Page 58 of The Savage Outlaw

He turned his head and saw Eden staring at him from the passenger window. She placed her hand against the glass. He nodded to her. They were safe, for now. Maybe for ten seconds. Maybe for ten minutes.

Priest groaned and looked up. He told himself he should have just stayed in that fucking cabin all day.

Eating burgers… and eating Eden’s sweet cunt.

“Who the fuck is that?” Cyrus asked, pointing to the guy with the smashed in face.

“No idea,” Priest said. “I lost my cool. He shot out the back window. Almost killed Eden. I guess I had some built up anger issues.”

Priest stared Cyrus down. Waiting forDr. Smilewas taking its toll on Priest. Fitz wasn’t going to live forever either.

“Jesus Christ,” Slade said, surveying the scene. “This doesn’t make sense. Why this? Why now? Why Priest?”

“Maybe it’s not Priest,” Linc said. “The nurse seems to bring trouble with her.”

“What kind of fucking trouble?” Priest growled.

“We just had the prospects take care of a body,” Linc said. “And Darrow is still taking care of all the details. Not to mention you fucking killed a crew member.”

“Get off your high horse, Linc,” Priest said. “Rattlers? Fuck them.”

“Hey, everyone take a breath,” Cyrus said. “Can’t be arguing right now with the roadkill in front of us. But I will saysomething.” Cyrus stepped over the run over, smushed guy on the ground. “Priest, you know Linc has a point. She’s a nurse. She had a job. She did it. We owed her nothing. You made a promise and kept it. She was messing around with a member of theRattlers.”

“Prez, save the recap. No offense.”

“You should take offense to what I’m saying,” Cyrus said. “This is two dead bodies. Her fault or not, she’s here for it. She’s not wearing your ink, Priest. You know what that means.”

Priest turned away from Cyrus and walked back to the SUV. He opened the door and reached inside for Eden. Bailing on her now was the right thing to do. Ditching her seemed fair. Hell, if need be, kill her, put her in the SUV and hide the fucking vehicle in the woods somewhere. It was all right there in Priest’s head. His normal dark logic that always servedSOFRAWwell.

But when Eden took his hand and she climbed over the middle console, then jumped out of the SUV and into his arms, he held her tight and felt himself in a situation much worse than being attacked from behind and left in a coma. The touch of the right woman at the wrong time.

“Fuck, doll,” Priest groaned.

Eden clung to him, shaking. He knew that one thing in his life that could not exist was fear. Fear created hesitation. It created stupid decisions. Fear was the doorknob to opening the door for death.

“You have to stop being afraid,” Priest growled to Eden. “It’s in the past.”

“In the past?” Eden asked as she looked at Priest. “It’s behind my fucking car. We were shot at. You ran someone over.”

“That’s right. I fucking did that to protect you.”

“I am so afraid right now, Priest,” Eden confessed in a whisper. “Yet I can’t imagine not being near you right noweither. There’s no other side to you, is there? No soft and slow and calm side?”

“No, doll, there’s not. This is who I am. This is my life. I sit to the right of thePresidentofSins of Fire Real Anarchy West. My life is built around chaos, violence, and murder. I’ll get you home safely, doll, but that’s about it. Nothing is going to change.”

Eden had her window to get away from it all. She assumed she had the trust from Priest and the rest of the bikers that she would never speak a word of what had happened. She was safer with Cody dead. There was no doubt about it. But was she safe in the arms of an outlaw like Priest?

“I can’t go back home, Priest,” Eden said. “Not yet. Not after what just happened here. You said that my ex is part of some other crew? What if—”

“Then you’re coming back to the clubhouse with me,” Priest cut in.

“I’m not dumb either. I know there’s tension with me being around.”

“It’s a messed up time right now. That’s all I can tell you. You’ll never know the full truths or lies of anything either, doll. That’s how this works. I keep my promises though. And I only make the ones I can keep. That’s the best I can offer you.”

To Eden, that sounded almost romantic.

“Hey,nurse lady,” Linc called out. “Any chance you have a shovel in the back here? So we can scrape up this guy’s smashed in face and brains?”

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