Page 57 of Hyde

She wraps an arm around me and puts her head against my shoulder, like she has a million times; the difference is, this time she isn’t looking up at me. Leslee’s sharing a smile with her Ol’ Man.

I tuck my head over hers and inhale the familiar, minty scent of her shampoo before kissing the top of her head.

“Never,” I reply, having problems pushing the word out. She looks at me as though slightly confused. “I’m not exactly known to be nice, sweet angel.”

“Will you have time to help us?” she asks, and this time I look at Hyde confused.

“I haven’t asked him yet, babe,” he responds, threading his fingers through hers before he looks at me again. “We want to build a house on that land that Mrs. Riley left Leslee, but there are some details that we don’t want in the architectural plans. I was wondering if you knew a way around that.”

Turning back to the bottle of whiskey in front of me, I pour a healthy amount in the glass and down it in two swallows. Lifting my eyes up to the far end of the bar, I see Jasper looking at me in question and I shake my head before looking down at Leslee.

“You finally found someone who would build you a bunker, I guess?”

Try as I may, there’s no hiding my exasperation. The delight on my daughter’s face is undeniable, bringing back years of memories of her talking about ones she had seen in movies.

“And a tunnel like Alex has, in case we need to escape!” she responds, stretching up on the balls of her feet like she does when she gets excited.

I’ll be damned if I’ll admit it anytime soon, but it’s becoming crystal clear that she’s with the perfect man for her, because that’s possibly where I might have drawn a line with Riley.

Not that I wouldn’t have eventually given in, of course.

“Shoot me a text,” I tell Hyde, and this time when our eyes meet, neither of us are able to conceal our grins over this nonsense. “I’ll walk the land with you and get it worked out.”

When I grab the whiskey bottle to make my way back to my brothers, my baby girl gives me another hug before I turn, leaving her to hang out with her Ol’ Man and her friends.

Each step away from her is painful, but necessary.

Not that I’ll be too far away, not as long as there’s breath left in my body.

Epilogue

Hyde, later that fall

The skin on the back of my neck tingles when Anvil catches my eye from across the bar. After whispering an excuse into Le-Lee’s ear, I follow him out to the parking lot.

Heat and Lock are already waiting out there when I make my way through the crowd. A look among them tells me they don’t know what’s happening, but once I see Jasper coming around the side of the building, the knot in the pit of stomach expands.

“I just heard from Royce,” Jasper says, lighting a joint. “Trinity’s father’s house just burned down. They’ve recovered three bodies so far.”

“But not Trinity,” I interject when he pauses for a hit.

“That bitch has more lives than any cat that ever walked this planet,” Anvil growls out the words that I’m thinking.

“All things being equal, it’s a shame Le-Lee didn’t end her when she had the chance,” Lock contributes with a wry chuckle.

While the guys that grew up with Leslee love to give her shit about the escapades she was responsible for, I never consider getting in their way—God knows she gives it back as good as she gets it. Knowing my Ol’ Lady the way I do, I’m certain she wouldn’t have actually killed Trinity at any point.

At least, at any point in the past. If it comes down to Trinity versus anyone in our circle, my money is on Leslee. My woman loves hard.

“Royce finished his job in Chicago, he’s riding down to Indiana now and will let me know what he can find out,” Jasper tells us. A shift in the shadows at the corner of the building catchesmy attention, but I stay quiet. “If it doesn’t turn out to be faulty wiring, I’m going to assume that Trinity’s responsible, albeit indirectly. I’ve notified the other Chapters to keep their guard up.”

“What about the run that’s set up for tomorrow?” Heat questions him.

“I’m going to change the meeting place,” Jasper replies, and we all nod in agreement.

We all knew that once we registered on the Navaja’s radar, they wouldn’t simply walk away after their product was returned. As expected, all of our Chapters have experienced more tails and drones in their areas. They’ll eventually approach us about an alliance, but until they do, we’ll have to stay one step ahead of them.

Jasper quickly tells each of us what he expects from us before he heads back inside.

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