“What’s Savage going to do?” she whispered, dread filling her.
“What he should have done the first time he found that man in your house, stealing your things. You asked him not to and he spared him,” Ice explained. “That was a big fucking mistake, Seychelle. You could be dead right now, and he knows it. That would have been on him.”
She shook her head. “No, it would have been on me, not him. Joseph is sick. He needs help. Savage was showing compassion.”
Ice snorted his derision. “Savage was showing you he loves you and giving you something he shouldn’t have. He doesn’t have an ounce of compassion for someone like Joseph Arnold. Once they cross the line and kill an innocent, there’s no going back.”
She shook her head. “He can’t live with that kind of thing on his conscience day in and day out, Ice. You all expect too much of him.”
She watched as both doors slammed shut and Mechanic took off with his prisoner. Savage and Destroyer walked back toward her with Maestro and Keys. Savage looked grim. The lines in his face were cut deep. His eyes were colder than she’d ever seen them as he strode back to her.
“Babe, there’s some things you have to know about your man. For things like this, when it comes to vermin like that, he doesn’t have a conscience,” Ice said.
Savage came right up to her, grasped her by the shoulders and started her toward her cottage. “Get what you need, Seychelle, to bring to the other house. I have some work to do tonight, and I don’t know how long it’s going to take. The other house is more secure, and I’ll leave you there with a guard.”
“Now that you have Joseph, don’t you think it’s safe for me here?” Something told her not to push him, but she didn’t want to go back to his place yet. He might feel as if his home was far safer for her, but she didn’t necessarily feel that way about it.
His grip tightened on her and he continued to walk her toward her home. “Babe, just please do as I ask. Scared the holy fuck out of me when I heard your voice on the phone and then you said the word gun. We just sounded the alarm and raced out of there as fast as we could. Gotta get you home, where I know you’re safe.”
Her house looked the same. Felt the same. Like home. It didn’t feel as if a madman had taken it over. Lettuce was all over the kitchen floor, and she bent to pick up the bowl. Savage took it from her.
“I’ll clean this up. You put a few things together for a couple of nights. We’ll stay at my place and talk things out. Come back here after.”
Seychelle didn’t bother to argue with him, especially since he was wearing that implacable look on his face and his eyes were not only glacier cold but flat and dead inside. She knew no matter what she said, she wasn’t going to get her way. This was one of those times he’d warned her about.
She pulled out clothes and pushed them into a small overnight bag. Her ring was in the top drawer under her leggings, where she’d shoved it. She slipped it back on her finger, needing the reassurance of it and not understanding why. Savage seemed distant from her, even though he was right there, dictating to her. The weight of the ring on her finger made her feel instantly closer to him, and she needed that when she already was so uncertain.
In her small bathroom, she collected a few personal items, but she actually had most things already duplicated. Savage had thought of just about anything she could need or want at the other house. She mostly took things she wanted for familiarity. She nearly took the rose sculpture with her parents’ ashes, but this was her home, and she wanted it there. She did bring her mother’s hairbrush.
Savage stood by the door with the other Torpedo Ink members, and it took a little courage to walk up to him. The men were intimidating, and she really didn’t know them all that well yet.
“I’m ready. I can drive my car. Do you want to ride with me, or do you have your bike with you?”
He reached down and caught her left hand, bringing it up so he could see the ring. His thumb slid over it. Of course he would have noticed that it was missing. He looked at her, clearly waiting for an explanation.
“I took it off so he wouldn’t notice it. He was acting so weird, and I thought it best to just go along with whatever he said and stall as long as possible.”
“Smart woman,” Ice said. “Too fuckin’ smart for you, Savage. Knew it the minute I laid eyes on her.”
Savage kissed her knuckles, then the ring. “I’ll drive you home and then head to the clubhouse. Ice and Soleil will stay with you until I come home. It will be late, baby, so they’ll probably stay in one of the guest rooms. Alena’s going to send over dinner.”