The Biker's Fate Chapter 189

"Kimmie, I get you need your boundaries, and I promise, I'll stay out of your way, but humor me, yeah? I need to know you're okay."

I bit my lip, hissing as I touched a sensitive spot.

Knight frowned, reaching out laying his thumb gently on my mouth. "You sore?"

"A little. I'm okay, Knight. Seriously."

"Sugar."

I sighed. "You can come up, but only for a little while."

He grabbed my bag from the trunk, and I led him to the elevators and up to my apartment. Of all the Dogs, only Mack and Booker had been to my place, so I was expecting a surprised reaction from Knight. I had the misfortune of being a trust fund baby. My family had been in Portland almost since the day it was settled and my parents owned several of the buildings on Alberta and Mississippi, not to mention the majority of the town of Gresham. Two of my uncles were state senators, one for Oregon, one for Washington, and my grandfather had been governor back in the day. On my father's side, he had a sister who was a Supreme Court judge and a brother who sat on the board of OSU. All-in-all, we were ingrained in this land and probably always would be.

My parents had set up a trust fund for me and had controlled me very effectively for years. I couldn't put one foot in front of the other without their input. That was until my mother's mother passed away, freeing me from the chains of my parents' money.

My condo had been bought with the inheritance my grandmother had left me. She'd also left me her childhood home (built in the early 1900s), which was currently being rented by a lovely family Gran had met before she died. I was free to do what I wanted with it, but for the moment, I was happy in my apartment. My mother had been incensed. She had an older brother, but she was sure Grams would leave her fortune to her, but she skipped Mother (and my uncle) altogether and gave the majority of her assets to me. Tied it up neatly in an ironclad contract so even if my mother was able to manipulate her way to try and get to it, she'd fail. And she had. Don't get me wrong, Mother and Uncle Bart hadn't been left out. They got over five million dollars each, but they wanted more. I really couldn't have cared less either way... I would have much rather had my grandmother back.

For me, though, the money had afforded me a little freedom and the ability to un-tether myself from my parents. Not that it shielded me completely.

I unlocked the door to my sixteenth-floor home and pushed through. Knight followed and I braced myself. Knight didn't come from money (at least I didn't think he did) and I was sure he'd make some form of snarky comment. It had happened to me enough to stop bringing men home.

"Where do you want your purse?" he asked.

"Um... couch is fine," I said.

He dropped the clutch and smiled. "Nice place." I studied him for a second and he raised an eyebrow. "You okay?" he asked.

I nodded and headed to the kitchen. "I'm going to take some ibuprofen."

"I'm gonna hang out on your sofa for a bit."

"Why?"

He ignored the question. "Got any beer?"

"Yes, but you're not staying," I said, and grabbed a bottle of water.

I felt his hands on my waist and jumped. It was a slight and brief touch as he passed me to get to the fridge. "Knight."

"Yeah, sugar?" He leaned into the fridge and grabbed a beer.

I crossed my arms and tried to make my expression as serious as possible. "You're not staying."

"Do your thing, Kimmie. I'll just hang."

"Aidan. You're not staying," I repeated, hoping by using his real name, he'd listen.

He grinned. "Cute, Kim."

"What's cute?" I demanded, and followed him to my sofa, where he sat his sexy butt down and got comfortable.

He took a drag of his beer, set his motorcycle-booted feet on my two-thousand-dollar coffee table, and raised an eyebrow. "You, sayin' my real name. It's cute."

I let out a frustrated squeak. "I'm going to bed."

"Sugar, you can't go to bed."

"Why not?"

"What if you have a concussion?"

I leaned against the sofa. "Katie didn't seem concerned."

Knight patted the cushion beside him. "Come sit down, Kim. I'm gonna watch you for a bit. If you're good in a couple of hours, I'll let you sleep."

"You're not a doctor, Knight."

"Not yet, no."

"Smartass."

"Come on. Katie gave me the signs to watch for and I'm pretty sure they're not that much different than what happens in animals."

I wrinkled my nose, but knew he was looking out for me, so I grabbed a blanket and sat on the sofa. Before I could object, however, he reached his arm out and pulled me against his body.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Makin' sure you're okay."

"You can do that without touching me."

He smiled. "Not as much fun, though."

I'd like to say I settled in because I was still pretty fuzzy and sleepy, but the truth was, I loved being in the safety of his arms. He made me feel protected.

Knight only left me to get water and force me to drink a couple of bottles to "flush my system out." About an hour after arriving home, however, things went from comfortable to far too intense for my liking.

"How you feelin'?"

"Better," I said, and took another sip of water.

He studied my face. "I think it's safe for you to go to sleep now, sug." I moved to stand, but he shook his head. "But first. Who was that guy, Kim?"

"What guy?"

"The guy who attacked you."

"I have no idea."

"Why do you do that?"

"What?"

"Lie?"

I huffed. "I'm not lying. I don't know him." He studied me and I scowled. "Stop it."

"Stop what, Kim?"

"Stop trying to read my mind."

"This asshole says he knows you, so I'm tryin' to figure exactly what that means."

"It doesn't mean anything. He introduced himself, but I don't know him. He said he'd worked for my father."

"Then why didn't you just say that?" he challenged.

I shrugged. Dr. Grace would say it's a form of self-protection... only give concise answers to direct questions. Never give more away than is necessary, lest my heart be threatened.

Knight sighed. "Okay, Kim."

"Is that all, Sir Nosy Pants?" I ground out as I rose to my feet.

"Yeah, sugar. Sleep well."

"You're such an ass sometimes, you know that?"

"Yep." He raised an eyebrow, grinned, and said, "'Night."

I stomped off to my bedroom, gritting back a groan as my tantrum created a surge of pain in my bruised leg. Closing the door behind me, I dropped my head to the wood and took several deep breaths. Aidan. In my home. Shit.