Page 6 of Where We Ended

“Then why, Silas? Why are you falling into it?”

I shook my head as I dipped my face to untangle my bucket helmet. I didn’t always wear it, but there was a soft voice in my head that wouldn’t stop reminding me why it was important that I did.

Silas, your brain is my favorite part of you. My gloomy, dreary prince. Protect it at all costs.

Glancing back up, I let out a small sardonic laugh. “You know exactly why.”

She took a step closer, her bare feet hitting the edge of her covered porch. She’d moved out to this little farmhouse on five acres. Lush grass, a huge red barn, fences and pens for all her animals and a house just big enough for her and a dying man to enjoy.

“You have been down this road before, you saved her by letting her go, Son. She knows how to get herself out of this, he won’t kill her.”

“You don’t know that. I did what you asked of me. I found him, I even fought him…I nearly took his club from him.”

“But you didn’t. You came back,” she snapped, stepping off her porch, her bare feet cutting into the gravel.

Her eyes gleamed under the porch light, the desperation that was in her gaze all those years ago still just as demanding now.

“You should have never asked me to leave.”

She cut me off, walking even closer, her voice rising. “You had to, and I kept Natty safe. I watched over her.” She pointed aggressively toward her chest. “I was the one, Silas. You act like she’s not like a daughter to me. Like she wasn’t at that kitchen table in my home every single day learning alongside you. You act like I didn’t feed her when her whore of a mother abandoned her. You act like I didn’t get her clothes and do her hair. You think it didn’t break my heart when her own mother offered her up to Dirk? I took her place. I went to hell and back for that girl. I love her Silas. But I also love you. I know what demons plague you, Son. You need to think clearly right now.”

The memories were as painful as a lash against my back. Killing Dirk all those months back was one of the best moments of my life. I just should have done it years ago.

“It was never your job to protect her.”

My mother laughed, tears gleaming in her eyes. “No, it was my job to protect you, but you gave so much of yourself to her, Silas, there was nothing left for me to protect. But this is something you won’t come back from. You’re a threat to him, Son. You always have been. He’s been making plans, and we all know none of them ever included Jefferson Quinn or Tuck Holloway. He’s got to be planning something with Alec, and now that Dirk is gone, and you’re leading the Death Raiders, he’s coming for you.”

“Then let him come. You can’t worry about me, Mom. However, if you are so inclined to panic, then help me find out who is helping him, and where he’s staying.”

Her face dipped, her dark hair falling over one eye. “It has to be Alec.”

“Sons of Speed isn’t that big of a club. It has to be someone else.”

I stepped closer and pulled my mother into a hug, pressing another kiss to the top of her head. “I will find her and kill him.”

“You should have killed Alec a long time ago, Silas.”

A tiny flicker of panic swelled in my chest. I wasn’t ready to dive into that topic, or even consider that he was involved. Not until I talked to my vice president, Lance, and had him do some digging.

My mother swiped at her face, then laughed again.

“Guess you really will burn the world down for her. You’re about two seconds from striking the match…I hope Fable understands the devastation he’s about to cause. For all of us.”

“Fable has wanted our world to corrode from the start…he has never cared that we burn, Mother. You of all people know that.” I straddled my bike and gestured toward her with a nod. She winced, lightly touching her side as if she was remembering all those times we’d curled up inside of a wardrobe, while she nursed her wounds.

I left, not wanting to revisit those memories either. I felt like I was constantly running from one nightmare to the next. All I wanted was Natty in my arms again. I’d waited long enough; Natty belonged to me, and even if this ended in both our lives being forfeited, at least in the end, she’d be buried with me.

Safely cradled in my arms.

THREE

NATTY

PRESENT

A firm grip on my elbow was the only thing grounding me as I walked through the halls of my prison. This wasn’t a motorcycle club; it was a small house. One that had no furniture and no people. Likely a safe house. The ceilings were low, the floors were made of wood and the walls were all covered in forest green wallpaper.

Alec hadn’t let me go since Fable arrived, as if he knew his father would take a bite of me, all teeth and nails the second he released me. Fable was nearly as tall as Silas with short gray hair, slicked back, so only small pieces fell across his brow and similar eyes to Alec. Gray thunderclouds swarmed in those irises while his face was sun-kissed and wrinkled, showing his age. His expression was twisted angrily, as if he’d tasted sour milk, and the look of disgust froze over the stern set of his jaw.