“Who are they threatening, Betsy? Who is at risk?”
“My sons.”
13
She saw his eyes widen. She waited for him to draw back. All the things he was saying…he didn’t mean any of it. He couldn’t still want her. He was probably saying what he thought she wanted to hear so she’d tell him everything.
Truth was, if this was just about her then she would have told him all this the night they met and damn the consequences.
“Your sons? What sons?” he asked.
“I don’t have any records of her giving birth,” said the messy-looking guy who was hunched behind several computer screens. “She can’t have had them in a hospital or else someone erased the records.”
How did he know that? How did they know so much about her?
She glanced away from the guy behind the computer to the man with the cold, gray eyes who leaned against the wall across from her, glaring down at her. He hadn’t said anything, but he didn’t need to. He was intimidating enough. Those gray eyes of his seemed to have sized her up.
And found her wanting.
Join the club.
Then there was the guy he’d called Duke. He wasn’t covered in tats like the cold guy. And he wasn’t as friendly-looking as the guy behind the computer.
Who were these guys?
Friends of Ink, obviously. Maybe part of his MC. They’d staged all this to speak to her. Because of the note. Why couldn’t they have just let her be? She figured he’d see the note and realize that she’d been lying to him. He’d be furious at her, she knew that. But if it meant he was safe it was worth it.
Instead, he was promising to take care of her if she just admitted to the truth of her feelings. And she wanted to do that more than anything. But what then? He couldn’t take on Forrest. It would be a suicide mission.
And if Forrest found out about this meeting…
Her breath grew fast.
“Betsy! Betsy!”
“She’s panicking,” Duke said. “You need to calm her down.”
“I…I…”
“Betsy. Look at me. Look at me.”
Even the guy behind the computer screen glanced up to give her a concerned look. “I have a paper bag. Here.” He reached into his computer bag and pulled one out.
Duke grabbed it and walked over to her. She shied back against her chair.
“Don’t touch her,” Ink snapped, grabbing the bag. “She doesn’t like to be touched.”
How could he still be protecting her? Why?
He blew the bag out then placed it over her mouth. “Big, easy breaths, brown ey
es. That’s it.”
Brown eyes. She hadn’t realized until then that she’d been worried she might not ever hear him call her that again.
“Doesn’t like to be touched?” Duke asked incredulously. “How’s that working out for you?”
“Seems like it’s working just fine for him,” computer-guy muttered.