Page 95 of When It Reins
There is no telling what he will do.
He moves again, coming toward me and running a finger over my cheek. “Maybe it doesn’t have to be this way.”
“Aaron,” I start, and his eyes turn to steel at the name. Swallowing hard, I try again. “David.” There, very infinitesimally, I see the softening of his shoulders as he hears the name he made up for himself. “Please, I don’t want to die.”
He starts, seeming stricken by the thought of killing me. I’m not sure what his plan with the gun is, but I am under no illusion that I am in any way safe.
Taking a knee beside my chair, he keeps his eyes on mine, and that man I thought I knew, the fake one he pretends to be when he needs something, shines through. “I’m not going to kill you, Juniper.”
For a moment, I breathe a little easier.
If he isn’t planning on killing me, then maybe I can find a way to flag someone down, to get to my cell phone that is still in my bag, to let someone know what is going on.
He smiles at me. It’s kind and soft, and I let that relief linger in my chest for another moment.
“I’m going to take you.”
45
mitch
“What the hell!”a young voice squeaks out, jumping at the sight of twenty-plus people descending on them. When I get close enough, I see Johnny, the early morning stall cleaner.
I let my shoulders sag in disappointment, and the rest of the group does the same.
Aaron never showed.
Turning from the scene where CT reassures Johnny that he isn’t in any trouble, I rub my forehead in confusion. I would have sworn that Aaron would come here to hurt the ranch, to get back at us all for hurting his business.
“Just got off the phone with Eddie,” Mick tells me, talking about one of our members. “He says the clubhouse is intact.”
That was our other concern, that he would try to hit the clubhouse. That would have been even riskier than hitting the ranch. Knowing what kind of heat my club brothers are packing on an average day, he wouldn’t have gotten very far.
“So where did he go then?” Jax asks, resting his hands on his hips.
I whip out my phone, stress threatening to eat me from the inside out. I just want this fucker taken care of. I want this over. I want to go off and live my life with the woman I love.
You doing okay?
I shoot the text off to Juniper quickly, waiting a beat for a response. I sigh when I don’t see the telltale sign of someone texting back. I switch over to Logan’s texts and ask if everyone is good there.
Yup. No signs of anyone coming around the house.
Ok. Thanks.
That is a relief, at least. I don’t think Aaron knows where Logan and Thea live, though there is always the chance that they’d invited him and Juniper over for dinner, but to my knowledge, they didn’t like Aaron all that much to begin with.
It’s almost strange to see my blood brothers and club brothers working together, especially after how Jax acted when he found out I joined the club and his animosity last year when he was going through a lot.
We’ve grown a lot over the last few years.
I take a deep breath, thankful for the support Juniper and I have, and look at Mick. “Head to the clubhouse. We’ll get together later and talk about what’s next.”
Mick nods at me, and the boys head to the barn stalls where they stashed their bikes in. I look back at the rest of the family. Cal, CT, Jax, and Stetson are standing there waiting for my word on what to do.
“What do you need from us?” It’s Jax who asks the question, and for a minute, I stare at him, grateful that he is once again by my side.
Juniper is the reason I was brave enough to trust my family. To move past all the shit I left bottled up inside of me for the last decade. I owe her more than my own life, and taking care of this asshole is going to be the way I do it.
