Chapter 6 #2
“I don’t know how you found your way back,” he murmurs near my ear, “but I’m glad you did.”
My eyes burn and I blink fast. “I didn’t, in all honesty, Reaper,” I whisper. “He dragged me here or I would have run off again.”
Reaper’s chest shakes with a quiet laugh. “Yeah. That sounds like Phantom.” A firm, yet gentle hand comes down on my shoulder. “Either way, you’re here”
Phantom shifts, and I watch him lower Kaylee onto the couch with a tenderness that makes my throat close. He tucks her in like she belongs here. Like he belongs with her.
Like I do too.
But I can’t. Right?
I won’t.
Because the second my father finds out where I am, this place becomes a battlefield and everything I sacrificed will be for nothing.
Reaper wraps a protective arm around a cute brunette with kind eyes. She barely reaches his shoulder but I can tell she has her man wrapped around her every word. She also smells like baby powder and they totally have the vibe of being new parents.
All the other women appear next, filtering into the living room like they’ve been waiting just out of sight.
Charli’s hand stays on my arm as she starts introductions, like she knows I might bolt.
“This is Arabella,” she says, nodding toward the woman at Reaper’s side. She has eyes that look like she’s seen hell and learned how to smile anyway. There’s a quiet steel in her posture, the kind that says she’d burn the world down for the man she loves.
Arabelle studies me with a measured look, then offers a small, sincere smile. “Hi, Everly. Welcome to our home.”
“This is Emilia,” Charli continues.
Emilia’s gaze is sharp, her expression softening only a fraction when she looks at Kaylee. Her hair is still damp like she showered in a hurry. She looks like someone who knows what it feels like to be hunted.
“This is Isa.”
Isa’s eyes are huge and expressive, and she looks at me like she already understands the shape of my fear.
“And Willow,” Charli finishes.
Willow’s mouth quirks. She’s beautiful in a way that feels dangerous, like she’s learned how to turn pain into a weapon.
All of them are watching me. Not with judgment, but there’s underlying curiosity...and a healthy dose of wariness.
Cajun gumbo, spicy and rich, cornbread sweet and buttery, and something sugary underneath it all that makes my stomach twist with a homesick ache. Cinnamon. Cookies. Hot chocolate. Everything that reminds me of Christmas.
My stomach twists, not from hunger but from grief.
Kaylee deserves Christmas mornings and warm kitchens and a tree with lights and people who love her.
I’ve kept her low-profile for so long that even the smell of the holidays feels like a risk.
“It’s time to eat. You’re joining us right?”
That’s Arabelle and Charli both speaking over one another.
“I’d rather take her somewhere quiet,” I say, nodding at Kaylee. “So she can sleep. And tomorrow…” I force the words out even though they taste like ash. “Tomorrow we’ll be out of here.”
The room stills again, but this time it’s different.
This time it’s Venom who steps forward.
He’s clean now. Damp hair hangs around his shoulders.
He's slipped into a clean long-sleeved black shirt and fresh jeans. From the outside looking in, he could pass for normal if you didn’t see the dead calm in his eyes.
The calm that belongs to a man who has stitched people back together and buried others without blinking.
I should know. I watched it go down tonight.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Venom says.
Heat crawls up my neck. “Excuse me?”
Venom’s gaze flicks to Kaylee and back to me. “Here is home. Right, Phantom.”
Phantom is at my side still holding my hand. He looks down at me and that sideways grin of his is everything my heart loves.
“That’s what I’ve told her all night.”
The word home lands on my heart like a two-ton boulder.
I blush harder, because my body is stupid and my heart is worse, and some part of me wants to believe my old friend.
I wish I could sink into the warmth they are all offering and pretend I didn’t destroy everything I touch.
My mouth opens but nothing comes out. Because what do you say to that when you hurt them all so much?
When you disappeared and never looked back?
When you broke Phantom’s heart and left him bleeding in the rain and then showed up three years later with his child in your arms?
Emilia steps close, her voice low enough that only I can hear.
“I know how you feel,” she whispers. “It’s okay though. No one here is judging. We all make our decisions and it’s okay to come back when we need help.”
My throat tightens so hard I can’t swallow. I can barely think, let alone speak right now.
I nod once.
“Men, I think we need to talk. Let’s give the ladies a minute to catch up while we take care of business.”
Reaper walks off after giving his woman a kiss.
Phantom’s gaze flicks toward the hallway, then down toward the stairs that lead to the basement level where Savage Reign do their little huddles.
Phantom would laugh at me if I ever told him what I called their meeting room, but I never got the biker life and all the lingo so I use what I use.
Storm holds something in his hand.
The black book.
It looks like it’s been through hell. The edges are warped, and the cover is scraped. The spine is cracked like someone tried to destroy it and failed.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes, baby. And then we will talk.”
Phantom shifts his attention to Reaper and the rest of the men filtering throughout the living room and down the stairs.
Faint bruises show on some of their knuckles.
Ash’s cheek looks like he took a good punch to the face and Beast has a bandage on the side of his neck.
Storm looks untouched like Phantom, but it was horrible out there tonight.
I can’t imagine if this world lost any of them.
Phantom looks back and throws a wink at me and then it’s just me and a room full of women.
I stand there for a second, staring at the space he leaves behind, feeling the cold seep into my bones again.
I have debris and dirt covering me head to toe. My hair smells like smoke. My skin smells like gunpowder. I’m a walking reminder of tonight.
The women surround me before I can get lost in my panic.
Isa presses a Christmas cookie into my hand like she’s feeding a feral animal, and Willow hands me a mug of hot chocolate that warms my fingers instantly.
I stare down at it, stupidly mesmerized by the little marshmallows floating on top.
Normal things shouldn’t exist in my world anymore.
“Drink,” Charli orders gently. “You look like you’re about to fall over.”
I take a sip, and the sweetness hits my tongue, and it almost hurts from being so damn good.
I swallow and glance toward the stairs. “Should we join them?”
Arabella’s gaze is steady. “Not now. Let’s give them some space to put their heads on straight and then we can eat. I heard about what happened tonight. Are you sure you are okay?”
A chill slides down my spine. “How much do you know about what is going on?” she asks in a soft tone.
All of them look at me then, and I realize what they’re really asking.
Can we trust you?
There’s no use in giving half-truths anymore.
“My brother is working behind my father’s back to break up the Euphoria ring from the inside,” I say, the words coming out in a rush now that they’ve started. “He’s been working with a detective for three years, but she can’t do much until he gets more proof. That is where I came in.”
My eyes widen. In all the chaos, I forgot about the video.
I make a mental note to reach out to the detective in the morning.
“Umm…my brother, Micah, he got too deep and needed help. That’s about all I know from my end.
” I tighten my grip on the mug. “But you make it sound like something else is going on here. I never knew the Savages for pushing drugs. Were they fighting tonight to take the drugs from my father and all the other guys? Is that why they were there?”
It breaks something in me to even ask. I don’t know why it never occurred to me before to consider the option.
People change. What they won’t do one day, becomes exactly what they need to do the next in order to survive.
I should know. But if the men I loved once became the thing my father is…
then there’s nothing safe left in this world.
Charli’s brow lifts. “You know our men better than that.”
My runaway thoughts come to a full stop.
I nod and quickly erase the idea of the Savages doing anything to harm the innocent from my mind.
My mind isn’t in the right place. “I do,” I admit, and the confession tastes like shame.
“I’ve spent so much time not trusting anyone that it’s my first knee-jerk reaction toward everything. ”
The relief hits me so hard my eyes sting.
“Really?” Isa asks softly, like she needs to hear it too.
I nod, and the tears slip free before I can stop them.
Arabelle exhales, the tension in her shoulders easing just a fraction. “Right now the men are poring over the black book they got from the Vultures’ VP. It has everyone in it they need to focus on eliminating from the board.”
Worry etches deep into the shadows under her eyes. She’s scared, and she has every reason to be. This is a game of life and death, and none of us are the ones holding the safe cards.
“I don’t know about a book,” I whisper, wiping my face with the back of my hand like I can erase weakness. “But Phantom said I was in it. Why? Who knows? I just know I need to get to my brother.”
Willow’s head tilts. “Why? Didn’t he choose the lifestyle your father taught him?”
“It’s not that easy. And besides, it doesn’t mean he can’t change his mind and need our help. He’s my family. We already lost our younger brother Shawn. If Micah dies too, the last piece of my childhood dies with him, even if it was rotten.”
“True,” Willow offers. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know.”