Page 40 of Same Rogue
“Were they fair fights?”
He shrugged. “I was fueled with something they weren’t.” Not rage, but agony.
These damn tears were blurring her vision of him. “Who have you told?”
“No one.”
“Does your Pack know?”
“Vic does. I don’t even think he’s told Lyric though. He has called me the Mad Wolf before when it was just me and him.”
She nodded. “He was angry when it happened?”
“Yes. He was trying to pull his wolf off a fight with me. He said it softly, and to himself, but I heard it. ‘We aren’t fighting the Mad Wolf.’”
“You aren’t just dragging the ghost of Amelia, are you?”
He shook his head slowly back and forth.
She squeezed his hand tighter, and he looked down at where their skin touched. “How can you stand to touch me?”
“I know you now. Now, you are Bridger Thomas. You have that nice house, and you pay for gas if a woman needs help. You pay for hotels if she needs a place to stay. You have friends here,”she said, gesturing to the clearing of homes. “You have the love of Amelia’s parents still. They’re good, yes?”
“Yes,” he uttered truthfully.
“Then why should I beat the shit out of you for your past? It’s not my place.”
He dropped his gaze, and then did something that stunned her. He reached over and unbuckled her, then dragged her across the console and settled her in his lap. Her legs were bent and hanging out the open door, and he was holding her so tightly against him, swaying slightly back and forth…back and forth.
“No one will hurt you,” he said low, and it sounded like an oath. “I won’t hurt you.” Another oath, his words dripping with truth.
She was cradled in the arms of the Mad Wolf. Tonight, that would hit her. He’d been a vigilante for two years, used as a weapon to stop disputes before they became territory wars. She didn’t know all he’d done for the Elders, but the way he’d been spoken of all those years ago was with reverence and fear. He was a boogeyman but never went after the throat of the innocent.
And cradled her in his arms, with the words of admission on just how he’d had his heart broken hanging in the air around them, she understood what could drive a man to become a weapon.
His heart had died the night he’d lost Amelia, and he’d had to regrow it over time. No wonder it had taken him so long. No wonder it had been so painful.
She respected him.
Bridger the Mad Wolf.
She knew in this moment that she wanted to be better. That she wanted to be good for him. That she didn’t want to replace Amelia, but she wanted to give Bridger a reason to stay steady.
She knew that admission was special. He hadn’t shared that with anyone else ever, she just knew it. Kit kissed the side of his neck in a silent thank you for letting her in, and his arms wrapped more tightly around her.
This morning, she could’ve left and gone back to Alabama, to Orion, to Seth, to a toxic Pack where she would wither until she was nothing but a shell of herself. She would’ve never known the depth of the man who held her, but now?
Now, she was thankful he’d had a plan to make her stay.
Chapter Eleven
The week had come and gone so quickly, it stole Kit’s breath away.
How had seven entire days passed in the blink of an eye?
It was probably thanks to how busy she’d stayed. The days had been filled with surprising, happy moments. Bridger travelled all the way to her hotel in the mornings, bringing her coffee at dawn before he had to travel back to his place and work. If she had a later shift, she went with him and hung around his place while he traded stocks and bonds, and a plethora of other complicated financial advisor talk that she only partially understood. For a man who looked like he rode shirtless on four wheelers all weekend with backwards hats, and stringer tank tops, he was clearly good at business and had a mind for it. She would make them lunch, and they would eat it on his porch. He would take her to her shift at work and then meet her afterward. Twice this week, the Rogue Pack had come into The Mark just to hang out. They were a hoot, and she genuinely enjoyed being around them. She’d had two days off and she’d spent the entire time with Bridger at his house, and palling around town together, exploring stores, and grocery shopping for ingredients for a meal he’d wanted to prepare for her. Wednesday, she took him out for a nice steak dinner, and they had closed the restaurant down chatting. With each passing day, he was easier to talk to, and the more she learned about him, the more she craved knowing more.
Friday brought a home game for the local football team, and she went with Bridger and the Rogue Pack to watch Tabian help coach, and Bayen, his adopted son, manage the team and hype them up. She felt like a part of something there. She’d sat rightin the middle of the Pack, dressed in the school colors, her hand resting on the inner elbow of Bridger’s arm as they cheered for each good play. They’d had pizza as a Pack afterward, and the girls had invited her to hang out with them the next morning for brunch. She had, of course, and couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed so much.
