Mine Now (The Phantom Vipers MC)

30. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Hunter

Once we reach the garage that houses some of my most prized possessions, I pull the key from my pocket and unlock the side door so that we can step inside. This is my own little slice of heaven.

Blake follows behind me as I reach in and turn the light on, illuminating the space. Slowly, her eyes travel from mine to the rest of the area and as they go, they get bigger and bigger. Until she lands on my motorcycle—the motorcycle she hit with her car.

The front fender is bent all to hell and the entire left side of the bike has scratches all over the frame. My clutch is broken, along with both sets of brakes.

“Is that the bike that you hit me with?” she whispers.

I nod and take a step toward it. “As you can see, it needs a bit of work.” I chuckle. It needs more than a little work done. But I am not in the habit of making her feel bad for something she couldn’t control.

I kick my mechanic stool out of my way and head toward one of the many toolboxes that line the walls. Each one is bright red and spans the entire width of one wall. Our club's insignia stands proudly on the back center wall, just like in my room.

This club means everything to me. It’s what held me together after my daughter's death. It is what still holds me together now.

I lift the top of my toolbox and pull out a dusty photo, brushing my thumb over the surface. I immediately feel a pain in my chest. My daughter’s brown hair and green eyes stare back at me, and it’s as if she is here with me now.

Blake lifts on her tippy toes in an attempt to see what I am holding, and I hold it out for her. She gently takes the photo in her palm, and her breath hitches in her throat. She touches it with the tip of her pointer finger and glides across the page. “Is this your daughter?” she whispers.

I clear my throat. “Yes.”

“What is her real name?” she looks up at me with just hopeful eyes that I can’t bear to look at her.

I look at the ground. “You say it as if she isn’t in the past. Most people ask me what her name was , as if somehow because she’s gone, the name no longer belongs to her.”

She grabs my forearm gently, and I gaze toward her again. “Just because they are no longer with us doesn’t mean we didn’t give them a name. And their name will always remain the same, no matter how much time passes.”

I nod slowly, lost in the thought of how this woman knows exactly the right things to say. I feel like I could tell her anything, and she wouldn’t judge me for it. She is completely disarming.

I take in a steady breath. I haven’t spoken her name in so long, I don’t know if I will be able to. The loss of my child is one of the hardest things I have ever dealt with. “Her name is Elizabeth.”

Her eyes shine at me. Like I just told her the biggest secret of my life. And all I did was speak my daughter's name.

Blake gives me a soft smile. “Thank you for trusting me with her name, Hunter.”

Without any other words to say, I nod, take the picture from her hand, and return it to my toolbox.

“You know, Charlie and Elizabeth look a lot alike. They could almost be twins.” Blake says.

I shrug. “They do look alike. Charlie reminds me a lot of my daughter, if I’m being honest.”

“That is so crazy,” she says, more to herself than anything, and walks toward my bike in the middle of the room.

She brushes her fingers along the seat. “Where is your helmet?”

I chuckle. “I don’t wear a helmet, sweetheart.”

“Why? Aren’t you afraid of crashing and dying without one?”

I shake my head. “No, if I die on the open road, then I die a good death.”