Page 11 of Bone's Destiny

“So now what?” I asked as I dried my eyes again.

“We wait, I guess. The job Cobra has for Bone will take him back to Montana. Maybe it’s for the best that he’s gone. The dust can settle, and you can get stronger.”

“I don’t want him to stay gone forever. I miss him terribly.”

“Me too.”

A soft knock at the door had us zipping our lips. It slowly opened. “Hi, Momma.” Piper entered. “I didn’t want to disturb you if you were sleeping.” She came to my other side and kissed my cheek.

“I’m awake.” I glanced at Ben, who looked as worried as I felt. Had she come because she knew I wasn’t Micah’s birth mother? God, I hoped not.

“Can I sit here with you? It’s my break.” She smiled.

“My sweet baby girl. I would love it if you’d sit with me.”

“Good. I heard Bone was here. Did you see him yet?” Piper looked from me to her daddy.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Was it him that made your blood pressure and heart rate skyrocket?”

Dammit. Of course, she’d ask about that.

“Just a coincidence, sweetheart,” Ben said. “Is the waiting room still full? I told them to get home.”

“Yup. Knights are all over the place. I’m not so sure the staff likes having all those bikers around.” Piper laughed, and her whole face brightened. My beautiful girl. I had prayed hard for a girl during my last pregnancy. I adored my boys, but I had desperately wanted a sweet little girl. God answered my prayers.

My gaze met Ben’s. He probably knew exactly what I was thinking. My love knew me inside and out, just as I knew him. Hell, he might’ve been thinking the same before me, that if God answered one more prayer, we’d never ask for anything else. We just wanted God to give Micah peace so he’d leave the past where it belonged… six feet under.

5

Ben

Thirty-three Years Ago

My fucking heart raced, zooming down the dirt road. I hoped to God a deer didn’t dash out of the field. I’d be toast. My old lady and son could be, too, if I didn’t get to them.

Son of bitch. Fuck!

I prayed for the Almighty to protect my family until I could get home. What else could I do? Only God had seen the heinous act. He had seen what my beautiful wife had been through. And me too. Not that I gave a rat’s ass about myself. I had dealt with the assault in my own way. Moved on from it.

Fucking liar. Tell the truth.

Piss off.

As long as I didn’t think about that night, I was fucking fine. But if my subconsciousness conjured a repeat of the evil and disgusting scene while I slept, it fucked me up for days. Yet, I never breathed a word of it to anyone, not even my old lady. I had no intention of ever sharing my inner struggles.

So when I got the call from Lady M that our worst nightmare had shown up at our place, I dropped everything and told my men I had a domestic issue to fix. Naturally, they’d assumed Lady M needed me to repair something, like a backed-up toilet. They didn’t have to know the truth, not tonight or ever. I’d do anything to spare Lady M the humiliation of other people knowing what we’d been through.

Dammit, I’m so sorry, baby.

Dread churned my stomach. The fallout of my stupid choices had arrived like a demon in the night. Thirsty to destroy everything in its path. Vengeful and vile.

Call it a hunch, but my past mistakes would scar us for life. And my hunches were never wrong.

This goddamn situation could go one of two ways.

One: my wife and son could be critically injured because of that psycho. And I’d lose my mind if anything happened to them.

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