My foot shoves him aside and I continue on, but he does the same thing again. Not once but twice more. Eventually I give in and carry him. When I step from the trees, my mouth falls open and my heart sinks.
Flames lick out of the cabin windows, and all I can do is watch.
My gaze catches someone standing across from me. It’s someone in a mask. No, not a mask. I think their face is painted like a sugar skull. It’s hard to tell with all of the smoke billowing between us.
The skeleton tips its head to the side. Just like the woman who promised to set me free.
“Oh my god,” I whisper. “She’s crazy.”
A wide smile pulls at her face, making me shiver.
I turn away for a second to watch the fire. It’s like a living, breathing beast.
I’m in shock. When I turn back, she’s gone. Her arrival tells me that Benjamin is also gone.
My sanctuary is gone.
Almost everything I’ve ever owned … gone.
It leaves me wide open for something new.
How terrifying.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Jackson
Willow and Grandma both pause in the backyard when the sound of Harleys draw near. I step outside, and their attention turns to me.
“The boys and I are just going out for a Sunday ride,” I holler to them, jogging down the stairs.
They look at each other and then back at me.
“I won’t be gone long.”
My wife picks Aspen up and heads toward me. I give them both a kiss on the cheek, while rubbing my palm over Willow’s swollen belly. “Jesse hauled someone out to the shed last night, and my old man and his friends are there now. I want to see what they’re up to.”
She hugs our daughter close. Willow has a soft heart. I know it’s tough for her to hear when we bring someone in, but she knows we don’t do it without reason. I’ll never lie to her. I know the club has rules, but Willow’s mental health comes first. I’msorry, but that’s just the way it is. She needs me to be honest with her at all times.
“Okay, be safe,” she says without pause, rising on her tiptoes to give me another kiss. She steps away from me and watches as I join my brothers.
I look in the mirror, and sure enough, she’s walked to the middle of the road. She’ll stand there until I disappear. I’m the luckiest man alive because I know that woman loves me hard. She never makes me doubt it.
We make a quick stop at the warehouse first before heading out to the shed. Petey, Elijah, and Brody hop off their bikes and walk over to mine.
Petey is the first to speak. “I was checking cameras this morning and about shit my pants when I saw what was going down out back.”
Elijah nods over his shoulder. “It’s just the three of them and whoever the fuck Jesse brought in. We couldn’t see who it was.”
“Jesus, why do these guys think they can get away with this shit?”
Petey laughs. “My guess is it has something to do with one of their women.”
Elijah unwraps a sucker as he thinks about it. He shoves it into his mouth and looks up at the sky. He kicks it to his cheek. “I bet this is about your mom.”
My head pulls back. “Which one?”
“The one that just showed up out of the blue. I mean, think about it. She spent some time with your dad the other day, right? Maybe she told him something about someone from her past. That’s got to be it, brother.”
