Nineteen

Vale

"You can't hide in here forever," Kale said, not even knocking before he came in. "It's been three days."

After the fight with Dayton that had eviscerated my soul, the part of me that had done so much to get back to him, I'd insisted on coming back to the club. I didn't want to be anywhere near Dayton, where I might crawl to him and beg him not to break things off.

I was better than that. Way better than that.

And I deserved a man who wanted me, perceived baggage and all.

"This is my room. You can't just barge in here," I complained into my pillow. Morosely, I stared at the plain white wall in front of me, letting Kale have my back. I was about done with this mope, but he needed to let me have my full sulk before I rejoined the land of the living and figured out the new direction for my life. Because getting back with the man I'd always loved, sure wasn't it.

"Nah. It's my place and you moved out," my brother drawled. I heard a thump and knew he was kicking something, maybe my suitcase.

I rolled to face him where he leaned against the wall beside the door. "I'm thinking of moving back in."

He shook his head with a soft smile. "No can do, sister mine."

"What?" I protested, leaning up on an elbow. "For over a month, you've been saying that you want me here. So here I am. Happy?"

"And now, I'm saying you can't move back."

Asshole. God! What was it with the men in my life? All of them led me on, only to reject me.

"I am never baking for you guys again," I huffed, thumping back to my pillows and crossing my arms over my chest. Not the actions of a thirty-something year old or whatever the hell age I was since Vale and Melonie had different birth years. But I didn't care. Fate was just screwing me over left and right.

"Sure you will," Kale chided, amused.

"No, I won't. I'm going to move…move across the country this time. Start a new life." That sounded like a good idea.

Until I remembered I wouldn't ever see Dayton or Brennan again, and tears pricked at my eyes. Not again. I'd cried so damn much. And Dayton probably wasn't even missing me. That made my chest tight. I couldn't bear this. It was almost like being back five years ago when I'd lost everything and didn't know the path forward.

I was right there again, with no idea what to do.

One thing was for sure, though. Despite my three-day sulk, I was way stronger now because Kale was my brother—even if I really wanted to punch him at the moment. I knew how to fight. I knew how to shoot. I knew how to stand up for myself.

I just wasn't doing very well at it right now.

"No, you're not moving away." He sighed, sounding put upon by his annoying sister. He picked at the finish on the dresser beside him and didn't look at me. "What you're going to do is head home. As much as I like you here, things have happened."

"What things?"

"Things that are club business. You're better off not knowing about it."

I rolled my eyes. "Now, you sound like Dayton and his case."

"Funny thing about that. As soon as you ended up on Dutch's radar, he ended up on ours. And I'm pretty sure he's connected to Dayton's case, too. But that's telling you too much. So forget I said it."

"Really?" I asked, turning toward him again and wanting to know all the details. I needed to just get up and stop lying here, being stubborn. I was achy from being in bed so long.

"Vale…" he chided.

"Kale…" I returned in the same tone.

His lips pressed together, and his eyes grew wide, silently telling me to drop it.

I wasn't going to. He had to know that. "Fine. But think about this—and don't ask me why I think it, okay?" I said. "I think he's the guy who murdered Dayton's wife."

His head tipped forward, and he stared at the floor before he nodded. "I'll find out."

"So you see why I should be here?" I asked hopefully. "I can help Wrecker with all the cooking…"

Kale sighed again. "I want you here more than anything. You have to know that. I always wanted you to be safe. And until our last, uh, mission, I thought this was the best place for you, but the club isn't safe right now."

I flew to my feet. "Kale! Are you okay?"

"These people… They hurt you before. They killed my fiancée. I can't let… I can't let anything happen to you again. There's credible reason for us to expect they're preparing a new attack. Which means you're safer away from here. Your accident was a warning to me—but it's not you they're after."

"You need to leave, too," I urged. My house wasn't safe. The club wasn't safe. Was there anywhere I could be? "We could go live in LA with Caspian and Parrish."

The quiet laugh he huffed out scoffed at my na?ve idea he could just hunker down away from here. "Our brothers won't appreciate the invasion. Plus they're getting ready to come here in a couple months."

So much for that idea. I hadn't seen either of them in person for almost five years, but at the moment, I couldn't be excited about their arrival. For all intents, they were strangers to me.

"Plus, you know I was in the military," Kale went on as if he weren't dropping bombs.

"Yeah, special forces."

"Or something like that. This goes back to that. For all of us… We're dead men walking. Ghosts."

"No, Kale." Was he saying I'd lose him, too?

"It is what it is. A long time in the making. Don't worry about me, okay? Worry about you."

"But—"

"What you're going to do is go home to that cute-ass little house you set up. And you're going to make up with that asshole cop, because I have never seen you as happy as you are with him. For the first time in five years, you're smiling. Genuinely smiling. So go home and be with him—just don't make it too easy on him."

"But—"

"Your home security is top notch," Kale interrupted. "And I'm gonna have a crew on you. Your personal bodyguards to shadow you until this situation with Dutch is taken care of."

Honestly, I was less worried about the danger than the other impossible thing Kale was telling me to do.

"Dayton made up his mind about this. I know him. He made a decision he thinks is right. He's not going to change his opinion. And I'm not begging him."

"No begging, sis. Us Corin's are better than that."

"We are," I conceded. I'd learned that and embraced it over the past few years.

"But don't be such a quitter," he went on.

I glared at him. He knew those were fighting words. He'd said them a lot while I was struggling through physical therapy after the accident.

"I'm not a quitter," I growled.

"Then go fight. He clearly loves you. He's going to come around, and you need to be there at home when he does."

"I'll go. But he's not going to come around."

Kale smirked. "We'll see."