“But, Clo—”
“My club will keep her safe,” Rocket said again, this time with force. He held out his hand, giving Scott the respect of full eye contact.
With a nod, Scott gripped his hand. They shook, bonding over their need to protect Chloe.
“You can have her this weekend. She’s coming home with me tonight.”
The sigh that left Scott was full of resignation. “A goddamned outlaw biker,” he said with a shake of his head. “You hurt her, and I’m warning you, neither your ninja skills nor your club will mean a damn thing. You’ll be a fucking dead man.”
A throat cleared. Both men turned to find Chloe frowning with her hands on her hips. “Seriously, guys? Did you forget I was here? I hope so. Because if you didn’t, then you’re just being jerks and deciding my fate for me while I stand around like an idiot.”
Rocket pressed his lips together to keep from grinning. Looked like Chloe hadn’t quite gotten out of feisty mode yet.
“Shit. Sorry, sis. You’re right. We should have asked you what you wanted to do instead of deciding for you.” He had the decency to look sheepish, hands in his pockets, shoulders shrugged to his ears.
Fuck that. Chloe wasn’t going to her parents’ place. She was spending the night with him. And if she didn’t like it, too damn bad. He had no problem hog-tying her to the back of his bike to get her where he needed her to be.
“Thank you,” she said with the haughtiness of a queen.
“So what are you thinking. You want to get out of town?”
“Oh…well…um, no I definitely want to stay. Logan’s club will keep me safe.”
Fighting the urge to snicker, Logan lost the battle to keep his smirk at bay.
Scott’s face screwed up in confusion. “Okay, well what do you want to do tonight? Stay here?”
Her face pinked. “No, I’d like to go to Logan’s.”
Now Scott looked thoroughly baffled. He looked between Chloe and Rocket. “I don’t get it. Isn’t that the same shit we just said?”
“Yes,” Chloe responded.
“So…”
She jammed her hands on her hips. “So you two Neanderthals didn’t have to decide it for me. You could have asked me what I wanted.”
“But you want what we decided,” Scott said.
Chloe threw up her hands and growled. “Yes, but I didn’t want you to tell me that. I wanted to tell you.”
“Dude, help me out here,” Scott mumbled. “What the fuck is going on?”
Rocket chuckled. Scott was all right. Clueless about women, but a damn decent guy. “Don’t have time to educate you, man. Got a woman to take care of.” He winked.
Chloe stared at him, cheeks growing redder by the second. Her two jade-colored eyes stared at him with a combination of worry and adoration. The first was certainly warranted, though he’d try like hell to keep her from spending the entire night anxious for him. The second emotion? Yeah, he didn’t deserve adoration from anyone. But he’d fucking take it as long as she was willing to dish it out.
“Christ, Rocket, that’s my baby sister you’re talking about. Keep that shit to yourself.”
Chloe rolled her eyes then stuck her tongue out at her brother in a move that seemed second nature.
While this was entertaining and Chloe was obviously trying to distract herself from the shittiness of the situation with her sibling antics, it was time to get down to business. “Grab what you need, babe,” he said right before he gave her a quick hard kiss.
She grabbed him before he drew fully back. “I’m terrified for you,” she whispered.
Rocket pressed his lips to her ear. He wouldn’t make her promises he couldn’t keep, such as coming back in one piece or without an extra black mark on his soul. But he could give her what he knew without a doubt. “It is worth it,” he whispered. “You’re worth it. You’re the only thing that is.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
IT WAS CLEAR by the unhappy Honeys milling about and the mess of bottles strewn all over the clubhouse that Rocket’s call for emergency church had interrupted the MC in full-on party mode.
After squaring away Chloe’s plan to return home with him, Rocket spent a solid twenty minutes convincing Scott he’d be better off remaining at her house. Chloe had gone off to grab what she needed to set up the guest room for her brother. Scott was pissed and out for blood, but there wasn’t a damn thing the man could do short of going AWOL, and Uncle Sam didn’t take kindly to deserters. Copper never would have let him sit in on church, so there wasn’t any point in him tagging along. After some yelling and choice phrases, Scott finally agreed with the caveat he’d murder Rocket with a big fucking smile on his face should something happen to his baby sister.