Page 12 of Empower

Lights could be seen then.

A bunch of them.

Bringing my hand up to cover my eyes so I wouldn’t be seeing little white dots, I waited until the rumble ceased.

That was when I lowered my hand from my face.

Seven bikes were lined at the end of our small driveway as well as a black van.

And then I watched as seven men swung their legs off their bikes, took their helmets off, and then all at once they turned to face me.

My eyes squinted to make them all out. Moving left to right, and then back again… my eyes stopped on a man who was almost identical to the man my mother described to me.

I watched as he messed with his shirt, straightening it underneath the leather vest he wore, and then running his hand through his hair.

As he walked closer, slowly, either moving slowly to not alarm me, or I was just watching so intently it seemed he moved in slow motion.

Once he reached me, I looked him up and down. The crappy porch light didn’t let me see that well, but I would take it.

“Hi, sweetheart. Fuck, it’s like looking at a mini replica of your momma.” The man I knew had to be Red said.

I smiled, “Thanks. I just don’t have her eyes.”

“Can’t wait to see ‘em in the daylight, sweetheart. Bet they’re one of a kind.”

I smiled up at him, swallowed, and asked, “Can I see the back of your leather vest thing?”

He didn’t hesitate to show me his back, and when I read the letters that made up Wrath MC, I felt a breath expel from my lungs.

He turned back, lifted a brow, and asked, “You okay?”

I nodded, “Yeah. I look like you in certain features, but I had to make sure you were who I thought you were. All my momma told me was your name, the club you were affiliated with, and that phone number.”

That was when he held his hand out, “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you and your stuff loaded up and get the fuck away from here. Okay?”

I nodded, then looked over to a man that stepped to my dad’s left, and then to the man that stepped to my dad’s right.

But even though I saw that movement to the right, it was the man to the left who held my attention.

Oh. My. Gawd.

Yeah, don’t you go there. Don’t. You. Dare. Go. There.

Oh, I went there.

Damn it.

He had black hair that had silver at his temples, and I wished I could see just how many strands of silver were in his hair.

He was tall. Yes. I know I was sitting.

But I knew the moment I stood up to my full height, he would be taller than me. Much taller.

So tall, I knew I would be craning my neck back to meet his eyes, thank you fashion world for high heels.

Just as I thought that I caught sight of his lips.

Lips that were full and lush.