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“Just let me leave, Wes. You remember how that goes, right? You simply let me walk away. I get it…it’s not about me, it’s about your stupid clubhouse. I don’t know what I plan to do, but if you don’t give me two seconds to gather myself and read this letter then I’ll do something reckless, like hire a bulldozer and level the place.”
He seemed to think it over, this time backing up with a small shake of his head.
My shoulders sagged with relief as I made my way back to my car, right as Wes straddled his bike.
Before he turned the engine over, I had to ask one last thing.
“Wes, why was a Death Raider at my motel this morning?”
His fingers froze, hovering over the key. Whiskey eyes tilted up, landing on me like I’d just grown a second head. I shifted uncomfortably in my boots, scraping a tiny pebble from the asphalt as I waited for his reply. I had left this place, but there were things about this place that would never leave me. I wanted to make sure Rose Ridge was still safe. There was a reason Death Raiders didn’t come here. Rose Ridge was strictly Stone Rider territory…especially after what happened eight years ago.
“You saw one this morning?” Wes asked.
The fact that he didn’t know made my stomach churn. If Dad was gone, that meant Wes was in charge now, which meant he oversaw keeping the town safe from them.
I nodded, gripping my key fob tightly as I watched him.
“Right as I was coming out of my room, he was exiting a few doors down.”
Wes cursed, looking off to the side.
“Did he say anything to you?”
I should lie. The tremor in my stomach told me as much. I should just forget I saw anyone and leave. Take my new property and get the hell out of Dodge. But I’d dealt with the Death Raiders, and if they were fraternizing with his members, he needed to know.
“I don’t think so. He asked if I wanted a ride, but I think if he’d recognized me, he wouldn’t have asked.”
When he didn’t reply, I took a step closer to him.
“What’s going on, Wes?”
Deliberating, with a jaw that looked as though he was chewing glass, my ex finally let out a ragged breath and ran a hasty hand through his hair. “You don’t need to know. Just go back to DC. There was a”—his chin dipped to his chest as he let out a muttered curse—“just go back to your life.”
“I will right after I get what’s mine. That’s my property now, and my house. I’m coming for it.”
His expression hardened. He toyed with the key in his bike before leveling me with that glare again.
“If you come for the clubhouse, you’ll be met with a war, Princess.”
I didn’t want to show that I was already afraid that I might be walking into a turf war, but like hell would I let that stop me from taking what was owed to me.
“In case you forgot, I grew up in this life, Wes. You don’t scare me.”
He terrified me.
His eyes stayed locked on mine as he started his engine, which was his form of cutting our conversation off. When he began backing his bike out of the space, I finally ducked into my car.
Then I inhaled a choppy breath and resisted the urge to scream.
FOUR
WES
AGE 10
“Don’t be a sore loser,”Dustin teased while gathering up the pieces of our boardgame.
My brother was winning because he cheated, and while I knew he was doing it, I didn’t care enough to stop him.
