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27
Hero
IT KILLED ME to leave Roja so soon. Especially after I told her about her dad serving time for second-degree manslaughter. I was sure she would break. Sure, I’d have to tell my prez to do this run without me. It wouldn’t have gone over well with Storm or my brothers. The club came first. Period. End.
And we all wanted Deputy Miller to pay. Still, I would’ve refused to go if Tara lost it.
Then I would’ve been beaten for it.
Not because Storm enjoyed giving a brother a good pounding. It was just the way MCs rolled. If you refused to follow Prez’s orders, he couldn’t back down. Couldn’t ignore the noncompliance.
I understood the consequences.
Storm couldn’t appear weak in the club like he’d grown a pussy. I’d have to be punished and take it like a man.
But my woman surprised the hell out of me, saving me from Storm’s wrath. In her heart, she knew the truth. I only confirmed it. I’d never known a more incredible woman. Strong and determined to put the past behind her, and look toward the future… with me.
So here I was driving to Duluth with my crew. It’d been four hours since we left the clubhouse, fast approaching midnight. There were six of us in two separate, unmarked cages. Track, Dodge, and I followed Storm, Boxer, and Grizzly.
These vehicles received new paint after each job they participated in.Can never be too safe and all.
“We almost there?” Dodge yawned like a lion, stretching in the backseat.
I gave Track a sidelong glance. We both shook our heads, probably thinking the same thing: baby.
“Shouldn’t be long now, sleeping beauty,” Track laughed and I joined him.
“Fuck off, cuz. I don’t get much sleep these days.” Dodge’s honesty sobered us, swiftly stifling our amusement.
Damn, I felt terrible. Dodge was a young dude, twenty-three and newly patched. He had his whole life ahead of him. He did his job within the club and at the gun shop without complaint. Maintained appearances as expected without fail. But anyone could see inside he was simmering. At any moment, he’d boil over or explode. I just hoped it wasn’t in a way that would get him twenty-five to life.
“Sorry, man.” Track looked out the window. He wasn’t the sort of guy who teased others. More level-headed than some and the peacekeeper. Hard to believe he was a member of an outlaw MC. Not much riled him up. Overall, he was a really nice, easy-going man.
“I just can’t sleep at night, ya know?”
I eyed Dodge in the rearview mirror. He was sitting up after sleeping across the backseat the last three hours. The brother looked destroyed.
“All I do is think about her. Wonder what she’s doing. If she misses me. How big her stomach is. If she’s giving me a son or daughter.” He rubbed his eyes with his palms. “It fucking hurts being without them.”
Christ Almighty. I never heard Dodge talk this much in all the time he’d been with us. It fucking broke my heart, because I knew the pain of losing the woman I loved and my child. Mine were gone forever in one night. His were within reach. A few hours away. May as well be dead with the way Justin threatened him if he got close. In some ways that was far worse than them being dead.
If in his shoes, I would’ve run off half-cocked to Fargo and taken my woman back. Might’ve ended up with a bullet between the eyes, too, knowing the state of mind Justin was in. Shit, I didn’t want to think about this anymore. It was downright depressing.
Track looked over his shoulder at Dodge. “Just gotta have faith, Danny. Trust my dad. He believes Justin will come around. And when he does, I’ll take you to Fargo myself.”
“It’s Dodge, motherfucker,” he growled, then smirked, giving some levity to the heaviness in the van.
Track and I shook our heads, smiling.
“But I appreciate you saying so, cuz.” He slapped Track’s shoulder. “So are we almost there?”
“Brother, you’re worse than a five-year-old,” I teased.
“I gotta take a piss.”
Track tossed an empty water bottle at him, making us all laugh. I missed this with my brothers, while I’d been absent. Ryder would love it. I couldn’t wait to see him Tuesday.
I dialed into the sound of a zipper and a relieved sigh, followed by…
