Still Standing (Wild West MC 1)

“To help you with that, I’ll tell you I got your back. And when I say I got your back, that means I got your back and all the boys in my MC got your back. You don’t do us wrong, we will never do you wrong. Never, Toots.”

I kept staring up at him as I thought of Ink teasing me that morning. Buck coming after me. Driver waiting for me and taking me to Lefty. Dr. Lefkowitz caring for me. Lorie making soup and throwing a blanket over me. Ink buttering crackers for me. And Buck sending a message to Esposito and looking for Tia and definitely looking out for me.

People wouldn’t believe it of Rogan, considering what he did, but he took care of me.

If I was sick, he practically babied me. He often bought me flowers, just because. I’d come home from work and he’d be there, having come home early to make a special meal for me. He made me feel loved, he made me feel precious.

I’d had decent foster carers. It was what it was, and it wasn’t great, but it wasn’t a nightmare.

It also wasn’t loving kindness, which Rogan showed to me, something I missed even though I hated him, what he’d done to the people he’d stolen from and what he’d done to me.

Tia and I looked out for each other as best we could, and Mrs. Jimenez did everything she could with the little she had.

But I’d never known the kind of protection and kindness Buck and his people had shown me in less than a day.

“I trust you,” I whispered, his eyes flashed again, and his head dipped even further so he could brush his lips against mine.

He lifted away and whispered back, “Then let’s take care of this shit so I can make some calls about your girl.”

There it was again, and I couldn’t help it. I closed my eyes and pressed carefully into him, the uninjured side of my face to his chest, my arms going around him to give him a hug. He gave me a gentle squeeze and stepped back.

“Do you have any sweats I can borrow?” I asked when he took my hand and headed to the door.

He turned and looked down at me, “This is your place, Toots, your space. He doesn’t get to make you feel uncomfortable in it.”

I was reeling from this pronouncement. So much, I didn’t resist when he tugged me to and through the door.

We made it to the bottom of the steps to the landing and Buck dropped my hand but slid his arm around my shoulders and carefully turned me so my front was pressed into his side.

Scott watched this and I could tell he didn’t like it before he wiped his expression blank and focused on me.

“Mrs. Kirk—” he started.

“Delaney,” Buck growled, and Scott’s eyes sliced to him. “She divorced his ass. Her name is Delaney,” Buck continued.

Scott stared at Buck a beat then his attention came back to me.

“Sorry. Ms. Delaney,” he murmured. “We need to talk about what happened to you today.”

“No,” I said softly, “I don’t think we do.”

I saw his jaw clench and he took a step forward. Buck curled me closer and Scott’s eyes went to Buck’s arm, his jaw clenched tighter and he stopped.

Then he looked back at me.

“I’m thinkin’ you know Enrique Esposito is not a good guy,” Scott noted.

“Yes, I know that,” I stated the obvious.

“So, I’m here to tell you that what happened to you happens to others, sometimes it’s worse. I think you know that too,” Scott continued.

I knew that too.

Boy, did I know that.

I didn’t answer.

I just held his gaze.

He carried on.

“That means, what happened to you, what you and your friend Tia Esposito know, what your friend’s husband has done to her, you can help us make certain that what the both of you have been through won’t happen to anyone else.”

“You know she grew up in foster care,” Buck remarked suddenly, and I felt my body go still as I looked up at his profile.

Why did he say that?

“I know,” Scott replied, his voice tight and my eyes went to him.

“Figure you investigated her just as deep as you investigated her ex,” Buck carried on, and Scott didn’t speak, but he also didn’t take his eyes from Buck. “You think of offerin’ her this kinda deal two years ago before you turned her life to shit?”

Oh God.

I hadn’t thought of that.

“That wasn’t a possibility,” Scott ground out.

“Yeah?” Buck asked. “Why? You investigated her. You knew she wasn’t involved in his mess. You knew you took him down, she’d also pay. You think, maybe you explained that shit to her, she woulda helped you out and that woulda helped her out instead of gettin’ her face on the front of every newspaper in the country as the dupe?”