Quan was staring out the window, his ass planted on a corner of the desk two feet away from where Gabriel was standing. “And so it begins,” he murmured.
“If for any reason I’m not around,” Gabriel said quietly, looking Quan right in the eye, “You and Jak are with her. Fuck my back. She’s what you’re to protect now, at all costs. Spread the word.”
THIRTEEN
A hush fell over the room as Eva came in carrying her purse. Gabriel searched her face for a sign she might have overheard something…his lungs deflated when all he saw was the same anxiety etched into her features that had been there when she’d gone inside earlier.
She curled up in the corner of the sofa and took her cell out before placing her purse on the floor. Gabriel could tell she’d brushed her hair because the satiny mass now flowed over her shoulders and down her back like a shiny oil slick.
“Blink or something, you guys. I feel like I’m in a zoo,” she muttered with a self-conscious look around.
“Definitely be the main attraction, even with the shiner,” Jak quipped as he went over to the bar and filled a towel with ice. “Relax, dude.” He raised a hand in Gabriel’s direction without looking at him as he brought the pack to Eva, then dropped into one of the chairs. “You know everyone was thinking it.”
“The asshole is Jak,” Gabriel said. “You haven’t met him yet. But don’t get too attached, his days are numbered.” He placed his glass on the bar, instead of beaming it across the room and into his friend’s skull. “Are you okay?”
She met his gaze, and he was glad to see a twinkle of humor in her eye. She shrugged as she tucked her wounded feet under her and placed the ice on her cheek before turning to Jak. “I remember you from the other night. How’s your head?”
“S’all good. Definitely had worse.” He smirked, running his finger across the scar on his face.
“Bar fight?” Eva inquired.
“Afghanistan.”
Her perfect brows popped, and then she smiled. “Thank you. I don’t often get to personally thank those who risk their lives for us.”
Jak nodded through a scowl, clearly uncomfortable. Gabriel wanted to high-five Karma for finally showing up.
It’s Caleb, honey. Read up.
Wincing and shooting him a quick glance, Eva grabbed her phone. She sent a reply after reading the message, then put the phone back on the table.
“Caleb,” she said unnecessarily, as if Gabriel wouldn’t hear that fuckin’ ringtone in his nightmares.
He nodded and tried to look as though he wasn’t contemplating a good ass kicking for the biker.
Keeping his hands buried in his pockets, he walked over to stand by the fireplace, avoiding the boys’ eyes. He’d have told them all to get the fuck out, but he wanted them to hear what had happened tonight in case he blacked out from rage overload halfway through the story.
“What did he want?” Fuuuck. He hadn’t meant to ask that.
But he needed to know.
“Oh. Um, nothing. He just asked how I was.” Her gaze was sharp as she looked at him. “I wanted to call him earlier but didn’t have my phone.”
She was gauging his reaction to that. He could see it. So he tried to play it off like he didn’t give a fuck that she’d wanted to call another man when she’d been in need.
When her scrutiny persisted, he cursed. Never thought he’d wish his woman was a dummy, but he was wishing it now because this observant little thing didn’t miss shit.
“Why call him?” he ground out, voicing his thoughts again when he didn’t want to. “What could he have done for you from New York?” His tone came out robotic, no inflection whatsoever. But he knew she wasn’t buying it. She could see he was jealous of her relationship with the biker, and the fact that he was now trying to pretend he wasn’t was a definite flag on the field. Fuck. He should have just gone with his gut and slapped the phone out of her hand.
She was silent for a minute, and then uncertainty seeped into her expression. It soon morphed into doubt, and then suspicion. Weariness and fear weren’t far behind, but she tried to front as she hugged her knees to her chest and shrugged, striving for a nonchalance that missed its mark by a mile.
“Caleb knows people who would have helped me if that guy had come back,” she said, distracted,