Prologue
TATE
“Sophia, get your ass on my bike, or I’ll carry you on there.”
“I said…no, I’m not going back with you. I want to stay here. I want to stay in Ryan’s bed. I’m not ready to leave.”
She is driving me fucking crazy.
It’s been a month, and now it’s time for her to return to her life. Sophia can’t keep living here, not that the Blood Brothers are trying to get rid of her, but because Jasmine loves having her around. It isn’t healthy for Sophia to keep existing like a ghost of herself, drifting through the clubhouse like she’s waiting for something that’s never coming back.
She needs to pick her life back up and get back to her work. When her parents couldn’t reach her, they called me. They somehow got my number and begged me to bring her home. That’s exactly what I’m doing, but she’s being a stubborn little shit who refuses to listen to reason.
I pick her up, place her firmly on my bike, and shove the helmet down onto her head. Then I point my finger at her and say, “Move, and I’ll put you back on there myself.” She huffs loudly under the helmet, and I catch the Blood Brothers standing nearby, watching the whole thing play out with shit-eating grins on their faces.Fuckers.I’ll give them something to smile about.
It’s been hard on all of them too. The club hasn’t been the same since Tracker died, and it’s not a wound that easily heals. He meant everything to these men and to all of us. Having to carry on as if Tracker never existed is damn near impossible because everyone who knew him loved him. He had a way of making you laugh even when everything was going sideways.And above all that, he was smart as fuck, the kind of smart that made you feel safer just having him in the room.
That night when I was taken, I never imagined Tracker would be the one to come for me. I figured a deal was going down the following day, and I’d have to find my own way out, but Tracker had other plans and used every bit of that magic of his to find us. When he was shot, there was no time to think or to do anything but run. The wail of sirens cutting through the night told us the police were closing in fast, and we had to get the hell out of there. The fire was blazing all around us, smoke thick and choking, blurring everything until the world felt like it was collapsing in on itself.
My only thought was getting Tracker’s body out of there. But when I tried, Quill and Hawke grabbed me, both of them hauling me back, forcing me to leave him behind. I begged them to let me go. I fought them on it. But they wouldn’t budge, and deep down, even through the rage, I knew they were right. If they hadn’t pulled me out, I wouldn’t have made it either, and then everything Tracker sacrificed would have meant nothing. I’m not sure I’ve fully forgiven them for it, even now. However, I understand it, and maybe that’s the closest thing to peace I’m going to get.
The hardest thing I’ve ever done was looking Sophia in the eyes and telling her that Tracker was gone. I made him a promise that I would protect her, and that’s a promise I intend to keep, no matter what. I owe him that much and then some, even when she’s being a goddamn hothead who makes it about as easy as pulling teeth.
“You got her bags?” I call out to Blaze, who’s standing over by the van. He nods, and I look back down at Sophia. “Now we’re moving. You’re getting on that fuckin’ plane and going home to your family. We clear, Sophia?”
“Fine. But I won’t forgive you for this, Tate.”
“Don’t give a fuck. Just shut the fuck up and do as you’re told.”
“Just wait a godda—”
“I said…shut the fuck up.”
She lets out a low growl of frustration, but I ignore it, swinging my leg over the bike and pulling out. I can’t help the smile that tugs at the corner of my mouth as I hit the road. Something tells me that woman is going to be the absolute death of me.
Chapter One
TATE
Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as Sophia takes small, hesitant steps toward the check-in counter, her ticket clutched in her hand like it’s something she’s being forced to carry rather than something she chose to hold.
We barely made it to the airport. I could feel her nails digging into my hips the entire ride, clinging to me as if she could somehow slow us down through sheer desperation. I may have been driving a little too fast, but if speed was what it took to get her out of New York, then that’s what I was going to do, speeding ticket be damned.
We rode in silence, Blaze following close behind in the van with her bags secured. I could have let Blaze take her and driven the van myself, but something in me needed to be the one to get her there.
She’d already missed her flight last week, kicked and screamed the whole way to the airport until I gave in, which I’m not proud of. She’d cried and begged me for another week in Tracker’s room, and as much as I hate to admit it, watching Sophia break down like that damn near broke me. I may be a biker and a hard son of a bitch, but there’s something about a woman like Sophia. She is so raw in her grief, so desperate to hold onto whatever piece of him she has left that it strips all of that away and leaves you feeling about as tough as a goddamn teddy bear.
Quill had been the one to talk me into giving her the extra week, even offering to take her to the airport himself so I could head back to Vegas and my clubhouse. But I wouldn’t accept that. I made Tracker a promise, and I intend to honor it, whichmeans I’m going to be the one to put her on that plane and watch it leave the ground with my own two eyes.
Hell, I still can’t make myself use past tense when it comes to him without it hitting like a fist to the chest.
With everything that followed—bringing his body back, the funeral, having to look my mother in the eyes and tell her that her son was gone—I haven’t had a single moment to stop and think about what comes next. I’m the president of the Sinners, and it’s time I start acting like it. It’s time I focus on leading my club and being the best damn president I can be. But revenge runs deep in my veins, and I can’t ignore it. I need justice for what they did to my brother, and one way or another, I’m going to get it.
First on my list are the El Pasos, and I thought they were on our side.
We were working together to bring Clemente down, but it turns out they were playing both sides the whole time. It was because of them that I ended up at Clemente’s mansion in the first place. They’d told me they had my back, that we were going to find out whether the rumors were true that Clemente and Lawrence had resurfaced in New York. I’d thought about calling Tracker at the time, but he was on vacation with Sophia, and they needed that time together more than I needed backup.
So, I trusted the El Pasos instead.
