Page 66 of Where We Ended

“Yes, Silas. Yes.” Her nails had found my shoulders, her chest now aligned with mine. We fucked slowly as I rotated my hips, and she ground against me. Her nails scraped against my scalp, and I wondered how we must look to those bright, shining stars above us.

Two people in love, desperate for each other to the point of obsession but torn apart too frequently to ever move forward.

“You asked what I want.” I slammed home, while she dug her nails into my skin, rasping for more in my ear. “I want a future, Natty. I want to fuck you when I wake up and kiss you before bed. I want to watch you dance in a home that belongs to only us. I want firelit winter nights and star speckled summers.”

Natty tossed her head back and shattered.

I kissed her shoulder and found my release shortly after hers. Our heavy breathing filled the air as I held her to me, her ass just barely touching the hood of the Jeep.

“I want to be a peaceful man, Natty. Someone who helps the earth grow, especially after doing so much to take from it.”

Her wild eyes found mine, shining under the stars. Her hand found my jaw and she leaned in to kiss me.

Soft.

Gentle.

“Then build your hope inside of me, Silas Silva. I’ll keep it safe and I’ll make sure our dreams come true for the both of us.”

My chest pricked with the reminder that I didn’t deserve her or her holding my dream in her chest.

I let her have it anyway.

SEVENTEEN

NATTY

PRESENT

I was being impulsive.

No doubt about it. I really should have thought through this plan a bit further before hopping on the bike I’d been hiding for the past year and jetting off like a bat out of hell toward Richland.

I’d effectively lost the men Silas had put on me, which was good because they wouldn’t have made it past the gate. No Death Raider would have been welcomed here, regardless that my very own cut had the grim reaper across the back. The only reason they allowed me passage was because Sadie, Giles’s old lady recognized me.

The distant sounds from the club echoed through the large kitchen I was standing in. A woman named Gene was glaring at me as if I’d just stolen something from her. I knew she was carrying a knife behind her back in case I made any sudden moves, but I was holding one too.

“You’re saying you know Giles?” She lifted her chin toward me.

Understandably, one of the guards had let me in, but no one knew why. As soon as I was within those metal gates, everyone looked at me like I’d grown a third eye and then they scrambled, trying to grab me.

I said to get Giles, and they put me here to wait. That was last night when I arrived in the middle of the night and was told Giles was on a run. I was given some food and treated like an inconvenient prisoner, where I was watched, monitored and regarded warily for twenty-four hours. Sadie had tried to come visit, but no one let her in. Perhaps because they felt like I was a threat of some kind. More likely though, they would have been in deep shit if they let something happen to their president’s woman.

“Giles was vice president of the Stone Riders before he became the president of your club. I’ve known him for years, so yes. I know him.”

Gene’s eyes narrowed further. “He has an old lady, so if you’re here to create trouble then I’ll?—”

Oh boy. If only she knew that Sadie was one of my favorite Sweetbutts. We’d often take shots together, and she’d opened up to me about her frustration over Giles not claiming her.

“Natty?” Giles burst into the room, interrupting Gene’s little warning.

I turned and smiled at my old friend, then opened my arms as he stalked toward me and pulled me into a hug. Giles was stocky, only slightly taller than me, with dark blond hair and soft brown eyes.

“Hey Prez.” We separated, but I caught his blush. Being asked to take over the club for his cousin, Jameson, was a big ask, but there wasn’t another person better suited for it than Giles.

He searched my face, confusion warring with his features.

“What are you doing here?”

---