Judge (Shady Valley Henchmen 1)

“I… ah… he came over,” I told her. “But I kicked him out.”

“You kicked him out. First of all, good for you. Second, why?”

“He said something that irritated me. In hindsight, it was an overreaction.”

“That famous Murphy temper,” Nyx said knowingly.

“Conor?” I asked, wincing. “Did he…”

“He tried to. Sean shoved him out of the hospital.”

“Sorry.”

“He wasn’t saying anything I wasn’t already thinking, babe. You shouldn’t have been alone.”

“I’m a grown-ass woman. You were here as a friend, not a babysitter.”

“Your brothers don’t see it that way.”

“Yeah, well, they’re idiots,” I said, getting a snort out of her. “Overprotective idiots.”

“You know what we need after we get back to Shady Valley and you heal all up?”

“What?”

“To take a self-defense class. I’ve always meant to. And I think I got lulled into a false sense of security because of living in a small town where no one could attack me without my identifying them. And, you know, being employed by your brothers. But there are going to be times when we aren’t in Shady Valley. I think it would be good that we know how to defend ourselves in the future.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” I agreed. I never wanted to feel that helpless again. “But where could we even take self-defense classes? It’s not like we have a gym in town.”

“True. I don’t know. I will look into it. I mean, I’m sure we’ll have to deal with a private security detail from your brothers from now until eternity, but still.”

Ugh.

Yeah.

She was right about that.

Cillian was going to insist that one of them be with me all the time. If that wasn’t possible because of their work, then one of their guys would be tasked with babysitting me.

“Don’t worry,” Nyx said, patting my arm. “We will find clever ways around that detail if you want to sneak away to see yummy biker guy.”

I knew I was supposed to object to that, to tell her that I had no intentions of seeing Jass again.

But Nyx seemed to know me just as well as I knew myself.

I absolutely planned on seeing him again.

Somehow.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Judge

I’d been on my own since I was a teen.

Then I’d gotten involved with a mafia family who always saw me as an outsider.

So I never really had a reason to worry about someone other than myself before.

There was no denying it was pure, undiluted worry that was working its way through my system as I paced the hospital waiting room after they wheeled Dell off to examine her.

I had just enough sense left in me to call Slash, though.

“Did you find her?” he asked, and I could hear Nyx in the background, her voice high-pitched, borderline hysterical.

“Just rode with her in the ambulance to the hospital. She was attacked in an alley down the street.”

“She what?” Slash barked. “What kind of attacked?” he asked, tone dark.

“Clothes were still on,” I said, stomach clenching at the idea of anyone putting her hands on her that way. It was bad enough he’d beat the ever-loving shit out of her.

“Small miracle,” Slash murmured, then started relaying the information to a frantic-sounding Nyx.

“I called Detroit, just so you know,” I told him. “Asked him to tell the Murphys what happened.”

“Good. She needs her brothers. We are heading over. Nyx is too upset to drive.”

“Okay. I’m in the emergency room,” I told him, hanging up, then resuming my pacing, ignoring the sideways looks from the triage nurse.

I was equal parts worried and pissed right then, and there was no outlet for it but to pace since I damn sure wasn’t going to leave the waiting room, and leave her alone in the hospital. At least not until Nyx or her brothers showed up.

Granted, I wouldn’t be much help if the hospital needed any information about her.

But that wasn’t the point.

I just wanted to be there.

Which was an entirely new fucking sensation, but I was choosing not to overthink it. Or think of it at all.

The image of her kept popping into my head, her face swollen beyond recognition, her lip split, nose broken, and blood all over her.

I’d done a lot of damage in my day. I’d seen more of it. I’d endured a lot of it.

But I’d never seen a woman that busted up.

That, I decided to believe, was the reason for my strong response to the whole situation. Not anything personal. Just a general moral disgust over it.

From what I could tell, the cops had found her wallet and it seemed intact.

So he hadn’t even wanted to rob her.

What was his intention then? To rape her? Had he just gotten startled before he could do it?

A sour taste filled my mouth at the thought of that.

It didn’t happen, I reminded myself. Even if that had been his intention.

“Where is she?” Nyx asked, rushing up to me a few minutes later, tears staining her cheeks, eyes bright red from them.