fine.”
We eat our breakfast, bagels from a drive-through before we open the store, and Ted leaves to work on the furniture he should have already been finished with.
Not even five minutes later, Bella walks in with one of those biker men.
“Hey girl,” she says. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’m staying with you today.”
I hug my friend.
“Of course, I don’t mind, but it’s really not necessary.”
“Nonsense,” she says. “This is Ink, by the way.”
I nod my head and smile.
Fricking shyness is going to kill me one day.
“I got roped into babysitting duty,” he grumbles. “Not that you’re not worth babysitting, Bella, but I’d rather be out finding my own woman to play with for the day.”
“Hey, I told you to ditch me as soon as you got me here safely,” she says.
“I like life,” he whines. “If I did that, my life would be forfeit. Chains would kill me, bring me back to life just to kill me again. I ain’t stupid, woman.”
“Uhm, there’s coffee and extra bagels in the office if you guys want some.”
Ink smiles wide and searches for my office.
Bella laughs.
“Men and their food,” she grins. “So, put me to work.”
I hug her again. “Thank you for being here,” I tell her. “There’s not much work to do. I just make sure the books are on shelves, make sure everything stays clean, and always make sure there’s fresh coffee. Some people like to sit down in those corner chairs and read.”
“Sounds simple enough,” she says. “Let’s make sure everything is in order and just have a nice relaxing girl’s day at work.”
“I love girl days,” Ink says, returning with a mouth full of food. “Ladies are so much more fun to hang with then those grumpy ass men I call brothers.”
“Oh, you love