Page 26 of Rider

Hours later, I walked back into the house and the living room. Hammer had repaired the front door. A large area rug was missing, and the wood floor had been scrubbed clean. The smell of bleach was strong throughout the house. I eyed the furniture and walked the hall looking for anything out of place. Rayleighn and Colton were at Mrs. Lopez’s house and that’s where they would stay for the next few hours. I couldn’t get the image of my sweet Ladybug’s face out of my mind when I had gotten them out of the bathroom. I didn’t want them coming back into this house for a while—possibly never again.

I heard the door open and I walked back to the front room. Griz came strolling in and shut the door behind him. He sat down in the nearest chair and threw his head back to rest on the top, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “That’s done.”

I hadn’t seen him since everything first went down. When more than half the club descended on the house to find one dead man and another shot, with me standing over him holding the gun. Griz had been the one to come straight to me and take the gun. Prez had looked over the dead man and the MC vest he was wearing and hissed out a curse. I had quickly filled them in on what had taken place and then excused myself to get Rayleighn and Colton out of the house through the back door. Once I had secured them over at Mrs. Lopez’s, I joined what was left of my brothers and went over the steps of what would happen next. Our club was going to kill two birds with one stone and send a message. It was decided that Griz would ride down to the border with Prez and meet with the club of their now-deceased member. Explain what took place and see if he was a rogue member or if the club had a hand in it. They would also be delivering a severely beaten Grayson and their required payment of us never seeing him again. It had taken them the rest of the night and most of the day to get it done.

“Did you just get back?” I asked as I sat down across from him on the couch.

“Yep.”

“Do I have you to thank for this place being cleaned up?” In all the years we’d known each other and worked together, I had never asked him questions about his less than scrupulous deeds. I had never wanted to know the nitty-gritty details of his inner workings for the club and today had been the exception.

He kept his eyes closed. “Yep.”

“Did the message get delivered?”

Griz raised his head up off the chair and looked me dead in the eye. “One hundred percent.”

I leaned forward and braced my elbows on my knees, feeling tired. The adrenaline had long worn off and I was feeling just how long I had been awake. “Did their club have anything to do with it?”

Griz shook his head, his mouth in a grim line. “No, but… I don’t know. I got the feeling there was something they weren’t saying, but their Prez was very adamant that the club never directed anything towards the club or our members.”

I thought about what he said and shook my head. “Only time will tell.”

“That’s the truth, brother. The truth always comes out over time but today is done. You did what you had to do, and the club took care of the rest. I made sure you’re covered. Don’t sweat it.”

I stood up and reached out with my fist to him. He didn’t hesitate to reach out and meet mine with his. Trying to lighten the mood I told him, “You should take tomorrow off from the shop. You earned it.”

Griz released a deep chuckle. “We’re closed till after the new year.”

I smiled back at him. “Exactly.”

Rayleighn

It had been five days since what we were now referring to as The Incident. After that first day when Rider sat me down and explained everything that happened that night and the reasons behind it. I had never wanted to bring it up or talk about it again. Frankly, never would be too soon. One day when Colton would start to ask me about his father, I’d cross that bridge with him and try to explain. I hoped that Rider’s presence, affection, and pure-hearted love would be enough to quell any feelings of neglect or unwantedness. I hoped that he would see Rider as his father one day and be content in knowing that Rider would be honored to be seen in that role.

Each night since The Incident I had woken up in a cold sweat with my heart beating out of my chest. Logically, I knew that it was just my mind’s way of coping and processing what had gone on and how close we would have come to being forced into a different life if I hadn’t had Rider to protect us. In those times, Rider would pull me back to his chest and wrap his arms around me. Stroking my hair and telling me I was safe until I fell back asleep. Those nights, I felt his love even stronger than during our days together. We hadn’t been apart for any long period of time, with his garage being closed for the holiday we had become inseparable. We were also now staying at Rider’s house, which was only a few miles away from my house and Mrs. Lopez. Rider had made sure to drive her back and forth as much as she wanted to see us and spend time together.

Now it was time to ring in the New Year and we were once again headed to the MC’s clubhouse. I had voiced my concerns to Rider yesterday about not wanting to leave Colton alone or celebrating without him because we had always been together on New Year’s Eve. Rider took it upon himself to make a makeshift New Year’s Eve specifically for Colton. He had balloons drop from the ceiling at noon, we had party blowers, hats, and those little confetti poppers. We danced in the living room of Rider’s house and made some great memories. Colton loved it and I loved Rider for putting it all together. That’s why I was now dressed to the nines instead of in my ratty old pajama pants where I was wishing we could have just spent the night.

When we arrived at the clubhouse, Rider helped me put on my matching vest to his. This was my first time wearing it but I had been wearing the bandana every day in some way. He had explained the club rules on wearing their emblem and that it could never be worn sitting in a car. When I looped it through my arms, it felt heavy on my slender shoulders. It also made me feel safe and protected. I knew that all these men had my back no matter what, and after everything that had gone down, I knew they would protect Rider and me no matter the cost.

Like all the other club parties I had been to, which weren’t that many, this one was in full swing. They had black and silver balloons everywhere with streamers hanging from the ceiling. Confetti covered the concrete floor, and the ball hadn’t even dropped yet. They had a countdown clock on the wall to help keep track of the time. The bar was fully stocked, and they had several kegs lined up for people to self-serve. This time around the women of the club had reached out to me to help with the decorations, but given the circumstances, I had given them a hard pass. They understood.

As we walked around the massive downstairs of the clubhouse, Rider waved to people who shouted out his name and acknowledged all the guys who had been stopping by the house the last few days to check up on us. He leaned forward, kissed my cheek, and whispered in my ear, “I’ll be right back, baby. I invited Carmen for you, she’s right over there.” He pointed her out in the crowd and my eyes followed his finger. “Go say hi and I’ll find you in a few minutes.” I held onto his hand as he tried to pull away and pulled him further into me kissing him hard on the lips. When we pulled apart, he smiled at me, and it was one of the smiles he reserved just for me. I turned around to walk toward Carmen and he playfully slapped my butt as I walked away.

I smiled at the people around me as I made my way over to Carmen. If I thought about it for too long, it was strange that all the club knew who I was and most of their girlfriends and wives. I still hadn’t personally met all of them yet. I needed to learn their names better and take an active interest in getting to know them, but for the most part, I knew the people who were around me more often than not. As I approached Carmen and she spotted me her face lit up. She was aware that something had happened, but I hadn’t given her the details. It was a part of my life that I wanted to keep private even to my good friend. I just wanted to move past it all.

When I got close enough to her, she threw her arms out and engulfed me in a big hug. “Girl, you look good in leather.”

I smiled and shook my head. “This is probably the only piece of leather that I’ll always be ok with wearing.”

She laughed but I caught her longingly looking over my vest. That was my segway to ask about Ink. I hadn’t spotted him inside the clubhouse but there was a large, enclosed courtyard behind the building he could be hanging out in, or he could just be blending in with the sea of leather vests. “So have you seen Ink tonight?”

Carmen looked down at her hands and picked at her nails. I had known her long enough to know the signs of when she felt nervous or uncomfortable. “Yeah, I saw him.”

Her face flashed a moment of pain and if I hadn’t been looking for it, I would have missed it. “Aw, what’s wrong, sweetie? What’s going on?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s nothing. I’m just being sensitive.”

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