Page 22 of Property of Rio

The room spins at his words. While I am still angry about what happened, there’s no way I wanted him dead. We have a lot of memories together, and none of them were bad until thisincident. Tears start trickling down my face and I ask, “Was anyone else hurt?”

“All of the brothers are good, babe. Gage’s sister, who was there as well, she’s a bit banged up, but as far as we can tell that’s all it is. Doc is checking her out right now,” he replies.

“Is that why Riptide’s here? I know his club has a crematorium,” I question.

“Yeah, he’ll take care of Gage’s body for us,” he says. “Because obviously, he didn’t know about his sister until just recently, and she’s too young to assume that responsibility. And we both know how his mother is.”

“He hated her, Rafe. Even though she was his mom and there was a small part inside of him that loved her, he wouldn’t want her involved at all,” I state. “Can we get the ashes back to bury here?”

“Yeah, sweetheart. We’ll bring him back home and put him out by the bull paddock.”

I grin despite my sorrow. “I think he’d like that, Rafe.” Something else comes to mind and I smirk at him. “Since Doc is here, I think I’ll go check with him aboutthings.”

“Issy,” he drawls out, “no need to do that, you’ve got at least another week before those ribs feel almost one hundred percent better. Don’t think I haven’t seen you wincing these past days.”

“Spoilsport,” I tease, sticking my tongue out at him.

“Anticipation, Issy. It sucks waiting but I refuse to hurt you just because we’re both horny.”

I roll my eyes, but I understand where he’s coming from even if it does irk me. I don’t want to be in the middle of ecstasy then have my ribs decide to spoil it by cramping up. “Fine, fine,” I grumble, causing him to laugh.

“C’mon, we’re going to get some meat on the grill and celebrate Gage’s life, as well as the fact that we got the truck and trailer back. All’s well that ends well, right?” he asks.

“I wonder if Constance is gonna let me help,” I muse.

“It’s doubtful.”

I don’t know where the brothers have all gone, but Rafe indicated that they had something to take care of before we ate. Instead, I’m in the kitchen, chopping stuff up for Constance as we chatter away about Gage.

“I remember when that boy showed up,” Constance says with commiseration as she recalls a time that we were joined by our newest sidekick. “Skinnier than a rail and half-starved. Paps took one look at him and told him the triple R was now his home. He sure loved working on the ranch and learning everything there was to know about bull riding.”

“He never got his circuit buckle, but he always finished well,” I reply. “He was getting better every time, too. I think he’d have eventually done it because he’d had a few buckles for several rodeos.”

“He was one of your biggest champions when you started working on Stargazer,” she adds. “Pancho was impressed at howknowledgeable he was considering he didn’t grow up in the life, if that makes sense.”

I giggle and say, “Rafe asked him multiple times if he wanted to prospect for the club, but he always refused. Said he was happy to be on the back of a horse or a bull, because he enjoyed being outside but not enough to ride a ‘deathtrap’.” Sadness then engulfs me at all the dreams I know he had that’ll never be fulfilled now.

Yet one thing Rafe told me sticks out and makes my heart hurt. He jumped in front of the bullet meant for Rafe for ‘atonement’ over what he put me through. That has my head messed up because what do I do with all this unresolved anger? I’m sad because my friend is now dead, but grateful he saved the love of my life. I’m mad because he didn’t think to reach out to Rafe for help when he found himself in that touchy situation, but happy that his sister is no longer in danger.

Rafe has already told Cherise that she’s welcome to stay on the ranch. Constance and Pancho are willing to take her in until she’s old enough to decide what she wants to do with her life. She accepted because for her, there’s no love lost between her and her mother. When she told Rafe that she had actually beensoldto the Devils by her mother to resolve a drug debt, I thought he was going to go nuclear.

As he explained, many clubs do things differently than the Kings. Some chapters may even dabble in illegal activities, much as Rafe’s probably does, but women and children are always considered as being off limits. Club girls are willingly there to serve the brothers in a sexual capacity—it’s not something I could ever do personally, but I know they have a choice. They aren’t bound to the club the way it sounds like the women in the Mojave Devils are, which I find disgusting.

I don’t care if a woman wants to live that kind of lifestyle. To each their own, as far as I’m concerned. Plus, what is the difference between them screwing a variety of men that they know and a woman going out every weekend and picking up random guys to fuck? The club girls are given a place to stay, jobs around the property for spending money while the brothers are running their businesses, and a few actually work for the club at their laundromat, Sudz and Soak. Some are even in college to get degrees so they can better themselves, which the club pays. Who am I to say how they earn their money?

A thought pierces my brain. While I’m not technically supposed to know club business, I’m well-aware that they caught that bastard, Mike Lopez. Does that mean I’m no longer in danger? Or will his club decide to retaliate since I am still ‘on the loose’. I guess I’ll ask Rafe later.

Not that I’ll be going home since Rafe has claimed me. Still, I do need to go to my place and get it cleared out since there’s a lot there that I am not inclined to keep. So, if I clean it up and clear it out, the owner can rent it out to someone else if they so desire. Another thing to discuss with Rafe, I guess.

The list keeps piling up because as my mind sorts out my life, more questions and thoughts arise that I’d like his input and answers to.

“You still with me?” Constance asks. “You kind of zoned out on me, sweetie. Maybe you should go rest for a little while. I’ve got this and Cherise will be here shortly since Pancho was giving her a tour of the horse barn. With several of the mares close to foaling, he thought she might enjoy seeing them.”

“Horses can be very therapeutic,” I muse, thinking of my own upbringing.

My father was an asshole, plain and simple. He was a member of the Kings, but he embodied all the stereotypical assumptions that many make when it comes to bikers. He was brash, obnoxious, and a blowhard. When my mom died, it was just the two of us, which he forgot many times. It’s one of the reasons Rafe and I are so close, even to this day. I walked from the farm to the ranch after my dad had been gone for a week because there was no food left that I was able to fix seeing as I was maybe five years old.

Paps took one look at me in my bedraggled filthy state and bellowed for the men to head into the room for their meetings, while Constance took me in hand. She gave me a bath and I still remember the fruity bubble bath she used, along with the apple shampoo and conditioner. It took her two washings to get my hair clean of the grease that’d built up on my scalp, that’s how bad it was. But my mom had always stressed for me not to run my own bath water because I didn’t understand checking the temperature before jumping in the tub, and my dad never said otherwise after her passing, so I didn’t touch any of the taps in the bathroom outside of the sink so I could brush my teeth. Then, she got some of her daughter’s clean clothes because mine were ‘beyond redemption’ according to her.

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