She brightens like a supernova, and I will never be the same again. “I feel like there was a challenge somewhere in that.”
“Depends. Do you like a challenge?” I ask.
“I love one.”
So do I. “Then consider yourself challenged. Let’s get some food. You’re going to need the energy.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I plan on asking you to take a ride with me later on the back of my bike.”
“And you’re assuming I’ll accept?”
I want her to accept. “Your choice.”
“That was the correct answer.”
I like that I’m a fast learner. Because I’m just as bold as she is, I take her hand. Nothing in my world has felt right until this moment—the one where her fingers lace through mine and she holds onto me just as tightly as I’m holding on to her.
Chapter 27
Eli
Once again, I’m on the front steps of Dad’s cottage, watching my family as they gather around a bonfire under the spring night sky. Oz finishes a story, and there are a few chuckles, but then Razor adds something to the conversation, and the group breaks out into full blown laughter—Emily holding her stomach as she leans forward in a fit of giggles. Even Isaiah and Rachel, the newest to our clan, join in as if they have always belonged. Oz smiles as he flips Razor off, and Razor smiles back as he returns the gesture.
After I was sentenced to prison, I never thought I’d experience joy again. I’m glad I was wrong.
“Is this your favorite spot?” Nina asks as she climbs the steps to join me.
“I like the view.”
She follows my gaze to the bonfire, and the softness of her expression is beautiful. “I agree. It’s a good view.”
“Thank you for being here today. You made a huge impact on Isaiah.”
“He reminds me a lot of James. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought he had been raised by him.”
I’d thought the same several times throughout the day. I also had a lot of other thoughts—most of them about Nina. After tonight, there’s no reason for us to interact again. Chevy will be heading to college, and she can visit Isaiah through her son.
For years, we wanted to be rid of each other, but I don’t feel that way, not anymore. “How would you like to have dinner with me this week?”
Nina’s head whips in my direction as though I’d announced there is a shark on dry land. “What?”
Not a hopeful initial reaction. “Dinner. With me.”
She blinks repeatedly. “Is the club having another family dinner?”
I shake my head. “I was thinking we could go out someplace. We could stay in town if you’d like, but there are better restaurants near the army base.”
A faint smile, a hesitant smile, slowly spreads across her lips. “Are you asking me out?”
I am. “I’ve enjoyed talking with you over the past few days, and I’m not ready for that to end.”
Nina laughs lightly and relaxes beside me. “I’m going on a date with Eli McKinley. My, how my world has changed.”
I chuckle along with her, knowing mine has, too.
Chapter 28
Pigpen
Leaning against the bar in the clubhouse, I watch in awe as Caroline and Rebecca swap potato salad recipes and discuss what it’s like to have overbearing bosses. There’s a part of me that wonders if I was in an accident on my bike earlier today. Or maybe before graduation I was blindsided by a semi, and I’m now in a coma dreaming happy dreams.
If so, I’m fine with never waking up.
Razor walks to the bar and orders a water for him and a diet for Breanna. Doesn’t take long for the order to be filled. I glance over and give him a nod. I expect him to nod back and return to his girl, but instead he stays where he is.
“You okay, brother?” I ask.
“Yeah.”
“How’s Breanna?” She has to be torn up about her best friend leaving town.
“Concerned for Addison, but relieved she’s getting help.”
“I’ll keep an eye on Addison,” I say.
“Thanks,” he responds, and I once again expect him to leave, but he stays still. My spider sense is screaming so loudly I’m surprised other brothers in the club haven’t drawn their guns in response.
Razor places the water and the diet back on the bar. “I need to talk to you.”
Aw, hell. Is it too much to ask for this kid to go through one night without having his heart ripped out? “Talk away, brother. I’ve got nothing but ears and time.”
Razor takes a deep breath, and I hide the fear of what falling off this cliff is going to be like. This kid has never been easy.
“I know,” Razor says.
My forehead furrows. “Know what?”
“I’ve known for a while. I didn’t know how I should talk to you about it or if I should avoid it all together.”
It’s like he’s speaking Latin. “You lost me.”
“After everything that went down with the detective that was investigating my mom’s death, and Chevy and Violet being kidnapped, I ended up reading more of the files that the police released.”
“Yeah?” We all did.
“I saw that there was someone from the Riot Motorcycle Club who had been funneling information to the cops.”
My stomach drops as I figure out the road he’s going down. My younger brother started working with the police after everything that happened with Oz and Emily last summer. His goal was to take down the Riot—the MC our father belonged to.
A muscle in Razor’s jaw twitches and then the truth comes tumbling out. “I met with your brother. I know that your father is the one who ran my mom off the road and killed her during the war between the Riot and the Terror, and I know that you know. I also know that the reason you’re here is because of me.”
A hand over my face as all the blood drains from my brain. “I’m sorry, brother. I swear to you, I am. If I had any idea what my father was capable of, I would have taken a gun to him myself.”
Razor places a hand in the air. “It’s not your fault.”
“I knew he was following your mom. I overhead him talking about it with another member of the club. I should have done something. I should have stopped him from going out that day.”
“You couldn’t,” Razor says.
“I should have.”
“You were a teen,” Razor pushes as if that’s a good enough defense.
“And you were a kid,” I shout, and the guys surrounding us go quiet. “My flesh and blood took away your mom, and I’m to blame!”
Razor stares at me in that slow, calm way of his. “It’s not your fault.”
His words are like a hook to the head. For years, I’ve blamed myself, felt the guilt, felt the blood streaming through my fingers. I couldn’t look at my dad, and I couldn’t look at myself. How could I be related to someone so horrible?
So, I left, joined the Army and when I was honorably discharged due to my wounds, I came here to Snowflake and begged this club for forgiveness. Forgiveness they said I didn’t need because her death wasn’t on me. They took me in and gave me the chance to make it up to the son of my father’s victim. To watch over Razor because his mom was no longer on this earth to do so.