19. The edge of desperation.

Chapter 19

The edge of desperation.

Amelia

Five minutes earlier

N ova gives my arm a nudge, and I slowly blink until my vision clears. I shoot up and rub my eyes until I’m able to keep them open.

“Did I fall asleep?” I ask.

Nova snorts. “As soon as you curled up on the couch.”

“I don’t think that’s Christian,” Hadley says. I look around and find her standing at the window.

“What’s going on?” I rub my eyes again and yawn.

“Someone’s here, and apparently, it’s not your man.” Nova pats my leg and pauses before she stands and joins Hadley at the window.

I frown when I see there are only twenty minutes left of the movie. I must have fallen asleep before the opening credits ended, because I remember nothing about it.

“It looks like Aaron,” Nova says. Then she turns around with a confused look on her face. “Why would he be here this late?”

I jump to my feet and crouch down at the window with my hands cupped around my eyes. “It is Aaron.”

Rushing to the door, I swing it open and run out to meet my brother. He’s carrying his large medical bag. The one he only uses when someone is seriously hurt.

Panic sets in. My mind runs wild with all sorts of horrible things that could have happened to Christian—a bar fight gone wrong, a car accident, or my brothers jumped him and Aaron’s here to fix their mess.

“What happened? Is Christian okay?”

He rests a hand on my arm in a calm and soothing manner. It instantly puts me at ease. “Christian is fine.” Then he looks up at the cabin and sees my friends in the doorway. “But they need to leave. Now.”

“What?” I furrow my brow. Aaron walks past me and straight for my friends.

“Nova. Hadley. I’m sorry, but you need to leave.”

“But—”

“Right now.” He cuts Nova off. “I can’t explain. Just know it has nothing to do with Amelia. Grab your stuff and get out.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Nova crosses her arms over her chest like she’s ready to fight.

Aaron steps up to her and glares down at her. “Yes, you are, even if it means I have to carry your ass to your car. Your choice.”

“It’s okay,” I say, not really sure I believe that. “Aaron wouldn’t be asking if it weren’t important.”

Nova stares at me for a moment before she nods. “Okay, but if anything fishy happens, you call us. We’ll be back in a heartbeat.”

I nod. “Deal.”

Then I open my arms and wave both my friends in for a hug.

“We don’t have time for this,” Aaron growls. It’s so unlike him that we all whip around and stare at him. “Please. You need to leave.”

“Okay, okay.” Nova holds her hands up in surrender and rushes inside to grab her purse. Hadley does the same. When they come back outside, Nova looks at me. “Call us if you need anything.”

“I will.” I watch them as they get in Nova’s car and back out of the driveway. I don’t take my eyes off them until they disappear down the long driveway and into the darkness.

I turn to my brother. “Do you wanna tell me what’s going on?”

“No.” He sets his bag down. Then he runs his hands over his face and cracks his neck. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

“I don’t understand why you’re here. You hate Christian, and you’re clearly not here to see me. So what gives?”

“Lia, you’ll know any—”

Before he can finish his statement, Christian’s truck comes barreling up the driveway. He’s driving so fast, I half expect him to crash into the cabin before he slams to a stop.

The passenger door flies open first and a large man I don’t immediately recognize slides out. He’s holding a woman close to his chest, and she’s covered in blood. He says something else to Christian before he turns to the cabin and sprints in our direction.

I gasp and press my hand to my chest when I realize who it is. “Why is Edge here?”

No one answers me.

When Edge steps up on the porch, he looks at me. “Do you have some old blankets you don’t care about?”

I stare at him for a minute before I shift my eyes to the woman in his arms. “Oh, my god. Hannah.”

“Lia, blankets.” The commanding tone of his voice has me jumping into action.

“Um, yes.” I rush inside, and they both follow. Running to the bedroom, I scramble to look for the right box. I haven’t unpacked any of the extra blankets or sheets. There’s no need until our new bedroom is complete.

When I find the right one, I grab a stack, not really caring which ones they are. None of these have sentimental value and they’re all replaceable.

By the time I make it back out, Christian is standing in the middle of the room with a young boy by his side. I take one look at the boy and freeze. My eyes dart between Christian and the boy. I open my mouth to speak, but no words come out.

“This is Cameron,” Christian says. I meet his gaze, and I know he sees it too. “Hannah’s son.”

My eyes widen as I stare at Cameron. No wonder Hannah and Charlie never brought him out in public. He looks so much like the Mutters. It’s uncanny. To be more accurate, he’s the spitting image of Liam.

“Holly shit,” I whisper, and press my hand to my chest and take a deep breath. It’s suddenly so much harder to breathe than it was a moment ago.

Christian rests his hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “It’s okay. I’ll explain later.”

Then he takes the blankets from me and spreads them out on the floor so Edge can put Hannah down. Aaron is at the stove putting a pot of water on to boil.

Christian leads Cameron to the couch and gets him to sit down. The poor boy looks like he’s in shock.

Edge is at Hannah’s head, whispering soothing words to her. It’s such a contradiction to his typical demeanor. Edge is tough and mean. The leader of a once lethal motorcycle club. The rumors say he’s killed before.

But not the man before me tonight. This man is gentle and kind. I’m seeing a whole new side of him and rethinking everything I know about Edge and the Unholy Ghosts MC.

Aaron kneels next to Hannah and grabs a small vial and a needle from his bag. Christian kneels on the opposite side of her and takes her hand.

“Alright, Hannah,” Aaron says. “I’m going to try to make this as painless as possible.”

I glance over at Cameron and he’s shivering. Either he’s freezing or the adrenaline of the evening’s events is wearing off.

I grab another blanket and wrap it around his shoulders. He hardly responds to the action. Yep, he’s in shock.

“It’s okay.” I cup his cheek, and he looks up at me. “My brother is an excellent doctor. Your mom is in good hands.”

He nods and settles back into the couch, hugging the blanket around him. Now that he looks a little more comfortable, I head to the refrigerator and grab the milk so I can make Cameron a cup of hot chocolate. Hopefully, it will warm him and settle his nerves.

I glance over at Christian, and despite the horrific nature of this situation, I smile. He’s like a whole new man to me right now. A man I am very proud of.

I wish everyone could see him the way that I do. If only he’d let the rest of the world see just how good he is.

It would change everyone’s perspective of him. Every time I discover something new about him, it makes my love for him grow.

And tonight’s discovery changed my life forever.

“I don’t understand.” Mom huffs and tosses the flowers she just picked out on the counter. Her frustration is evident, and apparently, we all have to experience it with her. She’s been like this all morning, throwing out random questions with no context to support them.

“What don’t you understand now, Mom?” I ask, even though I know I’ll regret it.

“Any of it.” She throws her hands in the air like she’s at her wit’s end.

I take a deep breath and bite back the irritated comment I want to make. Instead, I calm my voice and try to get her to get to the point. “Can you be more specific?”

She turns to me with her hands on her hips like she’s getting ready to launch into a lecture. I close my eyes and take several deep breaths.

Why did I ask?

“Where is Christian?” Her tone is firm, just like she used to do when we were kids and acting up.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t be coy with me. Rumor has it he’s the one who put Charlie Fisher in the hospital. What did that man do?”

I drop my face into my hands to hide a silent scream, even though I really want to let it rip.

“Mom, use logic and stop listening to rumors. Please. He was at Posey’s hanging out with his brothers last night. Why on earth would Christian beat-up Charlie, anyway?”

She huffs. “You tell me? And if he was at Posey’s, then why did the cops see his truck leaving the scene? What has that man gotten himself mixed up in now? And no one can find Hannah and her son. This is so concerning.”

I turn my back to Mom because I don’t want her to see the hurt on my face. While I understand why everyone jumps to negative conclusions where he’s concerned, they couldn’t be more wrong about him.

If they only knew what he was really doing, he’d be the town hero. So would Edge.

Lord knows his secret activities changed my life forever.

I knew he and Edge were friendly. Many have speculated for years that Christian is a secret member of the motorcycle club. He’s not. His connection to the club is much more personal.

I don’t know the specifics, but the club is somehow connected to his mom’s drug addiction and his initial introduction to drugs. The former president of the club was a terrible man. When Edge took over leadership, he changed a lot about the club’s operations. Their illegal drug operation was the first thing he dismantled.

The club is still operating outside the law, but what they’re doing now is good. Great actually. I’ve never been so proud of someone as I am of Christian and Aaron. Apparently, Aaron has been helping Edge for a while now too.

And I can’t tell anyone what they’re doing. They swore me to secrecy.

Which makes it impossible to answer Mom’s questions.

For several years now, they’ve both been helping Edge rescue abused women and children from life-threatening situations. When they rescued Hannah and Cameron last night, they risked exposing their operation to the world. They did it anyway to save Hannah.

I’ve never seen someone so damaged and bruised as Hannah was last night. From the dark marks and scars on her body, Charlie has been beating her for years.

She needed countless stitches, and Aaron is pretty sure she has a couple of broken ribs. Her injuries were so severe, Aaron begged Edge to take her to a hospital, but he refused. Even Hannah refused.

Aaron did his best and gave her a month’s supply of pain meds. He checked out Cameron too. The boy was fine.

Cameron .

It all makes sense now. They kept him away because he’s the spitting image of Liam Mutter.

“Are you going to tell me or not?” Mom asks. There’s a hint of pain in her question. When I look back at her, there are tears in her eyes.

“Mom, why are you about to cry?”

She swipes at her eyes and sniffs. “Because I’ve no clue what’s going on. You won’t talk to me. I’m scared for you.”

“You don’t have to be scared for me. I’m safer with Christian than I am with anyone else.”

“Well, how am I supposed to trust that when you won’t tell me what’s going on?” Rather than wait for me to answer, she barges past me and disappears into the back room.

I start to call after her, but I stop myself. It’s not like I can tell her the truth about Christian anyway. I will not be the one to jeopardize their operation just to satisfy my mom. I busy myself with cleaning up the shop instead.

Since the shop is empty, I gather up the flowers that Mom tossed on the counter and take them back to their rightful place. I think she was going to make a display arrangement but forgot in her frustration.

Once that’s done, I grab the feather duster and clean the shelves. Normally, I let Darlene do this, but I need something to keep my hands busy. She can take care of a few orders we received when she gets in this afternoon instead.

I make it through cleaning more than half the shelves when a familiar truck pulls up in front of the shop. Christian warned me that Liam might show up asking questions. He showed up at Hannah’s house last night when Edge and Christian were helping them out.

To be honest, I’m surprised it’s taken him this long. He and Hannah were high school sweethearts, and I share Christian’s belief that Liam never stopped loving her.

I rush to the door and step outside before he even gets out of his truck. There’s no way I’m going to risk Mom overhearing this conversation.

“Hey,” I say when he steps out of his truck. His hair is a mess, his shirt is wrinkled, and he looks like he didn’t sleep a wink last night.

“Have you talked to Christian?” He walks around his truck and stops right in front of me.

I nod. “Last night.”

“Where is he now?”

“I don’t know.”

He tenses and balls his hands into fists. “Don’t lie to me.”

“Liam.” I reach out and rest my hand on his arm. He’s so wound up, his muscles are tight. “I’m not lying to you. I don’t know where he went.”

“But you know he has Hannah and Cameron?” His voice cracks like he’s barely hanging on.

“Yes.” I don’t bother lying about that. Christian told me it was okay to talk to Liam about that, but that no one could know where they were going. Not even me. And especially not Liam.

“Lia, please.” He shoves his hands in his hair and fists his fingers around the strands. From the way his hair looks, I’d say he’s done that a lot over the past twelve hours. “I need to know they’re okay.”

“They are.” I assure him. “Charlie did a number on Hannah, but she’s okay. I don’t think he laid a hand on Cameron.”

A hint of relief fills his eyes. “You saw Cameron?”

I nod. “Seeing him was quite the surprise.”

Christian also told me that Liam freaked out when he saw Cameron. That kid is this man’s son. No doubt about it.

He spins around and shoves his hands in his hair again. “I can’t believe she lied to me.”

I rest my hand on his back, and he whips around. “I don’t understand. How?”

He shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter.” He stares off into the distance for several seconds before he shakes his head and looks down at me. “Sorry to bother you.”

“You’re not bothering me. I expected you to come by.”

He talks a deep breath, then clenches his jaw. “When Christian gets back, tell him I want to talk to him.”

“I will.”

He looks past me and through the window of the shop, then points toward the door. “You better get back in there. Your mom doesn’t look too happy to see me here.”

I look over my shoulder and sigh. “Yeah, she’s struggling with all this. It doesn’t help that I don’t have answers to give her.”

“Sorry,” he says, then he heads back to his truck, hops inside and leaves.

I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths before I turn around and head back inside. I can’t wait to hear Mom’s theories about what’s going on now.

“Is this what I can expect now that you’re living with that man?” She starts before the door even shuts behind me. “Are the Mutters going to stop by whenever they feel like it?”

“Don’t start.” I glare at her. I’m in no mood to hear her drone on about them. “And stop calling him ‘that man.’ He has a name.”

“Well, I have never …” She huffs and presses her hand to her chest like my words are a dagger to her heart. “Have you completely forgotten your place?”

“No, I haven’t. I’d say I’m finally finding my place in this world.” I walk past her and around the counter to grab my phone. Since we’re not busy, I might as well work on some social media posts.

“Amelia, do not walk away from me.” She demands. Her voice sounds angry, but from the look on her face and the tears in her eyes, I’d say she’s more upset than angry. “I want to talk about this.”

“I’m not walking away. I’m working.” I snap a few pictures of the new arrangements that Darlene made yesterday and check the lighting. I feel Mom staring at me while I work, but I ignore her.

After a couple of minutes, she grabs my phone from my hand. “Mom!”

“I am not done with this conversation.” She spits out the words. I can’t recall ever seeing Mom this worked up over something before. “Why have you abandoned us? Have you no loyalty?”

A low growl builds in my chest and rolls out of me before I can even wrap my head around how to answer her. She takes a step back. Her eyes widen like she doesn’t know who she’s looking at.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I say. My voice sounds much calmer than I feel. “This isn’t about loyalty. Your reaction to my pregnancy left me no choice but to leave. I can’t listen to any of you drone on about the damn feud any more. Let it go. Who cares what happened over a hundred years ago? It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Of course it matters.” She insists. “It will always matter. It destroyed our family legacy, and it’s our job to get it back.”

I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. “There are so many things wrong with what you just said.”

“Like what?” She huffs. The front door opens with a ding. When I look up, I’m relieved to see Darlene showing up for her shift.

She looks between us with raised brows. Then her lips turn up into a mischievous smile. “Looks like I’m just in time for a fun one.”

“A fun what?” Mom gives her a confused look.

“Mother-daughter fight!” She says with far too much excitement.

“We’re not fighting.” Mom snaps. Her tone further supports Darlene’s assessment of the situation. This is definitely a fight. “My daughter was just about to tell me why I’m wrong.”

“This I gotta hear,” Darlene mumbles under her breath. Then she looks at me and nods as if she’s telling me to get to it.

“Did it ever occur to you or dad that maybe we need to create a new legacy? Forget about the past and what was lost. Instead, focus on all we’ve gained or could gain.”

“New legacy?” Her jaw drops. “But it’s always been about the homestead.”

“Forget about the homestead. It’s gone.” I toss my hands out to my side and shake them, attempting to force some of the tension out of my body. “Why can’t you let this go?”

“Because they stole you from us!” She cries. “I’ve lost my daughter.”

I throw my head back and groan. “You didn’t lose me!”

When I look back at my mom, she’s struggling to breathe. She’s getting far too worked up. If she’s not careful, she’s going to make herself sick.

I walk over to her and pull her into a hug. “Mom, no one stole me. I’m right here.”

“It feels like you abandoned us.” She sobs. “And it’s killing your father. Our family is falling apart.”

“What are you talking about?”

She sniffs and wipes her eyes. “Without you, your dad is a mess. The lumber yard is struggling. Jason refuses to listen to your father’s advice. He’s constantly undoing everything your father does. Linden and Tanner are losing their minds. And Aaron is off doing God only knows what. We need you!”

She’s not telling me anything I didn’t already. All of those things were happening before they found out about Christian and the baby. The only difference is I’m not there to pick up the pieces.

“It’s not my job to fix all of this, Mom. I can’t be the only one fighting to keep our family together. I’m not that strong. I need someone to be strong for me for a change.”

She stares at me like I just stabbed her with a knife. “And that m—” She pauses and takes a deep breath. “Christian is giving you that? He’s not even strong enough to take care of himself, let alone you and a baby.”

While I applaud her for using his name, there’s so much hate in her tone that I’m taken aback. “Don’t talk about him like that. You don’t know him.”

“I don’t need to—”

“Alright, Johanna, that’s enough.” Darlene walks up to Mom and wraps her arm around her shoulder. “I think you’ve said enough for the day. It’s best you stop before you push Lia away for good.”

Mom looks over at Darlene and blinks several times. She looks confused as to why Darlene is even here.

“What?” she mumbles.

“I said, let it go.” Darlene’s tone is firm, making it clear that she means business. It’s a rare thing for Darlene. She’s usually all playfulness and fun times.

“But—”

“No buts.” Darlene cuts her off. “Do you love Lia?”

Mom furrows her brows. “Of course.”

“Then tell her that. Support her. She’s going to have a baby, and she’s going to need her mother to help her.”

Mom looks at me like she’s seeing me for the first time in weeks. Then she breaks down into sobs.

“Mom.” I rush to her and pull her into a tight hug. “We’ll figure this out.”

“How?” she cries.

“I don’t know yet, but you could start by trusting me.”

She takes a deep breath and nods. “I’ll try. It’s just … There are so many secrets. It concerns me and your father.”

“I’m sorry,” I say. That’s all I can offer at this point. Maybe one day I’ll be able to tell them more, but that day is not today.

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