ALEX
Sheridan’s pregnant. She’s due in a few weeks so he’s all over the shop. Me and Hawk got him though. Are you good? You need help?
Fuck, do I. I couldn’t ask him though. If Ace was about to be a Dad, then he needed his VP and Sergeant at Arms on hand. I couldn’t ask Alex to drop his shit and come and save his big brother. How pathetic was that?
DEMPSEY
I’m good. Just checking in. How’s Tierney?
ALEX
She’s good. Why don’t you come home and see for yourself?
I let out an exasperated laugh. The little shit.
DEMPSEY
It won’t be long. Tell her that. I’ll be home soon.
I left out the part where it would either be in a pine box or home for good so I didn’t have to run anymore. I had to admit I enjoyed the open road. It was the reason I’d become an Outlaw in the first place. The only global MC to allow its members to be on their own. It had been alluring, especially since I hadn’t wanted to settle into just any MC.
The Ghost Rebels, even though my dad had been a member, was Alex’s. He was a senior member there, I didn’t want to take that from him. My mother had tried everything to keep me free of the MC’s, but I was an MC kid through and through. I was always meant for the life of a biker. The Outlaws were a nomadic MC, and you didn’t answer to anyone. There was no hierarchy, it was just a bunch of guys with no place to go. We were thehired guns for MC’s all over the place, and were loyal to that MC only while we worked with them. One week we could work for the Reapers and the next I’d be working for the Wolves. Loyalty only when I was within their walls.
That was why they were after me now. I’d broken that vow.
Outlaws would come for me, knowing I’d broken the only vow I’d made when I became one of them. The Reapers were after me for betraying them when I protected my brother and his club. The Wolves were out for me too. I wasn’t safe anywhere. I’d been on the run for a year, and I was really sick of running. All I wanted was to be on the road for the love of being there and not out of a need to stay alive.
I needed to put an end to this.
And today.
I moved over to my bike and started the engine, scaring a couple of birds from the trees above as I pulled out of the rest stop and headed down the highway.
TWO
Dempsey
Iwatched on as Shae hurried to the shop in the middle of Kilkenny, coffee in her hand, her blonde hair braided down the side. She had a new tattoo, just under where she shaved her head. I wondered what it was. That woman lived for new ink. I did too, it was how we bonded when I was working for the Nomads.
I think I loved her then, but I was too scared to admit it. She had been so sure of herself, so strong and resilient on her own and I fed off that energy. It had been frightening and yet I couldn't get her out of my mind when I was meant to be working. I had found reasons to be with her, to talk to her, to spend alone time with her even if I hadsuffered the next day from lack of sleep. Every minute with her had been worth it.
Even now, even knowing I loved her, she didn’t stray far from my thoughts. I looked down at my wrist, my freshest ink, a memory of her. I liked the Viking inspired typography with the V that stood for Valkyrie. Her call name. How funny that my own call name would fit hers so perfectly.
I was Viking.
I’d never understood why, but it had something to do with my tattoo on my shoulder. The other Outlaws had given it to me when I had vowed to be one of them. I looked down at my secret app that all Outlaws had on their phones. It was how we got our jobs. I’d been locked out the day they found out about my deceit. I had no idea why I kept the app, but somehow I found myself checking to see if I could get back in. I knew what would happen if they caught me here in Kilkenny again. I’d be strung up, shot and killed, buried in the woods somewhere or I’d be flayed, my Outlaw tattoo pulled from my back and I’d be dumped on the side of the street to die from the pain.
Shae disappeared inside the shop and I fought the urge to go in there and kiss the life out of her. Fuck I missed those lips, the way she looked at me as if I were a King,the way she would wind her legs over mine in bed and hold me there, making sure I couldn’t leave.
I loved every fucking thing about her.
Most of all, I missed that smile, the way she would laugh at things and just the sound would shoot blood to my cock.
Turning before I did something stupid, I came face to face with the stern look on someone’s face I hadn’t expected to see.
Fear shot through me as I waited to see if he was here to kill me or to talk to me. I’d known for a while that he was an Outlaw, but I’d never come across him before. Not until this past year when he’d had dealings with the club. He had a sharpness to him, a way to make you quiver in fear just from a look.
“Wolf.”
