Page 102 of The Echo of Violence

I shake my head. “She’s alive because of you. You absolutely did the right thing.”

“I know. Doesn’t erase the screams that echo in my brain, though. She was fifteen. Fifteen and her whole life was blown to shit, literally and figuratively.”

“Hardest fight of my life, keeping her out of the system afterward.” Nico picks up. “When we tell you she’s the strongest person we know, it’s not us blowing smoke up your ass. I was the sergeant at arms. A self-proclaimed asshole who wasn’t scared of anything, but I couldn’t have survived what she did. I couldn’t have built a life the way she has.”

“Bullshit. Rex might have pulled her from the rubble, but you pulled her from the wreckage of her life. Both of you stood by her. Like you said, she was fifteen. She was a kid and not yours. You both could have walked away, but you didn’t.”

“And we never will. Bonds like ours are forged in flames. There isn’t anything I won’t do for Rex or Jinx, and that includes letting them make their own decisions and their own mistakes. She fought too hard to live for me to take control of her life. If you plan on sticking around, the three of you will have to come to terms with that. If not, then bow out now.”

I look at Splinter before turning to Eightball, my resolve strengthening. “We’re not going anywhere.”

* * *

Wizz’s text to let us all know there was a mandatory church meeting in an hour cut the rest of the conversation short. We left Nico and Rex at the diner. Riding away, I realized any hostility I felt toward them disappeared as their story unfolded. Splinter grew up in the system, so he doesn’t have a family outside of the Demons like Eightball and I do. I grew up the eldest son of a single mom. My dad died in a car accident when I was ten, leaving my mother to raise not just me but twin seven-year-old girls. She worked her ass off to make sure we had what we needed. When I started prospecting for the MC, I thought she’d shit a brick. But she was supportive, like she had been with everything else. My sisters had moved to opposite ends of the country, one for work as a photographer and one for a man. I’d been skeptical at first. It’s hard sometimes to look at my sisters and not still see their hair in braids and a face full of braces.

Thankfully, I’d been wrong. Ryan, her now-husband, worships the ground Tammy walks on, and she’s expecting twins of her own. I look at their lives now and try to imagine them in Jinx’s place, losing everything in the blink of an eye, and I have to fight the urge to throw up.

One thing is for sure: I might not like the fact that she’s a prospect, but I respect her enough to deal with it. So maybe the brothers won’t vote her in. I know now that she’ll cope. She’s been through far worse and survived.

I climb off my bike and pull off my helmet, hanging it from the bars. I notice a bike at the end of the row and frown. It looks familiar. I know I’ve seen it before, but I can’t remember where. It’s a Triumph Scrambler, a little smaller than the other bikes here, which are predominately Harleys, but it’s still a thing of beauty. Black and purple with chrome pipes. I itch to take a closer look, but I know better than to get too close to another man’s bike.

I pause and laugh. That’s where I remember seeing it. It was parked at the back of Jinx’s garage the night we went to her place. I never paid much attention to it because my mind was on other things, like sliding inside Jinx’s pussy. I feel myself getting hard and adjust myself before anyone notices.

I don’t bother waiting for Eightball and Splinter. I walk inside and spot Jinx busing tables.

She must sense me as I walk over to her because she looks up and freezes. “Knight,” she says casually. Too casually.

I don’t stop. I keep going until she’s within reach. I grab her ass with one hand and hold her to me before cradling her head and slamming my mouth down over hers. There is a moment of hesitation when I wonder if she’ll fight me off. But thank fuck, her desire wins out over her common sense.

She relaxes into me, and I grind against her before nipping her lip with my teeth. I pull back and look down at her, her wide eyes staring up at me with a little bit of confusion and a whole lot of wariness.

“I was an asshole.”

She jolts, not expecting that. But then she smiles, and it lights up her whole fucking face. “You’re forgiven.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that. I’m grading you on a curve because you have a penis. Technically, I think it should be classified as a handicap.”

“You’re probably right.” I grin, pressing another kiss to her lips.

“I usually am. So, this means we’re okay?”

“We’re okay,” I agree.

“And the fact that I’m a prospect…” She lets it hang in the air.

“I won’t lie and say I love it. But I won’t stand in your way either if this is what you want.”

“What about the two lurking behind you?”

I look over my shoulder, and sure enough, Splinter and Eightball are there. With one last kiss, I pull back and step aside.

Eightball approaches first. He tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “We want you. The prospect thing threw us. I won’t pretend it didn’t. It doesn’t change anything for us, though. It just means we can’t step in when you’re being treated like the other prospects.” You can tell he doesn’t like that one bit. None of us do.

She cups his cheek, and when he dips his head, she kisses him.

“I’m a big girl. I can handle it.”

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