How the hell had I missed the fact that she'd gone and become good enough of a wheelman to gain the attention of the Triad?
I'd been too wrapped up with my own shit, I guess.
And since none of the other guys knew about my connection to Sass, they wouldn't know to relay information about her to me.
But she was back.
In trouble.
In need of help.
Yet all I could think about was the way she'd changed. How good she looked with shorter hair. How much the years had ironed out a lot of the loud false confidence she'd had when she was younger, but had replaced it with a quieter sort of genuine self-assurance.
But then those tears had appeared, letting me know just how bad things were. Because Sass hated crying. She'd been trying to loosen a bolt once, had her grip slip, and ripped the shit out of the skin on the back of her hand. The tears had flooded, and she'd refused to let me take her to the urgent care until she'd 'pulled herself together.'
If she was crying—in public—then she really had to have hit her wall. And that was no doubt exacerbated by the lack of food, the lack of sleep, the way all the weight had fallen on her shoulders.
I would shoulder some of that weight.
I'd gotten some food in her.
Once she got some sleep, she would feel better about the whole thing.
While she slept, I would have to have to relay all this shit to Huck, who was not going to be happy.
But I didn't need to drag the club into it yet. I could maybe go see Arty, get his genius ass on the case, see if he could figure out who was after Sass, then try to handle it on my own. If that didn't work, then I could drag the other guys into it to handle shit once and for all.
I couldn't help but wonder what would happen then, though.
Would Sass just up and leave? Not to be seen for another decade, or ever again?
That thought troubled me more than it should have.
It was what was on my mind as we stepped out onto the street.
That distraction was why I hadn't been able to notice the bastards on crotch-rockets parked on the next corner until it was too late.
Until their arms were raised.
And bullets sliced through the air.
"Fuck," I snapped, grabbing Saskia, tossing her down on the ground, my body going down on top of hers as my arm reached for my own gun.
It was too late though.
They were gone already.
It was a busy area, just a few blocks from the police station. They couldn't risk coming back to make sure they'd hit their target.
Still, I didn't move for a long moment, paranoia keeping me stubbornly in place.
"They're gone," Sass said, snapping me out of my thoughts, making me look down to find her looking up at me.
Her eyes were wide, all tiredness wiped away with the surge of adrenaline.
I became too aware of several things at once.
Her soft curves under my harder lines.
Her heavy breathing, making her breasts press against my chest.
Just how close her lips were, how perfect they were, how easy it would be to close the distance, seal my lips to hers.
I could see the moment her thoughts aligned with mine, making those lips part a bit more, making those green eyes get a bit more heavy-lidded.
It was the sirens that snapped me out of it.
Cops coming to check shit out, question witnesses.
We didn't want to be connected to this.
"We got to go," I said, jumping up, reaching down to drag her onto her feet.
We climbed into the bike and peeled off in a blur. I wasn't sure I took a deep breath until we were halfway across town with no cops following.
"Drive around," Sass yelled in my ear. "Make sure they didn't have anyone watching me," she added as we pulled away from the red light.
So that was what I did.
I drove around erratically for twenty minutes before deciding it was safe to head back to the clubhouse.
"Is there somewhere I can stash that car?" Sass asked as soon as she was off the bike. "They know it."
"We can park it in the garage next door," I told her. "Give me the keys, and I'll have Seeley do it while you take a shower and get some sleep."
She looked like she was going to object, but I cut her off.
"You are going to be useless if you don't get some rest," I reminded her, watching as the truth of that settled down on her, making her shoulders slump, her head nod in reluctant agreement.
"Okay," she agreed as I led her back inside.
"Make that car disappear," I told Seeley, tossing the keys, watching him snatch them out of the air.