Black Dogs Motorcycle Club: Full Series Box Set by Sienna Valentine Page A

waved a hand at the closed door as he
turned toward the hallway, determined to blow the feelings off. He returned to
his bedroom and called Henry on his now-charged phone. As suspected, Henry was
somewhere with the sheriff; Jase could always tell by the feel of the clubhouse
when its master was away.
     
    “ Maggie ’ s
friend wants to head home. ”
     
    “No,” said Henry immediately. “She ’ s
safer here. ”
     
    Jase rubbed the bridge of his nose. “ I
agree. ” He paused, scolding himself internally for his next
words. “But…”
     
    “ But what? ”
     
    “ Look, the more civilians
around here we have to babysit, the trickier this all gets. Her car wasn’t at
the house for the gunmen to identify or follow home. And we have no reason to
think she has anything to do with this. ”
     
    “ If she gets attacked on
the highway between here and Eagleton, her blood would be on our hands, Jase, ” said Henry.
     
    Jase bit his lip, thinking. “ We
can make sure she understands that. She ’ s
just a scared woman, Prez, and unlike Maggie, she doesn’t belong here. If she
wants to go, we should let her. ” He
could see Maggie ’ s face in his
mind, smirking at him. He rolled his eyes and ran a hand over his face.
     
    Henry was silent on the other end for so
long, Jase checked the screen of his phone to make sure the call hadn’t
dropped. Finally he spoke. “ Get
her a handgun. Send two of the rookies to escort her at least as far as North
Haverbrook. They should make a pit stop there, and if they feel confident they
haven’t been tailed, they can let her go the rest of the way alone. ”
     
    Jase nodded. “ Thanks,
boss. I’ll take care of it. Any updates? ”
     
    “ Nothing concrete yet, I’ll
keep you posted. ” Then
Henry cut the call.
     
    Jase waited in the den with a few of the
other boys, drinking coffee, until Maggie and Julie came out of their own
accord. Julie ’ s face was swollen
and red, but she appeared much calmer than she had been. Tommy immediately set
them up with cups of coffee and put a sweet hand on Julie ’ s
when she sat down. That kid ’ s
heart was too big for his own good. Maggie sat next to Jase at the short bar,
but didn’t look at him.
     
    Jase thought about how angry he had been
at her yesterday. He couldn’t conjure that anger now, even when he thought
about the punk blonde kid at the roadhouse with his hands all over her. The
memory of that bullet-riddled wall acted like a pressure valve on his rage. It
was only luck that had her sitting here next to him now, and his gratitude overpowered
his anger. The sensation of it felt strange.
     
    After she had finished half her first cup,
Jase said, “ Julie can go, if she
takes a gun and an escort. Final offer. ”
     
    He didn’t look over at Maggie. From his
peripheral, though, he saw that she didn’t right away look over at him, either.
She was thinking first.
     
    She said, “ Is
that so? ”
     
    “Yep.”
     
    Maggie licked her lips. He could hear it
softly. “ Well,
tell Henry thanks for being reasonable for once. ” She
emphasized the name, signaling to them both that she knew damn well what he had
done — and
that the jab was for him.
     
    Jase didn’t rise to her bait. He sipped
his coffee and then arranged for the terms of Julie ’ s
departure, putting his two favorite rookies on her escort detail. Julie was
grateful but still shaken to her core. She had a fiancé and
mother who were waiting for her, and all she wanted was to get back to them.
Jase watched their goodbye in the sinking darkness from the porch, smoking a
cigarette. He gave Julie a stoic wave when she called goodbye to him, then
watched Maggie as she herself watched Julie ’ s
SUV pull out of the long drive, tailed by the rookies on their bikes. 
     
    Maggie stayed still, arms crossed, staring
at the empty darkness of the driveway. Jase walked up behind her slowly. He had
a passing realization that his first instinct was to wrap his