Chapter 5
5
TAMARA
I barely saw Talon yesterday, but every time I turned a corner, I found myself hoping he’d be there. He hadn’t said much during breakfast, but I could still feel the brush of his lips across my forehead when he left. I missed his broody presence. Even while hanging out with a bunch of the old ladies in the great room, I kept glancing at the door every time someone walked in. Which was often because a lot of people popped in to see Lainie.
I met Ellery, who brought Corinne and Porter with her. They were dropped off by Whiskey, who’d been on his way to the Iron Rogues’ tattoo shop. And Elise with her adorable toddler Toby Jr., who had explained her husband was a doctor pulling a shift at the hospital. Molly and Dahlia were also there with their children.
With six little kids running around, the women were too distracted to notice how often I looked for Talon. Except for Lainie, who’d shot me a knowing glance a couple of times but didn’t tell anyone.
As I padded into the kitchen the following morning, I immediately searched for him. I found him seated at the far end of the table, a mug in his hand and his attention locked on the doorway the second I stepped through it. His gaze tracked every step I took.
Lainie steered me toward the coffee first. “We should eat before I leave.”
I understood that she had to leave early to make it back to campus in time for her first class of the day, but I wasn’t happy about it. I didn’t want her to feel guilty, though. Not after she had dropped everything to bring me to the Iron Rogues for help.
So I pasted on a smile and quickly agreed, “You’re not going to get an argument from me.”
“Yeah, it’s gonna be hard to go back to eating on campus and from our freezer,” she grumbled.
Sheila patted her shoulder. “I guess it’s a good thing I packed a cooler full of home-cooked meals for you.”
“Did you really?” Lainie bounced on the balls of her feet. “Have I mentioned lately how awesome you are?”
“It never hurts to hear something like that.”
Tank came up behind Sheila and wrapped his arms around her waist, brushing a kiss against her cheek. “Just so long as I’m the only one who shows you how fucking great you are in our special way.”
I was still in awe of how the Iron Rogues men weren’t afraid of showing how much they loved their women, no matter who was around. They completely shattered everything I thought I knew about how bikers treated their old ladies. And I found myself wondering more often than I should if Talon would be the same way with me if we were ever to get together. I mentally snorted at that. As if that would ever happen.
After filling my plate, I took the seat next to Lainie. Talon didn’t say a word, but I noticed how he shifted slightly, angling himself to face us more directly.
After we finished eating, Lainie grabbed her travel mug and slung her bag over one shoulder with a dramatic sigh. “I feel weird leaving before it’s safe for you to come back. Maybe I should?—”
“Nope,” I cut in firmly. “It was one thing to skip Tuesday since you only had one class. But you can’t miss all three today. You’d fall too far behind.”
She shot me a guilty look anyway. “I know, but I feel like I’m abandoning you.”
“You’re not,” I said quickly, even though the knot in my stomach tightened the closer she got to the door. I wasn’t scared exactly...but without my best friend around, the reality of everything I was facing felt a lot heavier.
Lainie pulled me in for a quick hug. “I’ll text and call. Constantly. You won’t even have time to miss me.”
“Promise?” I whispered.
She grinned. “Cross my heart.”
Then she was gone, and I stood there a little too long, unsure what to do next. The easy rhythm I’d fallen into beside Lainie vanished the moment she left, and I suddenly felt out of place.
“You’re not alone.”
The deep voice came from just behind me, but I knew it belonged to Talon.
I turned to look at him, flashing him a small smile.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Relief swept through me so fast, it nearly made my knees buckle. But there was guilt mixed in with the feeling. “You don’t have to stay just for me. I’m sure you have other stuff you should be doing.”
“Cleared my schedule.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “You’re mine to protect.”
I wasn’t sure what to say, but my breath caught in my chest at the possessiveness in his tone.
The kitchen emptied out gradually, voices fading down the hallway until only Talon and I remained. He just stood there, arms crossed, watching me.
Finally, he said, “Come on.”
I followed him through a short hallway and out a heavy metal door that led to a small patio. A few chairs sat around a small table overlooking the trees.
The air smelled like pine, and the breeze cut through the lingering tension in my chest.
Talon pulled out one of the chairs for me, then took the one beside it, stretching his legs in front of him and bracing his hands on his thighs.
“We’ve been digging into what you found.” He jumped straight to it without any preamble. “Normally, I wouldn’t be able to share much about club business, but since you brought this to us, I can tell you some of it.”
“Like what?”
“We traced the file trail to a shell corporation based in Chicago. They’ve been funneling money into medical programs in smaller towns, mostly mobile clinics and experimental outreach efforts.”
My stomach twisted. “And?”
“Best we can tell, they’re running illegal biotech trials.” His jaw flexed. “Using underserved communities as guinea pigs. Minimal oversight. Shady consent protocols.”
I blinked, bile rising in the back of my throat. “The patients I couldn’t find…they were test subjects?”
He nodded once. “Looks like it.”
My fingers tightened around the armrests. “I knew something was off, but I didn’t think it was that bad.”
“You don’t mess with people’s health.” He shook his head, eyes fixed on a distant point in the trees. “Not for profit or convenience. And sure as hell not because you think no one will notice.”
A long silence stretched between us, broken only by the wind rustling through the leaves. He didn’t look at me, but I felt the shift in the air between us.
There was so much fury behind his words—but none of it was aimed at me. His anger cracked something open inside me.
“I lost my mom when I was fifteen,” I said softly, my gaze fixed on the trees too. It made it easier to get the words out. “She’d been having weird symptoms for months, but the doctors at the community clinic kept brushing her off. Said it was just stress. That she needed to rest more. Eat better. They barely ran any tests.”
Talon didn’t speak, but I felt the tension in him. How he stilled.
“She collapsed in our kitchen one morning,” I continued, my throat tightening as I remembered how scared I’d been back then. “By the time we got her to the hospital, it was too late. She had cancer. It was stage 4. If any of the doctors had taken her seriously before it had progressed that far, she might’ve had a chance.”
My voice wobbled, but I didn’t cry. I couldn’t, or I’d never stop.
Luckily, Talon remained silent. If he showed me even an ounce of sympathy, I would fall apart.
“My high school had a CNA training program. I signed up for it and earned my certification before I graduated.” I shrugged and flashed him a sad smile. “I want to be able to help people more, but I can’t afford to go to nursing school yet. I’ve been saving up for it ever since I got my job.”
After another beat of silence, he murmured, “That’s why you looked into it. Even when you knew it might put a target on your back.”
I nodded, my throat too tight to answer.
His fingertips brushed over mine where they gripped the armrest. The contact was fleeting, barely there, but it sent butterflies swirling in my belly.
I lifted my head to look at him. He must have moved while I was talking because we were closer than I realized, only inches apart.
Something about his quiet, unshakable presence wrapped around me like a promise.
I appreciated the safety he offered. The strength he wore like a second skin.
But more than that, I just wanted him.
For the first time in my life, I was interested in a man. Actually craved his touch.
I had no idea yet what, if anything, I was going to do about it. With the situation I had stumbled across, the timing was awful. But the urge not to let that matter was growing.