Twenty

Dayton

Vale came home today, and I wanted to storm over there and demand to know where she'd been. Not that it was my business. We weren't together. But the caveman in me still wanted to know.

Mine, mine, mine.

"Oh, shut up," I muttered to my thoughts, whacking my longneck on the edge of the counter to dislodge the cap. "Wasn't meant to be. Just a stupid lapse of judgment."

"That what you're calling it now?" my brother said from the doorway to the living room, where he leaned against the jamb with his arms crossed and watched me talking to myself and truth be told, probably get drunk.

I toasted him with my beer before taking a swig. "It was a lapse."

His eyes narrowed, and he shook his head. "No. It's the best thing to happen to us, a frigging miracle, and you fucked it up. You know what, man? I can't even with you. Do you even know why all of them were at her house?"

"Doesn't matter. Doesn't change who they are." I damn well wished it would.

"Some guy threatened her. I only heard the end of it, and I don't know who he was. I barely saw a glimpse of him walking away, but it had something to do with you. Yeah," he said when my head jerked up to stare at him. "She was terrified, so she called her brother."

"Then she's probably been with him," I said, taking another swallow of beer. It had a skunky flavor that matched my mood. Usually, I'd pour it down the drain, but instead, I tortured myself with it. I was just pissed at the whole situation and punishing myself for it.

"You're impossible. I'm heading to Grand Haven with Kevin."

"Stay out of the water. It's red flag."

"Yeah, yeah."

"I mean it."

"I know you do," he paused and looked back at me. "Maybe, you should care as much about you."

"What do you mean by that?"

But he was gone without answering, and I knew exactly what he meant. It wasn't as if Anderson hadn't bitched me out most of the past two days over it—even after I'd told her to hang it up. She just kept on yelling at me about making a big mistake out of misplaced beliefs. And then she'd pointed out guys in our precinct who were part of some kind of motorcycle clubs.

She was wrong. This was different, but it didn't stop her nagging.

Now, Brennan was on me, too.

Sinking into the overstuffed easy chair, I tipped back my head and stared up at the ceiling.

Someone had threatened Vale? About me? Or something to do with me, anyway. That meant I'd have to go over there and find out what had happened. If she even spoke to me. Truly, as angry as she'd been a few days ago, I wouldn't be surprised if she slammed the door in my face—decked me and then slammed it, actually.

No. That was the beer talking. She'd tell me.

Getting up, I went to pour the rest in the sink then huffed a hard breath and gripped the counter to calm down. This was a fact finding mission only, even if my entire body—save for my brain—was getting ready for action. Action that absolutely wasn't happening.

I ran my hands through my hair, growling at the whole situation. Why couldn't her brother be a damned doctor?

Pounding on the front door interrupted my complaints to the universe. Annoyed, I stomped over and wrenched it open. I knew it wouldn't be Vale, but…

Well, speak of the devil. Kale.

"What," I demanded, eying the man in his MC cut, his Harley parked behind my truck. I must have been deep in my head, not to hear it roll up. Fuck, Vale had me messed up more than I'd thought.

"You and me… We need to talk," he growled, pointing his finger between the two of us. At least, it wasn't a gun.

"Yeah, no. No, we don't," I told him, moving to shut the door.

His hand slammed against it, stopping the movement, and I didn't bother wrestling against him.

"Yeah, yes, asshole. You hurt my sister. Bad. I'd punch you in the face and kick your ass, if you weren't a cop and I wasn't—"

"A criminal? The leader of a motorcycle gang? Yeah, I recognize your prez patch. Don't let that stop you."

He shook his head, looking pained at what he saw as my stupidity. "No, dumbass. A federal agent."

"A fed?" I scoffed. "Right. What branch?"

"Not one you've ever heard of. We're called ghosts for a reason." He grabbed my forearm, his hand glowing bright and seeming to send white-hot fire into my blood. I was instantly sober. "Now, listen to me," he gritted. "Someone is after my sister. Someone connected to you. My guys are on it, and I have a crew watching her. But none of them can help her with the pain from your dumbass. Fix it."

"You can't threaten me to be in a relationship with your sister."

"No, I can't. But I'm pretty damn sure I don't have to. She went and fell for a cop." He made a choked sound in his throat before turning away. Halfway to his bike he spun back and pointed at me. "Watch out for her, don't hurt her again or I will hurt you, and for fuck's sake don't tell her I was here. And don't tell her about the fed thing. That's my story to tell." He took a few more steps then spun back again. "And in case you don't already know, her favorite flowers this time of year are daisies."

"You really love your sister," I murmured.

"She's my favorite person," he replied. "Which means, right now, you're my least favorite. Don't piss me off."

Not watching him go, I stared over at Vale's dark house. Before Kale had shown up, I'd been planning to go over anyway. But it seemed like I needed to go to the store first, then pray I had the right words to say to my girl. Because it seemed like everyone was right. I had messed things up.