Chapter 5
Chapter Five
She banged on the door locked from the other side.
When no one answered, she tore the oil paper off one window.
She didn’t see any motorcycles or Black Jacks yet.
The blackness surrounding the camp crept through the window cracks like deadly shadows…
except for the horizon that blazed in shades of yellows and reds subdued by dark smoke.
Even though the window was closed, the acrid taste of smoke made her nauseous.
Hawk had been correct—the fires were headed this way. She just wasn’t sure how much time they had left.
After finishing her water, she quickly searched the room for any kind of weapon or something she could use to open the door.
But all she found were stacks of clean towels and sheets in the bathroom, a basket full of toiletries, and some men’s clothing in the dresser.
She’d even found boxes of fireworks in the closet.
Gunshots, followed by male shouts and loud engines, shattered the silence, and she ran back to the door.
She hated this feeling of helplessness and fear, and she banged until her fists ached.
When no one answered, she sank to the floor.
After many minutes of listening to her ragged breaths, along with gunfire and yells outside, she heard two male voices from the other room.
“Don’t be an ass, Ben.” Hawk coughed. “Protect yourself and Sophie. The MC has this covered.”
“There are twelve Black Jacks to seven Renegades. Six if I hide like a coward.”
Ben still considered himself a Devil’s Renegade?
She pressed her ear against to the door, hoping to hear their lowered voices.
“No one could ever call you a coward, cousin. We’ve faced worse odds.”
Boots pounded the hardwood floors. Was Ben pacing?
“This is my nightmare.” Ben’s voice sounded scratchy. “I brought it back to life.”
“Kane told us this might happen if you got involved with Sunny—I mean Sophie—again. He was worried your combined pasts would resurrect old shit that didn’t need resurrecting.”
She inhaled sharply. Never being able to escape her past had been her biggest fear since leaving Salem and reuniting with Ben.
“Kane should’ve kept his fucking mouth shut.”
“I told Kane he was wrong,” Hawk said. “We all joined this club–the same one our grandaddy Caleb co-founded–because for a long time it was the only family we had. But Kane has no fucking right to judge your choices. Especially after all the shit he’s pulled the last few years.”
“Can we stop talking?” Ben said. “We have a fight to win.”
“The Black Jacks are regrouping, and our brothers are prepping for a counterattack. Now shut up and let me finish.”
She heard the sound of bottle caps being cracked open and wished she had another bottle of water.
“The other thing I told Kane was that everything that has ever happened to us is what brought us all, including Sophie, to this exact moment. Now we have a choice. We can run away or fight for the life we want. The life that’s meant for us.”
“What the fuck do you think I’m doing?”
“Except this isn’t just your fight, Ben. Your testimony kept me and the brothers out of jail and sent a few Black Jacks away for years. But this war between our clubs started long before we were born. This shit belongs to our grandfather.”
“Caleb?”
“Fuck, yes. He lived a rough life and died a rough man. He threw away love with both hands. Don’t let his blood-soaked legacy ruin your future. You deserve to be happy with Sophie. Don’t allow guilt or other emotional bullshit to sabotage your future.”
Hawk’s words made her eyes sting with unshed tears, and she released a deep breath.
“When did you get all metaphysical?” Ben asked.
“When I fell in love.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“I don’t give a shit.” Hawk paused. “Ben, when was the last time you were on a bike?”
“I don’t know. Years? What the fuck does it matter?”
She chewed her bottom lip. Since she and Ben had reunited, they’d never gone riding because Ben had sold his bike.
“It matters because your bike was once a huge part of who you were, and the man Sophie fell in love with.”
Ben scoffed. “This is ridiculous–”
“Did you know Caleb’s original name for our MC was the Dogs of War?”
“No.”
“Caleb believed war was all he was ever good for. A combat-tested veteran who came home from the battlefield still fighting everyone and everything, all the time.”
Gunshots and motorcycle engines started up again, and she pressed herself closer to the door with no shame about eavesdropping.
“Hawk? Why are we talking about Caleb when we should be fighting Black Jacks?”
“To make you face the truth. Years ago, you left the club our grandfather started and almost got yourself killed. Why? To live the life you wanted. Then you became sheriff of the small town you despised while growing up. Why? To live the life you wanted. Now you’re marrying the woman you love—the woman who carries as much dangerous baggage as you do–and you’re willing to fight an army of Black Jacks to protect her.
Why? To live the life you want with the woman who completes you. ”
“So your woman completes you?” Ben asked.
“Yes.” Hawk’s laugh carried erotic secrets.
“Izzy also taught me the most important rule in long-term, intimate relationships–never forget you’re in a partnership based on love and respect.
That means you don’t lie or hold secrets, even in the name of protecting each other.
That is the fastest way to lose the one person you’d give your life for. ”
Sophie wiped her damp cheeks with her forearm. The lock unclicked, and she sat on the bed just as the door opened.
Hawk pushed Ben, who was carrying two water bottles, into the room. “Let your brothers protect you, like you protected us last month. Let us help you get your happy ending.”
“But–”
“Shut the fuck up, Ben.” Hawk winked at her. “And take care of your bride.”
Before Ben could respond, the door closed, and the lock clicked on the other side.
Outside, distant gunshots echoed, followed by male shouts and the roar of motorcycle engines.
But Sophie kept her gaze on Ben, exposed by the dim light of the full moon and distant wildfires that filtered through the windows.
His black T-shirt was streaked with ash, and his strong arms were covered in soot and dirt, as were his boots and jeans. While she should be freaked out by the violence outside, a fierce war was burning up her heart.
“Ben, when you told me our past had been buried, you didn’t believe it, did you?”
He shook his head. Then he placed the water bottles on the end tables and sat next to her.
Their hips touched, and she held his hand.
He exuded the bitter scents of smoke and defeat, both of which reminded her of the last night they’d spent together before their ten-year separation. A night filled with passion and danger.
She squeezed his hand. “Why did you lie about how you felt?”
“I wanted to protect you.”
“Secrets only lead to suspicions, suffering and solitude.”
“You sound like Hawk.” Ben lowered his head. “I love you, Sophie.” His voice cracked on her name. “Those years without you broke me. I wouldn’t survive another moment if I lost you.”
She kicked off her sandals, straddled his lap, and held his face between her palms. His dark eyes seemed hazy, either from smoke irritation or sadness.
Maybe both. “From the moment we say I do, we’ll be together forever.
In this world and the next. But hiding your feelings, no matter the reason, separates us.
We need to remember that regardless of the danger, we’re always stronger together.
And the best way to stay close isn’t to fear the people we once were or forget our past. It’s to accept it as a part of us.
To embrace our history. Turn it into our canon.
All the stuff we’ve lived through taught us to trust. Our past doesn’t define us… it sets us free.”
He gripped her waist and flipped her onto her back. His hips ground against hers, and he held her hands above her head. Her skirt rode up. Rough denim rubbed the inside of her thighs, and she squirmed beneath his erection. He used his weight to keep her still.
“Sophie, while I’m ashamed of things I did when I was younger, it brought me to you. I’ll be forever grateful for everything–all the terrible things–that we had to do to find each other again. I promise, when I say those vows tomorrow, I’ll never break them.”
Loud shouts, followed by screaming engines and the staccato pops of gunfire, sounded closer. Yet that outside battle wasn’t the only one being fought.
“Don’t be afraid.” Ben’s whispered voice caressed her cheek. “My brothers have this.”
Before she could answer, his lips met hers in a frenzy of heat and desire. His tongue drove into her mouth, and he demanded a powerful response. A part of her wanted to hide from the outside battle beneath the bed, but the more feminine part of her focused on the man making love to her.
One thing she knew from her time with the MC was that no matter the danger, women were never involved.
They weren’t consulted for their opinions or included in decisions.
Although Ben wasn’t a member of an MC, he could read the threat level.
If he wasn’t worried, then neither would she.
Trusting him was part of loving him. She’d spent to0 many years alone, fighting that truth.
So when he untied her halter dress and found her bare breasts, she closed her eyes and whispered, “Oh, Ben.”
She held his head while he nibbled and sucked until her lower limbs melted away. Until his watch alarm dinged.
“Wait.” She lifted his head only to find his gaze unfocused and shiny, his breaths irregular and rough. “It’s midnight. I need to hide in the bathroom.”
“Why?”
“It’s bad luck to see the bride on her wedding day.”
He brushed stray hairs off her cheeks, but she closed her eyes.
“Sophie?” His kisses began at her neck and traveled down to her breasts. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am. We can’t look at each other.”