Page 25 of Claimed By Lock

Rocky turns and walks back inside without another word. The door swings shut behind him, cutting off the music, the light, the weight of his attention.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Thought I told you I'd handle it," I say.

"You did." King straddles his bike, kicks the engine to life. The rumble fills the parking lot. "And you did. I was just backup you didn't need."

"Then why'd you come?"

He looks at me for a long moment. The neon light catches the scar through his eyebrow. Something almost like a smile tugs at the corner of his mouth.

"Because that's what brothers do."

He pulls out of the lot without waiting for a response. I watch his taillight shrink, then swing onto my own bike. The engine roars to life beneath me.

I catch up to him on the highway. We ride side by side for a while, the desert stretching out around us, dark and endless. Stars punching through the sky one by one. The wind cold against my face.

We don't talk. Don't need to.

Some things don't require words.

By the time we hit Tucson, the tension has bled out of my shoulders. The night feels lighter. The weight I've been carrying since Josie told me about Colt — it's not gone, but it's different now.

Handled.

CHAPTER 6

JOSIE

Maria calls at nine in the morning.

I'm still in bed, still wrapped in sheets that smell like Lock, still replaying the way he kissed me goodbye before he left last night. Soft. Unhurried. Like he had all the time in the world and wanted to spend it right there, his mouth on mine.

"You sitting down?" Maria says when I answer.

"I'm lying down. Why?"

"Because your man just did something insane."

I sit up. "What are you talking about?"

"Lock. He showed up at the Road Kings bar last night. Alone. Waited in the parking lot for Colt to come out, then told him — in front of everyone — that if he ever came near you again, it would be the last decision he ever made."

My heart stops. Then starts again, hammering against my ribs.

"He did what?"

"Girl, I'm telling you. Word's already everywhere. Rocky himself came out and shut it down. Sent Colt inside like a fucking child. And then—" She pauses for effect. "King showedup. Sons president. Just rolled into the lot like he was backing his boy."

I can't breathe. I can't think. He went to their bar. Their territory. Alone. For me.

"Josie? You still there?"

"Yeah." My voice sounds strange. Far away. "Yeah, I'm here."

"So? What are you gonna do about it?"

I'm already out of bed, already reaching for my jeans.