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I don’t see how the Hawks react, but I hear the click of a gun and know that I have about five seconds to live. Is this how it ends, with my brains splattered all over the asphalt? I squeeze my eyes shut as the resounding blast shatters through the sky. Only to find I can open them. The ground vibrates with a thundering of heavy footsteps, then I see blue flickering lights. A high-pitched noise screams through my head from the aftermath of the blast, and I can’t make out what all the yelling is about until I see a hunched figure slumped on his knees, clutching his chest. I’m too shocked to take in all that’s happening. I hear gunshots. The cops are here, and the Jackals ride away in a cloud of exhaust fumes. It’s like time slows down all around me, and one minute I’m almost dead, then the next, I’m staring death straight in the face. Only I’m not the one who’s dying.
“Jason!” I blurt out, then clamber toward him.
There’s too much blood, and I cover his hands where he’s pressing against the wound to stem the flow. He looks at me and manages a strained smile, and for the first time since leaving the hospital, he looks genuinely glad to see me. It was all an act. He does care. That doesn’t excuse the fact that he lied.
“You just blew our entire operation,” Sheriff Dan grumbles at me. “Months of work just got flushed down the toilet.”
The Hawks don’t seem so happy to see me. In fact, they’re scowling at me like I just canceled Christmas. Sheriff Dan corrals me into the back of his car and drives me back to the hospital. Bodie rides in the ambulance with Jason, and the Hawks go home to their women as if nothing has happened. Now I know what Ivy meant when she tried to warn me about being kept in the dark. There’s an ugly side to being a biker’s chic. To them, we’re nothing but property.
ChapterTen
During the ride back to the hospital, I replay everything over in my head. I’m angry. I’m hurt. And now I don’t know if there’s anyone left to trust. What will our parents say when they find out about this? Do they know? Am I the only one who doesn’t? I wonder if Ivy has been going through the same hellish torment, and if she has, then that sucks.
“You’re going the wrong way to the hospital,” I complain to Sheriff Dan.
He flicks his eyes at me in the interior mirror and huffs. “We’re taking the scenic route. You should be glad I’m not throwing you in a cell for what you did.” We take a sharp left, circling the outskirts of town. “If you must know, I’m giving you a way out. I told Bodie you would be better off going to the coast with your parents, but he assured me he’d keep an eye on you no matter what.”
“He was the one who pulled me out of the fire,” I reply.
“That’s right,” Dan confirmed. “And he’s been keeping tabs on you the whole time he’s been gone.”
“Whose idea was it to pretend he was dead?” I interject.
Dan exhales a heavy sigh. “That was down to me. I asked Jason to keep tabs on you too, and look what happened there. You caused a scene, which forced him to take extreme measures to keep you safe. You’re a walking liability.”
His stern words held true, but it didn’t mean I had to like them. The things he was saying to me left a bitter aftertaste.
“Are you saying Jason claimed me because he had to and not because he wanted to? But that’s not what he told me,” I challenge.
Eventually, we approach the hospital parking lot, and Dan swings the car toward the barrier a little too forcefully. “Do you believe everything people tell you?” His cynical tone hits me like a slap across the face. “You were told what you needed to hear. And if you have any sense, you’ll pack a bag and get the fuck out of Mountview because like it or not, you have a target on your back. I imagine Booker will have heard all about our big fuck-up and will send his goons after anyone connected to Jason. I’ve got to get home to check on Liv; although I doubt Booker will harm a hair on her head. He’s still sweet on her after all these years.” There’s resentment in Dan’s voice as if those words are laced with poison.
He stops the patrol car and pulls the handbrake sharply. “Go, get out.” He jerks his head at the door. “Get checked over, then get the fuck out of town. I better not see you after tonight.”
“Not before you tell me about Booker and Jason’s mom,” I demand, grating on Dan’s last nerve.
Dan scowls at me. “I thought she cheated on me with him back when we were teens. It took a while for us to move past it, and when we did, several years had passed.” He taps the steering wheel with his forefinger, considering whether to continue. “Look, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry how things turned out. I love Jason like he was my own flesh and blood, but this is something you don’t wanna be mixed up in. Take my advice and get the hell out of Mountview tonight if you can. Don’t wait. Just go. I’d hate to have to bury one of Garrett Blake’s kids for real. Your father and I go way back. He’s one of the good guys. It would do him a world of good if you spent some time with him for a while. Go fill your lungs with some clean sea air and wait for the dust to settle.” Dan hands back my scuffed phone. “An officer found this. I figured you’d need it.”
I reach out to take it, curling my fingers around it. “Thanks. But what about Bodie and Jason?”
Dan’s brows dimple in the middle. “I know you’re mad. You have every right to be. But please believe me when I tell you they were acting on my command. I’ve been trying to take down Booker for a very long time. I’ve spent my career trying to bring him down. Just know, they didn’t mean for you to get caught in the middle of this. It’s not the way it was supposed to be.”
I nod to show I understand, even though it’s not completely true. I doubt I’ll ever fully understand their reasons. There’s never a good reason to lie to the ones you love. Without trust, there’s nothing. And right now, I have zero trust to go around. I’m all out. It’s over. I want to say it was good while it lasted, but that would be lying. Nothing was real. It was all based on lies. Now I know what Dan is asking me to do, and it makes sense. I should go. There’s nothing left for me here, just a burned-down auto shop and a house filled with painful memories.
“I should probably go say goodbye,” I say, my voice cracking with emotion.
Dan flashes a sympathetic smile as I leave. He doesn’t wait around. He’s already driving away as the sliding glass doors open, and the building swallows me whole. I tell the nurse on the reception desk that I’m Jason Knight’s girlfriend. She tells me he’s been rushed into surgery, and that I can wait in the family room with his brother.Brother. That’s rich.Blinking back the tears in my eyes, I follow the signs along the corridor until I find the right room. Then as I go inside, I’m confronted by Bodie. He stands quickly and rushes to hug me, but I recoil from his touch as if it repulses me. I should be relieved to see him standing there alive and well with nothing but superficial bruises from the fight. But I’m not. I’m angry. No, I’m more than that. I’m broken. I feel betrayed. And nothing anyone can say will ever make this okay.
“I fucking mourned you,” I spit out the words through gulping breaths, trying to keep the rising bile from creeping up my throat. “How dare you try to comfort me now. Where the fuck have you been all this time?” I knock his hand away as he reaches out to touch me.
Bodie flinches with regret. “I’ve been staying with Dan and Liv.”
I place my hand over my stomach and take a step back. “I don’t believe this. Liv is Mom’s friend. She held onto our mother as she sobbed at your graveside. I can believe this from Dan, but her?” I stagger back and collapse onto the sofa, then lean forward to rest my head in my hands, driving my fingers through my hair. “How could you do this to her . . . to Dad . . . and to Ivy?”
Bodie grips the bridge of his nose and grimaces. “I’m going to explain everything after we stop Booker. This is bigger than us, Kiera. It’s bigger than you know.”
“Your girlfriend is heavily pregnant,” I say, my face twisting with contempt. “When were you gonna come clean about that?”
“I wanted to,” Bodie replies, rubbing the back of his neck. “But I knew Mom would never leave town if she knew.”
