Page 64 of Branded By Shadow
Too long.
“I think so.”
“The Bluebird Café,” I say. “The one by the old bookstore. Public place. Lots of windows. Meet me there.”
“Talia, no. What if someone followed me?”
“Then I’m not coming alone.”
“No.” Panic sharpens her voice. “No bikers. Please. Landon kept saying the Saints were worse than him. That they’d use me to get to Salazar, then throw me to the cops or worse. I don’t know what’s true anymore. I can’t think with one of them standing over me.”
My stomach twists.
I look toward the bathroom door, toward the sleeping man on the other side.
“He’s not like that,” I say.
“You don’t know what they’ll do to me.”
“I know what he did for me.”
“Talia…”
“I won’t bring the whole club,” I say carefully. “Just him. And I’ll keep him back until you’re ready. He won’t scare you. I promise.”
A small, broken sound slips through the line.
“You still came for me,” she whispers. “Even after he told you to stop.”
The words hit something old and bruised in me.
Still came.
Like she knew I would.
Like she never doubted it.
For half a second, the thought scratches at me.
Then she sobs again, and whatever worry I have about the call being bait gets crushed under the old, familiar weight of needing to fix her.
“Of course I did,” I whisper.
“I don’t deserve you.”
“Just get to the café,” I say. “Sit where people can see you. I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
The line clicks dead.
I stare at the phone.
My hand is shaking so hard the screen blurs.
Then the bathroom door opens.
Jayce stands there.
Bare chest. Jeans low on his hips. Face hard as stone.
