33. Summer
Summer
Days went by, and once again, Axel disappeared.
I kept working, but never without a Haven bodyguard. If it wasn’t Reese, one of his brothers would sit at the counter, sipping coffee or nibbling fries while I worked. As much as I appreciated what they were doing, it was maddening. I felt like I couldn’t go outside without an escort.
For obvious reasons, Nate was never alone, either. But it didn’t bother him. He was still a kid—used to being watched over by adults. And to him, staying at Paul and Marlene’s was simply an extended sleepover with his pseudo-grandparents.
He was aware that Axel was in town, but he was so confident in Reese, and the rest of the Haven family, in their ability to protect him, he didn’t seem to worry.
I was grateful it was me who was a big ball of stress, not him.
But his hero worship of Reese made my heart ache.
I’d tried reminding him that Reese and I weren’t really married.
That Reese would return to Arizona eventually.
He’d shrugged it off, and I wasn’t sure if he thought I was wrong and Reese wouldn’t leave, or if he didn’t want to face the fact that he would.
Either way, it felt like the three of us were heading for a cliff. I had no idea how we were going to get rid of Axel, but it had to happen somehow. And once it did, Reese and I wouldn’t have a reason to pretend to be married anymore.
He wouldn’t need to stay.
He’d been up front about that from the beginning. He’d help us until we were safe. Then, he’d go back to his life, and I’d go on with mine.
But the thought of living without him was getting harder to bear.
Friday night he arrived to pick me up from work, and the flutter in my stomach was tempered by my sinking heart.
I’d never known anyone like him—so big and intimidating, yet with such a soft heart beneath his hard exterior.
And I was beginning to realize that, even though he hadn’t asked for it, my heart belonged to him.
His brother Josiah got up from the counter—he’d been on Summer duty that afternoon—and they shook hands. I waved to him, and he tipped his chin before heading out the door. Reese sat on his vacated stool.
I still had a few tables, so Reese waited while I finished up. When my customers were gone and my tables cleared, I clocked out, got my purse, and followed Reese to his SUV.
“I want to stop at our house before we head up to my folks’,” he said when we got in.
Our house. I tried not to sigh. It wasn’t really ours.
“Sure. I need to grab a few things, too.”
We were quiet as he drove, winding through town on a circuitous route to make sure we weren’t followed.
Far from being comfortable, the silence felt heavy, like a force gradually but insistently pushing us apart.
He’d been closed off since the confrontation with Axel, and the distance grew every day.
He seemed to decide it was safe enough and turned onto our street.
The house looked cheerful, with its fresh paint and tidy landscaping.
His vigilance didn’t ease, even once the garage door lowered behind us, and the sense that he was on a job—providing security—was comforting, despite my mixed-up emotions.
Still silent, we got out and went into the house.
Frustration ate at me as I grabbed a few things from the bedroom.
It hadn’t been long since I’d been in my old apartment, hastily packing a bag so Nate and I could stay with Reese.
Almost immediately after that, we’d been on the road, heading for Tilikum.
We’d stayed in motels, then with his parents, and finally moved into this little house, only to be chased out again.
I aggressively shoved clothes into my bag. I just wanted to be able to sleep in my own bed without worrying about my stupid ex kidnapping my son. Was that really too much to ask?
There was food in the fridge that would go bad if we didn’t use it, so I loaded up a couple discarded grocery bags while Reese was busy in the other room.
On a whim, I took out my phone—I was still using the burner phone Reese had given me—and called my mom. She probably wouldn’t answer, and I wasn’t even sure what I wanted from her if she did. But the fact that she kept ignoring my calls added to my irritation.
“Summer?” she answered.
I’d been expecting to get her voicemail again, so her voice startled me. “Mom.”
Her tone was casual. “What’s going on?”
Wait, didn’t she know? “Other than my ex terrorizing me and threatening to kidnap my son?”
“No, he’s not.”
“Mom, please don’t gaslight me. I saw him. He put a gun in my face.”
“He did what?”
Was that anger in her voice? She’d never even hinted that anything a Mayhem member did to me bothered her. But it almost sounded like that made her mad.
“He put a gun in my face and told me he’s going to take my son.”
She hesitated for a moment. “Well, he won’t do that again.”
“How can you say that? Of course he will.”
“No, he won’t.”
It was impossible to keep my voice from rising. “He tracked me halfway across the country and now he’s here, biding his time until he finds a way to kidnap my child.”
“He’s not there. He’s here. Stryker ordered him to come back.”
“Wait, what? He’s there? Right now?” I paused, my tone going cold. “You’ve seen him.”
“Yes, I’ve seen him. He’s on thin ice. Did he tell you he torched a restaurant out in Elko?”
I had no idea what she was talking about. “No. It’s not like we sat down over coffee to catch up. And what does that have to do with anything?”
“He thought you worked there. Turned out to be some other chick named Summer. Looked like you, I guess. But Stryker can’t let him go rampaging around. He’s too reckless. It’s putting the club at risk.”
“So he was ordered to come back? And he did?”
“Of course he did. He wouldn’t dare disobey.”
No, he wouldn’t. Disobedience would mean being stripped of his colors—kicked out of the club. Or forfeiting his life.
“Stryker has been more than generous,” Mom continued. “Axel has a lot of work to do to prove he’s worthy of it. And he’s been ordered to stop trying to get his son back.”
My eyes widened. Could she be serious? “Are you saying they ordered him to leave Nate alone?”
“Mm hmm,” she said, as if that wasn’t a big deal. “He’s causing too much trouble over it. If he wants a kid so badly, he can make another one.”
Despite my revulsion at the way she casually suggested he impregnate someone to replace Nate, relief washed over me like a splash of cold water. He was gone, and Mayhem had ordered him to stop trying to take my son. That meant he wasn’t coming back.
It was over.
“Are you there, or did you hang up on me again?” she asked.
“I’m here. Is Axel mad about all this?”
“He got a little riled up in a bar last night, but he didn’t do any real damage. Harley was there to calm him down.”
I didn’t know who Harley was—she could be anyone from a stripper to a club groupie—but I caught Mom’s meaning.
“Okay.” I let out a breath. “Well, thanks for answering.”
Her tone changed, turning high-pitched and chipper. “You bet, baby girl. Kisses.”
“Bye, Mom.”
I ended the call and slowly lowered the phone. Finally, club justice had landed on my side. In one fell stroke, they’d ended my crisis. They hadn’t done it for me, or my son, but that didn’t matter. It was over, and Nate and I could finally move on.
Reese came back to the kitchen while I was still staring blankly at the wall.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “What happened?”
Blinking, I turned toward him. “My mom finally answered. Axel isn’t here. He’s back at Mayhem.”
“What? Why?”
“The club ordered him to come back and stop trying to get Nate.”
He gaped at me for a second, as if he couldn’t believe what he’d heard. “Why would they do that?”
“Mom said he’s on thin ice for causing too much trouble. I guess he set a restaurant on fire somewhere? I don’t know, the conversation was a little confusing. But the bottom line is, Mayhem put a stop to it. He’s not allowed to come after Nate anymore.”
With a long exhale, he rubbed his hands up and down his face. “I did not see that coming.”
“I know, right? Saved by Mayhem is not how I saw this ending.”
He met my eyes. “You’re sure she told you the truth?”
“I don’t know why she’d lie about it.”
“So we put our guard down.”
I shook my head. “She’ll always pick Stryker over me, but I don’t think she’d go that far to help Axel. She’s not a good mother, but she’s not that terrible.”
His jaw tightened, and I had a feeling it would take a while before he’d relax his vigilance.
“I guess this means we don’t have to keep hiding at your parents’ house.” I started pulling the food out of the grocery bags and putting it back in the fridge. “Although I think Nate might be disappointed. He likes it there.”
When Reese didn’t say anything, I shut the fridge and glanced at him. His brow was furrowed, his eyes on the floor.
The reality of what this meant hung between us, unspoken. We didn’t need to pretend to be married anymore.
Which was for the best. Because we weren’t married. We weren’t a family. And it had never been meant to be forever.
Reese had promised to keep us safe, but he hadn’t promised to stay.