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“Go fuck yourself,” I growl.
Priest side-eyes me. “Well, aren’t you a barrel of fucking sunshine this morning? This is going to be one long fucking ride back to Austin,” he grouses. “I half-expected you to walk out here with her on the back of your bike and the kid in a sidecar. I guess she’s not coming, is she?”
My jaw hardens. I know he means well, but sometimes the man needs to learn when to shut the fuck up. “They’re not.”
Priest places his pack onto the back of his bike and ties it down with a bungee strap. “You know you can stay. Judge would understand.”
Would he, though?His call was clear. Both of us were needed back in Austin.
The idea of leaving the Austin chapter and going nomad had played in my mind all night long. Hell, I hadn’t slept a wink just thinking about it. I’d have no club affiliation, no home chapter to rely on. I’d be on my own—a lone wolf.
But I’d have Cora and Harrison.
The club’s numbers were still down. As the mother chapter of the Black Hoods, we’re weak without new members. Patching V and Priest had helped, but if shit were to go south again soon, we’d be at a disadvantage, especially if the Screwballs came calling for what I’d just done to one of their presidents.
And I had yet to mention that to Judge or Priest.
“Go see her before we leave,” he suggests.
“No. She made her choice.”
Fucking hell. I’ve never felt pain before like I did when I watched her walk out of my room last night. I should’ve gone after her, convinced her to come with me, but I couldn’t. She has a life here. And besides, she didn’t want a biker’s life anyway, and it’s no life for a kid. I just have to come to terms with that, despite the way I feel about her.
I’m not who she needs to be happy.
“It doesn’t matter. Are you ready to go?”
“If that’s what you want, man, I’m ready.”
“Good.”
Swinging my leg over my bike, I flick the ignition switch and pop the kickstand. I go to look back, but stop myself before I do. Looking back is only going to hurt more, so I push off and pull out onto the street with Priest trying to catch up.
The white lines of the road flow by. Long, short, long, short. They all blur together.
The asphalt bumps beneath the wheels like a child’s lullaby, and no matter how hard I try, my mind keeps drifting back to Cora and Harrison. I think about all the memories I’d made with them these past couple of weeks, and each one stabs me just a little deeper in the chest. My heart aches more the farther we ride from Sturgis, the distance between us growing, separating us forever.
Go back for her.
No, I can’t. She doesn’t want this life. That’s been clear enough all along. She doesn’t want me, despite how much I love her and Harrison.
Shock recoils in my system. Iloveher.I fucking love Cora.
The realization hits me like a ton of bricks, sending my heart rate pounding out of control. She made her choice, but I didn’t. I didn’t tell her how I feel. She doesn’t even know.
I have to tell her.
The implications of going back lay heavy on my mind, but all I can see is her, our life together. The fucking happily ever after that all my brothers seem to have found. I want that—Ineedthat with Cora and Harrison. If going nomad is what it takes, I’ll do it, so long as I have them. The rest I’ll figure out later.
I have to go back to her. I’ll regret it if I don’t try.
I signal to Priest and pull off to the side of the road. He kills the engine on his bike, and the fucker is smiling at me.
“You’re going back, aren’t you?”
“I am.”
“Good. That woman and kid—” he peers back over his shoulder toward Sturgis, already fading into the distance, “—they’re your home now.”
