What's mine to protect
1228 Words
Chapter six
I didn’t know what frightened me more.
Marcus finding me.
Or Ryder Kane deciding I was his problem now.
The man outside the door had finally left after a few minutes of tense silence and muttered threats. I hadn’t heard everything, only enough to know he wasn’t a friend.
Ryder had shut the door, locked it once, then twice.
Then he turned to his men.
“Perimeter.”
Three bikers moved instantly.
The house transformed in seconds.
Windows checked. Lights dimmed.
Someone stepped outside, Someone else moved down the hallway.
It was terrifying how normal it seemed to them.
Daisy tugged my sleeve.
“Don’t worry,” she whispered. “Daddy gets grumpy when he’s protecting people.”
I looked down at her. “Does he protect a lot of people?”
She thought about it seriously.
“No. Mostly me.”
Something about that answer tightened my chest.
Ryder walked back into the living room, jaw hard, eyes unreadable.
“Upstairs,” he said.
I blinked. “Excuse me?”
“You and Daisy are sleeping upstairs.”
“I’m not sleeping here.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No, I’m not.”
His gaze narrowed slightly.
Daisy sighed dramatically. “You two argue like married people.”
One of the bikers in the kitchen choked on laughter.
Ryder didn’t even look at him.
“Out,” Ryder said.
The laughter died immediately.
I folded my arms. “You don’t get to order me around.”
“No,” he said calmly. “I get to keep you alive.”
The room went still.
I hated that my pulse jumped.
“I can go back to my house.”
“Not tonight.”
“You can’t stop me.”
He took one slow step closer.
“Try.”
My breath caught.
Every instinct screamed at me to push back, but another part, the exhausted, frightened part—wanted someone else to handle things for once.
I hated that part most of all.
“I don’t need saving,” I said quietly.
Something flashed in his expression.
“Good,” he said. “Because I’m not saving you.”
I frowned. “Then what are you doing?”
His eyes held mine.
“Making sure no one takes what’s under my roof.”
Heat rushed to my face.
I opened my mouth, but Daisy beat me to it.
“That means he likes you.”
“Bed,” Ryder said flatly.
“But—”
“Now.”
She grinned at me. “See? Grumpy.”
Then she skipped upstairs.
I stared after her.
“How is she not terrified of you?”
“She knows better.”
“That sounds like a threat.”
“It’s parenting.”
Despite everything, a laugh escaped me.
Ryder went very still.
Like hearing me laugh had done something he didn’t know how to handle.
Then his phone rang.
He answered without looking away from me.
“Talk.”
A pause.
His jaw tightened.
“No. Move the shipment tomorrow.”
Another pause.
“I said tomorrow.”
He ended the call and slid the phone into his pocket.
“You run drugs?” I asked before I could stop myself.
His expression didn’t change.
“I run business.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting.”
I should have backed off.
Instead, I stepped closer.
“And if your business puts Daisy in danger?”
Something dangerous entered his eyes then.
“My daughter is never in danger.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“I can.”
The certainty in his voice shook me more than yelling would have.
Because he believed it.
Because men like Ryder built their worlds around promises.
Even impossible ones.
A knock sounded at the back door.
Ryder moved instantly, drawing a gun from somewhere behind his back so smoothly I gasped.
He glanced at me.
“Stay.”
Then he disappeared toward the kitchen.
I stood frozen.
Gun.
He had a gun.
Of course he had a gun.
Why was I surprised?
Low voices murmured in the kitchen. A minute later Ryder returned with another biker carrying a laptop bag.
“Need your Wi-Fi,” the man said cheerfully.
I stared. “Why?”
He grinned. “To ruin somebody’s evening.”
Ryder jerked his chin toward the dining table. “Find Marcus.”
The biker saluted lazily and opened the laptop.
I watched, stunned, as fingers flew across keys.
“You can do that?”
“Baby, I can find anyone.”
Ryder’s look turned cold.
“Then stop talking and do it.”
The biker muttered, “Yes, Your Majesty.”
I should have been horrified.
Instead, I was beginning to understand something terrifying.
Ryder didn’t react to threats.
He erased them.
I wrapped my arms around myself.
“You don’t have to do this.”
His attention shifted to me.
“Yes,” he said.
“Why?”
The question came out softer than I intended.
He studied me for a long moment.
Then said, “Because he scared you.”
My throat tightened.
No one had ever made my fear sound like a reason worth acting on.
Marcus had mocked it.
Used it.
Fed on it.
But Ryder…
Ryder treated it like an offense.
The biker at the table whistled.
“Got him.”
Ryder crossed the room.
“Where?”
“Cheap motel on Route Nine. Been there two nights, Paid cash.”
My stomach dropped.
“He’s that close?”
Ryder’s expression became a carved stone.
“He was.”
He looked at two men near the door.
“With me.”
I stepped forward. “Wait.”
All three men paused.
“You’re leaving?”
“Yes.”
“To do what?”
Ryder checked the magazine in his gun with calm efficiency.
“To send a message.”
Fear curled through me.
“Ryder—”
He looked up.
And for the first time since I’d met him, I saw something raw beneath the control.
“You ran from a monster,” he said quietly.
“That ends tonight.”
Then he walked past me.
I caught his wrist before I could think.
The room froze.
Even the bikers stared.
My hand looked tiny against him.
“Don’t kill him,” I whispered.
Ryder’s gaze dropped to where I touched him.
When he spoke, his voice was rougher than before.
“You should let go, Ava.”
“Promise me.”
“I don’t make promises I might break.”
My pulse raced.
“Please.”
Something changed in his face.
Slowly, he covered my hand with his free one.
“I’ll come back,” he said.
“That’s not what I asked.”
“It’s what I’m giving.”
Then he removed my hand gently and walked out the door.
Engines roared to life outside.
I stood in the middle of the room, heart pounding.
Daisy’s sleepy voice drifted from the stairs.
“Did Daddy go bite someone again?”
I turned.
“What?”
She yawned. “When he’s mad, he bites.”
I stared at the closed door.
Somewhere in the dark, Ryder Kane was hunting my past.
And I didn’t know whether to pray for Marcus—
or for Ryder.
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