Page 40 of Twisted Steel

Her gaze drops to my hands.Then lifts back to my face.“You look like you’re deciding where to hide a body,” she says.

“I’m deciding how many bodies need to be hidden.”

Her throat works.That’s too honest, too much.But I won’t lie to her.Not about this.Not about me.

Mama M appears at Harper’s side, one hand touching her elbow.Harper startles, then forces herself still.

“She needs sleep,” Mama M says.

“She needs guards,” I reply.

“She needs both.”

Harper’s eyes flash.“Sheis standing right here.”

Mama M pats her arm.“You’re too stubborn to admit you’re dead on your feet.That’s all.”

“I am not.”

“You stitched a man, got threatened by phone, and nearly got murdered through a bedroom window in the same night.Sit down before your attitude tips you over.”

Harper opens her mouth to say something, but closes it.I almost smile.

“Room,” I say.

Her glare snaps to me.“Don’t start giving orders again.”

“Room,” I repeat, “please.”

The word tastes strange, and half the yard goes silent again.Saint looks at the ground like he’s praying for strength.Savage’s mouth twitches once, then disappears behind command.

Harper blinks at me like I’ve grown a second head.“That sounded painful,” she says.

“It was.”

Mama M snorts.“Call it progress.”

Harper points at me.“I’m going because I choose to, not because you said please like a caveman learning manners.”

“Yes.”

She hesitates, and that’s the problem with her.She catches every shift.Every inch of ground given.Every bit of restraint I bleed for.

Then she turns and walks inside, and I follow.Of course, I follow.

She makes it three steps before she stops and looks over her shoulder.“Are you escorting me or guarding me?”

“Yes.”

“That was not an either-or question.”

“Yes.”

Her mouth tightens, but there’s no heat in it.Not real heat.She’s scared, and I know how fear acts when it has nowhere safe to go.It lashes out, but I can handle whatever she dishes out.

We move down the hallway together, and the clubhouse noise fades behind us.Every door we pass gets checked by my eyes before my body lets her move farther.Corners.Shadows.Windows.Exits.

Harper notices.“You do that all the time?”