Page 88 of Hard Corps (Selected Sinners MC 7)

“Katie,” I said. “I’ve killed men.”

“I know,” she said. “You had to.”

I shook my head. “Since the war.”

Her eyes widened slightly, and she shifted them to the side, gazing beyond me. I studied her as she stared blankly at the kitchen behind me, her eyes eventually narrowing into slits as she drifted deep into thought. After a moment, she shifted her eyes to me, inhaled a slow breath and dropped her gaze to the floor.

“Like Ripp did? Guys like that?” she asked.

“Worse,” I responded.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Do I need to?”

“I guess…”

“Let me say this,” I interrupted. “I have no idea how or why my mind works the way it does. I’m not saying I’m always right, but I sure think I am for some reason. Whether I’m an active duty Marine or not, I’m a protector. I feel like it’s my duty to protect the people on this earth from what is evil, because I am able. And, believe me, not everyone is able.”

“Now I don’t plan on scouring the nation looking for any and everyone who is evil, but when evil threatens the ones I love, I’ll take care of it,” I said.

She unfolded her arms, reached for her coffee, and took a drink. As she lowered her cup, her eyes followed it.

“So you’re protecting your loved ones from harm,” she said as she shifted her eyes to meet mine.

“Exactly,” I said.

“I’m not agreeing with you just to agree with you,” she said. “But you know, when I think about what happened to me, and what Ripp did…”

Her eyes dropped to the coffee cup and she hesitated for a moment before continuing. “I wish someone would have done that to him a long time ago. You know he told Ripp that he had done that before to several women, and no one would testify against him. So he just kept doing it.”

She lifted her eyes from the cup and continued. “I mean, you’re a good guy. A great guy. I’ve lived in Texas my entire life. This state is full of vigilantes. People walk around with guns on their belts. Ripp was robbed at gunpoint a year ago, and a guy tried to take his car. We were almost robbed that night at the bar, and then that guy shot your friend, Toad. I guess I trust you.”

It seemed all too easy. I didn’t expect her to agree with me, but having her do so was comforting. I pressed my forearms onto my knees and leaned forward.

“Trust me to what?” I asked.

“Make good decisions,” she said.

“So, you’re not upset about it?”

She shook her head. “Really? I’ve lived with Ripp my entire life. He’s beaten up guys for looking at girls cross-eyed. And Shane? Yeah, he might come off as a really mellow guy, but he’s not. When he first got here he was going out to bars and beating the crap out of guys who he thought were shitty. And I know what Ripp did to Kace’s old boyfriend. He got drunk and told us. No, I’m not upset.”

I felt relieved, but I was still not convinced she had accepted me for who I was.

“That night the guy tried to rob us?” I said.

“Yeah?”

“Well, I wished I wouldn’t have let him go,” I said.

There. I said it.

Her mouth twisted into a slight smirk. “Alec, we all talked about it when we drove around the block. I was sure you had killed him. So was everyone else.”

I scrunched my brow and stared. “Really?”

“You know,” she said. “There’s a huge difference between people like me and Vee and Kace and people like you and Ripp and Shane. We might not be able to always tell you what we want or even what we expect when it comes to things like that, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want them. Deep down inside, we want them. We just don’t want to talk about it.”

She stood from the couch and picked up her coffee cup. “One reason, one big reason I was originally attracted to you? Because I knew you’d always protect me. And I knew you were able.”

I followed her with my eyes as she walked toward the kitchen. Half-way there, she glanced over her shoulder.

“I just don’t want to hear the details,” she said.

I stood from the chair as she poured another cup of coffee. There wasn’t a person on the entire earth who could claim to be perfect in a complete sense, but for me, Katie was as close as a person could be.

All I could hope for was that one day I could be the same in her eyes.

“Alec,” she said over her shoulder.

As she realized I was walking in her direction, she continued. “We all have flaws. But as far as I’m concerned, you’re perfect.”

And, at that instant, I realized the day I had waited for arrived.