She had no choice.
“Take the room on the right,” I told Wolf as I headed out to the truck.
“Okay.” He trudged toward the passenger side of his cage. “Fuck, I’m tired.”
“Me too. Start unloading,” I told Hollywood.
“Want me to get Aspen? Carry her to bed like Wolf’s doing to Jill.” He flashed a shit-eating grin.
Despite the amusement in his voice, I froze, fisting my hands so I didn’t choke the little prick. Sure enough, Wolf didn’t even wake my sister up. Knight in shining armor, that one.
Not me.
I opened Aspen’s door. “Hey, we’re here.” I shook her arm, getting no response. She always slept like the dead. “Aspen.” I jiggled her arm.
“No, please.” She yelped, her eyes flashing open. I caught her hand this time before she hit me.
“It’s just me. We’re here.” The terror staring back at me did me in. I wanted to know what the fuck Campbell had done to her that made her waking words so fucking sad. Then I’d cut him into pieces, taking my time, relishing every moment I had dismembering him.
She tugged her hand back. “Sorry. I’m up.” The annoyance in her voice had me cracking a smile. She hated me as much as I hated her. Good. This situation didn’t need to get any more complicated than it already was.
I waited as she unbuckled herself and slid out of the four-by-four truck. She was careful and slow shuffling to the front door. It was dark out, so I couldn’t make out her boots. They probably didn’t have any grips. You know, fashion before functionality.
Halfway to the cabin, her foot slipped. My reflexes were quick, catching her before she fell on her ass. “I got you.” Tired of this bullshit, I picked her up and stalked the rest of the way.
“Put me down. I can walk on my own.”
“Really? Falling on your ass is walking?” I growled.No thanks or appreciation? Of course not.
She glared at me, our faces the closest they’d been since the last time I kissed her a decade ago. “I didn’t fall.”
“Because I saved you.”
“Well, I don’t need you to save me. Put me down. Now.” Words spewed from her mouth, her face screwed up like she’d eaten a tart lemon.
I stopped hard, putting her on her feet, and left her there. She could slip and slide the rest of the way, falling on her ass a million times for all I cared. That woman infuriated me. I was mad as fucking hell she’d act this way. As if I was the one who’d wronged her.
Do the woman a kindness. Show a bit of goddamn chivalry when she didn’t fucking deserve it. What do I get? Hate and disdain.
Baldie had called it right. Aspen was a bitch.
Wolf appeared from the bedroom. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Got Jill squared away?”
He peered around me, the crease in his forehead deepening as he watched Aspen. I imagined she was struggling, but did I care? Not one teensy bit.
“Yeah, helped her out of her clothes and boots.”
Since when did rough and gritty bikers do stuff like that?
“Go get some sleep with her. You and Hollywood will take the day shift.”
“What about you?” Wolf jolted as we heard a thump on the ground.
“Ouch!” Aspen cried.
“She fell.” He moved to go help her, but I gripped his bicep.