Page 3 of July 27

He held up the oil filter and inspected it for damage. He thought Shady would've contacted him by now, letting him know it was safe to take Rachel home.

Shady mentioned he and his sister had a house in Offshore, about forty minutes from Seaglass Cove. Whenever he mentioned taking her home, Rachel threw her arms around him and refused to let go.

He had better things to do than stay inside the room and babysit Shady's little sister. His confinement came at the wrong time. His daughter married his best friend since he returned to the clubhouse. He struggled to accept that the man he called brother and had asked to watch over Katrina eighteen years ago was now her husband.

As far as he knew, while he was in prison, Katrina hadn't even taken the time to date and hang out with kids her age. She'd stuck by Jagger's side for years, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do from inside his cell.

Because Jagger had broken the bylaws by getting involved with Katrina, Ruger set the punishment the moment he recovered from dealing with Los Li.

The president of Havlin had put his life up as a bargaining chip and was willing to die for Ruger's daughter. He set the filter down. Because of Jagger's sacrifice, Katrina's love, and Rachel freaking out when the punishment was going down, he let Jagger live.

"I'm going out." He straightened from the chair. "You coming?"

"No." She turned her head, letting her black hair curtain her face.

He left her in the room. For understandable reasons, she always stayed in the room. Everyone was a stranger to her. The only person she knew was him. She trusted the wrong man. Just because they spent time together while he saved her from her kidnappers didn't mean she knew him.

He wasn't looking to add another person to his life. Katrina adding Jagger to the family was enough. He also had a newly discovered little sister popping into his life. Cora caused him all kinds of hell, always wanting to bring up the past he'd buried long ago.

Rachel needed to go home. The sooner, the better.

She was getting too attached. In the end, she was going to get hurt if she depended on him.

He walked through the clubhouse, ignoring the other Havlin members, and pushed out the back door. Lighting a cigarette, he carried the oil filter he'd cleaned to his Harley. While he smoked, he reinstalled the part.

Every day, stuck in the room, got longer. He wanted to get out and ride. But until he received word back from Shady, he could do little with Rachel. It wasn't like he could dump her in the driveway of her house and ride away.

Los Li knew where she lived. It was no longer safe unless her brother got released from prison and protected her.

Maverick, an MC brother, approached and stood beside Ruger's bike. He glanced up and kept tightening the filter down. Maverick was the closest to Ruger's size out of all the Havlin members.

"How long are you staying around?" Maverick squatted and looked at the bike.

"I put a transfer in with the Mother Chapter to ride under Jagger." He dropped the wrench into the roll-up pouch and stood. "Problem?"

"Nope."

He glanced at Maverick again. Usually, his MC brother coughed and cleared his throat constantly when he spoke. He hadn't heard him cough once.

He knew Maverick from inside prison. They recognized each other's dragon tattoos but had never ridden side by side because they'd both served long sentences. But on the inside, they'd often share information, and they always had each other's backs from different ends of the prison.

"I'm supposed to give this to you." Maverick held out a slip of paper.

He opened the folded paper. There was a local phone number written down. Nothing else.

"What's this?" he asked.

"I got a call this morning from an acquaintance in the state pen. He had a message from Shady that he wanted to pass on to you. He's—"

"I know who he is." He held the info in his hand. "What's the number for?"

He'd rather know what the hell Shady was doing contacting someone else. If he had a free phone call from prison, Rachel's brother should've called him and asked about his sister.

"You're supposed to set up a place and time to return the girl."

His gut tightened. Shady expected him to hand her over to some fucker off the street?

"How'd you get involved?"

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