“Come on, I’ll stand outside your door while you sleep,” Pardon said as he helped her down from her stool.
I walked around to hug Sully and told Pardon, “I’ll send Scorpion up in a few hours so you can get some rest.”
Returning to Morgan’s side, I helped her down from the stool. “Church at ten!” I told the brothers, then led Morgan upstairs.
We climbed back into bed, and she snuggled up to my side. I was a lucky son of a bitch that she forgave me. I held her tight, but she didn’t relax into me.
“What’s bothering you?”
“What happened to Nathan?”
I took a deep breath before answering, “Baby, I know you want me to tell you everything, but there are some things I’ll never be able to tell you. You can’t be forced to reveal things you don’t know.”
“Arkansas has spousal privilege,” she whispered.
“We aren’t married anymore. Justin is still working on bringing me back from the dead.”
“We could get married.” She looked up at me through her lashes, her cheeks lightly pink.
“Baby, I would like nothing better than to make you my wife again, and I plan on it as soon as I get my life back. But it’s not just the law we have to worry about.”
I rubbed my hand up and down her arm.
“The last twenty-four hours has shown me that my enemies will try anything to get their hands on you. That alone would bring me to my knees. But the idea that they might hurt you, torture you to get information…”
I blew out a frustrated breath because the reality was whether she had the information or not, that was always a risk.
“For now, I will tell you what I can. Nathan can’t get near you or Sully, or anyone ever again.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Chasm
I walked into church; Morgan was still asleep in my bed. Where she belonged. Where she would always be.
I looked around the room at the pictures on the wall. Images of a past I wasn’t sure I wanted to remember. When I joined the Silver Shadows, I hadn’t planned on making a life with them. Hadn’t expected to find men I would trust the way I trusted my brother.
I walked over to the back wall, my eyes on a framed picture I’d expected to be taken down.
Two stupid kids who thought the world was theirs for the taking. I stared at the picture of me and King on our bikes.
It was the first year we went to Sturgis. I’d just been patched in when King started prospecting. Dutch, of all people, had been his sponsor. We’d been in the club for years before we were allowed to go. Someone had to stay back and protect the clubhouse.
We’d spent the entire week drinking through every bar in town and fucking every pussy we could get our hands on. We left that place with a bond stronger than Justin and I had. A bond that was broken in less than a decade.
“He fought for you,” the grizzled voice behind me said.
I didn’t turn around. I still wasn’t ready to accept my part in the shit we found ourselves in.
The sound of his boots as he walked up and stood beside me, looking at the black-and-white image, had my shoulders lockingup. I kept my eyes on my younger self, unwilling to entertain the fact that I’d been so fucking wrong.
“He knew as soon as he came back.” He paused. “As soon as we had church and Steele gave us his bullshit about how you went cowboy and entered that warehouse by yourself instead of waiting for King, he knew what happened.”
“He didn’t do shit with it,” I said, my voice filled with emotion.
“He didn’t have proof. You, better than anyone, know you don’t accuse a brother of shit without the proof.”
He was right. It was why I hadn’t accused Steele and Stone of killing their parents.
