“Of course,” she said. “Do you want to check in with the police first? I’m sure they’ll want to talk to you, probably have a ton of questions they need to ask.”

“The answers will still be the same after I make sure Mellie is okay,” I said tightly. “Just get me out of here.”

“You got it,” she said. “Car’s parked behind the house, back in the alley. Good thing, too, because everyone on the street is blocked in. Um … I couldn’t help but notice that big guy over there was with you. And that the other one used to be with you. You want to touch base with them before you leave?”

“I don’t think so,” I said, shaking my head, frustrated. “They can play caveman without me. All I care about right now is getting to the hospital.”

CHAPTER NINE

REESE

“Here’s what you need to know,” I said to Evans, clenching my fist because I’ve never wanted to hit a man more in my life. I wasn’t exactly used to holding back. “London is with me now. You don’t talk to her, you don’t touch her, you don’t think about her. Otherwise we’ll have another discussion, and that one won’t happen where you have a thousand cop buddies to save your ass. Got me?”

Evans studied me and shook his head slowly, the flickering light of the fire throwing his face into shadow.

“I don’t want her. I could give a shit about London Armstrong.”

Yeah, and my next bike was gonna be a Honda.

“Then you won’t mind staying the hell away from her,” I said. “Things won’t get ugly and I won’t find myself diggin’ a hole down in the Bitterroots.”

His eyes went big.

Yeah, fucker. You heard that right.

“Just to be clear—you just threatened a cop with murder? Not smart, Hayes.”

I laughed.

“You got a great imagination,” I told him. “I think we’re finished here.”

His expression turned ugly, and I thought I saw a glimpse of something like hatred in his face. Fair enough—feeling was mutual. Then the sheriff himself stepped between us, smacking me on the back before gripping my shoulder meaningfully.

“You okay, Pic?” he asked.

“Still here, Bud. Kind of concerned about my woman’s place, though. Houses don’t usually blow up,” I said, holding my gaze fixed on Evans. “Not too impressed with your boy, either. He called London a cunt. For the record, she’s the owner of this property.”

“Evans, get back to your car,” Bud snapped. Deputy Dick gave him a mock salute, then ambled off. “Goddamn but I hate that man. I think he’s gonna run for sheriff next election, too.”

“He can run,” I said, my voice cold. “He ain’t gonna win.”

“Not so sure about that,” Bud replied. “My Lavonne met up with Jennifer Burley at the casino last week. Jen said that Nate’s dad has already started talking about mounting a campaign for the boy. Fund-raising.”

“If you had any balls, you’d fire his ass.”

“I fire his ass, the commissioners will have mine,” Bud said bluntly. “You know that. I don’t think there’s a politician in the county his daddy doesn’t have something on.”

“Well, maybe you should’ve been more careful,” I told him, losing patience. “Might be time to throw yourself on your sword, you ever consider that? He’ll do a lot more harm before he’s done.”

Bud’s eyes narrowed and I shrugged off his hand. Fucking coward. I’d had just about enough of this shit.

“So that your woman’s place?” he asked, jerking his chin toward the burning house. “Falls under my jurisdiction. Just outside the city line limits. Anything I should know?”

“Yeah, that’s my woman’s place,” I said slowly, the words feeling strange in my mouth. “But we’re a new thing. This wouldn’t have anything to do with the club, even if it wasn’t accidental. What’s your gut read?”

“Probably a gas leak and buildup,” Bud said. “That’s what the firefighters think, and they got good instincts about this kind of shit. Nobody’ll say anything official until there’s a full investigation, of course, but all the signs are there. We’re damned lucky it’s not full of crispy critters. She have a gas stove?”

“She did,” I said, shrugging. “Last time I was here, I smelled it. She said she was cleaning the oven. No big deal.”

“Looks like a pretty big deal to me.”

“No shit.”

“Off the record, EMTs think the kid’ll be fine. Wanna check for internal bleeds, spinal trauma, all that shit. But it’s just routine. We’ll need to talk to both of them, of course.”

“Of course,” I responded, noticing for the first time that Mellie was gone. Damn, where was London?

“She went to the hospital,” Bud said dryly, clearly reading my expression. “Saw her leave while you were pissin’ over her with Evans. Somethin’ to consider next time you feel like fighting over a woman instead of taking care of her.”

I turned on him, my face grim. How had I missed her taking off? And since when did Bud have the balls to lecture me? Then I realized the bastard was right.

Fuck.

I was out of practice with this relationship shit, but the pissing matches were all but hardwired into my DNA after so many years in the club.

“Headin’ to the hospital,” I told him shortly. “She’ll be upset, confused. I want updates, but you won’t question her until tomorrow, got me?”

“Yeah,” Bud said, nodding. “No real reason to, so far as I can tell. Nothing that can’t wait. That’ll change, we find any evidence this wasn’t an accident.”

“You find any evidence it wasn’t an accident, you call me,” I told him, my voice cold and serious. “First call you make. You scared Nate Evans’s daddy’ll go after your job? I’ll go after your fucking family. We clear?”

Bud smiled, his mouth tight.

We were clear.

LONDON

It was around ten p.m. when Reese sat down next to me in the hospital waiting room, handing over a cup of coffee without saying a word. Wasn’t sure how I felt about him being there. Sure, we’d had great sex. But the whole showdown with my sort-of ex? I was a grown-up. I didn’t need that kind of complication, no matter how fabulous he was in the sack.

On the other hand, he had thrown himself over me when the house blew up. He definitely got points for that.

“You over your snit with Nate?” I asked him, rubbing the back of my neck.

“I think we cleared things up,” he said. “You hear anything about Mellie yet?”

“They think she’s probably all right,” I told him wearily. I’d had a hell of an adrenaline rush, but it was starting to wear off. “They’re doing some scans to make sure, but sounds like a mild concussion. Might keep her overnight.”

“Her dad show up?”

I snorted.

“Her dad was too drunk to understand me when I called him,” I admitted. “I think he said she wasn’t welcome at his house but it’s hard to tell. He wasn’t making a whole lot of sense. I can’t let her go back there. She can stay …”

Shit.

That’s when it hit me—I had nowhere for her to stay … or for me. I had to find somewhere to live. Immediately. I remembered someone saying something about the Red Cross and a hotel room, but the details were blank. Reality hit me all at once—I looked at Reese, eyes wide.

“I’m homeless,” I whispered. “Oh my God, I don’t have anywhere to live. Jessie is flying back home tomorrow and there’s no home.”

He reached out and took the coffee he’d just given me, setting it on the little table in front of us. Then he pulled me over onto his lap, wrapping his arms around me. One hand caught my head, pulling it down against his shoulder and stroking soothingly.

I resisted at first—I didn’t like the idea of being dependent on him, or him thinking I needed him for anything … but maybe just this once.

“Just let me be strong for you for a minute, okay?” he said softly. “You’ve held on for a long time, sweetheart. Nobody can say you haven’t been strong. But it’s been a hell of a night, so why don’t you let me hold you and help you right now.”

It took me a minute, but then I nodded because he was right. I’d been strong for a very long time and now I’d have to be stronger. Oh, God. What was I going to tell Jess?

“You’ll come back to my house tonight,” he said. “And if they let Mellie go, she can sleep upstairs in Kit’s room. Tomorrow you’ll pick up Jessica and she can stay at my place, too. Fuck, I’m used to having a house full of girls. That’ll give you the time to figure out what your next step is. I’m assuming you had insurance?”

Insurance. I’d forgotten about insurance! Woo-hoo!

“Of course,” I said, sitting up so quickly I almost fell off his lap. “I have insurance. I need to call my agent—I think it even pays for an apartment or something.”

“Okay, that’s a start,” he said, then smiled at me. It hit me hard, the way those bright blue eyes crinkled at the corner, and I felt a very inappropriate wave of lust sneaking up. Even if the house had blown up, it didn’t change the fact I’d finally gotten laid and it kicked ass.

Something stirred under my butt. Guess I wasn’t the only one in lust.

Leaning forward, I whispered, “I feel sort of like a pervert.”

He laughed, rubbing his nose along my cheek.

“Ms. Armstrong?”

I looked up, full of that sudden, guilty, caught-in-the-headlights sensation I remembered from the time the PE teacher at my high school caught me making out with Troy Jones behind the bleachers. We were supposed to be running laps.

See? I wasn’t always a good girl.

“I’m London Armstrong,” I said quickly, standing up and smoothing my clothes—a pointless task if one ever existed, because they were muddy and disgusting from Reese’s protective tackle earlier. My hair wasn’t much better, although I’d managed to get the dirt off my face in the bathroom sink.

“Melanie’s done with her scan now,” the ER nurse said, a hint of humor in her eyes. Glad someone could appreciate the situation. “She’d like you to come back and wait with her.”

I started to follow, Reese one step behind. The nurse paused and frowned.

“She didn’t mention him,” she said. “Are you family?”

Reese shook his head.

“I’m here with London,” he said. “If Mel doesn’t want me in there, I’ll leave. No arguments. I don’t want to make her uncomfortable … but I’d like to talk to her if she’s okay with that.”

The nurse looked skeptical, but she nodded.

“If she doesn’t want you in the room, you’re out.”

“No worries.”

Then he caught my hand in his, giving it a quick squeeze as the nurse used her card to buzz us through the big double doors separating the ER itself from the waiting area. We passed room after room until she stopped outside one at the end of the hallway, giving the door a quick, crisp knock.

“Yes?” Mellie called, and I sighed in relief. She didn’t sound full of energy and giggles, but her voice was steady and calm. The nurse opened the door for us.

Mellie’s eyes went wide at the sight of my new … whatever the hell he was. Boyfriend? Seemed a little too cutesy, somehow.

“You want him out?” the nurse asked bluntly, which I thought was pretty brave of her considering Reese was twice her size and looked scary enough when he wasn’t covered with dirt and soot.

Mellie glanced at me, and I nodded encouragingly.

“This is a friend of mine,” I said. “A good friend. But if you don’t want him here, he’s gone. Reese is the one who pulled you away from the fire.”

“He can stay,” she said hesitantly.

“Just push the button if you need anything,” the nurse said. “The doctor will be in as soon as we have your scan results.”

She left the room and we stood there, Mellie trying not to stare at Reese and failing miserably.

“I’m Reese Hayes,” he said, his voice gentle—far gentler than I would’ve dreamed possible. “London and I are together now, and she’s told me all about you. I have two daughters, just a few years older than you. Told London she could come out to my place while she gets things straightened out. You’re welcome, too. I hear home’s a little uncomfortable these days.”

Mellie’s face crumpled, and she sniffed.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry, London. I didn’t mean to burn down your house. I can’t believe you’re still talking to me.”

Oh shit. Like Mel needed more trauma and guilt? I moved quickly toward the bed, taking her hands into mine.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, baby,” I told her. She shook her head, then tears burst out like a dam had broken.

“I was using the stove,” she gulped between sobs. “I checked to make sure the burners were all off, but I guess I missed one. It’s my fault.”

I frowned.

“I don’t know what happened,” I said slowly. “But I sort of doubt that leaving on one gas burner for a short time would be enough to blow up the whole house. Even if it was, it’s okay. It’s just a house.”