Page 2 of Wild Reckoning

The three-year-old gazed up at him with confusion in his green eyes, as if Stewart was the strangest person on the planet. “I no go, siwwy.”

Huh? Half the time, he couldn’t make sense of what the toddler was saying. To be fair to his nephew, Stewart hadn’t spent much time around Ethan before gaining custody of him.

In fact, he hadn’t even known his sister was sick until two days before she passed away. From what he’d learned, Carol had fought a tough battle against breast cancer, but in the end, the disease won out.

She had been a single parent, and as far as he knew, the father hadn’t been in the picture. He wasn’t even on the birth certificate.

Stewart had asked her for the guy’s name a few times, but Carol hadn’t been in any condition to tell him. The hospital had been giving her pain medication to make her end as comfortable as possible. Whenever he asked her to tell him who Ethan’s father was, she would mumble something about keeping his secret. Whose secret? But he’d never found out.

Now, Stewart had full custody of Ethan.

What really hurt was the fact he was a damn doctor and Carol hadn’t reached out to him until forty-eight hours before she died. A part of him resented his baby sister for depriving him of time he could have spent with her.

Stewart hadn’t even known he had custody of Ethan until he found himself signing a stack of legal documents.

Through the entire process, Stewart had been grieving but managing. Until he blew a gasket when he discovered Carol had left Ethan with an elderly neighbor when she’d been admitted to the hospital. His sister hadn’t even told the poor woman why she’d had to go in the first place.

He and Carol had been night and day.

While Stewart worked tirelessly to become a family practitioner, his sister was the most irresponsible person he had ever met.

They’d grown up in foster care, never knowing their parents, but were placed together with an older couple who’d tried their best to handle Carol’s reckless behavior.

It was a miracle the Ashfords hadn’t given up on her and sent her back into the system. Unfortunately, his sister hadn’t improved as an adult. She’d bounced from job to job, always relying on men to support her.

The night she’d told Stewart she was pregnant, he hadn’t handled it well. Her life had been a mess, and she’d barely been able to take care of herself. He’d asked her how she could even think of bringing an innocent babe into the chaos and how unfair that was to the child.

The next time he’d heard from her was when she’d called to tell him she had given birth to a little boy. After she passed away, Stewart had gone to collect Ethan’s belongings from their home and was horrified by their living conditions. Not only was the house filthy, but the cupboards were nearly empty, and poor Ethan had very few clothes and toys.

In that moment, Stewart had vowed to give his little tater tot a better life.

Lost in his thoughts, he barely felt the tug on his pants.

“Go pee now!”

Crap! Stewart quickly helped Ethan, hoping the toddler wouldn’t get any urine on his tiny jeans. After his nephew finished, Stewart began righting Ethan’s clothes. That was when he heard the rumble of motorcycles. As he listened, he realized they were getting closer.

“Uncle wants you to sit in your car seat, buddy.” Stewart scooped him up and placed him in the car seat, struggling with the safety harnesses. Panicking, he finally finished the last buckle and closed the door just as six motorcycles came into view, heading toward them.

After they’d passed, one of the riders slowed down and made a U-turn in the middle of the road, followed by the others who formed a line behind his car.

Stewart’s heart was going ninety miles an hour. He’d never been this close to such rugged, muscular men who looked like they’d been dipped in badass then sprinkled with a coating of danger.

And they were lined up behind him, their engines loud and their presence terrifying. Stewart swallowed a lungful of worry as the rider who’d made the turn shut off his bike and smoothly dismounted, like his long legs were a part of the machine.

Instinctively, Stewart took a step back but quickly moved forward when he realized he was leaving Ethan’s door unguarded.

“Need a hand?” The deep voice suited a guy his size, colossal. He pushed his sunglasses onto a head of windblown hair, revealing breathtaking gray eyes. The other riders had turned off their engines and were chatting amongst themselves, ignoring Stewart completely.

With a sexy gait, the stranger approached, making Stewart tilt his head back to look at the guy’s perfectly sculpted face. At five-feet-seven, Stewart felt dwarfed by him. He also felt something stir deep inside of him, almost like a connection to the man, although Stewart had never met him before.

“Name’s Killian,” he said with a nod. “Saw you on the side of the road and thought you might need some help.”

Stewart’s heart raced even faster, unsettled at how attracted he was to Killian and his commanding presence. An urge filled him to slide his arms around Killian’s waist and curl into his ripped body.

What is wrong with you? Have you forgotten what you just fled from? Pull yourself together!

A slight breeze blew the cold air around them, causing Stewart’s hands to sting. As he tucked them into his coat pockets, Killian cocked his head back and deeply inhaled. The action reminded Stewart of the way the Ashfords’ dog used to do the same thing whenever Martha cooked.

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