Page 190 of Moon's Promise

He skipped through the channels on the television while he continued to castigate himself for fucking himself over. Had he really tried to gaslight her that it wasn’t a big deal? Seeing Warlord’s from Hell was on, he clicked the select button.

If he were a smart man, he would have apologized and told her the fucking truth. Hell, when had he ever done the smart thing? It was his own fault Larissa wasn’t sitting here, watching Warlords with him.

The best part of his night was watching the series with her. She had a thing for the main warlord who wore a black uniform and a head covering that hid his whole head. He had noticed several times that her nipples would poke through her top when the warlord chose one of the captives to share his bed.

Moon snorted sarcastically. He bet the fucker who played the warlord needed a respirator to recover from getting so much pussy.

Larissa had once rudely told him to shut up and leave her alone to watch her show in peace when he asked her a simple question after coming back from the bathroom. Her show? He made another rude sound. She wouldn’t be watching the fucking show if not for him.

Drumming his fingers on the arm of the couch, he looked at his cell phone, wondering how long she would be gone. At least three hours, he guessed. She was really hurt. She would want to make him pay for not apologizing. The good thing, at least, was that she was at Sex Piston’s parents’ house. The only ones who would be there were a bunch of old goats who hadn’t been laid since the turn of the century.

He thought about going to his knees to pray that bitch of a mom of hers found at least one of them to interest her. If she did, he would owe Stud the motorcycle Viper had given him that had belonged to the out-of-town biker. Stud had been trying to buy it off him, but he had refused. When Stud asked what it would take for him to sell it to him, Moon named his price—set Larissa’s mom up with one of his elderly acquaintances and get the old witch off his back.

He had been ecstatic when Stud called to tell him he had arranged for his in-laws to host a game night with their friends, and they would invite Larissa’s mother. He didn’t know they invited the whole family, but he supposed they did it to make Larissa’s mother feel more comfortable.

After the show ended, he checked on Jace, who was sleeping soundly. To pass the time until Jace woke for his next feeding, he showered. Then he found a pair of loose gray sweats but didn’t bother with a T-shirt.

Feeling in the mood for popcorn, he put a bag in the microwave while he loaded the dishwasher. He had already put the leftovers in the fridge, so all he had to do was wipe off the counters and table. He had just finished when the popcorn was done.

Grabbing a beer and the popcorn, he went back to the couch to search for something else to watch. He put his feet on the coffee table and reached for his cell phone that sat on the end table. Picking it up, he saw he had received a text while was in the shower. It was from Train.

He clicked on the message; it was a stack of pictures. Pressing on the first one, he grinned. Kendra was surrounded by men. About to scroll to the next picture, he stopped to look at the picture again. The men Sex Piston’s parents had invited to their game night were different ages. There were a couple of older men, but the ones who made his eyebrows lift were the bikers his own age or younger. He thought there would only be a few geriatric bikers there. Then he sat up from his relaxed position, when he realized that “game night” seemed more like a fucking backyard cookout rather than them playing a few hands of cards.

Using his finger, he flipped to the next picture, and found Larissa sitting at a patio table with Killyama, Jesus, and Keller. Both men were staring at Larissa as she was talking to Killyama.

His jaw grew tighter with each picture he flipped through.

Jesus was notorious for not giving a fuck if a woman wanted to make a move on him, regardless of if they belonged to another brother. He would flippantly joke, “You snooze, you lose.” Moon planned to beat him to a bloody pulp if he made a move on Larissa.

The real problem was the other man sitting at the table. Jesus, he could take; Keller, he was smart enough to know he couldn’t. Keller was unbeatable. He was the only Last Rider who had gone through the gauntlet and fought seven of the original Last Riders on the same day and walked away alive to have the bragging rights. The craziest thing about it was he didn’t. Keller never bragged about it to the other brothers, and when any of them tried to get him to talk about it, he would walk away. All of the brothers had tried to surmise why he had done it then refused to speak about it anytime it was mentioned.

Hearing Jace’s low cry, Moon got up, taking his cell phone with him. He changed Jace’s diaper, then carried him to the other room to heat his bottle up, describing what he was doing as Moon talked to Jace the whole time. He had developed the habit after listening to how Larissa interacted with their son. Rarely did she use baby talk with him. Instead, she used a soft tone, talking to him as if he were an adult interested in what she was doing. Moon had noticed Jace’s eyes cling to his mother as if he could understand everything she said.

Cradling Jace, he gave him the bottle after checking the temperature.

“You want to watch a movie with me?”

Picking up the remote, he turned it to the Discovery Channel, to a program Larissa would approve of. Watching jungle animals habitats bored him to death, but he wouldn’t be yelled at if Larissa walked in the door with Warlords From Hell on.

After watching a lion take down a helpless crocodile, he thought she might not appreciate this show, either.

He switched the channel to The Andy Griffth Show; at least he wouldn’t want to blow his brains out from boredom.

Glancing at his cell phone, he frowned. She sure was taking her sweet time coming home. Was she still talking to Keller and Jesus? If she was, he was going to follow his first instinct and take Jace to Shade’s to babysit before surprising Larissa’s ass by showing up.

“She wouldn’t do anything.” Snuggling Jace closer, he nuzzled his neck, smelling the faint aroma of Larissa’s perfume.

God, how much he loved his son. Shade had been right; he worried constantly something would happen to him. Some inner paternal instinct constantly nagged at him to be wary. He didn’t understand why, but a scared, sinking feeling struck him every time he left the house. That was why he had bought the monitoring sock. He had an ever-present fear that something would happen to his child. The fear grew each day until Larissa had started chiding him about being too cautious where Jace was concerned. It had gotten to the point he had come up with excuse after excuse as to why he didn’t want to go out, preferring to stay put in the house. Since Larissa had gone back to work, and over the last couple of days leading up to that, he was constantly on his cell phone, watching the cameras he had installed inside his house.

Watching how well Kendra treated Jace hadn’t eased his anxiety, either. His sense of dread was so palpable that several of the brothers had noticed the change in him.

Shade and Viper had tried to tell him that it was just him being a new father, and that the trauma of losing his stepbrother and stepsister had traumatized him at such a young age that the fear had been transferred to losing Jace. Despite their talk, he couldn’t be swayed by his decision. He had told them once they caught Pace’s killer, he wouldn’t work at the factory anymore. What work The Last Riders needed him to do, he could do over the Internet or once Larissa got home from work.

He had expected them to argue that he was being excessively protective over Jace, so he was surprised when they agreed with him that if he felt that strongly about Jace, they would do anything to ensure his safety. Shade had even installed state-of-art security around and within both Larissa’s home and the one her family was living in, in case they decided to let Jace spend time there. Viper had also made an appointment with another pediatrician to check on Jace in case Larissa or Lana had missed something. Moon had sent Larissa and Kendra out on a Mother’s Day outing for that appointment. Jace had been given a clean bill of health from the doctor, and Moon was told he had a growing, healthy baby.

Taking Jace’s plump hand in his, Moon stared at the tiny hand that held his heart in such a small grasp. “I’ll never let anything happen to you. I promise.”

Jace blew bubbles up at him, wiggling his hand away to shove it in his toothless mouth.

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