Ridge’s Viper (Mountain River MC #3)

Prologue

Ridge

This is the most difficult thing I have ever had to do. Sitting here with a man who has become a close friend to me as he outlines what is going to happen over the next several months.

The cancer has spread. He won’t make it to Christmas. My heart hurts not only for him, but for his daughter too. Rain has no one else in this world other than her dad. She is the definition of a daddy’s girl.

Who would blame her, though? Mustang raised her.

“This sucks, man,” I tell him, unsure of what else to say.

“Tell me about it.” He sighs. “I know it’s not the most fun thing to talk about, but it’s important to me that you know what’s going on and what is going to happen when I’m gone.

I took you under my wing when you joined.

You are family to me for more reasons than that patch on your chest. So I need you to be prepared.

Rain is going to need your help when I’m gone. ”

“Of course. You know I would do anything for you.”

It’s the truth. When I first joined up with the Mountain River MC, Mustang was the first to welcome me.

When the other guys were enjoying hazing the prospect, Mustang took me aside and started teaching me their ways.

He always said he saw something in my eyes that first night that reminded him of himself. He wanted to nurture that.

He was already raising a very unruly Rain at that point, but he didn’t hesitate to take on a kid with a chip on his shoulder. He showed me what the brotherhood was about. He became the father I’d always wished I had.

That’s what makes this even harder. I have to stay strong, but it is killing me to know that he will no longer be here. No more beers on Tuesday nights or catching the car auction on TV.

Instead, all that will remain is the silence in his absence.

Mustang starts coughing, sounding like he is hacking up a lung. I want to move toward him to offer any assistance I can, but he would wave me away. He has been stoic through this whole battle. The fact that he is telling me anything shows how bad it has really gotten.

“Are you okay?” the home health nurse asks as she pokes her head in.

“Fine,” he grumbles, wiping his mouth.

I don’t miss the bit of blood on the tissue.

Fuck. It’s one thing to know your friend is dying, but it’s another to actually see it.

He sees me eyeing it. “Damn disease is eating me from the inside. They cut out all they could. I went through all the treatments. Nothing more they can do. I can try treatments again, but the outcome isn’t great. I don’t want to be miserable for whatever time I have left.”

I want to beg him to get the treatment, even if it gives us only five more minutes with him, but I don’t.

He can’t fight this disease for anyone else. He has to fight it for himself. If he is done, then this really is it. It is the end.

“Does Rain know?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “That’s why I need your help.

I have tried to shelter her from the worst of this.

I know the doctors and nurses tell her bits and pieces, but I’ve told them not to tell her that I’ve come to peace with my fate.

I want her to enjoy this time together. If she knows, she will want me to get the treatment, and I can’t. ”

His voice is haunted. I don’t miss how his words echo the thoughts I just had. Rain would want him to fight until the end, and if she asked, he would do it no matter what toll it took on him.

“So you need me to make sure she’s okay when you are gone,” I state rather than ask.

He nods. “I need you to make sure she knows I loved her very much and that the actions I am going to take were of my own free will. That what I’ve done is what made me happy.

I also need you to make sure she knows that when it comes to my will, I did everything I could to take care of her.

I know you two have a rough relationship, but I need her to know that. ”

“I will let her know. You could write her a letter or something,” I offer.

He shakes his head. “No. She would tear it up in anger.”

That’s when it hits me why he is asking me.

“She already hates me, so what’s the harm in having me be the messenger?” I mumble.

“I knew you would understand.”

I do. Rain has hated me ever since she hit on me once and I shut her down.

She’s not the issue. She never has been.

She is gorgeous, funny, brave, and smart.

Everything a man could want in a woman. The only problem I have is that she has and always will be Mustang’s daughter.

There is one hard limit in the brotherhood.

Family is off limits. Daughters, sisters, cousins—all of them are off limits unless you get permission from the brother.

As much as Rain intrigues me, I could never risk my relationship with Mustang for what could be a fling.

“I don’t know if she will accept my help, but you know I will do what I can to take care of her.”

“I know you will, and don’t you worry about that. I have something that may make her more willing to receive your help.”

That sounds a bit mischievous, but I let it slide. He is allowed to have his secrets.

“I am sure she is going to love whatever you come up with.”

That makes him laugh. He laughs so hard that he starts to cough, which brings the nurse running back in. He waves her away as he wipes his mouth, a big smile on his face.

“She is going to hate it, but it’s for her own good. She will try to leave this place as soon as I’m gone, and I don’t want her out there alone. She needs to know that she has family here. That she will be welcome here long after I’m gone.”

“Of course she will,” I tell him. “She will always be part of the club.”

“In a sense, she will, but not truly. She has seen what happens when a member dies. Their loved ones fade away from the club slowly. She won’t want that. She will rip the Band-Aid off. Remove herself before anyone else can walk away.”

“How are you going to stop her?” I ask.

“Well, now that’s where you come in. It’s a big ask. One I wouldn’t make if I didn’t feel it’s necessary.”

“What is it?”

The color drains from my face when I hear his words.

This is going to end so badly.