Blake took everything I told her about the clubhouse and even me driving her car down there better than I expected. I figured she would turn me down.
She grabs their stuff and puts it in the car while I finish my cig. Viper walks out on the back porch with me a few moments later.
“Are you almost ready? I want to get on the road before the sun goes down,” he says.
I put out my cig in the ashtray and rise from the chair. “Yeah. Let me just pack my bag.” He nods and turns to walk back intothe house. “Hey, wait,” I call to him. “You are riding the bike there, just so you know.”
He shakes his head. “I figured as much.”
I nod. “Thanks.”
“Your old knee hurting you too much to ride so you have to sit in the car with Blake and the kid?” he laughs.
The way her name sounds coming from his mouth makes me want to punch him in the throat for no good reason. I have no hold on her; of course, people will look at her and say her name. She isn’t mine—yet. “It will be easier this way.” I grumble.
He waves me off before walking into the house. “Sure, sure, whatever you have to tell yourself so you don’t feel like the old man that you are.”
Before Viper showed up, I was going to ride the bike down and have Blake follow me in the car. But since he showed up with the van, I get to be alone in the car with Blake and Charlie. The van can just sit.
Walking inside, I fill my pack with a couple of changes of clothes and my hygiene bag. I already have almost everything I need down there, but I still need my toothbrush and razor.
I peek my head into the living room, where Blake and Charlie sit on the couch. “Do you guys need to use the bathroom or anything before we go?”
Blake looks down at her daughter, who is shifting to the couch. “Maybe we should try, just in case.” The smile Blake gives Charlie melts my cold heart.
Charlie nods, and they head down the hall toward the spare bathroom.
Chapter 23
Hunter
Thirty minutes later, Viper rides in front of us as we head down the road. A smiling Charlie plays with her toys in the back seat, her laugher a soft hum in the background. Blake looks out of her window at the passing trees, seemingly lost in thought.
I grip the wheel tighter as an aching, bittersweet feeling pulls at my chest.
I never thought I’d look in the rearview of the car and not see my own child smiling back at me. The phantom pain of her loss lingers no matter how much time passes. But when I look back and see Charlie now, she reminds me so much of Elizabeth. The way she smiles—the way her nose crinkles when she laughs. Even the way she runs.
I can’t make it make sense in my brain, but it's like the universe is giving me another chance at that love. Or maybe I am grasping at straws, and the universe is fucking laughing at me.
The memories of my sweet Moo bring a pain to my chest that I wish to dissipate, so I clear my throat and stifle the silence in the car.
“So, Crash. Are you glad I’m the one driving?”
She gives me a sidelong glance. “Why would I be glad?”
Her defiant tone lets me know she has already picked up on my attempt to press her buttons. “Oh, you know. So, we don’t crash into anyone.”
She rolls her eyes, and my hand twitches again. I have never been with such a sassy woman. I want to spank her ass right here in this car. “Is the entire trip going to be like this? Or do I need to drive so I can show you that I’m capable?”
Her quip makes me rock hard, and I have to remind myself her child is present.
I shift the front of my pants to make myself more comfortable. “As funny as I think that would be to see,” I say, then look in the rearview at Charlie. “I value her life too much.”
Blake swats my arm, and Charlie laughs from the back seat.
Chapter 24
Blake
