Chapter 81
CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE
M oon started to climb down.
“Wait, Moon.” Viper caught his arm. “Let Greer call for help.” Viper pointed to one of the trees that was wobbling as Charles tried to climb out of one of the windows.
“Charles, stay still!” Viper shouted down. “You’re going to knock the car loose!”
Charles didn’t listen, continuing to try to shimmy out of the car.
Moon’s mind was already made up. Charles panicking only cemented his decision. He crouched down, readying himself to go over the mountain.
“Moon …” Viper started, taking off his vest.
“I’m going—”
“I’m not going to stop you. I’m coming, too.”
“No.” Reaper crouched down, sliding his legs over the edge. “I am.”
“Charles, stop!” Moon yelled, sliding over the lip of the cliff, his heart catching in terror at Charles’ frantic movements. “You’re going to kill everyone!” Holding on to a tree sapling hanging off the side of the mountain, he was able to scale down a couple more inches.
With his body halfway out, Charles grabbed the tree trunk to pull his lower limbs the rest way out of the car.
“If you don’t move, I swear I’ll get you out first!” Moon promised, willing to make a deal with the devil to save Larissa and Jace. “We’ll let you walk away. Please, stop!” His voice cracked at hearing Jace cry. His son was alive! Blinking back tears, he climbed another couple of inches, Reaper keeping abreast of him.
With the way Charles’ frantic movements were making the car rock, they were going too slow. He tried to go faster and nearly lost his grip. If not for Reaper throwing him back against the face of the mountain, he would have plunged right off the cliff.
Finding another handhold, Moon maneuvered himself downward, drawing closer to the car. He was within touching distance of the vehicle when Charles, seeing him so close, tried more frantically to shake his leg loose from inside of the car.
From the cracking sound the tree made, Moon knew another hard movement like Charles had just made, the stupid fucker, and the car would plunge down the mountainside.
“Larissa!” Moon screamed at the top of his lungs, wanting her to know he was there. “Larissa!”
As he called out again, he jumped as a gunshot rang out, echoing around the mountain.
Moon looked at the car and saw Charles slumped forward against the tree, no longer moving. Then, raising his eyes back up the mountain, he found Shade standing at the top, lowering the rifle to his side.
Taking a deep breath, Moon navigated his way around the car enough to look inside the back window, seeing the top of Jace’s carrier.
“Reaper, you get Jace.” Moon delicately maneuvered himself around Reaper. “I’ll get Larissa.”
“I should get Larissa,” Reaper argued. “I can hold more weight.”
Reaper was right. They constantly worked out together; Reaper could bench press more weight than him. Still, he was going to be the one to get Larissa.
“Get Jace.” Moon met Reaper’s frowning gaze. “I’m trusting you with my son’s life. I can’t live without Larissa, and she doesn’t even know I love her.” His voice broke. “Would you trust me to save Ginny?”
“No, brother, I’d have to do it myself.” Reaper started working his way toward the other side of the car.
On the opposite side, Moon was finally able to get an unobstructed view inside.
Larissa wasn’t unconscious; she was holding on for dear life. The seat belt was holding her in place, and her legs were braced against the back of the seat in front of her, keeping her from flopping down into the seat below. One of her arms was outstretched, holding a red-faced Jace in his car seat.
Carefully pushing Charles’ body back inside, Moon poked his head in. “Why didn’t you fucking answer when I called out your name?”
Dazedly, she stared at him. “I was too afraid you’d start yelling at me for being in the car.”
He never wanted to jerk her out of the car and into his arms more … or spank her ass until she couldn’t sit down for being so silly. But, from the damage already done to her face, he didn’t think he’d ever be able to lift a hand against her, even when they were playing.
“Which of these motherfuckers did that to you?”
“Please stop yelling; it’s scaring Jace. It doesn’t matter which one hit me—they’re both dead.”
He couldn’t argue that point. Gundy had a tree limb protruding through his neck.
Giving a nod to Reaper, he talked to Larissa as gently as possible. “Larissa, unfasten Jace’s car seat. Reaper’s going to catch him.”
Larissa tore her gaze away from his to fumble with the car seat clip. Jace fell into Reaper’s waiting hands.
“I’ve got him.” Slowly, Reaper maneuvered his upper body out of the car.
“Reaper,” Moon caught his attention before he could disappear from sight, “I was going to ask you this the other night and got distracted, but”—he gave a self-depreciating smile—“I guess no better time than the present. If I do …”—he didn’t finish what he was going to say, not wanting to scare Larissa—“will you … raise my son as your own?”
“I’d be honored,” Reaper promised, then moved away with Jace in his arms.
Having Reaper confirmed as being his backup was a load off his back.
With Charles’ body practically blocking Larissa’s way out, he was going to have climb to the other side and slide him over then come back and help Larissa out. It was going to be tricky, and he was already surprised the tree had held for this long.
He was about to pull his head out of the window when Reaper reappeared on the other side.
“Where’s Jace?”
“Handed him over to Razer. Greer had a rope in his vehicle. Puck is coming down with a chain he’s going to attach to the car. It might give us a couple of minutes.”
“We could use them,” Moon muttered.
“Larissa, when Reaper has moved Charles, and when I say go , release your seat belt.”
“I’m going to fall.” Frightened, she clung to her seat belt.
“I’m going to catch you,” he promised. “Baby, we have to get you out of here.”
“Okay.”
Reaper pulled out a knife and cut a hole to deflate the airbag. Moon expected the car to plunge down the mountain at any second as Reaper then leaned inside to grab Charles, tugging his limp body toward Gundy enough that Moon could press the release to fold the front seat forward.
“Are you ready?” Moon gave her an encouraging smile. They were both aware of the perilous position they were in. “I’m going to get you off this fucking mountain. I swear.”
“I’m ready.”
Moon was proud at how calm she sounded. Bracing himself as best as he could, he prepared to catch her as Larissa’s fingers went to the latch of the seat belt. With his heart in his throat, Moon then caught her by the waist when she dropped as the seat belt strap snapped free.
While the car started rocking dangerously, he used all his strength to pull Larissa out of the window. He actually thought they were going to make it when her feet cleared. Then horror filled him when the tree he had braced himself on gave a loud snap!
The tree splintered, breaking off into large pieces, which went tumbling down the mountainside. Dislodged, the Camaro went spiraling after the pieces of tree trunk. When he lost the tree’s support, Moon grappled for something to hold on to.
He threw himself and Larissa to the side of the mountain and saw a rock poking out of the ground.
A scream came out of Larissa at the force of the landing. Holding her against him, Moon was unable to move with the air knocked out of him, gripping the rock like a lifeline, aware if it became loose, Larissa and he didn’t have anything else to save them.
He gasped for air when he was finally able to make his lungs function again, and his eyes went to Larissa to reassure her, only to find her unconscious. Unable to determine if she had struck her head or had fainted, he started searching for a better hold.
“Let me take her,” Reaper spoke from his side. He had managed to find an outcropping of rocks and was holding out his arms for Larissa.
Moon shook his head.
“Brother, listen to me.” Reaper stared at him, determination on his harsh features. “Where you are isn’t stable. Give me Larissa and grab the rope.”
Moon stared at Larissa’s pale face resting limply on his shoulder. “I can’t.”
“Brother, trust me . I won’t let you down. You asked me to be your backup. Was all that bullshit? Trust me now. You can’t save her alone; you’re gonna get both of you killed. Give her to me.”
It took everything in him to hand Larissa over to Reaper. Then, grabbing the rope, Moon felt himself being lifted upward. When he reached the top, Keller and Rider grabbed him by the arms and lifted him over the edge.
Greer had The Last Riders standing on the road, away from the ledge. Taking a quick scan, Moon saw Shade standing by the patrol car, holding Jace.
Finding Jace was in good hands, he went to the edge of the mountain, dropping to his knees and preparing to go back down to help with Larissa.
What he found humbled him, and any idea that he wasn’t as important as any of the other brothers melted away.
Reaper had wrapped the rope around both Larissa and him as Viper, Razer, Lucky, Puck, Jesus, and Knox pulled them up. What humbled him was the amount of Last Riders who had scaled down the mountainside so if Reaper lost his grip, there would be a Last Rider on each side of him to make sure they reached safety.
Moon didn’t release his breath until Reaper’s feet were on solid ground. Shaken to his core that they hadn’t died, he held his arms out.
Reaper placed Larissa into his arms, then stepped away, as well as the other Last Riders, yet they remained standing close by.
Moon enfolded Larissa into his arms and buried his face in her neck. “I love you.” His shoulders heaved with emotions. “I swear I’m never letting you leave the house ever again. It’s too dangerous to let you out on your own.” Tears fell from his eyes. “That’s twice now you’ve taken ten years off my life. Only you could go out for a fucking hamburger and manage to nearly get killed.”
“To be fair”—Larissa lifted her arms to circle his neck—“neither of those close calls were my fault.”
Raising his head, he stared at the woman he loved more than life. “Did you hear me tell you I love you?”
She gave him a winsome smile. “Oh yes, I heard you, and so did all of The Last Riders and most of Treepoint.”
“I was afraid I was going to lose you, and I wanted you to know in case we didn’t make it.”
She rubbed her cheek against his chest, and her arms tightened around his neck. “That’s so sweet you wanted me to know you loved me before I died.”
Moon shook his head. “No, that isn’t why I wanted you to know.”
A frown marred her brow. “It wasn’t?”
“I wanted you to know, if you died, I wasn’t going to let you die alone.”
She looked at him in shock. “That’s why you didn’t want me to ride the motorcycle with you—in case you wrecked with me on it.”
“I know my strengths and weaknesses. You’re strong enough to survive without me, but I’m not strong enough to make it without you. I can’t go back to a life without you. I love Jace, but we wouldn’t be a family without you.”
“If you wanted us to be a family, then why did you do everything you could to tear us apart?”
“Because I’m an idiot. I was so angry with you when you took off without telling me that you were pregnant. I wasn’t going to have my kid living without me. What if you became involved with someone who hurt them, and I wasn’t there to protect them? You wouldn’t be the first woman who turned a blind eye to their child being mistreated by a new boyfriend or lover.”
Sadness glistened in her eyes. “Like you were.”
Moon nodded, acknowledging how the trauma of his childhood had spilled over to how he had reacted when Larissa had left Treepoint. “As much as I was beginning to care for you, I had to put Jace first. I wanted to have you under my control. Even if we shared custody, I would have no control over anyone you brought into his life the other half of the time. After Jace was born and I grew to trust you more, I realized how messed up what I was doing.”
“That’s why you wouldn’t have sex with me?”
“Yes. I switched both houses into your name. You remember a couple of months ago when I had you sign the life insurance papers where I told you it was because I was increasing my life insurance coverage?”
“Yes.”
“In the fine print, I deeded both houses to you, free and clear. I also had you sign where I can make deposits to your checking account. I repaid all the money that has been taken out of your account for the house payments. Lana should ask for a refund; the company she hired should have caught what was going on before the balloon payments had reached the point when they caught it. I have a much better company that I hooked The Last Riders up with.”
From the way Larissa was looking at him, she wouldn’t be letting him make any suggestions to any of her family members anytime soon.
“I love you,” he reminded her, wanting to bring back the lovey-dovey way she had been looking at him before he’d started confessing.
Running his thumb over her bruised cheek, he used the voice she had a hard time resisting. “I had planned on telling you tonight. That’s why I wanted to take you out to dinner. I was also going to ask you to marry me,” he revealed.
Skeptically, she wasn’t exactly swept away. “Before or after you told me what you had done?”
“Probably after we were married. I was going to try to convince you to have a quick wedding at the courthouse.”
“I want a normal wedding, with a long engagement.”
“A normal wedding, with a short engagement,” he countered.
“How short?”
“Next week.”
Lovey-dovey, she wasn’t.
“Next month?” he conceded.
“I can go for that.” Turning her cheek into the palm of his hand, she gave him the look he was waiting for.
A loud wail coming toward them made them look up.
Giving Shade a thankful glance, he watched as Larissa took Jace from Shade, settling him on her lap.
He held them both close to him, when he realized he no longer had that crazy feeling that something was going to rip Jace away from him. Unconsciously, the possibility of her finding out about his deception must have been the root cause of his fear for Jace.
Jace wasn’t settling down, despite Larissa’s attempt of soothing him.
“He’s hungry.”
Moon nodded as he helped her to her feet. “We’ll ride to the hospital in Greer’s squad car. You can feed him on the way. I want Lana to check you both out before we go home. You must have hit your head when I grabbed the rock.”
“I didn’t hit my head. I fainted,” she admitted with an embarrassed look as Moon held the car door open for her then got inside with her.
Buckling in his precious cargo next to him, he pulled Larissa and his son back into his arms. It was going to be a while before he was willing to be farther away than arms’ length.
As Greer pulled out onto the road, he looked out the window and saw The Last Riders getting back on their motorcycles. He would thank them all when they came to the hospital. He didn’t even worry about leaving his motorcycle behind; one of The Last Riders would have his back. They always did. They always would.
Linking his fingers with Larissa’s as she fed their son, he raised her hand to his mouth.
“Moon …”
“Hmm?” Moon pressed a kiss to the top of her head as Greer drove them down the steep road.
“There’s something I feel I should mention about us getting married.”
Moon jerked his head up worriedly. “You’re not changing your mind, are you?”
“Oh no … It’s just …” She hesitated then gave him a firm look. “I still want us to get married, just don’t expect me to sign any prenuptial agreement.”