He slid his hands at my waist around to the small of my back and pressed in so my body was almost touching his and my head had to go back farther so I could look up at him.

“Bikers, babe, we take care of our own business,” he said quietly but firmly, and I felt a thrill race up my back at vague thoughts of whatever other “business” they might have. “You’ve had it shit and you’ve had it shit for a while, today worse than others. But you got another decision to make. You can walk out there and trust Scott or you can stand right here and tell me you trust me.”

I didn’t speak, and he pulled me closer so our bodies were brushing and his hand came up to thread into my hair as he dipped his head closer to mine.

“To help you with that, I’ll tell you I got your back. And when I say I got your back, that means I got your back and all the boys in my MC got your back. You don’t do us wrong, we will never do you wrong. Never, Toots.”

I kept staring up at him as I thought of Ink teasing me that morning. Buck coming after me. Driver waiting for me and taking me to Lefty. Dr. Lefkowitz caring for me. Lorie making soup and throwing a blanket over me. Ink buttering crackers for me. And Buck sending a message to Esposito and looking for Tia and definitely looking out for me.

People wouldn’t believe it of Rogan, considering what he did, but he took care of me.

If I was sick, he practically babied me. He often bought me flowers, just because. I’d come home from work and he’d be there, having come home early to make a special meal for me. He made me feel loved, he made me feel precious.

I’d had decent foster carers. It was what it was, and it wasn’t great, but it wasn’t a nightmare.

It also wasn’t loving kindness, which Rogan showed to me, something I missed even though I hated him, what he’d done to the people he’d stolen from and what he’d done to me.

Tia and I looked out for each other as best we could, and Mrs. Jimenez did everything she could with the little she had.

But I’d never known the kind of protection and kindness Buck and his people had shown me in less than a day.

“I trust you,” I whispered, his eyes flashed again, and his head dipped even further so he could brush his lips against mine.

He lifted away and whispered back, “Then let’s take care of this shit so I can make some calls about your girl.”

There it was again, and I couldn’t help it. I closed my eyes and pressed carefully into him, the uninjured side of my face to his chest, my arms going around him to give him a hug. He gave me a gentle squeeze and stepped back.

“Do you have any sweats I can borrow?” I asked when he took my hand and headed to the door.

He turned and looked down at me, “This is your place, Toots, your space. He doesn’t get to make you feel uncomfortable in it.”

I was reeling from this pronouncement. So much, I didn’t resist when he tugged me to and through the door.

We made it to the bottom of the steps to the landing and Buck dropped my hand but slid his arm around my shoulders and carefully turned me so my front was pressed into his side.

Scott watched this and I could tell he didn’t like it before he wiped his expression blank and focused on me.

“Mrs. Kirk—” he started.

“Delaney,” Buck growled, and Scott’s eyes sliced to him. “She divorced his ass. Her name is Delaney,” Buck continued.

Scott stared at Buck a beat then his attention came back to me.

“Sorry. Ms. Delaney,” he murmured. “We need to talk about what happened to you today.”

“No,” I said softly, “I don’t think we do.”

I saw his jaw clench and he took a step forward. Buck curled me closer and Scott’s eyes went to Buck’s arm, his jaw clenched tighter and he stopped.

Then he looked back at me.

“I’m thinkin’ you know Enrique Esposito is not a good guy,” Scott noted.

“Yes, I know that,” I stated the obvious.

“So, I’m here to tell you that what happened to you happens to others, sometimes it’s worse. I think you know that too,” Scott continued.

I knew that too.

Boy, did I know that.

I didn’t answer.

I just held his gaze.

He carried on.

“That means, what happened to you, what you and your friend Tia Esposito know, what your friend’s husband has done to her, you can help us make certain that what the both of you have been through won’t happen to anyone else.”

“You know she grew up in foster care,” Buck remarked suddenly, and I felt my body go still as I looked up at his profile.

Why did he say that?

“I know,” Scott replied, his voice tight and my eyes went to him.

“Figure you investigated her just as deep as you investigated her ex,” Buck carried on, and Scott didn’t speak, but he also didn’t take his eyes from Buck. “You think of offerin’ her this kinda deal two years ago before you turned her life to shit?”

Oh God.

I hadn’t thought of that.

“That wasn’t a possibility,” Scott ground out.

“Yeah?” Buck asked. “Why? You investigated her. You knew she wasn’t involved in his mess. You knew you took him down, she’d also pay. You think, maybe you explained that shit to her, she woulda helped you out and that woulda helped her out instead of gettin’ her face on the front of every newspaper in the country as the dupe?”

Scott looked at me when he answered.

“You know we were surveilling you. You and Kirk were tight. We didn’t know the extent of your knowledge. We couldn’t approach you in case you knew what he was doing and disregarded it, or you could have told him we were onto him. It was discussed, but in the end, what he was doing had to be stopped and we couldn’t endanger that by showing our hand to you.”

“Just so you know,” I said quietly, holding his eyes, “I wouldn’t have helped you.”

Scott’s lips thinned.

I kept talking.

“But I would have left him. If you told me what he was doing, just knowing he was stealing from those people, I would have left him. It wasn’t about him cheating on me. That just made it worse. But I would have left him, and if you’d told me, it would have saved me from what happened after. And I would never have told him about you.”

“We couldn’t know that,” he replied, just as quietly.

“Now you do,” Buck put in.

Scott didn’t tear his focus from me when he said, “You got a chance to turn that around. To do good for people. To change your reputation. And you’re sayin’ you’re not gonna take that chance?”

I felt Buck’s body get tighter and tighter as Scott spoke, and when Scott was done, Buck growled, “You’re fuckin’ shittin’ me.”

“Man, she does,” Scott clipped at him.

“Yes, you’re right, I do.” I butted in. “And I choose me. One thing I learned from all this is to keep my eyes open and put myself first.”

Scott looked at me, clearly incredulous. “And you got your eyes open, hookin’ your star to the Aces High MC?”

“No one else was there to pick me up and take me to the doctor when Esposito’s boys tossed me, bleeding and beaten, from a moving vehicle,” I replied.