Page 15 of His Bountiful Gifts (Men of the Sea)

RONAN

It was only a matter of time before Jesse or one of the boys tracked me down. I sealed my fate when I let my urge to claim my angel overtake me.

I knew word would get out that I was here and someone would find me. I’m just glad it was my brothers—the Crows—who did.

“We thought you were dead.”

Jesse breaks from the hug and steps back, his arms still on my shoulders.

“I’m very much alive.” The most alive I’ve ever felt in my fucking life.

His bright eyes give me a once over.

“You been holed up here?” He scans the trailer park filled with rusty caravans with grass growing up around their wheels. “What you been doing for the last week?”

“I’ve been occupied.”

He glances over my shoulder, and a knowing smile spreads on his lips. “I can see that.”

I follow his gaze to Ula, who’s standing in the doorway with her arms crossed, watching us closely. She looks so vulnerable standing like that, her soft body hunching in on itself, biting her nails nervously.

Her confession took me by surprise, and I didn’t get a chance to respond. Now Jesse’s here slapping me on the back.

“You got somewhere private we can talk?”

Ula steps out of the doorframe, and as I lead Jesse into the caravan, I see him take in the bite marks on her neck.

Good. He needs to know she’s mine as well. The whole goddam world needs to know.

“I’ll give you guys some privacy.”

There’s something off in Ula’s tone, but before I can say anything, she slips out the door, shutting it behind her.

Jesse sits at the little table, and I squeeze in opposite him. With both of us in the caravan, it feels extra small.

“We thought you were dead,” Jesse says again. “That storm...”

He shakes his head slowly. “How did you survive?”

I’m still not sure myself. I thought I was dead. I thought I had drowned, but I see now that some impossible force brought me here, brought me to Ula. But I don’t tell Jesse that.

“Dunno, man. I washed up on the beach.”

“Anyone see you?” He rubs his beard slowly, and I know what he really means. Do the Chaos Riders know I’m alive?

“Only Ula. She found me at sunrise, and I’ve been hiding here ever since.”

Jesse nods slowly. “But the locals know you’re here now.”

He tells me about the kid who came to the clubhouse thinking he had some big news about a man hiding in the trailer park.

It must be Jeremy, the horny kid with the hots for Ula. He thought I was hiding from the Crows. He didn’t realize I was a brother.

“You know you can’t stay here, right?”

Jesse says it gently, as gently as a six-foot-something man with tattooed arms wearing a gang patch can. But he’s right.

I did something bad. I sought retribution with the Riders, our rival gang, for something they did a long time ago that I just found out about. Something personal.

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