Page 25 of Tyrant

Gray lets me wait beside the huge Harley, the Satan’s Angels logo isn’t painted onto it. It doesn’t have any designs gracing the gleaming black. That simplicity makes it elegant.

I snatch the helmet off the handlebars and set it on my head. When I have the chinstrap firmly in place, I turn and look around for Gray. He’s nowhere in sight. I made it clear I needed space and he’s giving it to me.

Finally, after a century, Gray ambles through the lot. I can’t tear my eyes off him. There shouldn’t be such a fluid grace to his movements, I can’t believe how broad he is.Larger than lifeand isn’t that just the dumbest thought.

I did the unthinkable. I finally told him he’s a father. He didn’t react the way I thought he would. Didn’t get angry or upset. Didn’t brood or sling around accusations. He didn’t shove me away or pull me close.

Maybe it’s not just me who needed a minute out here.

Gray’s strong hands handle his helmet with as much love and care as he treats his bike. His hands aren’t just stained with grease and oil now. They’re bloodstained. I have to remember that before I get ridiculously hot and bothered about having them on me. Gray has always been packaged with the life, but that meant something else before.

“Whatever we did, I want us to take care of Raiden’s heart,” I whisper, ducking my face. “He can’t lose you and the club when he needs you most. I’ve kept this a secret for years. I need us both now to keep it for a few more months. He can’t have everything come crashing down at once. The last thing I want is for my family to be torn apart again. We might be back together, but it’s born of necessity.”

“I’ll respect what you want.”

Does that mean just about Raiden or about everything? I can’t even begin to think about how to introduce Penny to him. “What… does that mean?”

He drops the gates guarding his face and lets me see the raw pain eating away at him. He’s in torment and agony and not just about finding out he’s a father. Knowing I’ve done this to him is the worst kind of punishment. I don’t truck with violence, but if someone else treated Gray this way, I’d want to tear their stupid face off.

“Can I ask you just one thing?”

No. No, please no.“Yes.” I’m still sitting on his bike. Property of Gray. Property of Satan’s Angels MC. This seat screams that it’s true. Of course it’s true. This man has always owned me.

“You wanted better. I see that. But could you not have found a way to tell me, even if it was only ever you and me who knew? I would have protected you from a distance. I could have stayed away.”

My nails dig into my thighs, biting into denim. “Could you have?”

“If you asked me to. You know I’m the kind of man who sees things through. I know now, and that means you’re part of a biker family, like it or not, and family looks after each other. You need anything, I’m there.”

“There is something,” I find myself saying before I can stop.

He leans forwards lightly, his eagerness to please breaking me apart. “Name it, babe, and it’s done.”

I cross my arms. “Never call me that again, especially not where anyone can hear you. We are not together and I’m certainly not your babe, baby, old lady, biker bitch, girlfriend, woman, or any other term you might have. I- need help. I can admit it. The one thing my mom wants is for her flower gardens to be beautiful again. She loved them so much. I want to do the whole yard, every inch of available space, in flowers for her—how it used to be. I want her to be able to sit out there and not think… not think about…”

Through a sheen of tears, I see Gray’s jaw set stubbornly. “We’ll make it happen. I might not know anything about flowers and fuck if any of my club brothers do either, but maybe some of the old ladies have some advice. Either way, we have the manpower. We’ll find anything we need. I’ll buy you an entire city’s worth of flowers. Whatever it takes, I’ll do it.”

“Gray…” I thought he’d changed, become hard, but at this moment I see the old Gray. His charisma and charm have changed, but they haven’t been eradicated. He could have made this in every way so much worse. How can I not half love him for throwing all his resources behind me and Penny and my parents as well, instead of using them to make me pay?

He studies me for a moment, begging me to see him, accept him, to reconcile the things he’s done. In his face, there’s another flash of the old Gray and in his promise of flowers and help, a shadow of the boy-man who would have done anything for the people he loved. He would still do anything, but I can’t get my mind around what that entails. Blood. Murder. Bodies. He’s not justpartof a criminal enterprise anymore, he’sheadingit.

“Just say yes,” he urges. “Let me do this for you. We’re not a bunch of thugs. When one brother bleeds out, the whole family hurts with him. This is for Raiden too.”

Finally, Gray kicks the bike to life, the vibrations of the engine crashing through me. Like before, I do my best not to get too close.

Our lives might be changing, melding like the sea and the sand, but there are no tides. I’m back and he’s in my life to stay. There is no ebb and flow, only knowledge. I’ve given him my secrets. I thought it might be a relief, but all I feel is enough anxiety to suffocate me.

By coming back here, I’ve become like all the people here with their lives in the palm of Gray’s hand, whether they know it or not.

Chapter 11

Tyrant

We pull up at just past seven in the morning, two days later, a leather clad armada. If it wasn’t for the women and kids, it would look like we were heading out on a ride. The rumble of bikes rolling down Elwick Road was no doubt enough to put the fear of god into the neighborhood, but I waited until after seven so no one could complain about noise violations.

I see a few blinds twitch, a few curtains swish as our ladies’ vehicles and our bikes start lining the street. Bikes rumble up behind me and my brothers vie for space on the crowded block. Some have to park well away from the Gardiner’s house.

Our club isn’t massive, but we currently have five prospects and twenty-six brothers including those who hold official positions. A bunch of them have old ladies and even more have kids. And today, every available man, woman, and child is coming out to help.

---