9. Jade #2
“You abandoned him!” The words pour out of me, four years of Tyler’s complaints, his rage, his justifications. “You chose your fucking club over your own son! You made him into what he is! You created the monster that’s been destroying my life for four years!”
“Jade—”
“Does he know?” I’m sobbing now, trying to wrench my wrists free. “Does he know you have me? Is this some kind of sick game between you two?”
“No. He doesn’t know.”
“Bullshit! You expect me to believe?—”
“He doesn’t know.” Hawk’s voice cuts through. “I didn’t know you were connected to Tyler until just now.”
“Bullshit!” I scream again, twisting, fighting, but his grip doesn’t loosen. Shadow and Razor move in, each grabbing one of my arms, pulling me back. I fight them too, kicking, screaming, completely unhinged. “Let me go! Let me fucking go!”
“Jade, calm down—” Shadow tries.
“Don’t tell me to calm down! He’s Tyler’s father! TYLER’S FATHER! The man who made him into a monster is the same man who’s been—who I?—”
I can’t finish the sentence. Can’t voice what’s been building between Hawk and me. The attraction. The trust starting to form. The way his touch on my hand last night made me feel something I haven’t felt in years.
All of it is wrong. Tainted. Ruined.
Because he’s Tyler’s father.
“Do you know what he did to me?” My voice breaks. “Do you know what your son did?”
Hawk’s face is stone, but something flickers in his eyes. “Tell me.”
“He hit me. Controlled me. Used Mason as leverage to keep me trapped. Threatened to take my son away if I ever tried to leave.” The words come out in gasps between sobs. “He cheated on me constantly. Made me feel worthless. Made me believe I deserved it. That I was lucky he even wanted me.”
Each word is a knife, and I watch them land. Watch Hawk’s expression shift from stone to something rawer. Guilt. Regret. Pain.
Good. He should feel pain.
“He put his hands on my throat,” I continue, relentless now. “Just like the bruises you must have seen on my arms. Your son did that. Your son made me so afraid that I’d rather risk dying in a storm than spend one more night under his control.”
“I didn’t know.” Hawk’s voice is rough.
“You didn’t want to know! You abandoned him and left him to become exactly what you are—a violent, controlling man who thinks women are property!”
“That’s not?—”
“Yes, it is! You’re the same! Both of you! The only difference is you’re better at pretending you’re not!”
Shadow and Razor are still holding my arms, but I’ve stopped fighting. The rage has burned through me, leaving only exhaustion and despair.
“Let her go,” Hawk says quietly.
They release me. I stumble back, wrapping my arms around myself, putting as much distance between Hawk and me as the small room allows.
We stare at each other across the kitchen. The sexual tension that’s been building since last night is still there, but it’s changed. Twisted. Wrong in ways it wasn’t before.
He’s Tyler’s father.
I was starting to trust Tyler’s father.
I was attracted to Tyler’s father.
The realization makes me want to throw up.
“I didn’t know,” Hawk says again. “I haven’t seen Tyler in two years. Haven’t spoken to him in longer. I didn’t know he had a girlfriend. Didn’t know about your son. Didn’t know any of it.”
“That makes it worse.” My voice is hollow. “You didn’t even care enough to know what he was doing. Who he was hurting. You just… didn’t care.”
Something crosses Hawk’s face. “You’re right,” he says quietly. “I didn’t know because I didn’t ask. I gave up on him years ago. Convinced myself he’d chosen his path and I couldn’t change it. That’s on me.”
“Damn right it’s on you.”
“But that doesn’t change what’s happening now. Doesn’t change that I’m trying to keep you alive.”
“Why?” The word comes out broken. “Why would you protect me? I’m your son’s… whatever I am. His ex. His victim. Why would you go against your own club to save me?”
Hawk’s quiet for a long moment. Then: “Because maybe saving you is the one thing I can do to make up for failing him. For failing to be the father he needed. For creating the situation that turned him into the man who hurt you.”
“That’s fucked up.”
“Yeah. It is.”
We stare at each other. The air between us is charged with things unsaid, with complications that have just multiplied exponentially.
“So what now?” I finally ask. “Now that you know I’m connected to your son. Now that I’m not just some random witness but the woman your son’s been terrorizing. Does that change anything?”
“No.”
“No?”
“You’re still under my protection. That hasn’t changed.”
“Even though I’m Tyler’s?—”
“Especially because you’re Tyler’s ex.” His voice hardens. “If he did what you’re saying he did, if he hurt you the way you’re describing, then he deserves whatever consequences come his way. And you deserve to get home to your kid safe.”
I want to believe him. Want to trust that this changes nothing.
But how can I? How can I trust Tyler’s father when Tyler himself taught me that trusting men only leads to pain?
Shadow clears his throat. “For what it’s worth, Jade, none of us knew. If we’d known you were connected to Tyler, we never would’ve—” He stops. “This complicates things.”
“That’s an understatement.”
Razor speaks for the first time. “Tyler’s looking for you.
Actively. That photo means he’s mobilized every club contact he has.
Someone’s going to recognize you eventually.
Someone’s going to put together that Satan’s Reapers grabbed a woman at the gas station, and that woman matches Tyler’s missing girl. ”
“How long?” Hawk asks.
“Hours. Maybe less if someone’s smart.”
“Then we need to move faster on the alternate plan.”
“What if Tyler finds out you have me?” I ask. “What if he figures out his father kidnapped his ex?”
The three men exchange looks.
“Then things get very complicated very fast,” Hawk says.
“More complicated than they already are?”
“Yeah.”
Perfect. Just perfect.
I’m trapped in a cabin with my abusive ex’s father, who I was starting to trust, maybe even become attracted to, and who’s now trying to protect me from both his own club and his own son.
This is a nightmare.
And I have fourteen hours until Reaper’s deadline. Fourteen hours to figure out if Hawk’s word actually means something, or if family loyalty will win out in the end.
Fourteen hours to decide if I trust Tyler’s father more than I feared Tyler himself.
I look at Hawk across the kitchen. See the guilt in his eyes. The regret. The determination.
And underneath all of that, the attraction that’s still there despite everything.
This is so fucked up.
“I need air,” I say, turning toward the back door.
“Jade—” Hawk starts.
“I’m not running. I’m not stupid. I know there’s nowhere to go.” I look back at him. “But I need five minutes where I’m not looking at you and thinking about the fact that you’re his father. Can you give me that?”
He nods slowly. “Five minutes. Razor goes with you.”
“Fine.”
Razor follows me out onto the back porch. The morning air is cold and clean. I gulp it down, trying to clear my head, trying to process everything that just exploded in the kitchen.
Tyler’s father.
Of all the people who could have kidnapped me, it had to be Tyler’s father.
The universe has a sick sense of humor.
Behind me, through the window, I can see Hawk and Shadow talking in low voices. Hawk runs his hand over his face, looking older and more tired than I’ve ever seen him.
Good.
He should be tired. Should be struggling. Should feel the weight of what his son did to me and what he’s now trying to fix.
Razor stands beside me, silent, just keeping watch.
“Did you know?” I ask quietly. “That he had a son?”
“Yeah. We all knew. Never met Tyler. He joined the Ruthless Saints specifically to spite Hawk. Cut off all contact years ago.”
“Why?”
“Because Hawk chose the club over his family. Tyler never forgave him for it.”
“Can’t say I blame him.”
“Neither can Hawk.”
We stand in silence, watching the forest, listening to birds, pretending everything isn’t falling apart.
My five minutes are almost up when Razor speaks again. “For what it’s worth, this doesn’t change anything for us. You’re still under our protection. Hawk’s word still stands.”
“Even against his own son?”
“Especially against his own son. Hawk knows what Tyler is. Knows what he’s capable of. If anything, this makes him more determined to keep you safe.”
“Why?”
“Because saving you might be the only way he can make up for failing Tyler.”
Same thing Hawk said.
I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse.
The door opens. Shadow leans out. “Time’s up.”
I take one last breath of clean air, then head back inside.
Back to the cabin, where Tyler’s father is trying to save me from Tyler’s wrath.
Back to the nightmare that just got infinitely more complicated.