Page 67 of The Oath We Take

“Take care of my girl,” Butcher says.

The use ofmy girlthrows me for a minute. Even though he’s her father, I don’t like the idea of her being anyone else’s girl but mine.

I force back my immediate response and shake his hand. “I got her. And where I’m going, I have supplies.”

I hope he can read into that what I mean. I built the bolt hole just for me, to escape anything anytime I have to. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t equipped.

“Ride safe,” he says.

When I rev the bike engine with Ember on the back, I feel a warmth trickle through me. It’s not just the fact that Ember has her arms wrapped around me, her chest firm against my back.

I glance over my shoulder. “You ready, Em?” I ask.

“Like old times, right?” she says.

“Yeah,justlike old times.”

It’s a big deal to let any woman ride on the back of your bike. But it’s a huge fucking deal to have the right one sitting there. It’s a rite of passage.

Once upon a time, it was fun to take Ember Deeks out on my bike; she’d laugh gleefully if I went too fast, and her tits would press up against my back.

But tonight, it feels…different.

I place my hand over hers, gripping on tight to reassure that I’m here for her. And while I have no idea what the future holds for Ember and me, if it’s everything I want and wish for, I need to remember this as the first time she rode my bike with me when it mattered.

When she rode with me for the first time as my old lady, even though I haven’t asked her yet.

I try to shut out the noise. The club. The fire. The fear I felt when I realized Whiskey Fever was on fire, and the devastation I felt when I first saw Ember lying there.

When I thought she was dead.

Instead, I embrace everything that is good about this moment.

For all it’s a hot evening, it’s still cool when the wind rushes over you when you’re on the bike, and Ember buries herself against my back.

I allow myself the luxury of running a hand down her calf, then squeezing her limb and contemplating just how happy the two of us are gonna be if we can just make it through this.

We take the turns together, Ember leaning intuitively as I corner. She’s been on the back of her father’s bike a thousand times, so she knows what she’s doing.

When we reach the stable, I pull up outside and kill the engine. “I have stuff where I’m taking you, so we can head straight out.”

Ember climbs off and waits for me to join her. “Thank you. For doing this.”

I touch her cheek briefly. My father can see this place from his. Not easily, but it’s not impossible. It’s unlikely he’s awake, either, given the hour. But there’s always a chance. “Let’s tack the horses.”

With my hand on her lower back, we head into the stables and rouse Lemmy and Butterscotch.

“It’s a long time since we rode together,” she says, grabbing her saddle.

“Bikesorhorses.”

She smiles softly as I say that. “It sucks it took my bar burning down to make it happen.”

“It does. But where I’m taking you? It’s the start of our future. There’s a piece of land in the middle of the ranch. Hard to get to. Harder to make work because it’s totally off grid. But I made a deal with my grandpa and bought it off him. Not that it’s a big plot of land, but it’s mine.”

“Then show me.”

I touch the dark circles under her eyes. “You sure it’s not too much? It’s the middle of the night. You should be sleeping still. We could catch a few hours’ nap at my ranch house, then shower and get on our way if it would make you more comfortable.”

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