“Now you can relax about leaving.”

  “Yeah,” she agreed, her cheeks practically blazing from a blush. “I can relax a little more now.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  nishia

  Slowly, I took in the house Jack had just pulled a truck up in front of. I knew the vehicle belonged to Sanctuary because the name was wrapped across the front and back doors of the oversized, yet oddly enough, energy-efficient mammoth of a truck. It was fitting since Jack was so large he took up most of the front, but he’d driven it with ease, so I hadn’t been nervous.

  As someone who was mainly used to crowded subway travel, I found being inside the truck a new experience, one I was still trying to comprehend.

  After I was released from the hospital earlier that morning, Jack put me in the truck and then drove me to a local optometrist, where the doctor had not only given me an exam, but was able make my glasses within an hour. Now everything was so much clearer, but Jack was still my sweet, gentle, gigantic bear. Only it was easier to see just how beautiful he was without having to be so close to him.

  He’d used a keypad on the dash screen to unlock the main gates that had slid open noiselessly. It was a bit of a drive up to the house, but I saw that the grounds were basically immaculate. And then I’d seen the house…mansion…and I was unable to contain my gasp. The outside looked like it had a Mediterranean style. Apparently everything that Jack touched was massive, because the mansion was three stories and seemed to go on and on in three different directions.

  “Don’t let the outside fool you. When we first bought this place when I was a kid, it was falling apart. Barker & Reid Construction, which is MC-owned and run, fixed it up for Mom. We turned the majority of the interior into suites for our initial residents on the second and third floors, but there are a few on the first floor too. And, of course, my apartment in the basement. California doesn’t normally have basements because of the whole earthquake thing, but for whatever reason, this house had one, and the construction team was able to reinforce the structure to ensure it was safe. Then later, when some of the women wanted to remain local but were still too nervous to leave the property, we built the cabins so they could feel like they had a more permanent place.”

  Jack pointed to something in the distance, but I was too entranced by the intricate detailing of the dark ink on his arm to follow where he indicated. “At the moment, we have ten cabins, and Mom is talking about building five more. We just need to clear out those trees and expand the security fence before we can start construction on them.”

  “H-how do you keep up with everything that must go into maintaining a shelter of this capacity?” I asked in awe.

  He grimaced. “My mom inherited a lot of money. But she thought of it as tainted, until this place went on the market and she got the idea to start a shelter for women in need of a safe place to recover and start a new life. We also have a few sponsors who have helped a lot over the last decade or so.”

  Reaching over the console, he unbuckled my seat belt and carefully let it slide back while giving me a smile. My heart did a funny little flip at the sight of it. That smile only emphasized how beautiful he was, and I’d been seeing more and more of it. What had started out as just the ghost of a twitch when I first met him was now full-on smiles multiple times a day.

  “Hang tight, little fairy. I need to help you out since they haven’t put you in a boot yet.”

  Since my teeth were still wired together, and apparently would stay that way for at least another seven weeks, I couldn’t really return the smile, but I nodded as he slid out from behind the wheel and shut his door before walking around to the passenger side.

  Behind him, the front door to the mansion opened just as he reached in to lift me out of my seat. My uninjured arm went around his shoulders, and he stepped back just as a little girl in pigtails shut the door for him.

  “Hi, Mr. Jack. I’m so glad you’re back. We missed you around here. It was kinda boring.” Her pigtails swung as she danced around him, looking up at me with wide eyes. “Who are you?”

  “Molly, this is Nishia,” Jack introduced as he started up the front steps. “She’s a new friend who will be staying with us.”

  “Who did that to your face?” Molly asked as Jack kept walking. “Was it your husband? Does it hurt?”

  Between Molly’s questions and the swiftness of Jack’s strides, I didn’t get to see much of the interior as he walked toward the back of the house.

  “My daddy hit my mommy and hurt her really badly. She was in the hospital for a while. You look like you should be in the hospital too.”

  “Molly, maybe don’t share what happened to your mom with complete strangers,” Jack advised.

  “But you just said she was a new friend,” the little girl reasoned.

  I pressed my lips together, equal parts embarrassed and amused.

  “Which is it, Mr. Jack? Is Nishia a friend or a stranger?”

  I tilted my head at him as he slowly, patiently, exhaled through his nose. “Yeah, Mr. Jack. Which is it?”

  One of his hands was around my back, his fingers just barely brushing under my ribs, his thumb pressed into the underside of my boob. His other arm was under my thighs. At my question, his fingers contracted reflexively, and I saw something flash in his green eyes before he averted his gaze to Molly.

  “Friend,” he rasped thickly. “She’s definitely a friend and not a stranger.”

  “What happened to you, Nishia? Did your husband hurt you?” Molly skipped along beside us, her eyes on my face with a mixture of curiosity and empathy.

  “She’s not married,” Jack answered her.

  “Boyfriend?”

  His fingers contracted on me again, but I chose to answer the kid this time. “I-I’ve never had a boyfriend.”

  “Then it was a stranger who hurt you?” she squeaked.

  “Afraid so.”

  “Huh.” Molly’s brow furrowed. “Why does it sound like you have a mouth full of peanut butter?”

  “Her jaw is wired shut.” Jack stopped in front of a closed door and easily opened it without dropping me.

  “That sounds painful.” Molly followed us inside the room and went to sit on a little love seat while I took in the rest of the small apartment that was supposedly mine for the foreseeable future.

  There was the little love seat that Molly was making herself comfortable on, a side table with a nice lamp on it in the sitting area, along with a miniature coffee table, and a small flat-screen mounted to the wall. Through an archway was a queen-sized bed, a nightstand on either side, and another door that was open to what I assumed was the bathroom.

  Everything was in neutral colors, from the walls to the carpet to the furniture, even the bedcovers and pillows. It was soothing in a way that put me at ease in the small space. But although the place was on the tiny side, it was a hundred times nicer than the apartment where I’d grown up. There were no holes in the walls, no cockroaches, no peeling paint or thirty-year-old carpets that hadn’t been cleaned in just as long. The furniture appeared new, with no burn marks or springs sticking through the cushions.

  “It’s small, but it’s yours for as long as you need it.” Jack placed me on the love seat beside Molly and then thrust his hands into his jeans pockets. “There’s no rush. Stay as long as you want. Stay…forever. If you want. We’re here for you, Nishia.” He clenched his jaw and glanced toward the bedroom. “I’m here for you, little fairy.”

  “You’re a fairy?” Molly exclaimed.

  “Um… No?” I glanced from her to Jack, who was back to the lip twitches. I already missed his smiles. “No, Molly. Jack just calls me that sometimes. He says I remind him of…”

  “Silvermist,” he supplied when I blanked on the name of the fairy he thought was sweet and quirky, the one I reminded him so much of that he had taken to calling me “little fairy” like it was something precious.

  Like I was precious to him.

  “I love Silvermist!” Molly did a little twirl. “She’s so pretty. Mr. Jack is right. You do look a little like her with your long black hair, but she has brown eyes. That’s okay, though. I went as Anna last year for Halloween, but my hair doesn’t match, so it’s fine that your eyes don’t match Silvermist’s.”

  She was sweet but hard to keep up with. I’d only met her a matter of minutes before, and I was already exhausted.

  Jack crouched down at my side, gently taking hold of both of Molly’s hands. “Honey, I have to get Nishia settled. Can you be a good girl and go play in your own room for now? Nishia needs a nap.”

  “Sure,” she agreed with a beaming smile, showcasing a single dimple in her right cheek. “I’ll go draw Nishia a picture. Maybe a card to welcome her to Sanctuary. I’ll bring it to you tomorrow, Nishia!”

  “Umm, thanks,” I murmured as she happily skipped out of the little apartment, shutting the door behind her. “Wow. Are all kids that…”

  “Energetic? Exhausting? Frustratingly wonderful?” Jack supplied with a shrug. “Yes to the first two. Sometimes, to the latter. Molly is a sweet little bundle of energy. When she and her mother first came to Sanctuary, Molly was terrified of her own shadow. It took her a little while to trust me, but now she’s my sidekick more often than not when I’m here.”

  My heart clenched for the little girl. “How is her mom now?”

  “Still healing, at least mentally. Physically, she’s fine, but our psychologist and therapists are helping her to overcome the PTSD from the years of abuse.” He took my hand, the one with the cast, and carefully turned it over so he could play with my exposed fingertips. “You’ll meet our mental health team tomorrow. Today, I want you to get comfortable. Don’t overwhelm yourself. Marcy will bring you a tray for dinner, but you’ll meet the others who live here at breakfast. My mom will be here to introduce you to everyone.”

  I tensed involuntarily. “Gracie?” He nodded. “Where will you be?”

  “Here,” he said with a lift of one shoulder. “I’ll probably still be in bed, though. I need to go to Hannigans’ to help out tonight.”

  “Hannigans’ is your other job?”

  “Yeah, the bar. It’s family-owned.” He traced his thumb over my index finger before releasing me. It was insane, or maybe wishful thinking, but it seemed like he was reluctant to let me go.

  Nervousness tossed and turned in my stomach, but I slowly inhaled through my nose to fight the burn of bile in the back of my throat. It was fine. I was fine. I’d been on my own all my life. Even when I was five, my mom would leave me home alone to go out and score drugs. She’d come home the next day—or a week later. During that time, I’d get myself to school, make my own dinner when there was food to eat, and make sure I took a shower so I didn’t stink. If I went to class smelly, the other kids complained, and the teacher would try to call home. But my mom never answered, and child protective services had been called a few times.

  Somehow, I’d never been taken into care. I knew kids who’d gone into the system and they seemed fine, but there were others who told me I was lucky. I wasn’t sure who to believe. Was it worse in foster care?

  Mentally shaking those thoughts away, I tried to put on a brave face for Jack so he didn’t realize how scared I was that he was leaving me. For the past two weeks, he’d been my one constant.

  My protector.

  My hero.

  My big, sweet, beautiful bear.

  I ached to beg him not to leave me, but he had a life to get back to.

  A job.

  Responsibilities that didn’t include me.

  It was time to let go. I couldn’t keep clinging to him. His life was waiting on him, and I needed to move on with mine.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  jack

  “I need two margaritas, one rum punch, and three vodka cranberries,” Kingston called as I placed the three cases of domestic beer on the floor behind the bar and opened the fridge beneath to start replenishing.

  We were getting hammered, and despite the bottled beer having been fully stocked when I’d first arrived at opening, we were down to the last two bottles now. My uncle Colt grabbed them both while I was crouched down. Thankfully, we kept the cases in a cooler in the back so no one would get warm beer if they ordered a bottle, but the drafts were getting slammed just as much as the bottles were.

  It was Friday night, and we were at full capacity. I’d debated not coming, wanting to make sure Nishia was settled in and comfortable with her new home. She’d looked nervous when I’d left her with Marcy and one of the nurses who had promised they would help her shower and get her into bed so she could rest. Although I knew she was in good hands, that didn’t stop me from worrying about my little fairy. But I’d already missed the past two weekends at the bar because I’d been staying with her around the clock in the hospital.

  I should have been exhausted from the lack of restful sleep, but instead, I was wired as fuck. All I wanted was for the night to be over and close up so I could get back to Sanctuary to check on her.

  Uncle Raider started mixing the drinks his son had asked for and had them on a tray by the time I was breaking down the boxes.

  “We need more ice,” my dad announced, and I grunted, letting him know I was on it as I carried the cardboard to the stockroom and then grabbed the bucket hanging off a hook attached to the ice machine.

  Four trips later and the ice was replenished, but the place seemed to be even more crowded. The front doors were propped open, and people were taking their drinks out into the parking lot. Scrubbing a hand over the scruff on my jaw, I knew I was going to have to start tossing people in case the fire marshal showed up and shut us down.

  “You got it?” Dad asked as he popped the top off on a White Claw for one of the college girls standing at the bar with her sorority friends.

  “Mmm.” Pulling the tie from my hair, I redid the bun and adjusted my MC cut before making the first round.

  Anyone obviously overly intoxicated was shown to the door first. That barely put a dent in the numbers, but at least the doors weren’t open, and anyone caught in the parking lot with a drink was told to get lost. But the fire marshal would still be a shithead if he showed up and saw how busy we were right then. I had to wait a few minutes, pause, and observe if anyone was getting rowdy. That typically meant getting rid of the idiots playing pool.

  Not surprisingly, Tanner and Matt were seated near their usual table. They should have had their names engraved on the damn thing, because that was where you found them unless we were having church. But instead of them hustling some of the college boys for easy cash, Chance and Elias were the ones with pool sticks in their hands.

  What caught me off guard was who they were playing with.

  “Sammy?”

  Samara Vitucci turned to face me. She looked so much like her mother, Anya, that it made anyone who knew who her parents were a little twitchy. Anya was intense without having to open her mouth, but I couldn’t get a read on Samara. She was sweet one minute and scary quiet the next. But I adored her just as much as I did Nova. Having the Vitucci family visit so much over the years made it seem as if Samara was just as much a member of my family as my now-absent little cousin.

  Sammy had a pool stick in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. When her gaze met mine, she grinned. “Hey!” Shifting the pool stick to the crook of her arm and the beer bottle to the opposite hand, she hugged my side.

  “Are Nova and Ryan in town?” I asked, knowing I’d missed a lot since I’d been taking care of Nishia.

  “You didn’t hear?” she asked with surprise. “I’m doing an internship with Barker & Reid Construction. I need it to graduate, and it has to be with a company that isn’t family-owned. I’ve been here for a little over a week now.”

  I cocked a brow at her, and she snickered.

  “Technically, Barker & Reid isn’t a company that is attached to my family. Nova isn’t related to them by blood, so no one can cry nepotism.” She nodded toward Elias, who was bent over, taking his shot, but from the tension in my MC brother’s shoulders, I could tell he was listening to our conversation while trying to pretend he wasn’t interested. “My new boss decided to take me out for a drink after work, and now he’s trying to impress me with his mad skills.”

  “Mmm,” I grunted and watched as Elias scratched. My gaze went to his dad, who was already chuckling at his youngest son’s mistake.

  “You tired, kid?” Tanner called over.

  “It’s too fucking loud in here. Jack needs to kick some of these assholes out before Hannigans’ gets fined and shut down.”

  “Maybe he should show you to the door,” Samara taunted. “You’re either drunk or not nearly as good as you claimed to be all day.”

  “Is that how you talk to your boss, Sammy?” he asked with narrowed blue eyes.

  “You’re only my boss from nine to five, Monday through Friday.” She glanced at the smartwatch on her wrist. “It is currently eleven thirty on a Friday night. You’re not my boss at the moment, dipshit. You’re just the drunk biker who can’t hit the white ball.”

  “You’re awfully mouthy, little girl,” Elias grumbled as he stepped up beside her.

  Tossing her long, glossy black hair over her shoulder, she tipped her head back and rolled her blue eyes at him. “As my boss, you shouldn’t be concerned about my mouth.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned down until his nose was almost touching her cheek. “I’m only your boss between the hours of nine and five.”

  Her nostrils flared, and she pushed against his chest. “I’m sure that rough, deep voice gets every other woman’s panties wet, but you forget that I know how you work, Elias Reid. I have standards, and you are miles beneath them.”

  Elias’s eyes flashed white-blue flames, but I couldn’t tell if it was with anger or hunger. Deciding I wasn’t interested either way, I gave Samara another hug and then walked away. I spotted a group of sketchy frat boys fucking around, making the sorority girls who had been ordering drinks at the bar earlier uncomfortable.