Maple turns to look at me with glassy eyes. “You ever lose someone?” she asks.
I shake my head, and she presses her lips together with a sad nod.
“Welcome to the life, then.”
The door to the meeting room opens, and we both rise to our feet.
Alder leads the others out as his eyes sweep across the wreckage of the clubhouse. His jaw tightens, and a fierce determination seems to settle over him.
He turns to Mac. “Get everything sorted to leave tonight.”
Mac nods, and he, Dom, and Cory head out of the clubhouse.
Kurt gives Trip and Boot a nod. “Make sure all families are safe, and protection is in place before we go.”
As everyone takes off, Alder finally lets his eyes land on me. He stands right where he is in the middle of the clubhouse as he holds my gaze, and something heavy hangs over him. His eyes roam my face like he’s cataloguing my features and committing every piece of me to memory. Like this might be the last time he sees me.
My heart thumps as I stare back at him, but I don’t move.
His gaze shifts to Maple for a moment as he seems to do the same to her, then looks back at me and tilts his head for me to come to him.
My feet start carrying me across the room before my mind can catch up, and he holds out a hand to pull me in when I reach him. He presses a kiss to the side of my head and holds it for a moment.
“I’ll take you home,” he says as he releases me.
As much as I’d rather stay, I nod. I know he has a lot to do, and I can feel the urgency in his touch and in every movement he makes.
And I can feel it in him the whole way to my house.
The tension seems to coil tighter inside him with each second that passes, from the moment he guides me out of the clubhouse to when he pulls into my driveway. I reluctantly let go of him as I slip off the back of the bike, and the desperation in me seems to take over. Like if I hold on a little tighter and a little longer… it might all be ok.
But as we step inside my house, and the door closes behind him, I know it won’t be.
He stands by the door, feet planted and shoulders tight, as he looks at me like whatever he’s about to do is going to hurt.
“I can’t be around you right now,” Alder says.
My heart drops, and my whole body goes still. “What?”
He draws a slow breath and releases it through his nose. “The Sons are going to go after everything we love. They can’t know about you.” He pauses as his eyes flick away from me. “We have a plan to protect ourselves and our province. And there’s no guarantee it’s going to work.” Then he slides his gaze back to meet mine. “I’m leaving for Newfoundland tonight.”
My mind whirls, and I can’t seem to grab onto any of the questions floating around in my head. “For how long?” I eventually ask, my voice sounding so far away it’s like it’s not even in the room with us.
Alder shrugs lightly. “However long it takes,” he says softly.
Silence stretches between us as I just stare back at him and think over everything that happened today. The sound of gunfire, the clubhouse falling apart, the way Alder fell over me and kept me shielded from it all…
I know the Kings need to respond. I know this is big and brutal.
But I don’t know why he’s leaving.
And I don’t know why this seems to cut deeper than anything else that happened today.
“Why?” I ask, but the question feels heavy and empty at the same time. Like I’m packing every question I’ve ever had about him, and us, into this one word, and hoping to find the answer.
Alder’s gaze drops to the floor between us. He stands silent for a moment, then shakes his head. “Everyone I love was going to be in that clubhouse. This could have gone so much worse.” He pulls a deep breath in and slowly lets it out. “I took you from something safe.”
I shake my head. “I wasn’t safe there either.”
