Page 18 of Vengeance

“Officer,” Matty calls and waves. “She has a protection order against my dad. He’s not allowed to be near her.”

“You fucking brat,” Billy hisses and stands. “You’ll pay for that, you ungrateful shithead.”

“Did you just threaten a kid?” the large man asks, blocking him from leaving.

Pushing him, Billy slips between them and runs out the front door as the cop finally reaches her. “Are you okay?”

“He threatened to kill me,” Tara says, her voice shaky. “Said the restraining order won’t keep him away, and he plans to be with me when I take my last breath.”

Moving around the table, Matty hugs her tightly. This little boy stood up to his father, and knowing what he’s going through at home makes it that much more impressive. He risks his own human needs by pissing off his father.

“I’ll always protect you, Tara. Just like you did for me back then. I know you only stayed for me.”

“Matty, I need you to know something.”

He looks into her eyes. “What?”

“I love you. I always have, and if you ever need anything, tell me. If you get to a phone when Lenetta locks you up, just call me. I will come over and get you.”

“Thanks, Tara.”

The cop gets the necessary information, and he calls it in. Tara knows it’s pointless, but she can’t wave it off. Not after Matty became a heroic eleven-year-old. She fears it may have just made things worse, though.

Chapter Six

Griffin’s Beach

Colt

Colton Nichols felt terrible leaving Lex at home when he went on the four-day run, but he didn’t have a choice. When he told her he had to go, she just told him it was his job, but knowing how difficult and tumultuous things have been with the club, especially the women, has him feeling uneasy. It makes him even angrier when he realizes he, Jace Conway, and Shep are all on the same run. The men to the three women who were tortured all left Griffin’s Beach at the same time.

He feels relief when they return to Griffin’s Beach early, and he’s antsy to get home. It’s not even eleven at night when he pulls onto the road to their house, and he itches to climb into bed with his wife. If he’s lucky, he won’t need to feel guilty waking her because she’ll still be awake. All he thinks about is sinking into her, which made the drive home slightly uncomfortable. It doesn’t feel like he’s home until he’s been inside her, and he cannot figure out how he could ever be so stupid to think he needed anything besides her. That she wouldn’t help fix everything broken inside of him.

Looking back, their relationship has never been smooth sailing, but the last two years have been pure hell. All because of him. Losing Casey in Black Valley brought back all of the emotions Colt never dealt with about his brother’s death, and it made him crazy. So much so, he swore he heard both of their voices in his head almost daily and made him wonder if they should just commit him and administer shock therapy.

He kept Lex at a distance, and especially now that he’s been on the road for four days, he’s had so much time to think about how terrible of a man he’s been. A terrible husband and father. She’s not perfect, but out of the two of them, she’s the one who held them down. The amount of shit he put her through makes him sick, and he needs to be with her. Touch and kiss her. To have that comfort that she isn’t going anywhere when, by all accounts, she should have left and never looked back. He’d follow her, and he knows she must be more than a little crazy to stay with him.

What kills him the most about what happened is how his actions made Lex question herself. Not just him or their marriage, but she truly believed he didn’t love her anymore. That he didn’t find her attractive and wanted someone else. He wishes he knew how best to convey that there is no one but her. Once he had her, nothing else ever measured up. He knows... he dated a terrible woman who should have been a club bunny at best, not a girlfriend. And she certainly was never going to be an old lady.

Pulling up to the house, Colt nods to West and York. He almost wishes he’d stayed home and sent one of them in his place, but he also needed the money.

The house sits dark, and Colt finds himself consumed with a weird feeling of unease. There’s always a light on in the house. Parking his bike, he races up the front steps and unlocks the front door. He searches the house only to find it empty, and déjà vu hits him, nearly knocking him on his ass. Running to the garage, he finds it difficult to breathe.

Sitting there is the Ford Explorer he bought to avoid having to gouge his own eyes out after catching his parents fucking on the kitchen counter one night. Back when his mother was the person to help with the child exchanges since he only had a bike at the time.

Next to the Explorer, however, sits an empty space. Lex’s black Mustang is gone, and the panic hits its peak. Maybe she really did come to her senses and leave him.

She didn’t leave you again. She wouldn’t do that. You know her. He repeats the sentiments to himself over and over. He searches the house again to find little missing and no note. Lex would have left a note. He tries not to lose his shit as he runs out to West and York in the front.

“Was Lex here when you showed up?”

“Lex is gone?” West asks, his tall six-foot-five height craning to look over Colt towards the house.

“We just showed up at dusk like we’re supposed to and did a check around the perimeter,” York says. “We don’t normally check inside or talk to anyone unless someone comes outside to check the mail or something. Nothing odd has happened since we took up our post any of the nights.”

Next to West, York looks like a teenager, but he’s built like a bulldog. They could more than handle a few Slashers if they showed up.

Colt shakes his head and lets out a deep breath. “That means she was gone before you showed up. Where the hell would she be this late? Especially with the kids.”

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