Page 24 of Banshee
“You didn’t tell Banshee?”
“Not really. He asked me why I was here, and I never actually told him anything. He’s like my father.”
“Something tells me all the Silver Shadows are the same. They would all do everything they can to protect you.”
“They would. So would my family. But I can’t put them at risk. I need you to promise me you won’t tell them.”
“I promise. I will not tell anyone what you have told me. But I want you to consider talking to King.” I shook my head before she finished her sentence. “Aspen. Consider it. All I’m asking is that you think about it.”
“I have thought about it, Haizley. I’ve done nothing but think about it since I moved here and found out the club was here too. And then seeing Banshee and knowing he recognized me. I wanted to run. I wanted to hide. But I stayed. I can’t draw attention to myself.”
“Okay. I think that’s enough for today. Let’s have some tea and talk about something less stressful before you go.”
I told myself to trust her. I had to trust someone, and she was less likely to blow up her career by exposing my secret. If Banshee, or worse, King, knew everything, there would be no stopping the war that would tear our world apart.
Chapter Eight
Aspen
Once I told Haizley everything—well, almost everything—it was as though a weight had been lifted. Someone knew my story. Banshee knew who I was, but ever since the night at the bar in town, he’d been keeping his distance.
I missed him.
He’d wanted me on the back of his bike. I wasn’t a civilian, like everyone believed. I knew what that meant. I knew how important it was.
So does he.
I walked through the backyard with Diesel, thinking about that night. About how much I wanted to climb behind him and wrap my arms around his body and hold on. It would have said something to his brothers, though. They would have started asking questions I couldn’t answer. As far as they knew, Banshee and I had just met. And I was in therapy for having been raped.
What kind of girl jumped on the back of a man’s bike after being raped weeks before? I might not remember being raped, but I remembered waking up to find that man on top of me after getting out of the hospital.
It made sense that I would be wary of men, and I was… most men, anyway. When I first walked into the clubhouse after the second attack, it had been an odd contradiction. I’d grown up in a club. I knew bikers.
But seeing all those men in one place after what I’d just been through made me afraid of even speaking to a man. Seeing Banshee that first day had been a blessing and a curse.
He made me feel safe.
It was clear I would not have made the progress I did, had it not been for him. I certainly wouldn’t have Diesel.
But he knew who I was.
“Baby girl.” I jumped at the sound of his voice. I hadn’t heard him walk up behind me, and Diesel was no help. He loved Banshee; he knew he wasn’t a threat.
“I want you to stay home.”
Hearing him say the wordhomehit me somewhere deep. I hadn’t had a real home for five years. Not since I married Pepper.
“I’m going out with my friends. We’re just going to the diner for brunch. Nothing is going to happen.”
“That’s what we thought about going to the bar and look how that turned out.”
Okay, that was fair. We’d had to leave early after Haizley got into a fight with a woman she went to high school with, who was found murdered the next morning.
After my first session outside of the clubhouse, Haizley was arrested for that murder. Chaos ensued after that; the deputy who arrested her was killed in the sheriff’s station by another deputy after he pulled a gun on Haizley. Turned out he was Greg’s brother. The man who raped me had been doing it for years because his brother was cleaning up his mess.
Gunner’s sister showed up with Ellie’s niece, Danika. Ghost almost left the club, then Dante, Danika’s father, was taken by a man named Sinclair.
Everything had finally settled down, and the old ladies invited me to their brunch. I was going, dammit!
