The woman was an enigma. If she wasn’t driving that car, she was under the hood fixing it. It had been inevitable that Aderyn and Jaeg would be involved with cars.
I didn’t have to look inside Aderyn’s truck to know it was filled with extra clothing and empty coffee cups. There’d also be some kind of weapon, likely pepper spray sitting in the console and close at hand. What I didn’t know was where she kept the gun I’d given her, because I hadn’t felt it on her when she’d hugged me.
Those five seconds had felt as if every nerve ending was being dipped in acid that had slowly disintegrated the hardwires keeping my shit together. But I’d known Aderyn since she was a sweet, yet willful, five-year-old with a love of animals who would become a seriously messed-up teenager with every single reason in the world to be messed up.
And for that reason, I’d given her those five seconds. I’d also read her emails. I just didn’t bother responding because every word she’d written was bullshit.
Why did people waste their time saying everything was sunshine and flowers when it wasn’t? But I got why she did it. She wanted me to think everything was great. That she was fine. Problem was that I knew better, because her scars were deep, and there was no way she was fine.
I moved around to the front of the cabin again and caught a glimpse of Macayla in the window. She reached up to hang what looked like a black rain jacket on one of the hooks near the front door. Her tousled honey-blonde strands slipped back over her shoulders, and my cock twitched.
I gritted my teeth and turned away from the window.
Fuckin’ Jaeg. Why the hell would he rent out my cabin to North’s sister?
There were two possible explanations. He was fucking her, or he needed the money.
And the latter was unlikely considering he’d made a shitload of cash in the underground fighting. We all had. And Saint, aka the Chief of Police, Gabriel St. Clair, told me Mason Auto was doing well, especially since Jaeg had taken on restoring old bikes.
So that left him fucking her.
He’d always had an aversion to anything resembling a relationship, so if he was, it was likely casual.
My chest tightened. I didn’t like the thought of him screwing her in my cabin. I didn’t like the thought of him screwing her, period.
Fuck that. I didn’t like the thought of anyone touching Macayla North.
Possessiveness grabbed hold like an iron anchor chaining me to the ground. This was one reason why I’d walked away from her. Why I never went back.
No attachments. No emotional connection.
I propped my shoulder against a maple tree, curling and uncurling my hands. My head felt as if someone was constantly stabbing it with a fork, and I needed two things: sleep and privacy.
Unfortunately, sleep wasn’t something that came easily even on good days, and it was going to take weeks to refocus and block out the nightmares again.
Which led to the second—privacy. Having anyone near my place was dangerous. I’d proven that by putting a gun to her head. My jaw tightened and my hands clenched.
Jesus. I put a gun to her head. Her. My goddamn Rainbird. The girl who gave me a reason to live. Who stopped the pain. Who breathed air into my lungs when I didn’t deserve it. When I should’ve been starved for air just like he’d been.
I flexed my jaw. I didn’t need this right now. And I sure as hell didn’t need the memories of her invading my already screwed-up head.
It was an impressive seven minutes before I heard tires skidding up the private road along with the low rumble of Jaeg’s bike. Guess he’d already been dressed or hadn’t been to bed yet.
I pushed off the tree and walked into the clearing in front of the cabin, anger percolating.
Jaeg pulled up on his classic Royal Enfield Bullet, a cruising bike that had been a pile of parts in the back of his garage the last time I’d seen him.
He slowed to a stop in front of me and planted his booted feet on the ground.
“You rented out my cabin,” I said before he killed the engine.
He unbuckled the snap under his chin and pulled off his skull cap. “Good to see you, too, Gate. It’s been what? Five… six years? How’ve you been? Oh, I’ve been pretty good, thanks for askin’.”
I ignored him. “I could’ve killed the girl.” No, she wasn’t a girl anymore. She was a woman.
He snorted and hooked his helmet on the handlebars before climbing off the bike. “You’re such a drama queen, Gate.”
Any other guy, I would’ve put him in the hospital for saying shit like that. “Why the hell did you rent her my cabin?” I accentuated the word my because he’d obviously forgotten that important fact.