No one laughed.<\/p>\n
No one moved.<\/p>\n
The tavern held its breath.<\/p>\n
Ridge stayed leaned forward, eyes locked on the bruises\u2014on the way Lena kept glancing back at the door like it might open again any second.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not supposed to say\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Her voice cracked.<\/p>\n
Ridge exhaled slowly, steadying something inside himself before it turned into anger.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to say anything right now,\u201d he said quietly. \u201cYou\u2019re safe here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Behind him, chairs scraped softly as the others shifted\u2014closer, not louder.<\/p>\n
A wall without being told.<\/p>\n
Lena nodded, but her hands still shook.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll come looking,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n
That was enough.<\/p>\n
Ridge stood.<\/p>\n
Not fast.<\/p>\n
Not dramatic.<\/p>\n
But final.<\/p>\n
He shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders, careful not to touch the bruises.<\/p>\n
\u201cStay with him,\u201d he said to one of the guys nearby.<\/p>\n
The man nodded immediately, crouching to Lena\u2019s level.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou like hot chocolate?\u201d he asked gently.<\/p>\n
She hesitated\u2026 then gave the smallest nod.<\/p>\n
Ridge turned toward the door.<\/p>\n
Rain tapped against it.<\/p>\n
Soft.<\/p>\n
Almost patient.<\/p>\n
He walked closer, stopping just short of opening it.<\/p>\n
Then\u2014<\/p>\n
headlights cut across the windows.<\/p>\n
Engines outside.<\/p>\n
More than one.<\/p>\n
The room didn\u2019t panic.<\/p>\n
It focused<\/em>.<\/p>\n Every man in that space knew what was coming before it happened.<\/p>\n Ridge didn\u2019t look back.<\/p>\n \u201cLock it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A bolt slid into place.<\/p>\n The sound echoed.<\/p>\n Lena\u2019s breath hitched.<\/p>\n Ridge rested his hand on the door for a second.<\/p>\n Then spoke\u2014quiet enough that only the room could hear.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t start anything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A pause.<\/p>\n Then\u2014<\/p>\n \u201cBut we don\u2019t hand her back either.\u201d<\/p>\n No one argued.<\/p>\n Because some lines don\u2019t need discussion.<\/p>\n Outside, a car door slammed.<\/p>\n Footsteps approached.<\/p>\n Heavy.<\/p>\n Certain.<\/p>\n Lena gripped the edge of the jacket tighter.<\/p>\n Inside, the tavern didn\u2019t feel like a place anymore.<\/p>\n It felt like a choice.<\/p>\n And when the knock finally came\u2014<\/p>\n hard, demanding\u2014<\/p>\n no one flinched.<\/p>\n Because this wasn\u2019t fear.<\/p>\n This was the moment you decide who you are\u2014<\/p>\n when someone else is counting on it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" No one laughed. No one moved. The tavern held its breath. Ridge stayed leaned forward, eyes locked on the bruises\u2014on the way Lena kept glancing back at the door like it might open again any second. \u201cWe\u2019re not supposed to say\u2026\u201d Her voice cracked. Ridge exhaled slowly, steadying something inside himself before it turned into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}