Chapter Twenty-Two
Pike
I was still reeling from the news when my phone rang with Diesel’s name flashing across my screen.
Fucking Angel was dead. Dude was a goddamn legend, a biker down to his fuckin’ bones.
He had an old lady and two boys who looked just like him, and now he wouldn’t get to see them grow up.
And it was all because of the Ghost Riders.
Fucking Vendetta.
I watched Chloe head back towards the cabin as I answered the call. “Diesel, I just heard about Angel.”
There was a long silence on the other end of the line. “Yeah, man, we’re all fucked up about it. Kendra is fuckin’ inconsolable and begging for vengeance.”
“Gotta say, I’m with her.” The low, static hum of white rage pulsed through my body. I wanted blood, lots of it. I wanted to fuck some shit up.
“Good,” Diesel sighed. “You’ll get your chance soon enough. We need you back in Steel City. ASAP,” his voice was low and strained, and I knew the brothers were reeling if they needed me back there instead of here.
With Chloe and Gemma.
Shit.
“You still there?”
I blinked away thoughts of mother and daughter and nodded. “Yeah, I’m here. Just thinking about the shit I gotta do.” Leaving the peace and solitude of this mountain for Steel City meant leaving them alone. Unattended. Unprotected.
My heart slowed as it sank to my gut. As much as I wanted revenge—and I really fucking needed it—walking away from them was like tearing out a piece of myself and leaving it behind.
Chloe and I hadn’t put a name to what we were doing but even I knew it was different now.
The nights with her now were nothing like those first few nights we shared a bed.
It was intense fucking pleasure—it always was—but it was different.
More intense. More connected. Fuck, it was just more.
And Gemma? That little girl had wormed her way into the deepest part of my fucking heart as if she’d always been there. The way she smiled when she saw me was a fucking head rush. Had anyone ever in my fucking life been that happy to see me?
Hell no.
“What about Chloe and Gemma?” I asked.
Diesel sighed. “It’s not ideal, but we need you here.
Slate’s been checking their movements and there’s nothing to suggest that the Ghost Riders are heading your way.
We’ve got eyes on the cabin. Chloe and Gemma will be fine for a couple of days, man.
We need all the fucking manpower we can get, and I was sure you’d want in on payback for Angel. ”
“I do,” I insisted. It wasn’t a lie, it just wasn’t the whole truth. “I’ll pack up and head out straight away. Be with you tonight,” I promised, ignoring the bitter taste on the words as they left my mouth.
“Maybe I can spare a prospect or two if it looks like this is gonna take longer to sort out,” he said.
“Okay, Prez,” I muttered. I really wasn’t happy about it, but I knew Diesel wouldn’t ask me to come back if it wasn’t urgent.
“See you soon, brother. Be safe.” Diesel ended the call, leaving me standing outside in the eerie silence I was reluctant to leave behind.
Now I had to figure out a way to tell Chloe that I was leaving her alone in the middle of nowhere.
I blew out a deep breath and stepped inside the cabin where she was finishing up washing the dishes.
My chest squeezed as I took in the sight of her with her back to me.
The cut-off shorts highlighted the shape of her legs, the flare of her hips and the loose t-shirt she wore as if it was second nature to cover herself up.
She was beautiful.
When she turned, her smile faltered, and she dropped the silverware back into the water. “What’s wrong? Has something else happened?” Her fear was palpable, and the color drained from her face as she waited for me to speak, impatiently tapping her foot on the floor.
I knew it wouldn’t get easier to say the words, so I inhaled deeply and spoke on the exhale. “I gotta go back. To Steel City. Diesel needs me.”
Her face fell and I hated that I was the one who made her look so disappointed. Chloe didn’t say anything else for a full minute, but she blinked rapidly as if she was trying to stop the tears. “For how long?”
I shrugged. “Couple days, tops. They need backup with the Ghost Riders.” I held my breath and waited for tears or begging or any of that shit women are prone to do, but Chloe didn’t do any of that shit.
She nodded, biting her bottom lip as she looked away. “Please Pike, just be careful.”
“I will,” I promised her. “Didn’t make it all this time by being careless.”
Her lips tugged into a smile that went nowhere near her eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure. But I mean it. I don’t know if I can—just be careful. Be really fucking careful.” The fear in her voice did something to me.
It cracked something wide open, left it raw and exposed, a constant ache I wasn’t sure what to do with.
“Chloe, I will. I promise.” I leaned close, cupped her face in both of my hands and kissed her hard and deep.
I kissed her as if I could pour every promise in the whole goddamn world into that moment, as if the kiss was the only way I could tell her what I really felt.
My chest pounded even as it ached, unwilling to leave her behind. “Keep practicing your self-defense.”
“I will,” she nodded and swiped at the tears that began to fall. “Every morning like always. Maybe more now that I’ll be getting a full night of sleep.”
I smiled. “Too bad I don’t have time to give you a proper goodbye.”
At the reminder, her smile dimmed. “We waited our entire lives, we can wait a few more days.”
The way her words landed hit me like a ton of fucking bricks, as if both of us had been waiting our whole lives to find each other. I didn’t even believe in that shit but when Chloe said it out loud, the words made sense.
Perfect fucking sense.
“You remember the code to the gun safe?”
She nodded. “Thirteen-eleven-nineteen. I say it to myself whenever I enter the room.”
“Good girl.” I kissed her again, softly. “You’re all good,” I assured her, running the back of my hand down her cheek. “Don’t cry. I’ll be back before you know it.”
She smiled, burying her face in my chest and holding on to me as if she never wanted to let me go.
“Okay,” she said and patted my chest, blinking away her tears.
“Fuck,” I growled and captured her mouth again. I kissed her until the edges of my control frayed, almost snapping with my need for her. “I want you, Chloe. Need you.”
She pulled back and snuck a glance around me to Gemma, who was still drawing in the living room. Then Chloe grabbed my hand and pulled me to the tiny room that held the washer and dryer stacked on top of each other. “We have to be very quiet, but I need you too. Now.”
I pulled her inside and closed the door behind us, quickly removing her clothes and mine.
Chloe stood with her face to the door, back arched so that beautiful ass faced me.
I smacked it, loving the sound of her moan when I did.
“You need me,” I asked barely above a whisper as I slid one finger between her thighs until I found her dripping wet, already pulsing when I pushed inside of her.
“Yes. Please.”
“Love to hear you beg, babe.” I nipped her earlobe before sinking my teeth into the skin between her neck and shoulder. “Love to hear you so needy for me.” I held my cock in my hand, stroking even though I was already rock hard. “Turn.”
She turned with a slow smile. Her hand went straight to my cock, stroking me as her nails gently scraped my sac. “Now, please.”
She hooked one leg over my hip until my cock nudged her pussy and slid between plump, wet lips. “God, yes,” she moaned as her body sucked me in deeper and deeper. “So. Full.”
I loved the way she talked during sex. Hearing her tell me how she felt only intensified my own fucking arousal. “Other leg,” I grunted, gripping her ass to help.
“Yes,” she hissed when gravity joined in, and she sank even deeper onto my cock. “So, so good.”
I held her and pumped into her, hard and slow because I couldn’t make this go any quicker than it already would in my heightened state of arousal. “You feel so fucking good.”
“You, too.” Her pussy clenched hard, pulsing around me as she came apart within seconds. “Oh!” She attacked my mouth as she rode out her orgasm, triggering mine and I spilled into her until she was full.
“Fuck, Chloe. Yes!” I gripped her tight and filled her until I was empty. Until my legs trembled. Until my cock slipped free of her body.
“I think I’m going to feel you for days.”
“Good,” I grunted, helping her to her feet. We cleaned up as best we could in the tiny room, but too soon we knew it was time.
Time for me to go.
Time to say goodbye.
Chloe finished dressing first. “I’ll go get cleaned up and pack while you say goodbye to Gemma.”
I nodded slowly. “Not sure how I’ll do that, but I’ll figure it out.”
“Just be as honest as you can.” Chloe’s tone was gentle yet firm. “No details, but tell her you need to get back, and you plan to return.”
Honest? To a kid? “Yeah, I’ll try that.” I waited until Chloe’s feet sounded on the stairs before I went out to the little girl. “Hey Gem.” She sat at the coffee table with her legs crossed underneath, her tongue sticking out as she carefully filled in a leaf with a pink crayon.
She looked up with a big smile, instantly dropping her art supplies. “Hey, Mr. Pike, did you come to play with me?” Hope danced in her eyes, and she grabbed an empty sheet of paper for me.
I crouched down beside her and shook my head. “Not today, kiddo. I have to go back home for a little while. My friends need my help with something.”
She nodded as if she understood. “Grown up somethings?”
“Yeah,” I nodded and stroked the top of her head. Her hair was so goddamn soft just like the rest of her. “Grown up stuff.”
Her smile faded. “How long you gonna be gone?”
Be honest, Chloe had said. “Just a couple of days,” I promised.
She pouted but instead of crying she flung her little body at me and hugged me tight. “I’m gonna miss you, Mr. Pike.”
Her words were like a body slam straight to the chest. I ruffled her curls and swallowed down my own emotions. “I’m gonna miss you too, Gem, but you’re tough.”
“Me?” she giggled as if it was the funniest thing she ever heard, shaking her head while her whole body shook.
“Yeah, you. You’re a tough cookie and I need you to do something for me.
” Gemma was just like her mother in that way, they were both stronger than they had ever realized.
Stronger than anyone had ever given them credit for.
They would be fine with or without me, but with me sounded a lot fucking better than the alternative.
“What?” The question was so eager I had to smile.
“I need you to keep an eye on your mom for me. She thinks it’s her job to take care of everyone else but I gotta make sure someone’s looking after her. Can you do that?”
She nodded and turned away from me, looking for something. “Here, you take Mandi. She’ll keep you safe.”
Damn this kid. No wonder my brothers were so gone over their own. “But she keeps you safe and you’ll need her to help with your mom.”
Gemma nodded sagely, thinking about it for a full minute before she nodded. “Okay. I promise.” She held up her pinky finger and waited for me to take it.
I did, of course. I hugged Gemma one last time and got to my feet.
“Wait!” Gemma pulled something from Mandi’s pocket, a smaller version of Mandi and held it out to me. “Just in case. She’s real good at her job, Miss Ash said so.”
Fuck. “Thanks, kiddo. You gonna be okay here while I say goodbye to your mommy?”
“Yep,” Gemma said happily as she turned her attention back to her coloring book.
Chloe went to the front door, slipping out quietly and I followed, not sure how the fuck to say goodbye to this woman.
“Hey,” I said when I joined her, twirling a lock of her hair around my finger.
“Hey,” she whispered back, the pain in her eyes evident when she looked at me. “I don’t want you to go.”
“I know,” I answered, cupping her cheek and running my thumb along her jaw. “But I have to.”
“I know,” she opened her mouth and then closed it.
I smiled.
She smiled back and then found her words. “I love you, Pike.”
Her words knocked the fucking wind right out of my chest. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t hear, couldn’t think of one goddamn thing other than those words.
Chloe noticed my shock and waved her hands as if that one move could push away what I wanted to say. “I’m not saying it to get you to say it back,” she sighed. “I just want you to know that someone feels that away about you, that someone other than your MC cares about you. So just… be safe, yeah?”
I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. My throat was tight, and my chest squeezed even tighter. So I didn’t rely on words in that moment, instead I relied on my lips, kissing her until we were both breathless and panting. “I will, if for no other reason than we have a lot to talk about.”
She nodded. “Yeah, okay.”
I took a step back and grabbed my rucksack, hitching it on my back. “Lock the doors and keep your phone charged. Don’t take any unnecessary chances.”
She smiled. “Playing it safe is my middle name.”
I jumped on my bike, starting it up before I took one last look at the cabin and the woman standing on the front porch. Just behind Chloe in the window sat Gemma, waving excitedly but I swore, even from this distance I saw tears in her eyes too.
How did they come to mean so much to me?
That was a question for another time, for now I took the long dirt road to the other side of the lake before driving down the mountain, leaving them behind.
Just for a few days, I told myself, giving it more gas to speed up the trip home.
Weeks ago all I wanted was to get off this fucking mountain and get away from Chloe and now, leaving her behind had me all fucking twisted up and thinking about defying Diesel’s orders to get my ass back to Steel City.
But I had to go. For Ashley and for Angel. For Chloe and Gemma too. Mostly I had to go for me, I had to even the fucking score because it was in my nature to do just that.
And maybe, once that was done, I’d be just fucked up enough to have something real with Chloe without fucking it up.