Chapter 41
Delaney
I’m sitting on the couch with the Abernathy girls and a tough-as-nails chick named Toni when Draven appears beside me and grumbles, “C’mon, let’s go.”
“Where?” I ask, pushing to my feet.
“Who cares,” she says.
Lilli smiles from her spot on the couch as I follow Draven out of the room. Although they’ve been nothing but kind, it was super surreal to be hanging out with the reverend’s daughters at an MC compound while we waited, presumably for their men to return.
The main area is empty save for a man standing behind the counter. He glances up, his eyes wide when he spots Draven and the cigarette dangling from his mouth drops to the floor.
After grabbing two bottles of liquor, he steps on the butt before rushing outside.
“Idiot,” she mumbles, stopping at the pool table.
When she hands me a pool stick, I say, “I’ve never played before.”
“We can suck together,” she says with a shrug before taking a swig from the bottle that magically appeared in her hand.
When I eye her quietly, she hands it over and I sip from the lip, wincing at the burn. Whiskey is not my drink, I decide while she racks the balls and breaks.
The balls scatter across the faded green felt and between shots of whiskey, we smack them around.
When I shoot too hard and one of them escapes over the table, she drops the stick to the floor and hops onto it.
After joining her, we sit in companionable silence save for the music pulsing through the walls from outside. Eventually, my thoughts bring me around though and I assuage my curiosity, asking, “Why Kidd, Draven?”
She knows what I’m asking. He’s the enemy. She could have chosen anyone else, and it would have been easier.
“You know what it’s like to try and date when everyone is afraid of your dad?” she asks.
“Well, my stepdad is a cop,” I say and her lip curls.
“Kidd wasn’t afraid of Pops. He wasn’t afraid of anything.”
“Oh,” I mumble, and we drop into silence again while Kidd’s tortured screams echo in my head.
When a dull throb in my skull follows, I groan. Thankfully, the injury to my knee turned out to be nothing more than a bruise but my body hurts all the same.
Since I can hardly complain, I set it aside when Draven says, “He wanted me to bring you around. He was curious.”
I’m not surprised. I think it all fell together when Draven took me to see Kidd that last time.
Am I angry? No.
What good would that do me? Besides, she’s suffering more now than anything I could ever do to her.
“We were going to run away together,” she whispers, and I eye her sideways.
“Did you love him?”
“I thought…well, I hoped I could.”
Her voice quavers but I keep my expression steady because I know Draven would hate for me to point out the weakness.
I am curious though. Was she that willing to escape her dad by running away with a guy that she thought she could one day love?
My curiosity fades when I hear footsteps approach, noting the way Draven stiffens when Romeo rounds the corner.
His eyes land on her before sliding to mine and I wonder about the furrow to his brow as he stops before us and says, “We have your car.”
My gaze drops to his hand where he’s holding my backpack, and I bow my head. This is what I’ve been dreading. I don’t want to answer more questions, and I know if they saw any of what we left behind…
Shaking my head, I whisper, “What did you see?”
“See?” Romeo says and Maddox pushes him aside, his solemn dark eyes meeting mine.
“What did you see?” I croak and he reaches for me but when he clears his throat and drops his eyes, I slap at his hands. “What? What did you see?”
“Delaney…” Maddox rasps before we turn when someone says beyond the door, “Fucker was burnt to a crisp.”
Beside me, Draven goes rigid before she slips from the table and walks away. Frozen, I watch as Romeo takes off after her before Maddox touches my cheek and I sag into his arms.
I thought…I hoped. Clawing at my throat, I gasp out a strangled breath, crying, “No.”
Kidd didn’t just die for us. He burned to death. How do I unpack that shit?
“Sh,” Maddox says but when he reaches out for me, I slap at his chest. I don’t want his touch.
I can’t. I can’t do this, and I struggle against him, when Maddox bypasses my flailing arms before lifting me against his chest.
“Stop,” I mutter, but he’s immune to my wrath as he pulls me closer.
For my efforts, his warm breath puffs against my ear as he says, “Sh, princess. I got you.”
How? How can he possibly “have” me when I feel as though I could float away?
Maddox
It took an hour of holding Delaney while she stared into nothing, trembling violently before she finally calmed down.
If I hadn’t wanted to leave her, I’d be downstairs kicking my brother’s ass for spilling the news before I had a chance to speak to Delaney. It hurts my soul to see the spark gone from her eyes, but I know that she has to process that shit in her own time.
Since neither of them are talking, it’s hard to piece together exactly what happened but I suspect Delaney crushed that man’s skull. I hate that she had to do it but I’m so fucking glad that she did because she’s here. She’s in my arms and it feels so right.
I don’t care who she is as long as she’s mine.
She makes me burn. Her. No one else and I fucked all that shit up when I let my past dictate my future. Looking back on it now I know it was anger and a good dose of fear holding me back.
Unfortunately, I took that out on her when all she wanted was someone to trust. I have a lot of respect for her ability to lay in this bed with me right now. It’s also not going to be easy to win back that trust but fuck if I won’t. I can’t let her go.
I need her to breathe, and I think she does too.
She’s hurting right now and she’s not wrong in her rage. If she needs to take it out on me. So be it. I’ll be here to soothe her back down when she’s done…
Although she’s quiet, I know she’s not asleep and when I hear a tap on the door, I roll over and ease from the bed. Whoever this is better make it quick because I don’t want to be away from Delaney for long.
I find Pops standing on the other side of the door and he eyes me quietly as I step outside and pull it partially closed.
“Son, Helen called,” he says. “It’s time for Delaney to go home.”
“No.”
There that’s short and to the point but when Pops raises a brow, I say, “Let me make this clear. She ain’t going.”
He sighs and shakes his head, but I don’t fucking care. He can be disappointed. He can be fucking angry.
I. Don’t. Care.
This is it and I’m not backing down.
“Son,” he says, running his hand through his mohawk. “That’s not your decision to make.”
“You’re right,” I grunt. “It’s her decision and if she goes, I go.”
At my proclamation he rocks back on his heels and mutters, “You sure about that?”
I know this must be a shock to him, especially after he’s lived his life MC but surely, he can see after losing both his wives to this mess that if it comes down to it, my only option is to choose the woman who fulfills me.
This is why, I tap my head and say, “I’ve never been surer about anything in my life.”
His brows flicker as he backs away. I don’t know what that means but if I have to pack my shit tomorrow, so be it. I made my choice and it’s the spunky girl with a fierce heart and pretty blue-gray eyes.