Chapter Seven
Lunch was in full swing when Sinn walked through the diner’s door, and Kira didn’t know if she was cursed or if it was bad luck that she ended up on this twin’s radar.
She had to have been an awful person in her previous life to have such bad luck.
Once more, he sat in her section and winked when their gazes clashed.
Damn, he was a gorgeous man, and she had to force herself to look away when his smile turned into a smirk.
When he winked at her, she rolled her eyes.
He took a seat in the booth he had the day before. Why was he here? It was annoying. She marched over and asked that very question.
“You’ve never been here before, and suddenly two days in a row. Three if you count that night. Why?”
He pouted. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”
“As a paying customer, yes. Personally, no.”
“Brutal honesty noted, but I know something you don’t.”
She didn’t want to take the bait, but curiosity got the better of her. “Ugh. And that would be...”
“You and I are kismet, darlin’.”
The way he said it, so insincerely, put her on edge. Never again would she trust a smooth-talking man.
“Don’t. Just don’t. What would you like to order?”
His brow furrowed. “Same as yesterday, please.”
“Coming right up.”
Kira turned and hurried away, plugging his order into the system before fixing his tea and delivering it.
The new waitress, Annie, was a friend of Joe’s and they worked well together since she was just as taciturn as her.
Christine had talked her ear off. Now, she hoped she wouldn’t mind taking over Sinn’s table.
“Hey, see that guy with the Mohawk?”
Annie’s eyes flickered past her. “Yeah.”
“Do you mind taking over his table?”
“Is he a bad tipper?”
Kira shook her head. “No, actually, he’s a great tipper. But he is a flirt and I don’t flirt.”
“Gotcha,” Annie said, smiling. “No problem, Doll.”
Relief filled her. “Thanks. I owe you one.”
Kira continued with her other tables, forcing herself not to glance at him.
When he left, her shoulders sagged, and she inadvertently glanced out the windows only to find him staring at her.
Their gazes locked, and the heat radiating from those intense eyes scorched her.
There wasn’t irritation, like she thought there’d be.
Instead, curiosity mixed with intrigue stared back, and she wondered if she had just thrown down a challenge.
Lunch came and once more, she didn’t feel like eating, so she sat down in a back booth to roll silverware into a paper napkin.
It was monotonous work where she could let her mind wander to nothing.
Sometimes she’d get a song stuck in her head.
Sometimes she stared out the window and asked herself when she’d leave Wyoming.
Sometimes she even envisioned it, although she knew she’d never do it. Cheyenne was just as good as any place.
“Why did you pass me off to the other server?”
Her head snapped up and realized Sinn had somehow snuck up on her. For a brief moment, panic burst through her. That fight-or-flight feeling that turned her stomach upside down. She had to remind herself she was safe. That blip in her past remained firmly there.
“Kira?” he asked, concern laced his voice.
“Uh, sorry.” She took a deep breath. “What did you say?”
Instead of answering, he slid into the opposite side of the booth, then threaded his fingers together and laid them on the table. “Are you all right?”
“Just ducky,” she replied, a bit defensive. “Why?”
“Because you don’t look ducky. You looked scared.”
Damn his eagle eye!
“You just startled me, that’s all.”
“Why did you stop serving me?”
She stopped rolling the silverware. “I went on break.”
“Yeah, I can see that from the work you’re doing.”
She raised an eyebrow. “How may I help you?”
“Wait,” he said, holding up a finger. He scooted out and marched away, and about thirty seconds later, brought back his plate and his tea. “Now where were we? Ah. Your nonexistent break.”
She sighed. “You’re going to pester me to death, aren’t you?”
“You’ll never be free of me, darlin’. I’m your bodyguard.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
He placed his right hand over his heart. “Scout’s honor.”
“You do that for the Pledge of Allegiance, not Scout’s honor.”
“Really?” He looked at his hand as if it was some other entity, then shrugged. “You caught me, I was never a Scout. I’ll figure you out, my brown-haired beauty.”
“And if you hadn’t lied, I might’ve believed you.”
“That’s the second time you’ve accused me of lying when I haven’t,” he remarked. “You’re giving me a complex.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”
He shoveled the rest of the food into his mouth and swallowed it down with a drink of tea. She should be freaking out that he was no-doubt stalking her and trying to learn her secrets, but it seemed she was getting used to him. Now, she found him more amusing than threatening.
“So, why did you foist me off onto another server? And tell me the truth.”
She sighed and sat back, studying him, and then it dawned on her. “Are you sniffing around because you think I know more than what I told you?”
He tilted his head. “You don’t think you’re beautiful?”
Was he for real? “I’m not talking about that. We’ve moved on.”
“Have we?”
At that moment, who happened to walk in but Sinn’s clone.
She gave herself a silent groan. Saint glanced around, and when he spotted them, made his way over to their booth.
Sinn gave him a wave and scooted over so his brother could sit.
People in the diner started whispering and pointing to them, and all Kira wanted to do was bury her head in the sand.
“Hello, Big Bro,” Sinn greeted with a huge smile. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“You texted and told me to come,” Saint deadpanned. He hadn’t taken his gaze off her since he’d entered, and it made her squirm. “Good afternoon, Kira.”
She replied with a nod, acknowledging his greeting, unsure how this would play out.
Although most people would say they were identical, she saw the minute differences between them.
The main one being their eyes. Sinn had a devil-may-care twinkle in the cerulean depths, while Saint’s were somber and calculating.
It was quite fascinating how two men, so alike, could be so different.
And she hadn’t even known them that long.
“Do you know that Kira doesn’t think she’s beautiful?”
“Don’t all women think that to get a man to compliment her?” Saint asked.
She’d had enough of his snark. “Don’t all men falsely compliment women in order to fuck them? Insincere flattery isn’t exclusive to women.”
“Oh, burn!” Sinn said with a chuckle. “I think you should come to one of our club parties. How about it, Kira?”
“No, thank you,” she replied stiffly. “I have to work—”
“You don’t even know when the party is,” Saint said.
“The only day I have off is Sunday.”
“Great!” Sinn clapped his hands together. “If the day ends in y, we have a party.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course. Listen, I’ve told you everything I know about the other night—”
“Except why you returned it to us,” Saint interrupted.
“I returned it because it wasn’t mine,” Kira snapped, and then slumped back against the vinyl seat.
“Seriously, you guys are driving me up a wall. I returned it so you wouldn’t show up here, looking for your property and hurting people.
Joe is a good man and doesn’t deserve his place messed up because the Sons are on the warpath.
I know you think I have this ulterior motive, but I promise, I don’t. ”
Saint tilted his head as he studied her. Even Sinn lost his gleeful look. “You think we’d hurt people?”
“I know you hurt people,” she countered. “Innocent people who’d get in your way. I don’t care how or where your property came from. Please, just forget about me and this diner.”
The brothers were silent for a moment.
“Is Joe your lover?” Saint asked.
Inwardly, she sighed. “No. I have no lover. I don’t want a lover.”
His eyes narrowed as he studied her. “Someone hurt you.”
“Everyone hurts everyone,” she said. “I’ve learned that’s how life works.”
“I don’t think we should put that on a fortune cookie,” Sinn said.
Despite herself, she found that funny, for some reason, and she smiled.
“I think we’re growing on her, Brother,” Sinn murmured, elbowing Saint.
“Maybe,” Saint said. “Question is, do we want to grow on her?”
“Stop making yourself sound like a fungal infection,” she said dryly as she scooted out of the booth.
“Now, I have to get back to work. Like I said, I’ve told you everything I know about that night.
There’s no need to keep up the pretense of wooing me, or whatever this is you’ve been doing.
” She grabbed the tray of rolled silverware. “Goodbye.”
Kira turned her back to them and disappeared into the kitchen.
From her vantage point, she watched them leave the booth and head to the door.
Sinn glanced back at her with a touch of regret and worry clouding his face, and she almost believed his sincerity.
Then, they left the diner, and she really hoped they stayed away this time.
****
Saint sat behind his desk, staring at the clock.
Ten minutes to midnight, and he knew from digging into her life that Kira would be going home soon.
He’d given his word that they’d stay away from her but for some goddamn reason he couldn’t get her out of his head.
He kept telling himself she’d answered his question of why she returned the money, but could a person be that altruistic?
His phone rang and Lucifer’s name appeared. He connected the call.
“Lucifer.”
“Saint,” he acknowledged back. “Any progress?”
“None so far. My VP is secretly vetting all our members, looking for a money trail or any disgruntlement on why’d they turn traitor. So far, nothing.”
“Same,” Lucifer said. “It’s like an itch I can’t reach and it’s driving me crazy. I find myself looking at my men and doubting them, and I fucking hate that.”
“I know how you feel. As soon as I discover anything, I’ll let you know.”
“Ditto.”
He hung up, but before he put down his phone, he brought up Kira’s video once more.
She was just another sob story of a man dealing her wrong, but it did give an explanation of her fury.
Yet ... there was something else in her eyes that first night.
If he had to put a name on it, she was terrified, until she got that call.
Then she turned into an avenging goddess.
The way she beat that asshole into oblivion was mesmerizing.
His brother was right. Seeing that video turned him on.
There was something about her that made him want to stare at her.
She must not have had someone rescue her like she tried to rescue her coworker. That was why he had parked outside her apartment complex the previous night, and in all honesty, why he planned to go back. To make sure her stalker didn’t return.
What the ever-loving fuck was wrong with him? He wasn’t a knight in shining armor. Or a hero. Or a do-gooder.
“So,” his brother said, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned in the doorway. “Where’d you go last night?”
Fuck. “Just home.”
Sinn snorted. “Riiight. I suppose you also left super early this morning, so I totally missed you.”
His brother was fucking annoying sometimes. “You have something to say?”
“Nope!” Sinn grinned. “You know, you don’t have to be a sourpuss all the time. You are allowed to have emotions other than ‘screw that,’ ‘fuck that,’ or ‘I’m gonna beat the shit out of you.’”
“I will beat the shit out of you if you don’t shut up.”
“Just remember, I’m the adorable one. Well, wherever you go, have a good night.”
Saint stared at the empty doorway long after his brother had left, wondering why the hell he was watching over a woman he didn’t fully trust. The longer he sat there, the more antsy he got.
Without analyzing too hard, he grabbed the keys to the pickup truck and headed out the back door.
The trip to Kira’s place wasn’t far away and he arrived before she did.
He checked his phone. She should be walking up the sidewalk any moment, and sure enough, she was on time. Saint made sure he wouldn’t be spotted.
Then the shadows moved. With her head down, Kira apparently didn’t see anything happening, but he did.
The dark shape came from behind and wrapped arms around her, slapping a hand over her mouth so she couldn’t scream.
He picked her up to take her into the alley, and Saint wasted no time.
He jumped out of the truck and ran, following the shadow.
The man, and he knew it was a man based on the height and build, used his body to hold her against the brick wall. He removed his hand, and she took the brief freedom to scream, before he smashed her face into the unforgiving wall. Her body went limp just as Saint reached them.
He body-checked the man in black, knocking him away from Kira.
She slumped to the ground, but he couldn’t help her until he’d dispatched the asshole stalker.
The darkness kept him from making out facial features.
With unrelenting fists, he punched the man over and over.
The fucker was big, but he didn’t have the strength and anger fueling him like Saint did.
Although the man gave a decent rebuttal, landing a punch to Saint’s cheek, the fight was practically over before it had even started.
With an uppercut, Saint dropped the man.
He grabbed the shirt, ready to continue, but a moan caught his attention and the stalker used that to his advantage by punching his stomach.
Saint let go and staggered back, giving the man enough time to rise and take off.
Saint wanted to follow, but another moan brought his attention back to Kira.
He knelt beside her and saw scrapes down one side of her face. “Shit. I have to get you to the hospital.”
“No,” she gasped, grabbing hold of his shirt. “Please. No hospital. Just ... please, just take me home.”
Then, she was gone. Passed out. He looked down at her and gently touched the wounded skin. She thought she wasn’t beautiful, and he couldn’t imagine why. Even with beads of blood trailing down her cheek, she took his breath away.
Standing, he lifted her up into his arms and walked back to his truck. She didn’t want a hospital, but he couldn’t take her back to that crappy apartment. Carefully lying her down in the back seat of the truck, he pulled out his phone.
“Nero,” he said, as soon as the line was picked up. “Get to my house as quickly as possible and bring your medical bag.”