“Are we leaving the city?” she asks getting my attention as she turns in her seat to look out the back glass.

“Yes,” I say looking in the rearview mirror as well. The lights from the city of Chicago are in the distance behind us. “It’s about thirty minutes outside of the city.”

Where we’re going is a place I know for a fact she has never ventured to before. If she had, she probably wouldn’t have survived. Not unless she went with a man like me. A man willing to kill for what is his. And tonight, to the world, she is mine.

***

“Thank you,” Taylor says softly as she sits down in the seat the male hostess had pulled out for her.

I thank him as well when he hands us our menus. “This place is beautiful,” she says looking around the Mexican joint. It’s not your typical Mexican restaurant. They keep it dark and a mariachi band sitting at the back of the room on a stage plays the only music. In front of the stage sits a little dance floor. And a man walks around selling single red roses out of a wicker basket.

“So Taylor,” I say and she looks up at me from her menu. I wanna get to know her better, even though I know it’s not fair because I won’t tell her anything about myself. “Your brother tells me you’re going to the University of Illinois.”

She nods once. “Yes, I’m three years in.”

“What are you studying?” I ask, lifting my water glass to my lips.

“Psychology,” she whispers, and my glass pauses halfway to my lips.

Interesting. “Why psychology?”

She swallows nervously, and I wonder why she would feel uncomfortable about that. “My father,” she responds softly. “He, uh, took my mother’s death hard. And kind of went off the deep end.” Her gaze falls to the table and then back up at me. “I want to be a guardian ad litem. I wanna help the children who have been in the same situation that I have been in.” Her eyes drop to the table again and she pauses. “It rips so many families apart. I want to help prevent that.”

I lean back in my chair, and a smile tugs at my lips. This woman is even better than I could have imagined. I knew she would have a big heart, but I never knew how big. It almost makes me feel sorry for how I’ve involved her.

“I’m sorry about your mother.”

She looks up at me. “Thank you but it was a long time ago.” I’m about to change the subject, but she speaks. “I can still remember the last time I saw her.” She smiles gently. “She kissed me good-bye when she dropped me off at school.”

“That was the last time you saw her?” I ask. “That must be hard.” I know from experience that it doesn’t matter how long it’s been; it doesn’t make the memories go away. No matter how much you wish they would, they are as plain as day.

She nods. “It was only a few hours later that Blane walked into my classroom and pulled me out of class. I remember the tears running down his face and the way he kneeled down in front of me and told me there had been an accident.” Accident? That’s not what I remember reading, but I don’t question her on it. Her eyes start to glaze over. “I remember him walking us to the principal’s office and the principal ended up taking us to the hospital because they couldn’t get a hold of our dad.”

I frown, but she continues. “He never was the same after that.” She shakes her head. She looks up at me and gives me a genuine smile. “Blane pretty much raised me.” I raise my eyebrows, surprised by that. “And we were from a small town in Indiana, so people talked about us all the time. I had known before I was even a freshman in high school I wanted to move away. A fresh start. I’m grateful that Blane wanted to go with me.”

“So he up and moved for you?” I thought that they were from Chicago for some reason.

She nods. “He worked two jobs and went to junior college in our hometown while I finished high school. Then when I was done, we hit the road.”

“Where does Savannah play into all of this? Did you guys meet her once you moved here?”

She shakes her head. “No. She has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. She wanted to get away as badly as I did. So she moved here with us and went to cosmetology school once we moved here to Chicago. About six months ago, she and Blane finally got their act together and became a couple.”

I smile. But it drops off my face when she looks back down at her menu. Now, I hate what I’m doing to Blane even more. He is all she has. Well, besides Savannah. But he is the only real man in her life. Even more real than I am. Fuck, this is gonna become more complicated than I wanted it to be.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

 

TAYLOR

Case opens the passenger door to his Corvette and reaches in to help me out of the car. “Thank you.” All of my nervousness is gone. Dinner went well, even though we only talked about me. I didn’t mind it, but I do understand it. He doesn’t want me to know about his past, or know about why he does what he does now. And I’m fine with that. I’m better off not knowing anyway. It’ll just make things easier when I quit the club and we go our separate ways. Unlike Case, I don’t want this to be my life.

He closes the door and tightens his hand in mine. “Brecken,” he calls out as he raises his hand. I look across the parking lot and see Brecken close the door to a black Range Rover before he starts to walk toward us.

As he approaches us, Case leans down and whispers in my ear. “Do not leave my side. Do you understand?”

I look up at him in surprise to see if he’s joking, but his straight face proves he isn’t. “Okay,” I say with a nod. “I won’t.”

“You guys ready?”

We both look up to see Brecken standing in front of us, eyeing us skeptically. “Yeah. Let’s go,” Case answers, and I can’t help but notice the change in his voice. How deep and firm it was. It sounded like that when I first met him, when I caught my brother selling him drugs. All business-like.

He tightens his hold on my hand, and we start to walk off to the back of the parking lot. “Is the entrance in the back?” I ask curiously.

“We don’t go through the entrance,” Brecken answers flatly.

I swallow, the nervous feeling returning to my stomach. What have I gotten myself into? Where has he brought us? I should have asked those important questions before I said yes to this night. But all I could think about was spending time with him in public. I didn’t think it would be dangerous.

We come up to a back door. A sign that says not an entrance is stamped in the middle of the redwood. Brecken lifts his right hand and knocks loudly three times.

I shuffle from foot to foot as I bite the inside of my cheek. I’m so nervous I’m starting to sweat between my boobs.

I try to take a step as the door swings open, but Case’s hand holding onto mine keeps me from doing just that. My eyes widen, and I take a step to the side instead, pushing my body to his side as the man eyes me up and down. If the country guy who pulled over to help me gave me the creeps, this man makes my skin crawl.

“Hello, Roe,” Brecken says with a cheerful smile.

The guy, Roe, nods his head in greeting and then looks at me. I hold my breath. Case wouldn’t let anything happen to me, would he? “Who’s this?” he demands staring at me.

“I’m …”

Case squeezes my hand tightly, and I hide a cry of pain by biting my tongue. “She’s with me,” Case answers for me.

Roe looks back and forth between the guys for a few seconds. He shoves the door all the way open and jerks his head into the club, signaling them to enter.

Brecken moves first and I go to take a step, but Case turns and stands in front of me, blocking me from entering. He looks down at me and speaks. “You do not tell anyone your name. Do you understand?” I nod, my terror rising. “If anyone asks you a question, all you respond with is ‘I’m with Case.’ Understand?” I nod again.