Who knew kissing could make someone feel like that? She sure hadn’t, else she would have been doing it a hell of a lot more often.
She had a feeling, though, that kissing another man never would have pulled that kind of reaction from her. Only Luke.
They pulled up to the clubhouse and he drove around to the back. There was a lot of activity, Enforcers coming and going, and she watched him frown as he took in the activity. Placing his hand on her lower back, he guided her at a fast clip toward the door.
Noah was just walking outside when they reached the door and he looked at Luke with relief. “Good, you’re back. Georgie’s been hurt, and she’s asking for you.”
“What the hell happened?” Luke barked out.
“Something about a man looking for you. I guess he hurt her when she wouldn’t give him any info on you. We’re out looking for him, but we don’t have a lot to go on. She’s hysterical, and she doesn’t remember the details well. Just wants you.”
Luke cursed as Noah nodded briefly at Tarun before rushing off. She stared after him with a troubled frown and then turned to Luke. “It’s beginning. The threat I sensed. I can feel it.”
He rolled his eyes closed and when he opened them and looked at her, his expression made her nervous. “You need to go home.”
“Fine. I was going to go inside anyway—”
“No, Tarun. Your home. Go back to the War Cats, back to Durga Valley.”
Frowning, she shook her head as she searched his eyes. “But the kiss—”
“The kiss means nothing if something happens to you. You need to leave.”
Hurt and no small amount of ire swept over her at his words. “Fine. Leave the kiss out of it. I said I wasn’t leaving while there was a threat, and I meant it. It’s still there. I can feel it, and this attack confirms it.”
His mouth firmed as he stared her down. “It also confirms that whoever’s after us won’t care about hurting a woman to get what he wants. The odds of you getting hurt are even higher, and I won’t have that. Jameson would kill me. Go home, Tarun. Where you belong.”
He spun on his heel and rushed inside—presumably to Georgie’s side—and she stared after him with her mouth hanging open. Shit, that hurt. So he didn’t care at all about the kiss they’d shared. The kiss that rocked her world and meant so much to her. And the only reason he cared about her safety was because he was worried about her brother’s reaction if she got hurt.
Her lips tightened as anger washed over her, thankfully chasing the hurt away. So what if that was true? It didn’t change why she’d come there to begin with. It didn’t change why she’d insisted on staying even after he ordered her home.
He wasn’t getting rid of her that easily.
Luke blew out a breath as he left the room the Enforcers set Georgie up in. Her lip was split and she was going to have one hell of a black eye tomorrow, but she’d survived. And it could have been worse. So much worse.
An image of Tarun flashed through his mind, her lip busted open and tear tracks trailing down her cheeks, and he cursed as he pushed the image out of his mind. She probably hated him by then, but he’d had to order her to leave.
Their kiss hadn’t changed his need for her safety.
If anything, it amplified it. He’d rather feel like a jerk for ordering her away—as he did right then—than see her lying in a bed, broken and battered, or worse.
Forcing thoughts of her from his mind, he leaned his head against the wall and turned his thoughts toward Georgie. She hadn’t remembered much. A man cornered her after she left the clubhouse in the early morning hours and tried to get her to talk about the Enforcers, and more specifically, about Luke. She’d refused, he’d slapped her around some, and then someone had seen what was happening and interceded, and the man ran.
That was it. Precious little to go by, and nowhere near what was needed to track the dickhead down.
“Hey,” Noah said, coming to the top of the stairs. “How’s Georgie? Did she have any clue who roughed her up? Because we’ve done all we can, but we don’t really have anything to go on.”
“No. She really doesn’t know anything. It happened in the dark, so she didn’t really get a good look at him. Shorter than me but taller than her was basically her description. And she’ll be okay. She’s shaken up and scared, but physically, she’ll be fine. I told her to stay here until we got this sorted out.”
Noah cocked an eyebrow. “I’m glad she’ll be okay, but is her staying here really wise? We can post a guard at her apartment, have her accompanied wherever she needs to go.”
“This is the best way. The clubhouse is safer than a lone guard. I’m surprised you’re even questioning it. I never would have expected that from you, since you know B&B is safer.”
“I do know that,” Noah replied with irritation. “I’m not heartless. I’m just thinking of the uncomfortable position it puts you in. Having someone stay here who clearly wants to start something with you at the same time someone’s staying here who you’re clearly beginning to start something with.”
He waved his hand dismissively. “I’ve made it clear to Georgie that’s not happening—wait, what do you mean, at the same time someone I’m starting things with stays here? Are you talking about Tarun? You’re mistaking shit, bro. I told her to go home.”
Noah gave him a look that said he wasn’t going to like what he had to say next. “Well, she didn’t listen. She was downstairs just now, trying to figure out what to do next about the threat. I don’t think she has any intention of leaving.”