Page 36 of Intertwined Souls

I shake my head. “I don’t want to put that pressure on her. I would feel bad if she felt like she had to move here for me when she finally got her dream job in Virginia and is really happy there. But that doesn’t mean I won’t always miss her. I hope that after I finish school, I will be able to go visit her too. Well, after we get all this other shit dealt with,” I grumble quietly.

Colton sighs, “I know it’s hard to be patient, but you’ve just got to remember that Rage is taking precautions to keep everyone safe.”

“I know. I really do. But at the same time, I feel like we’re missing our opportunity to deal with Tammy. Like time is just passing us by while people are out there being trafficked or hurt by Tammy and whoever else. I was in that space for three years. I know I can’t relate to trafficking, but to imagine someone having the knowledge to do something and waiting months to do it while I was continuing to be hurt, that bothers me.”

Colton reaches across the table and takes my hand between his much larger ones. “Oh, darlin’, I can only imagine how that would feel and where your mind must take you. There is nothin’ I can truly say that will make it all okay, but I can tell you that Rage’s intention is to make sure that not a single one of us gets lost or hurt while we help them.

“Yes, they are goin’ through awful things, but Rage is doin’ his job as our club's president, and his job—which he already feels like he has failed—as your pops is to keep you safe, girly.”

“He hasn’t failed as my… He just he hasn’t failed. He didn’t know. That isn’t his fault,” I say softly, attempting to fight off the tears. Why do I always have to fucking cry?

“We know that, darlin’. But it’s different for him. I remember the turmoil he went through back then. He wanted to go and try to find her, but in the end, he thought he knew that she’d be better off without him draggin’ her back here.”

Colton clears his throat and glances down at our hands.

“He always tried to check when he could to make sure no one had found her or that she hadn’t come back. Then Killer came back from a weekend trip and said she was dead. That you were dead. That tore him apart. He–he went on a rampage. It was brutal. More brutal than the one he went on when Tammy broke his heart.”

Before I can say anything about that, he continues.

“If I had known, fuck. If I had even a fuckin’ inkling that she was my sister…” He trails off, his eyes misting over. The sight makes my heart ache.

I gently squeeze his hands. “I think we all feel like some part of things that have happened are our own fault. That there are a lot of what ifs we can toss around, but it doesn’t change anything. The only thing we can do now is keep moving forward.”

Colton grins at me. “You are wise, my beautiful niece. I’m pretty fuckin’ sure you didn’t get that from your pops.”

I shake my head with a chuckle. “No, just the hard-headed part is from him, right?”

“I have a feelin’ your mama wasn’t much better either.” He snorts.

After we eat, we head back to the club, where Ryker meets me at the door with a mischievous grin on his face.

“What—” I start to ask but get caught off as he swoops me up and flings me over his shoulder. Letting out a grunt, I growl, “Ryker.”

He chuckles and lightly slaps my ass. “You were gone too long.”

Pulling my hand back, I swing as hard as I can from my position hanging upside down and slap his ass right back.

“Did you just slap my ass?” he asks in between laughs.

“Are you going to put me down?”

“No.”

“Ryker.”

“No.”

“I’m going to kick your ass,” I huff.

“You can try,” he chuckles.

Before I can say anything back, he flings me back over his shoulder and sets me on my feet, grabbing my arms to steady me.

“What are we doing?” I ask, glancing around where we stand on one of the trails that we use to go for runs.

“We’re going to play a game.”

I raise a brow at him. “Oh? What’s that?”

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