Chapter Eighteen
Aspen
I didn’t tell them the truth. I didn’t tell them everything I knew. I couldn’t. If he found out, he’d kill me for sure. After he killed my family.
Now it was too late. There was too much going on at the clubhouse for me to even consider telling King what I knew.
I didn’t exactly lie.
I had no idea why Skinner moved the club. But it wasn’t because of me. They didn’t know where I was. They couldn’t. If they did, Pepper would have come. He would have demanded my return, so he could finish what he started.
I was a loose end.
I looked around the empty cabin and sighed. Banshee was outside with Diesel, while I sat in here thinking about everything that had happened over the past two weeks.
After we left church, we came back here. Our bubble. I felt safe here. Like the outside world couldn’t hurt us.
I was wrong.
Amber was missing.
Banshee should have been out helping to find her, but instead, he was here with me.
“Thank God,” Banshee said, his phone to his ear as he stepped back inside with Diesel. The dog ran to me immediately and snuggled against me as I waited for Banshee to hang up and tell me what was going on. “How is she?”
Amber.
I sat up, scooting to the edge of the couch. My eyes tracked him as he moved about the room.
“What the hell was he doing there?”
Diesel whined beside me; he felt my anxiety rising. It was scary how in tune he was with my emotions. Sometimes I felt like the dog knew what I was feeling even when I didn’t.
“Okay, keep me updated.”
The minute he set his phone down, I was out of my seat and across the room.
“They found her?”
“She’s home.” He pulled me against him, and I knew it wasn’t that simple.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know yet. A man showed up at the clubhouse with Amber in his arms. He’d found her on the road beaten to hell.”
My gasp was loud in the quiet cabin. I pulled back to look at Banshee. My eyes watered as I thought about everything Amber had endured in her life. We were almost the same age, but where I had been sheltered until I got married, Amber had been used and abused her whole life.
She didn’t deserve this.
“What man?”
My suspicions rose immediately. Someone just found her? On the road early in the morning? Why was he out there? Where did he find her? How did he know to bring her to the clubhouse? There were too many unanswered questions.
“A man named Massacre found her.”
I stepped back, my hands covering my mouth. I knew that name. I knew his club.
“Do you know who that is?”
I nodded. I had never met him, but I’d heard about him. He was with the Golden Skulls. They weren’t quite as ruthless as my father’s club, but they certainly weren’t Boy Scouts. Reaper was unhinged, but given what he’d been through, it wasn’t surprising.
“Of course you do. Is there anything your brother didn’t share with you?”
“It wasn’t my brother. He’s like my father. He thinks women shouldn’t be involved. They didn’t have a place in club affairs. Except my mother of course. My father never kept anything from her.”
Except my marriage. Until it was too late.
“My mother is the one who told me about the clubs. The ones to watch out for and the ones to seek out when I was in trouble.”
“Allies and enemies,” Banshee said, turning toward the kitchen. He opened the fridge and reached in, grabbing two bottles of water.
“Not always,” I muttered.
“What do you mean?”
“My mother taught me that not all allies are safe, and sometimes enemies are worth asking for help.”
“Like who?”
I shook my head and reached for the bottle. It didn’t matter anymore. I was here. I was safe for now.
“What allies aren’t safe, baby girl?”
“Banshee—”
“What allies aren’t safe?”
I stared at him. I didn’t have the heart to tell him what I knew. What my mother had told me about his president. Not King. King was a good man, and my mother respected him. She respected Banshee too. She respected the way he’d stood up to my father. Stood up for me.
“How is Amber?”
He groaned but accepted my subject change. For now, anyway. I knew he wouldn’t let it go.
“She’s hurt, but she’s alive.”
“What happened?”
“She overheard Kytten and Mimic talking and found out Valhalla was her mother.”
“Wait. What? Val is Amber’s mother?”
That didn’t make sense. Why would Val continue to hide Amber if she was her mother? Why wouldn’t she keep her with her and protect her?
“Apparently. I don’t have all the answers, baby girl. But what I do know is, Massacre found her and she’s home.”
This was life in a motorcycle club. It would always be this way. Danger lurking around every corner. Secrets, lies, betrayals. Suddenly, I understood why my father didn’t want me getting involved with someone in a club.
Except that was exactly what he set me up for.
Weeks passed and not much happened in our little bubble. Banshee stayed caught up with the club, but we didn’t leave the cabin. Things were heating up with the Death Dogs, and with Banshee.
We spent most of our time in bed. He’d had to call a prospect multiple times to run out for more condoms. We were running through them quickly, with nothing else to do.
At one point, Massacre and Amber were staying at another cabin. We’d visited them some, but they were in their own bubble, and I didn’t want to burst it open with real life.
Haizley still came out regularly to meet with me.
There wasn’t much to talk about without rehashing the same shit.
The truth was, I didn’t feel like I needed her anymore.
At least not for the shit I’d gone through.
I didn’t talk to her about my father. Maybe I should.
But that was a can I wasn’t ready to open.
I would much rather live in ignorance. As long as I convinced myself I wouldn’t see him again, then I didn’t have to deal with my feelings of abandonment and betrayal.
News of Daniel Scott being killed in town reached us quickly. As did the news of Tundra, a prospect, being dropped outside the gates at the clubhouse.
Skinner had officially declared war on the Silver Shadows. And as I suspected, it had nothing to do with me. Though it did mean the Death Dogs would make their presence more known.
It was more important now for me to stay on the ranch. Amber was leaving. She was moving to California with Massacre and the Golden Skulls. I was happy for her, but I would miss my friend. And because of the war, I couldn’t even go and say goodbye.
We’d gotten close while I was at the clubhouse. Bonded over trauma. We’d both had our share of it over the years, and it felt like I’d met someone I could talk to. Now she was leaving.
I heard the rumble of a motorcycle coming closer to the cabin. It wasn’t unusual for one of the brothers to stop by with an update. They weren’t there to speak to me, so I didn’t bother getting up. I stayed lost in the book I was reading until Banshee opened the door.
He’d been outside with Diesel, and I hadn’t figured on him coming in until the visitor left.
“Baby girl, can you come outside please?”
“Why?” I asked without looking up from my book. I wasn’t in the mood for guests.
“Because I fucking asked you to.”
I looked up at him then. He never spoke to me in that way.
“I’m sorry. Please just come outside.”
His apology was sincere, but it didn’t have me rushing to obey. I slowly folded over the corner of the page and closed my book. I slipped on my shoes and with an exaggerated sigh, I hefted myself off the couch.
Banshee grinned. He knew what I was doing, and he met me in the middle of the room.
“I’m sorry. I’m feeling a little cooped up and, consequently, my temper is short.”
“I’m sorry you have to babysit me—”
“That’s not what I fucking meant, and you know it. There is no other place I would rather be than with you. I just wish we both could get the hell out of here.”
“Is that why you’re dragging me outside?” I asked as he took my hand and led me to the door. Without a word, we stepped outside.
“Amber!” I rushed down the steps and hugged my friend.
“You didn’t think I’d leave without saying goodbye, did you?”
“I knew you’d want to. But I couldn’t go to the clubhouse.”
“Hence, why I came to you.”
Tears filled my eyes as Amber and I talked. Massacre and Banshee sat on the steps while Amber and I walked through the yard and said our goodbyes.
“I’m gonna miss you.”
“I’m a phone call away.” She looked over her shoulder. “How are things with him?” she asked with a grin.
“Things are good.” I could feel the blush on my cheeks.
“I’m so glad. You deserve a happy ever after, Aspen. Especially after what you’ve been through.
“So do you, Amber. Maybe even more than me.”
She smiled and looked back at Massacre, who winked when he caught her. “I don’t deserve him,” she said. “But,” she continued before I could call her out on her bullshit, “I’m going to hang on to him for as long as I can.”
“Something tells me he won’t be so quick to let you go.”
“I hope not.”
We hugged again and walked back over to where the men were sitting. Massacre got to his feet and pulled Amber against him. “You ready, baby?”
“Now I am.”
Amber hugged me again and whispered in my ear, “Trust him completely.”
I smiled as she stepped back, and I felt Banshee’s chest just before his arms wrapped around me. Amber waved over her shoulder as they pulled away.
“I’m gonna miss her.”
“Everyone will,” he said behind me.
As I watched them ride off, I wondered when things would settle down.
How long would this war last? Who would be lost?
If there was one thing we could be certain of, it was that war always took lives with it.
No one was safe, and more often than not, those lives were innocent. There was no getting away from that.
Barely a week later, it had begun.
The knock on the door was urgent. I rushed to answer it, and there stood Archie.
“What happened?”
Banshee came up behind me, his arm around my waist as I leaned back.
“Grayson had an accident. He’s in the hospital.”
My hand went to my mouth, trying unsuccessfully to hold back my gasp. Grayson was one of those innocent lives. He had opened his home to us, and it bit him in the ass.
“What happened?” Banshee asked.
“We aren’t sure, but he fell off his horse. We don’t know if it’s related. But King wants you both back at the clubhouse.”
“Of course, it’s related. He knows I’m here.” He was coming for me. I had to leave. There were innocent lives at the clubhouse. Women and children who didn’t deserve to have their families targeted because of me.
“Baby girl, calm down. If he’d known you were here, he would have come after you, not Grayson.”
“That isn’t how Skinner works. He doesn’t go after his enemies directly. He plays with them. He thinks he’s a mastermind. But really, he’s just a psychopath who gets off on hurting innocent people.”
Banshee grabbed my arms and held me still in front of him. “You aren’t fucking running. Promise me.”
I stared into his eyes. The eyes of the man who loved me, who wanted to protect me. A man I loved more than myself. And I lied.
“I promise.”