Chapter 13 #2
“She came late in the year. She’s a few years younger. You were gone by the time Cat and Sam started hanging out together.”
He turned off the screen and leaned back into the booth as he shoved the phone back in his pocket.
His sister’s painful expression, the tears rolling down her face from that night, knocked the wind out of him.
He promised God he would spend the rest of his life seeking justice and protecting girls like his sister.
Then Audra’s dying face appeared in his mind.
Right until the end, Audra protected her son and others by passing on the information needed to bring down the Sharks for their illegal activities.
He should have been the one protecting her.
He should have followed and kept a closer eye on his sister.
No gun or badge could put an invisible shield of security around them.
Sebastian let himself believe if he did as he promised, God would do the rest. He almost laughed at the foolishness of it.
Yet, he’d kept his promise. Sebastian did what he told God he would do.
So why, then, did those he tried to protect get hurt?
What made him think it would be different with Caitlyn?
Yeats glanced over his shoulder at Alison. The short blond spoke with a customer at the counter. Sebastian could see his drink by her arm. He needed it now. The scents of garlic and yeast turned his once-growling stomach sour as the seconds ticked.
Yeats warned him about the Ghost Riders’ creed—about Caitlyn.
He liked the woman and cared about her kid.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t the right word. He liked Audra, too, and cared about her like a sister.
Caitlyn wasn’t anything near the sister vibe.
The woman caused him to do things, nice things, like mow yards, buy ice cream, and play car racing games with her son.
He needed to get out while he still held part of himself together.
Caitlyn wasn’t a free woman. The Ghost Riders still considered her one of them. Now her old man was back. Had she gone to Sam? Is that why his sister was asking? He swiped his hair off his forehead in annoyance. Did Sam know he was close by? Too many questions swirled in his mind.
“You should find someone else to work at the motorcycle range.”
“You’re leaving.” Yeats, with his dark curly hair and black beard, shook his head. “Are you going back? Are you taking back your badge?”
“No.” He didn’t add a few choice words because the family was having dinner nearby.
What once became a forced way to converse to fit in with the Sharks, now was too easy to slip into, and now that he no longer had to pretend, he wanted to be one of them.
Would he ever be Sebastian Daniels again?
Most likely not. Sebastian Daniels disappeared the day Audra died.
Yeats leaned on his elbows on the table. “I didn’t take you for the type to let a bunch of bikers run you out of town.”
“I’m not running.” Yes, no, okay, maybe. He was one for three, and the odds were still stacked against him.
“Then what are you doing?”
On the other side of the counter, Sebastian caught sight of Caitlyn, her black hair pulled up in a messy bun and those faded blue jeans skintight. She had flour on the front of her shirt. The woman could have worn a burlap sack and been just as gorgeous.
Yeats followed his gaze and grinned. “You care about her and the kid.”
Sebastian scowled, a reflex more than anything. He wasn’t ready to admit the truth, even to Yeats. Yeats took a long drink of his soda and lowered the glass, his gaze steady on the waitress a few tables over.
“Never pegged you for a blonde type.” Sebastian lifted his chin as the waitress returned with his drink and another for Yeats.
“Alison and I go way back. Her brother Chase is a member of the Soldiers of Christ, like us.”
“Like you. I’m still affiliated with the Thunder Valley Chapter. Once a brother, always a brother.”
Yeats’ gaze followed Alison again. They both went silent as she approached.
“What can I get you two brothers tonight?” Alison pulled out her pad. “Pepperoni or pineapple and ham?" Fluttering her lashes at him, Yeats stared so hard that Sebastian feared his friend would drool on the table.
“I think you should bring him both.” Put the poor guy out of his misery.
Sebastian grinned as Alison jotted down the order. “Medium or large?”
“He likes ‘em large.” Sebastian took a large gulp of soda to prevent her from seeing his mischievous grin.
Alison rolled her eyes and turned to leave. Yeats reached over, took her hand, and let her fingers slip through his as she left them. Then he turned and growled, making Sebastian laugh.
“Alison, is that the one you’ve been seeing? You’ve been holding out on me.”
“Stick around, and you might find out a few things,” Yeats said.
“I can’t.”
“What did the missus say?” Yeats asked.
Missus was Yeats’ code word for the mysterious person on the other end of the burner phone. Sebastian filled Yeats in on what Haden told him.
“He thinks this guy hanging out with them is bad news.” Yeats’ voice lowered to a whisper as he glanced around the restaurant.
“Yeah, I got that impression.”
“You think the guy’s dangerous?” Yeats asked.
“No.” Chris had trouble fitting in, but Sebastian hadn’t expected him to try tracking him down. Maybe finding Thunder Valley would help the younger man get back on the right track again. “I think you have bigger problems here.”
“You mean Silas?”
Yeats filled Sebastian in about Silas, who had been involved in robberies, assaults, and even murder charges. A chill ran down Sebastian’s spine as he listened.
“He shot a detective investigating him, tossed him in the outskirts of town for dead. Caitlyn hid the guy to protect him. Then she testified against Silas. Later, she discovered Silas and a few others were using the shop to launder cash.”
“And her father, Welder?”
“He didn’t have a clue. By then, the man had drunk his days away and trusted Silas with running the business.
Casper tried stepping into Welder’s place to smooth things out at the club, but Welder and Casper had some kind of disagreement, and Welder gave the power to Silas.
It caused a rift in the family and almost divided the club. ”
A jolt of concern shot through Sebastian as he watched Caitlyn reach up to shove a pizza into the oven. Her movement was awkward, and she flinched back with a startled cry as she bumped into another worker. Heat flared in his chest—a mix of protectiveness and something more.
“You change your mind?” Yeats said from across from him.
“I’m not getting involved.” The flimsy excuse tasted like ash in his mouth. Getting involved meant potentially facing Caitlyn’s old man. He didn’t have the luxury of another complication, especially one that could endanger keeping Caitlyn and Owen safe.
Caitlyn’s ex wasn’t the only complication. There was Caitlyn herself. What if she discovered his identity? He couldn’t let that happen.
Yeats scratched his beard. “You have a funny way of avoiding women.”
“You have terrible taste in pizza toppings for an ex-ranger,” Sebastian muttered, downing the rest of his soda in one gulp.
“A little pineapple never harmed anyone.” Yeats lifted his gaze, watching for their food to arrive.
Sebastian spun his empty plastic cup in his hands, the ice rattling. “I’m still not getting involved… it’s a bad idea.” Losing Caitlyn’s trust and seeing the spark of betrayal in her eyes gnawed at his conscience.
Yeats leaned back, crossing his arms. “That bad, huh?”
Sebastian held up the glass as Alison returned with their order. She placed it on the table and took Sebastian’s empty glass to refill. He tapped a rhythm on the table, waiting for her to depart from their table. She winked at Yeats as she headed away.
Yeats crossed his arms on the table and waited.
“You don’t know what happened.” Hot, searing heat, a phantom echo of a bullet tearing through flesh, seared into his shoulder. His vision swam, and he fought the urge to gasp for air. But the moment passed as quickly as it came, leaving him shaky and pale.
“Someone died on your watch,” Yeats said, reaching for a slice of pizza. “I get that. You put bad guys away. All’s good in the world, right?” Yeats’ sarcasm hinted with understanding.
Sebastian scoffed.
“It’s about the woman. Something bad went down, and you lost her and now you blame yourself. Did you love her?”
Sebastian considered the question. His gaze drifted to Caitlyn.
She’d disappeared into the kitchen somewhere.
Did he love Audra? Maybe he did. Maybe he cared about her a little more than he wanted to admit, if he were being honest with himself.
They both carried complications, but that wasn’t what Yeats was asking.
“Like a sister. She was eighteen, maybe nineteen. I’m sure the mother had something to do with getting her mixed up with Pike and his crew.
She would graduate in another year from college.
I don’t even remember what degree. Pike went after her.
She helped a woman escape, and I helped her.
All I could think of was, ‘What if she’d been Sam?
’ I holed her up in a motel and warned her to avoid contact with others.
Of course, she didn’t listen. I couldn’t protect her.
I—” Never one to cry, the admission choked him up.
“Seb, It’s okay.”
“Daniel.”
“Daniel.” Yeats repeated, then took a bite of his pizza.
Sebastian scrubbed a hand over his face, the gesture rough. The last thing he needed was Caitlyn to see him unravel. He prayed she never questioned his past.
He downed the rest of his soda in a single gulp, and a memory of Audra and her baby rose to the surface. Her son would never meet her. He failed to protect her.
“You need to let go. It wasn’t your fault.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I know you,” Yeats said firmly, meeting Sebastian’s gaze.
“You blamed yourself for what happened to Sam, and you’re doing the same thing with that woman.
You did what you had to do.” He paused, then added, “Sometimes, things fall apart even when we do everything right. But that doesn’t mean there’s no hope. ”
“Hope,” Sebastian muttered.
Yeats reached for a napkin, wiping a smudge of grease from his hand. “The hope that comes from knowing you’re not alone in this burden. Have you considered…giving it to God?”
Sebastian’s lips thinned. “There’s nothing to give.” He slouched into the booth.
“There’s always something to give. God is big enough for our worries. He wants us to share them.”
“I did.” Sebastian hissed out a breath. “He did nothing about them.”
“The answers are not always the ones we want. Remember when your father told you not to mess with the John Deere, and we both thought we could get it out and surprise him?”
Sebastian winced. “Yeah. Don’t remind me.” That summer, his father made him till his mother’s garden by hand. He also rebuilt the entire south pasture’s fence. Yeats’ father took away his driving privileges for a couple of months.
“Didn’t work out the way we thought it would. Had we listened to your dad, we wouldn’t have worsened the situation.”
“It doesn’t get any worse than this.”
“How do you know? What’s God telling you to do?”
“I don’t know.” He stopped asking, or maybe he’d stopped listening. Seeing Audra lowered into the ground sealed a part of him so deep the pain nearly ran him through.
“You got to talk to him. Pray.” Yeats leaned back and put his arm up in the back of the booth. “Now, what are we going to do about Samantha’s email?”
Yeats might think prayer was the answer, but Sebastian knew better. He needed a more strategic approach to navigate this situation without revealing his true identity to Caitlyn.
“Nothing. I need to talk to Caitlyn first.” Sebastian slipped off his jacket and got comfortable watching Caitlyn in the distance.
Considering the trust they’d built, having Caitlyn discover he was related to Sam might sever their relationship.
In her anger, she might keep him from hanging out with Owen.
He needed to ensure they were both safe, even if it meant facing her wrath one day.
Alison headed in their direction with his refill.
“And this Chris guy?”
“He’s the least of my worries.”