13. 13
13
“I know it’s not much but it’s what I have. You take the bed. I’ll sleep in the other room. Make yourself at home,” Malice set the last of her bags on the foot of the bed in the only bedroom in the cabin he’d been given the day before.
There wasn’t a lot there. A bed in the bedroom, a couple of small chairs in the living room, a stove and a refrigerator that didn’t work. He hadn’t minded. He didn’t need a refrigerator to live, especially when he got all his food from the main house except lunch. Lunch was usually sandwiches or stew in the bunkhouse. Something that the men could go get when they had a few minutes between chores instead of everyone stopping work to sit down.
“I can’t do that. I can’t take your bed.”
“I don’t mind. Really. I just got the place last night, so I’m not used to the bed yet, and I have a cot. I’ve spent enough nights on the ground a cot is almost heaven.” He gave her a smile, hoping to reassure her.
“Are you sure?” Her voice was hesitant.
It made him want to pull her into his arms and kiss her, reassure her that he wanted her to have the bed. Hell, what he really wanted was to share it with her, but he wouldn’t be telling her that.
No.
She was just shaking lose an asshole who didn’t know what boundaries were, there was no way he’d make a move on her while she was vulnerable.
“I’m sure. I’ll leave you to settle in for a bit and go talk to Jake about your phone. I’ll be back later. If you need anything, there’s a path leading from the front porch to the east. Follow that. It will take you to the main house. There’s nearly always someone around there. They’ll know how to find someone for you. I’ll be back in a bit, okay?”
He waited for her nod before checking his pocket to make sure he still had her phone, then leaving. He left his pickup parked in front of the house and headed for the horse barn on foot. It might not be the fastest way, but he wasn’t in a hurry anyway.
In the horse barn, Malice followed the sounds of work to the stall where Jake had pulled the wheelbarrow in and was busy shoveling out the old hay. He’d peeled off his shirt and worked in jeans, boots, and gloves.
Malice leaned against the stall door for a moment, watching Jake work while he waited for the other man to notice him.
“Hey. You’re back. Is everything okay?”
“No one was hurt, at least not yet.” Malice fought to keep the menace from his voice. “Her fuckwad ex is stalking her, trashed her car last night outside her apartment. Where he’d never been. I brought her here to make sure she’s safe.”
“Good call.” Jake frowned. “If he’d never been to her place, how did he find it to trash her car?”
“Good question. We think he’s found a way to track her phone.” Malice watched the other man for a moment, then spoke again. “Lurch said you were the best one to take a look at it and see if you can figure out how?”
“I can try. What kind of phone?”
“Android.” He pulled it from his pocket and held it out. “We put it on airplane mode before turning it off, so you can power it on without it hitting the network and telling him she’s out here.”
“That was smart. I’ll need her passcode to get in, but I’ll take a look at it as soon as I’m done here.” He shoved it into his pocket then looked down at the floor. “At least it’s my last one.”
“If it weren’t, I’d help. I left early today, and you guys ended up picking up my slack.”
Jake waved him off. “I’m almost done. No point in you getting all nasty too.”
“That ink looks pretty fresh, where’d you get it done?” Malice changed the subject. He’d noticed the large tattoo of the Demented Souls colors on Jake’s back when he’d come in. He wanted to get his own done since he’d recently been patched in, but he didn’t know any artists here in town he would trust to do it.
“Sadist did it as soon as I got patched in. We did it just before I came up here.”
“So I’d have to go to Arizona to see him.”
“Afraid so.” Jake paused then tilted his head to one side. “Well, he might be convinced to come up for a visit, but probably not until Tuck goes back south. Wouldn’t do to have both the president and the VP gone for too long, would it?”
“No, probably not.” He pulled a face as he thought about it. Did he want to wait that long? “I’ll think about it. I’ll text you the passcode for the phone as soon as I get back to the cabin and get it from Bonnie. Let me know if you find anything on it, will you?”
“Will do.” Jake went back to work.
Malice turned and left, thinking about tattoos, not just the club colors, but had a couple other things he’d been thinking about getting done and did he want to wait until Sadist came up to get his done? When might that be? Hm… The question was, did he want to wait that long? He guessed it was possible for him to make a trip down there, but when would he have time? Maybe he should find a good local tattoo artist and just get it done here.
He considered that, along with how he might react should that fuckwad harassing Bonnie show up here as he went to the bunk house and packed up the last few things he hadn’t taken to the cabin the night before. He was reluctant to go back to the cabin so soon, as he’d told Bonnie he’d leave her alone for a while, but he didn’t have anything else he needed to get done, at least not yet.