Mine Now (The Phantom Vipers MC)

17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Hunter

Craig is going to fucking pay. I just couldn’t stand by and look at the destruction he has caused. No man should be able to do what he has done and get away with it.

But it’s more than that.

It’s more than Blake’s bruises, more than Charlie’s wide, terrified eyes.

It’s Elizabeth.

It’s six years of silence where her laughter used to be.

It’s every night I’ve spent trying to drink away the hollow ache in my chest, knowing that there is no person responsible for my pain—but this bastard?

Craig still exists.

I pull the throttle and move faster down the road, seething, my grip tightening on the handlebars. My pulse is a violent drumbeat in my ears, drowning out reason, drowning out everything except the unrelenting need to hurt.

Blake said she was leaving.

That’s all I needed to hear.

I grabbed her driver’s license from her car earlier. Her old address, the place she still called home out of habit. The place she’s too fucking afraid to let go of.

I’m heading straight for it.

Straight for him .

Craig wanted to meet me earlier?

Fine.

Now he’s going to get his fucking chance.

I pull up and kill the engine. There’s a truck in the driveway, and the screen door is open to the house. Good, it means he is home.

Instead of bringing my gun with me, I place it in the saddlebag on the back of the bike. I am not going to kill him. At least not yet. But he will feel the brunt of my anger. Anger for what today means to me and the rage I feel at the thought of him touching Blake.

I knock on the door, only to hear him groan from somewhere inside the house that he will be here in a minute. After a moment, his skinny figure comes from around the corner of the middle of the house and when he spots me, his smirk turns into a sneer. “Asshole with my wife’s phone, I presume?” he growls as he stands on the other side of the screen door.

Does he think that this measly screen will protect him? I grunt and punch through the screen, hitting him directly in the nose. Then, I grab him by his shirt and pull him through the hole.

After I toss him on his back, I punch him in the face and chest and anything else I can make contact with. He screeches like a little girl the entire time until I finally stop.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, man?” he cries through the blood coming from his nose.

I point down at him. “All I did was give you exactly what you fucking deserved. The next time you feel the need to pick on women, how about you give me a call and I can teach you another fucking lesson?” I pull a business card from my front pocket of my vest and drop it onto his chest.

As I step onto the grass, I turn back toward him. “Oh, and the next fucking time I see your name pop up on Blake’s phone, it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”

He groans and rolls into the fetal position as I walk back toward my bike. I am about to start her up when he yells, “She is my fucking wife! She belongs to me!”

I chuckle and wave him off. “As far as I can see, she is mine now.”

I start my bike and take off back toward Blake’s mom’s house.

Blake doesn’t question me about my bloodied knuckles or where I have gone, but she does seem relieved I came back. She just hands me a broom and a dustpan and asks me to sweep the kitchen. I do as I’m asked and accept that her mother just needs a little help right now getting her house back in order.

Once we have done all we can for her today, Blake and I grab Charlie and head back to the safe house.

“Thanks for helping me today,” she says as we walk through the front door.

I place a sleeping Charlie on the couch and head for the kitchen for a glass of water. “It was no problem, Crash.”

I see her fiddling with her shirt from over the counter and can tell she wants to ask me something. “Just spit it out already.” I say, downing my glass of water.

“Where’d you go today?”

Ah, there it is. I assumed she would have asked earlier but clearly it was bothering her. I shrug and walk toward the back door. “To see an old friend.”

Once we are outside, I grab a cig, light it up, and hold it out toward her. She takes it and puts it between her lips.

Then she raises her brow. “An old friend, huh?” she points at my hands. “Is that why you have bloody knuckles?”

I look down at my bruised hands and stick one of them in my pocket. I draw in some of my cig and let it out. “The friend needed to learn that he wasn’t the only predator—and that preying on the weak came with consequences..”

She bites her lip. I know she wants to ask me more but is stopping herself. She finishes her cig and puts the filter in the ashtray and then wraps her arms around herself. “It is chilly tonight.”

I nod. “Yeah, it is. You should probably get some rest. It’s been a long day.”

She looks like she might ask me for more information, but after a beat she smiles. “Okay, thanks again for today.”

I wave her off as she walks back inside the house. She never has to thank me for keeping her safe. Especially from assholes like him.

She deserves so much better. She deserves a man who will actually worship her the way she needs to be. I would be that man… if she would let me.

Lost in thought for the past few hours, the night air is finally getting to me. I usually spend more time than this sitting outside, enjoying the nature that surrounds me. It brings me a peace that I’ve always longed for. But not tonight. No, tonight has been spent thinking of my daughter and what she would be like if she was alive today.

I sigh and look up at the stars. At least I didn’t drink myself to death this year.

I decide to check in on Blake before heading to my couch for the night, and when I open the door that she has left unlocked, I spot her asleep on top of the covers next to Charlie.

I should turn and leave right now, but something is forcing me to stay. I watch as her chest rises and falls with each breath, her mouth slightly open in her sleep.

Her daughter stirs beside her, and I am suddenly met with two wide eyes. Charlie slowly sits up and looks at me as if she doesn’t believe I’m real. “Hi,” I whisper and wave at her. I feel the need to explain why I am just watching them sleep. “I was just checking on your mom, sweetheart.”

She nods. “Okay.” She looks over at her mother and then back to me. “I’m hungry.”

I chuckle. “Well, let's go make a snack then.” I hold out my hand to her and wait until she clasps my fingers before walking with her down the hallway. “What do you want to eat?” I ask, sitting her on the counter and looking through the fridge.

“Chocolate!”

I chuckle. “You can’t have chocolate this late!”

Charlie puts out her bottom lip and hangs her head.

“How about we make chocolate chip pancakes instead?” I counter.

“Yeah!” she jumps up and down.

“Shh, you’re going to wake up your mother.” I stick my finger to my lips.

“Sorry,” she whispers. “Can I help?”

I think about it for a moment and decide it should be fine. I nod and start grabbing our supplies.

I lay everything out on the counter next to her and grab an apron. “Do you want to wear it?” I ask, holding it out to her.

Her smile is to die for as she frantically nods her head. I help her tie it around her waist and then hand her an egg. “Do you know how to crack an egg?”

She shrugs. “Kinda, but I’m not very good at it.”

“Okay, watch what I do, and then you can try it, okay?”

She watches me intently as I tap the shell on the side of the bowl and then release the egg inside. “See, that wasn't so hard.”

“Okay, I wanna try.” She smashes the egg on the side of the bowl, making the shell fall into the bowl, and egg goop ends up all over her hand.

I start to laugh, but she looks like she is about to cry. “I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad at me.” She sticks her fingers in the bowl and tries to fish out the little white pieces in a panic.

“I’m not mad, pretty girl. You didn’t do it on purpose.” I brush her hair from her face. “Here, let me see it.” I grab the bowl and toss the egg into the sink. “Want to try it again?”

She shakes her head and frowns. “I’ll just mess it up again. You do it.”.

“You won’t get any better if you don’t practice, little one.” I hold out another egg. “Come on, you can do it.”

She takes the egg into her hand and looks up at me with sad eyes before reaching for the bowl again. This time, she doesn’t hit the side of the bowl so hard, and no shells go inside.

She does it perfectly. “Great job!” I shout. “Now, let me add the others.”

The smile that is plastered on her face melts my cold heart. How could anyone be upset at a face like that?

I crack the last egg, put the shell into the empty bowl, and then hand it to her. “Here, dump this in the trash for me, please.”

She stands on the counter and walks to the edge to dump it in the trash at the end.

I chuckle and swat at her with the dish towel I have in my hands. “I didn’t mean for you to walk on my counter, girl! Your dirty toes are all over it now.”

She looks at me over her shoulder and smirks. “This was quicker, Mr. Hunter.”

Once she is back seated, I open the flour and sit it by our bowl before grabbing a whisk to mix the ingredients together.

When I turn back around, I’m hit in the face with a whoosh of powder and start coughing. “What the heck?” I wipe my face and scowl at Charlie.

I raise my brow. “Did you just throw flour at me?”

She sticks her hand back into the bag and throws some more, all while nodding and laughing a high-pitched laugh.

“Oh, it’s on now!”