Page 113 of Protector

I shook my head as I sank down to my knees in the soft dirt. As much as I wanted to dredge up an emotion, I couldn’t. It seemed that after ten years, I finally cared for my parents as much as they had for me.

“When does it end, Jamie? The Sons of Death MC is growing stronger every day. We’ve been chasing Cobra for sixteen years, somebody named Saint for six, and now we have to worry about the people who see our girls as collateral?”

As if another rival MC wasn’t bad enough, it was also becoming apparent that someone in his own clubhouse was working against him.

I didn’t even know what we were fighting for anymore.

For years, I’d held myself together with the idea that someday, Jamie and I would have a relationship with our daughters, but we were never going to be a family.

At least, not in the way I’d imagined.

Because my girls would never know this life.

“I’ve got every chapter workin’ together—” His eyebrows pulled together as he looked at the tree and then back down at me. “Oh my god.”

“What?”

Jamie ran a hand over his face. “Hawk told you Death was comin’ for you, right? The entire fuckin’ time I thought he meant the Reaper, but what if he was talkin’ about the Sons?”

A ball of lead settled in my belly, and I was glad that I was already sitting as I was suddenly lightheaded. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would they want me?”

“Maybe we ain’t heard from the Serpents because they’ve been working with the Sons. Fuck, I don’t know, but I ain’t takin’ any chances. From now on, you don’t go anywhere without Carnage. I’ve got Jarvis and Goblin on the girls.”

Instead of calming me, Jamie’s words only made my tears fall faster. He didn’t know, but I’d been reading up on the Sons of Death. They were never mentioned by name, but there were countless news stories detailing their crimes. They’d started out taking down crime families but had more recently shifted their focus onto other MCs.

It didn’t matter how much security was in place, in the last year the Sons had executed the Outlaws Pres as he sat at a red light in broad daylight, along with the head of the Russo crime family while he ate dinner with his kids.

Jus in bellohad never applied to the one-percenters, but there had always been an unspoken agreement that families were off-limits.

Until me.

I’d come a long way in sixteen years, but the idea that we’d forever be running from something pierced my armor, leaving me vulnerable.

I pushed past the tunnel vision and planted my hands into the dirt before getting my feet back under me.

“Celia?” Jamie called after me as I turned back toward the house. The pounding in my ears made it sound as if he was miles away.

I squeezed the pads of my fingers into my palms until the knuckles cracked, but still my skin vibrated with a need to hurt someone.

“Celia! Fuckin’ talk to me!”

My throat was dry, and my body had begun to tremble, but I refused to give up what little power I had left. I refused to sit and do nothing.

Jamie caught my wrist and dragged me backward, the muscles in his neck straining as he fought me for control. His rough breathing was the only sound between us, and I swallowed hard, letting him pull me deeper into the orchard.

I wanted to rake my nails down the sides of his face for letting our enemies stack up against us.

I wanted him to yank up the skirt of my dress and bury himself inside of me until none of it mattered.

“I don’t want to be afraid,” I whispered the words, as if doing so might make them less real.

Jamie inhaled deeply, and I studied his face, searching his blue eyes for signs of disappointment. “You’re scared?”

I nodded, biting down on my lower lip and he shifted his weight, guiding my body back up against a tree. I rested my forehead against his chest and breathed in the comforting scents of leather and cigarette smoke.

His chin rested on top of my head. “I love you, Celia. Ain’t one motherfucker gonna lay a hand on you or my kids… not as long as I’m still kickin’.”

Something strange happened at that moment. I exhaled a shaky breath as the tension left my shoulders because, for the first time in a long time, I believed him.

---