Page 94 of Gunner

“No.”

Sitting up, she glared down at me. “What do you mean, no?”

“Baby, I know you’re smart enough to know what no means.”

Dragging her back down, I held her tight against me.

“Tell me about you, Haizley. How have I been in Diamond Creek for five years and not noticed you before now?”

“I’ve only been here two years.”

“Blade said you grew up here.”

“I did. I was two years ahead of him, Ryder, Beck, and Rachel.”

“Did you know them?” I asked, trailing my fingers in circles on her back.

“I knew who they were. Especially after Micah left. But I wasn’t close to any of them.”

“Where did you go?”

“Huh?” She tilted her head to look up at me.

“You said you’ve only been here two years. If you grew up here, where did you go?”

“College. I went to school in Oklahoma City.”

I stiffened at her words. My sister was in Oklahoma City, and I wondered if they knew each other. I held her tighter against me, hoping she didn’t notice my reaction. If she knew Mellie, she would have said something. Oklahoma was a big state. The college had thousands of students.

There was a good chance they had met. Maybe even had classes together, given that they were both therapists. But if they were friends, Mellie would have talked about me. If only to warn Haizley about her criminal outlaw biker brother.

Like many of the other brothers in the Silver Shadows, I had done time. A couple of short stints in the box for petty crimes. It was why I jumped at the chance to move up here when King asked.

I had gotten my sister out of Arkansas and away from this life. If I was smart, I would admit Haizley was too good to be an old lady. Even if we were legit now. She deserved better than a biker.

But I wasn’t giving her up.

I would spend the rest of my life making hers as perfect as I could. But that didn’t include letting her go.

“How did you get your name? It’s different.”

Her body trembled against me as she giggled.

“My parents couldn’t agree on a name. They both wanted to name me after someone important to them. My dad wanted Hazel after my grandmother. My mom wanted Paisley after her favorite country music artist, Brad Paisley. So, they compromised, and Haizley was born.”

Her words drifted off, sad. I kissed the top of her head and asked a question I knew might make her sadder.

“What happened to your parents?”

“The official answer is they died in a car accident.”

“You don’t think that’s true?”

Her heavy sigh almost broke my heart. If she thought there was something fucked up about her parents’ death, I would get Nav on it.

“I don’t know. The sheriff at the time was so crooked. I’m not sure he did his due diligence in investigating.”

“Do you have any reason to believe there was foul play?” I rubbed the arm she had thrown over my chest. It hadn’t taken Haizley long to snuggle up against me and relax enough to talk. She had even started rubbing her foot against my leg.

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