Chapter 26 Silver #2
We don’t make it back to my place ’til well after sunset.
The sky’s gone from orange to pink to deep, bruised purple by the time I pull into the driveway. Solana’s got a white bandage taped over her ear, courtesy of the Pulsboro Urgent Care. Thankfully, the cut wasn’t deep. Just a nasty slice from the shattered glass.
It could’ve been so much worse. I could’ve lost her tonight.
The thought pulls at the muscles within my chest, making every heartbeat a tense punch against the ribcage.
We picked up a pizza on the way home. Pepperoni and black olives, her favorite. But neither of us has much of an appetite after the day we’ve had.
How could we? In the span of a few hours, our relationship got blown wide open in front of the entire club, I got decked by her uncle, we fucked in my truck on the side of the road, and then some Road Rebels prospect tried to kill us.
Just another Saturday in the life of Silver Kingman.
Solana showers while I set out the pizza and grab a couple of sodas from the fridge. When she comes back downstairs, she’s swimming in my sweats and one of my old Harley t-shirts, her locs piled into a big knot on top of her head.
Though I know she’s strong as hell, it doesn’t change how delicate and young she looks in a moment like this.
…how she looks like she needs protection from the evils of the world.
My protection.
She curls up on the couch next to me, tucking her feet underneath her. I immediately reach for her, fingers gripping her by the chin, turning her head so I can check her ear again.
The bandage is clean and white against her brown skin, which means the bleeding hasn’t started up again.
But it doesn’t change that I hate the sight of it. Hate that somebody hurt her. That I hadn’t been able to stop it.
“Silver,” she whines softly, her lips quirked in a near-smile. “This is, like, the fiftieth time you’ve checked it.”
“I know.”
“It wasn’t as bad as it looked. The Urgent Care nurse said it’ll heal up fine. It won’t even leave a scar.”
“I know,” I say again, but I don’t stop touching her. My thumb traces the soft line of her jaw. The curve of her cheek. I need to feel her. Remind myself she’s here.
She’s whole and she’s mine.
Solana leans into my touch, resting her cheek against the palm of my hand while her eyes search my face. “What are you going to do?”
“Retaliation,” I answer plainly. “That’s where this goes after the history between us.”
“You and… Wheels?” she says slowly. “From the Road Rebels? I’ve heard stuff here and there from Unc and Moses. Are the clubs fighting?”
I let out a slow breath and settle back against the couch, pulling her with me so she’s tucked under my arm, her head resting against my shoulder.
She deserves to know the details. At least some of them. She was directly involved in what went down today—hell, the whole point was to shoot at her. To send me a message written in her blood.
“Nathaniel ‘Wheels’ Rollins,” I start, my voice low from exhaustion. “He’s the president of the Road Rebels. One of our rival clubs as you’ve heard from Big Ed and Moses. We’ve had beef for a long time. It goes all the way back to when Tom was president the first time.”
She goes still against me, attentively listening.
“The Road Rebels were behind Tom’s wife’s murder.
Mason and Logan’s mother,” I explain. “Of course, we got our revenge. It was an ugly war. Tore apart several families on both sides. But in the end, both Tom and Nate ended up going away to federal prison. It actually helped thaw tensions for a while. Hard to keep fighting when your leaders are locked up.”
“But he got out…”
“Yeah, last year,” I say, giving a nod. “Last year, Wheels was broken out of prison by a man named Asa Boone. They joined forces. Boone had his own vendetta against us, and Wheels was more than happy to help if it meant getting his revenge on the Steel Kings.”
I glance down at her. She’s staring up at me with wide eyes, her lips slightly parted, like she’s watching some dramatic movie unfold. I can’t resist reaching for her again, my thumb brushing across her bottom lip.
“Wheels escaped our last battle alive,” I continue. “Maybe we should’ve been more alert for his revenge. But with everything going on recently—the Penas, Tom’s homecoming—we’ve been distracted.”
She’s quiet for a moment, processing everything I’ve told her. Then she asks the question I’ve been dreading.
“Can you handle all this? Everybody basically coming for you at once?”
I sigh, rubbing a hand over my face. “I’ll find a way. Always do.”
But even as I say it, I’m not sure I believe it. The walls are closing in from every direction, and I’m running out of room to maneuver.
“Listen.” I turn to face her fully, taking both her hands in mine. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to stay here anymore. At my place, I mean. Clearly I’m a target. By being with me, it makes you an even bigger one. Today proved that.”
“No,” she says right away without any consideration.
“Solana—”
“No, Silver,” she repeats firmly. Her dark eyes blaze with the fire I’ve come to love. “We’ve already been through so much together. I’m not going to run and hide now. I want to be by your side for this. Like you’ve been by mine with the Kel situation. No matter what happens.”
I stare at her for a long moment, torn between wanting to protect her and wanting to keep her close.
In the end, her stubbornness wins out. It usually does.
“Alright,” I relent, squeezing her hand. “Alright.”
She relaxes again as I pull her back against me, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. We sit in comfortable silence for a few seconds ’til I redirect the conversation back to my never-ending concern for her wellbeing.
“How’re you feeling after what happened at the barbecue? Rachel never should’ve humiliated you like that. You didn’t deserve that.”
Solana sighs, her fingers playing with a button on my shirt. “It’s not your fault. If anything, you were the one who tried so hard to resist our feelings. I practically threw myself at you.”
I snort. “That’s not exactly how I remember it. I was more than happy to oblige—and I was having thoughts anyway. Very forbidden thoughts.”
She smiles faintly, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.
“I should’ve suspected something was up.
My journal went missing the other day after I babysat Jack.
I thought maybe I’d left it in my bedroom, but.
..” she trails off, shaking her head. “Rachel must’ve taken it.
Read all my private thoughts about you… and what happened with Kel. ”
Anger heats me up from the inside.
Rachel had no right to violate Solana’s privacy. We’re no longer married, and it’s none of her god damn business who I decide to involve myself with. Even worse, it’s less of her fucking business what Solana does in her private life.
It was wrong, and it’ll be something I address head on.
But I tamp the anger down. Getting pissed won’t change what happened, and I refuse to let it ruin my time with Solana.
“We’ll show them,” she says quietly. “We’ll show all of them that what we have is real.”
I grab her hand and lift it to my lips, pressing a kiss to her open palm. Then I lace our fingers together, holding on tight.
“Yeah,” I murmur. “We will.”
The heaviness lingers for another moment before I decide we both need a break from it. I nod toward the pizza box on the coffee table.
“Come on. Eat your dinner.”
A genuine smile lights up her face as she giggles and reaches for the box. “Yes, Daddy.”
I groan. “Don’t start with that.”
She just laughs again, the sound like magic. It truly has the ability to make it easier to breathe and any situation lighter.
We flip open the pizza box and grab our slices, eating as we put on a movie.
But even as I chew, my mind keeps turning. It combs through everything that’s stacked against us.
Tom and the tension simmering between us ever since he got back. The Penas and their cartel bullshit breathing down our necks.
Now Wheels and the Road Rebels, crawling out of the woodwork to settle old scores.
The shitshow at the barbecue—Rachel’s accusations, fresh animosity between me and Big Eddie and Moses, judgments from everybody else in the club.
All of it swirling together into one massive storm that’s threatening to swallow me whole.
Through it all, I’ve got to keep Solana safe. Find a way for us to be together despite everyone and everything trying to tear us apart.
I glance over at her—this beautiful, fierce, stubborn young woman who’s somehow become my whole world—and the uncertainty of it all rocks me to my core.
Something’s gotta give.
I just hope to god it isn’t us.