She’s huddled in the corner, making herself as small as possible, and acting as though she can’t see me. As I walk into the room and shut the door, she burrows her head against her arm, slinking back as far as she can. Another whimper escapes her, and I’m forced to swallow a lump in my throat.
I almost sprint toward her, but the second I touch her, she squeals and tries to wrench away.
“Fuck. Eve, it’s me. It’s Drex,” I tell her, keeping my voice low, not expecting it to matter.
But it does.
The second she hears my voice, her head pops up, and those watery green eyes meet mine with so much relief. A small piece of something inside my chest breaks free, and an ache instantly forms.
Rarely ever does someone look relieved to see me, and those protective instincts are suddenly on high alert.
She throws her arms around my neck, almost knocking me backward since I’m off balance in this kneeling position.
As I stand, she practically climbs up me until her legs are firmly strapped around my waist, and she’s shivering like it’s subzero temperatures in here.
“I’ve got you,” I soothe, rubbing her back.
She clings to me, digging her nails in as though she’s a cat in water, and it’s the only thing keeping me from going downstairs and blowing out Jessie’s brains right now.
I don’t give a damn who her father is, she doesn’t deserve this. There’s no doubt in my mind that Eve had no clue about her dad’s dealings with us, just based on how terrified and unversed she is with the club.
Even if she did know, even if she was a spy sent to take us down, I still wouldn’t allow something like this to happen to her. Fucking bastards.
“What’d he do?” I ask, wondering if I can even allow myself to hear it.
“He didn’t… He tried… Axle stopped him before he could,” she whispers, her voice tremulous and almost too quiet to be heard, and the words break until she can’t speak any longer.
But I almost sag in relief. He didn’t get to touch her.
Mentally, I remind myself to thank Axle later. Jessie should thank him too. As of right now, he’s the only reason Jessie is still breathing.
“I have to get out of this. It smells like him.” The disgust and brokenness of her tone has my rage once again brewing close to the surface.
She slides down my body, and I feel more anger surge through me when her eyes flick to the door, as though she’s worried someone else might be in here. Her nails dig into my forearms as she presses her shaking body against me.
“I can promise no one is stupid enough to come in here.”
Slowly, her eyes meet mine, and she blows out another relieved breath. Her hands are shaking so bad that she keeps dropping the hem of her dress, so I reach down and tug it over her head.
I expect that to be enough, but it’s not. She immediately starts fumbling with her bra, and I reach around, undoing it with one hand to help her out.
Her appreciative gaze meets mine. Normally when she’s stripping her panties down her legs, I’m hard as stone and ready to fuck. Not now. Not tonight. The fear in her eyes drowns out any sort of sexual air that might be here under usual circumstances.
I take my shirt off as she climbs into the bed, and I pull my jeans down, leaving on a pair of boxers.
I’ll let her sleep with me, because no way in hell is she sleeping on the couch after that.
As soon as I’m under the covers, her bare body is tangling around mine, wrapping up in me like she can’t get close enough. My arms go around her, tucking her against me, giving her the comfort she needs.
“Can I please sleep with you tonight?” she whispers, remnants of fear still shaking her tone.
I swallow thickly, feeling like the biggest son of a bitch in the world, because she feels like she has to ask. I realize I’m not exactly a good guy, but she should know by now I wouldn’t let anything fucking happen to her. I sure as hell wouldn’t shove her ass out of my bed after what she faced.
“You’ll sleep in my bed from now on,” I tell her softly, and she burrows closer against me, hugging me as though she has all the gratitude in the world for me.
This all started off with me wanting her more than I should have. It started with me lying to myself, telling my stupid, fucked-up mind that I wanted to make sure Pop was safe. When in reality, she’s been mine since I saw her.
After this, I should send her home. She’s not made for this shit. But I’m a bastard, and I can’t seem to allow myself to let her go. I just need to do a better job at making sure she’s safe in my world, because I’m not letting her leave any time soon.