Chapter 27
ZANE
I suspected the dudes back at Sienna’s house—the ones whose guns she played chicken with—might have been Hydra. But I’d convinced myself I was just imagining things, trying to find problems everywhere because I was slipping back under Sienna’s spell and wanted as many outs as I could find.
It’s why I allowed myself to spend those few days in the motel room with her. Because that was safe, it wasn’t part of real life, I could still pretend I’d let her go once we reached LA.
I’m not letting her go.
Getting chased by those guys her husband hired to get her back solidified that in my mind. Not because it’s the sensible thing to do. But because I can’t imagine not having her by my side to keep her safe from now until forever. I think I’m done denying that.
But the only really safe place is the Rogue Angels MC clubhouse.
Out on the road, I got too many enemies and not enough friends. I wasn’t in a friend-making mood these last ten years. I was in the burn-everything-down mood.
But going back to Rogue, bringing this shit back to him… how can I live with myself if I fuck over my one true friend like that? Especially after he took me in when no one else would.
We’re in a deeply wooded area at the edge of California. A place I know well from all my running and hiding. No one’s following us. In fact, the side road I took to get us here is completely empty in both directions.
I take a turn down another empty side road and stop in front of a rest stop diner-type place, where I know the meat is always fresh and no one asks any questions.
“Good, I’m starving,” Sienna says as she dismounts. She may be speaking bravely, but she’s paler than white and her eyes are deeply sad.
She takes off her helmet and shakes out her hair.
It catches the sun’s rays, shimmering copper and for a split second I know I’m the luckiest man in the world for having a woman like her by my side.
But that passes. Because the price to keep her has always been high.
Too high? It seems like it right now. And at the same time… it doesn’t and never did.
“And freezing, by the looks of it,” I say, even manage to grin as I wrap my arm around her shoulders and walk her inside.
She’s shivering, and I’m pretty sure it’s because of the shock and not the cold because the air is quite warm in this part of Cali. It always is.
“Unholy! Long time no see,” Tony—the owner of this place—calls out as we enter his shabby restaurant. He’s one of a handful of friends I did manage to make in the last decade. The wood creaks and groans under my boots as I approach the counter and Sienna starts shaking worse.
I offer Tony my left hand to shake because I’m keeping my right around Sienna’s shoulders, where it belongs.
“It has been a minute,” I tell him. “How have you been? How’s business?”
He points at the empty place with a sweeping motion. “Not much to speak of, but I prefer it this way in my old age.”
He has aged since I saw him last, his hair and his beard now completely grey and the limp as he walks around the counter to wipe down a table for us seems to have gotten worse.
“But you and your pretty lady just sit down,” he says. “Me and Moira will take good care of you.”
As he says her name, Moira, his partner since forever, peeks through the kitchen door.
“I got some excellent T-bone steaks,” she says. “Want me to whip you up some?”
“Just whatever you have on hand,” I tell her, glancing at Sienna, who seems to be taking all this in her stride, but is still shaking.
“Coming right up. And you get them some coffee to warm them up, Tony,” Moira says and disappears back into the kitchen.
Tony leaves us to start making the coffee.
“You’ll be fine here while I go make a call,” I tell Sienna as I help her into her seat. “Moira and Tony are good people.”
She smiles at me faintly. “They’ve taken care of you in the past, haven’t they? While I didn’t.”
“Yeah, many times,” I tell her and signal to Tony that I’m going outside to make a call. “But the past isn’t what’s important now. The future is.”
Which is why I gotta call Rogue, tell him what’s what.
He’s been calling me on and off these past couple of days, but I haven’t been picking up. Too many things to figure out without him in my ear.
“You’re still alive then?” he says instead of a normal greeting. “Been starting to wonder.”
“Yeah, I should’ve stayed in touch,” I say. “And you’re not that far off the mark. I’m still with Sienna.”
“Oh, it’s that bad, is it?” he says and chuckles.
“Hydra are after her,” I say. “Seems they’re somehow connected to her husband and he’s using them to chase after her.”
“Not those assholes again. How?” he says. “Are you safe?”
“For the moment, but I think it’s best we disappear now,” I say and pause to try and find the right words for what comes next.
“What?” Rogue says into the silence, sounding genuinely confused.
“I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, brother,” I say. “But I can’t bring this to you on top of everything you’ve already risked for me. So we’ll be in the wind. At least for the foreseeable future. Maybe once the husband gives up looking for her…”
“Bullshit, Zane,” he snaps. “You’re coming home. I won’t hear anything else about it.”
“It’s too dangerous.”
He scoffs. “What’s too dangerous is you two out there on your own against Hydra. If I know one thing about them is that they’re everywhere and they never give up. Besides, I need you here to help me get them off our asses.”
“But—”
“No buts, Zane. You get home now and we’ll figure this out together,” he says. “That’s an order.”
Despite how commanding, almost harsh, his tone is the words actually warm my chest. For most of my life, I’ve been chased away by people, even those I considered my friends. To hear Rogue ordering me to come home no matter the danger I’m bringing with me is a very new thing. A very welcome thing.
“An order from the President’s not something I can ignore,” I say. “I hope you don’t regret it.”
“I’d regret losing you again more,” he says. “I expect you home by tonight.”
Then he hangs up and I just stand there, looking out over the green hills, letting the sun warm my face. And for the first time in forever the world doesn’t seem like such a cold and hard place.
The love of my life by my side, my friends and brothers welcoming me home… it’s a good place to be. Before I return to Sienna, I vow I will not let any of them down ever again. I promise it to the wind and the sun and the open road. And it’s a promise I’ll keep until my dying breath.