“Why did he come here?” I ask, shivering as Sean tosses the fabric down and runs his hands over my bare shoulders. It’s not cold out but I think I’m in shock and his warm hands comfort me.
“His name is Alex Ramos. He’s a patched member of the Wretched Souls. I don’t know how he’s connected to your dad yet, or why he did what he did. Kai and I just found him a few days ago. I’m gonna figure out how he found you though.” He brushes my now messy hair from my forehead and kisses me before bringing me to his chest, cradling me in his arms. I’m swallowed completely by his size and I’m able to take my first deep breath since he arrived.
“That’s better,” he whispers, breathing me in.
“He says he has answers … could he?”
“I’m gonna figure that out.”
“What do we do now?” I ask into his chest.
“I do what I do, and you decide how deep into my world you wanna be.”
I look up at him, not quite understanding.
“He was right. I was hunting him. I wasn’t planning to kill him, but now …” He flexes his bleeding hand. “You know exactly who I am …” His thumb comes up to stroke my cheek softly.
“Yes.” I place my hand on his jaw, needing to feel him.
“But knowing that reality andseeingit are two totally different things, understand?”
I look over at Ramos.
“Of course.”
Sean ducks his head to bring my eyes to his. “Don’t look athim. He’s lying there like that because he took from you, and I will never tolerate that. No one will ever harm a single hair on your head, or anyone you love, ever again.”
I think about this man dying at Sean’s hands because he threatened me, and I can’t think of a better fate for him. He took my mother, and I’ll forever be without her because of him.
I look up at Sean. A moment of clarity in the midst of the storm. He’s my center. I barely know him, yet I know unequivocally that he’s all I want and all I’ll ever need.
“I don’t have many of those … people that I love,” I mutter softly. “But … do you think he does?” I don’t even know why I ask.
“Don’t do that.” He tilts my chin up. “Look at me. He isn’t worth an ounce of regret. He made his choices in life, the wrong ones. This is his fate.”
The funny thing is, I would kill him myself right now if I knew there would be no consequences. Maybe there’s something wrong with me, but I don’t feel guilty as I look down at Ramos bleeding on my grass.
I remove Sean’s steady hands from my face and straighten up. I won’t let Ramos take one more thing from me or one more moment of my life. After tonight I will never think of him again.
I push past Sean and move to stand over my attacker’s unconscious body. I breathe evenly. Flashes of my mother run through my head: her holding me when I was scared, humming softly as she sat with me when I was sick, laughing as we ran through the sprinkler in our yard. Her face beaming with pride when I sang in church. Her cheeky smile when she said something she thought was naughty. How she loved butterscotch ripple ice cream and would hide it in the freezer so Dell and I wouldn’t eat it. Her eyes, whenever she looked at me. Filled with love.
“I’m stronger than you think, Sean,” I offer before dropping to my knees. Fire rises in my belly and a rage that I can’t explainbrings my hand up. I cry out as I hit Ramos in the chest. The feeling exhilarates me.
“An eye for an eye.” I choke back a sob as I pick up a heavy rock from the garden and raise my arm to hit him again, but Sean is faster. I don’t even know how he got down beside me so quickly, but he grips my hand tight and pulls me back, pushing my hair out of my face as he shakes his head.
“No, little dove. Not yet. I will fucking gut him if you want me to,afterI get the answers you need and you have some time to think clearly. Taking a life will change you, but I understand why you’d want it.” He kisses me. “What happens to him is your call because he took fromyou. My only intention was to bring you peace, and in doing that I was the one to put you in danger.” He bends down and kisses me again, his eyes full of regret as he focuses on me.
“Don’t look at me like that. It’s not your fault. However he found me doesn’t matter. It’s all part of our truth, remember? I don’t care what you have to do to him. I want to knowwhyhe killed my parents.”
“Then you will,” Sean says firmly. The sound of Harleys in the distance has him looking over my head. “That’s Kai and Jake. Did you tell the girls not to pick you up?”
I shake my head quickly. “I didn’t have time.”
Sean nods. “Call them now and tell them to meet you at the club in an hour. I’m not letting you out of my sight until I know there’s no longer a threat.” He kisses me softly on the lips. “Or maybe ever.”
I kiss him back. “I can live with that right now.” My heart is still pounding but the moment I saw Sean in my kitchen, I knew I was safe.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
