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SILAS “NOMAD” BENNINGS
This wasn’t the plan. I wanted to wait until Landry gave birth to her latest kid and let her feel more comfortable with her nonpregnant body. Only then would I lower the hammer on her man’s head and claim what’s mine.
I figured I had time. Often, when I lurk in the dark woods behind her shitty house by the highway, Landry speaks with someone on the phone while sitting on her back porch. During one of her calls, she said she was a month away from delivery.
Whoever this person is, they never seem helpful. Landry gets interrupted a lot. I watch her lovely face wear the hurt expression of someone scolded when she hoped for solace.
Landry Copper is a woman with no allies or sanctuary. I sense her loneliness, even when she’s surrounded by her beautiful, adoring children.
The oldest girl is nine. Her younger siblings are half her age and often under foot. Blair doesn’t seem to mind them as much as her piece-of-shit father. Whenever his rig is parked out front, the girl retreats to the backyard more.
I’m fully aware spying on them isn’t right. I demand people respect my own boundaries. Yet, I offer no privacy to a broken woman and her kids.
All my life, I’ve done fucked-up shit. Society’s expectations never distracted me. If I hadn’t run with a successful motorcycle club, my behavior likely would have landed me in prison long ago. The Steel Berserkers kept me unshackled.
I’ve lived a comfortable life for a long fucking time. Money and pussy were always available. The only people I cared about—my club—lived in the lodge with me. I found the family I craved.
Over the decades, though, I started wanting more. I thought I found that with Kati and our baby. Except neither was ever really mine. After wasting time with Kati, I swore I’d never try anything conformist again. Instead, I’d enjoy the easy pussy at the clubhouse and get my emotional needs from the club.
Already mostly built, my house remained a project until every hinge and handle was in the right place. My childhood friend, Woodrow, and his wife, Rosemary, moved into a guesthouse out back. I thought about getting a dog. My life didn’t need anything. I believed I was happy.Until I saw Landry for the first time and realized I couldn’t live without her.
Since then, I fixed up my house for her and the kids. Rosemary helped me design their rooms. She didn’t waste a lick of time trying to talk sense into me. Rosemary and Woodrow long ago accepted how I don’t negotiate. Even my club president—a stubborn son of a bitch named Hoyt “Ruin” Macready—realized I’m a runaway freight train once I get my mind set on something.
Besides me, Ruin’s the only member of our club to try domestication. Years ago, he got himself a wife and a kid. Nicole was a club girl who turned weird after motherhood and marriage got old.
Ruin didn’t seem all that upset when she left. I also never got the sense he was looking for anyone to replace her. Raising his kid and running the club filled his time.
Until he hired a sexy, skittish chick named Selene Norris to be his assistant. I hadn’t even known she existed until Ruin asked me to kill her asshole ex. By the time I returned from the Louisiana job, he’d moved Selene into his house. Shit moves fast when the stars align.
However, I had to be patient with Landry. If she weren’t pregnant, I’d have snapped up the gorgeous blonde on day one. As soon as I saw Landry, I felt her presence imprint on my heart. No matter where I went, she was with me.
Of course, I couldn’t snap her up on day one. I needed information first. I followed her home, riding past her shitty house as she unloaded groceries and her kids ran around the front yard. I’d parked nearby and walked through the woods to find the back of her house.I needed to feel her a little longer.
Quickly, I learned about her and the kids. The little ones are nine, four, three, and two. They’re always in the fenced backyard, playing with their hand-me-down toys. Landry will sit out there with them for hours. Whenever her focus is on the kids, she glows brightly. If she doesn’t have them in front of her, though, her light fades until only a flicker remains.
Sometimes, Landry comes out to the backyard at night and cries. Mostly when her asshole husband is in town. Neal Copper is a long-haul trucker. He’s gone for days at a time. The house feels different when he’s out of town. Landry leaves the back door open and plays music. She’ll eat on the porch with the kids. The five of them are happier. Once Neal returns, everyone’s on edge.
While I’ve never seen him hurt Landry or her kids, I know how people behave when they’re afraid. The few times I’ve seen Neal out somewhere with Landry and her kids, the middle-aged asshole barely acknowledges the little ones. However, he watches Landry like a hawk. She rarely makes eye contact with him. So, I don’t need to see the asshole put his hands on her to know he’s an asshole and she’s locked in a cage.
