The Run (The Hell's Disciples MC Book 4) (31 page)

“Rock?” Him and I have been friends a long time, and I’d hope he’d have my back on this shit. Jess and him aren’t close―same dad, different mom―close.

“I’m good with it,” Rock shrugs. “She’ll be with her mom. Kids’ll be straight.”

Reclining in my seat, I’m finally able to breathe, just barely, for the first time in a long damn time. “Good. Thank fuck.”

Lennon’s been gone two weeks and it hasn’t gotten easier. If anything, this shit has gotten harder. I don’t have a clue as to where she could be. Never gave a thought about how big this world was until I lost someone in it, but now it seems fucking endless.

Two days after Lennon left, I was inside the house when I heard tires on gravel, and Bill carrying on. Walked onto the porch to find my truck on the back of a tow truck.

I felt disappointment seeing it. I’d hoped she’d show back up in that truck. That fucking thought went right out the damn window.

The pot-bellied asshole driving the tow, tossed me a set of keys before unloading the truck. I pressed him for information as he unhooked my truck, but the motherfucker said he didn’t know a damn thing, other than a dark-haired woman asked him to deliver it here.

I thanked him before he drove off. I left my truck in the driveway while I took off to drink my mood away. Like a bitch, I just can’t seem to keep that shit in check. Sometimes I wish like fuck I never met the broad, and other times I miss her so much.

It’s eating me up not knowing where she is and how she’s doing. Hate that I’m left hanging without any damn answers.

A couple of days after my truck showed up, I got in it, only to find her shit inside with a note that said, “Please take care of my stuff.” It sat there untouched for a week until it snowed. Had no choice but to bring it in. Shoved it in a closet, hoping to forget about it, but I couldn’t.

I can’t forget her, even if I should. I think about Lennon constantly, and I think I’ve become even more numb to it. I can’t shake her, no matter how hard I try.

“So why’d ya think she was here?” Rock asks, pulling me back. Sitting on my porch, he’s staring at nothing with me. Rock, the only motherfucker I talk about this shit with.

Taking a hardy drink of my beer I mull his question over for a second. Hadn’t figured she was here for much. Never in my wildest fucking dreams did I think she was here to play me, to play us.

“Figured she was running from a bad relationship, or she failed fucking beauty school.” Career criminal was not high up on my list.

Looking at Lennon, I never would have pegged her for what she is, a goddamn hustler.

Sitting out here with Rock, I’m waiting to hear back from Tags. Asked him for a favor and he said he’d deliver. I swear that asshole can find anyone. Some special skill he picked up in the service.

“You think Tags can find her?”

“I fucking hope so.” Because as much as I want to turn her ass red for skipping out on me, I miss her and I want some goddamn answers. She owes me that much.

I do a lot of things I don’t want to do. I run from border to border for Dan constantly. I have my brothers back, even when I think they’re stupid as shit sometimes. I let a broad room with me when I wasn’t interested. And I do a lot of things that weigh heavily on my conscience. Destroyed lives and buried bodies stay on my mind, but nothing’s worse than what I’m doing now. I don’t want to be here, I need to be here. 

Sitting on a wooden bench in a little hick town courthouse, I watch Lennon take her hits and there’s not a fucking thing I can do about it. With every word, I feel it. I can’t help her, even if it is all I want to do. I’m fucking useless in this situation.

Standing in front of the judge, she takes it all in stride. Never in my damn life did I think I’d be here with her.

Drove up here the second the paperwork landed in my hands. Called in a favor with Tank and Tags, and they found her for me. I hit the road and drove through the night to get here. Fuck, the least I could do was be here for her.

A few hundred miles away from home, I find her wearing orange and a smile. It looks so wrong, but still, she looks fucking beautiful.

Sitting here, not more than fifty feet from her, I feel guilty as fuck. My lack of trust in her put us here, and I don’t have anyone to blame but myself.

Lennon wasn’t there in my life, or my club, for anything other than a place to stay, exactly like she said. I let my trust, or lack thereof, chase her off.

I knew she had secrets, but I would’ve never guessed this. Even when she told me, I didn’t believe it. Should’ve fucking trusted her.

“Miss Page,” the judge says, and I hold my breath, waiting for the blow.  “I’ve had the chance to review the recommendations from the State, and heard from both parties in this matter. After considering both arguments, I’ve settled on a sentence of 364 days in the county jail. You are to serve this starting immediately.”

I’m up and out of my seat, ready to argue that shit when Rock stops me with a jerk of his head and a hand to my shoulder. “You go spoutin’ off at the mouth, and it’ll only make it worse on her.”

Nothing in life is harder than watching the woman you love get beat down by some cum stain in a robe, and there’s not a thing you can do to ease it for her.

“I just can’t fucking sit here.” There’s a damn knot in the pit of my stomach. I’ve been where Lennon is. I’ve done it twice, and I swear it’s harder to watch than it is to live. Those words might as well be a fucking life sentence to me. That motherfucker is taking her away from me, and that shit doesn’t sit well with me.

I lost her once already, and I don’t want a repeat.

The Sheriff  in the corner, lounging against the wall like it’s his day off, pushes away from the wall and walks slowly towards Lennon with an all too happy smile on his face. He’s gonna enjoy this. Lock up the pretty little thing.

“Motherfu―” Rock snatches my shoulder up and stops me before I make it to the end of the isle. I’m ready to rip everyone apart.

“Brother, this is the way it has to be,” Rock says. Words of wisdom. I know he’s right, but it doesn’t mean I don’t want to fight them.

“I fucked up big time, man. I didn’t trust her and she didn’t do shit for me not to.” I should have given her the benefit of the doubt. Should have listened to her and heard her.

“Buck, man, things will be cool. It’ll all work out.”

“How the fuck you know that?” With any luck, Lennon will get out and run for the hills. She’d be smart to stay away from me. Who the hell wants someone like me in their lives.

“I just do,” he says and nods up towards the front of the courtroom.

She’s cuffed behind her back and the Sheriff holds onto her. Her long black hair hangs down around her perfect face, and her big brown eyes are trained on me. The corners of her lush lips tip into a knowing smile.

“Soon,” she mouths and smiles at me.

I watch her as long as I can, until she disappears behind a door.

Soon, but not fucking soon enough.

Epilogue

Buck

Resting back against my bike, I cross my arms and shift, uncomfortable as hell. I kick my feet out farther, widening my stance, hoping like hell to alleviate the ache. My back is fucking killing me from standing here for so damn long.

There is absolutely nothing to look at out here expect for miles of chain-link fence, topped with barbed wire and dead grass. Out behind me, there’s a long, dusty ass highway and more nothing.

I’ve been here since nine in the morning, and looking at my phone, I see it’s getting close to four in the afternoon.

If it were any other fucking reason, I would have left hours ago.

The grind of metal on metal has me standing up and walking towards the gate. My heart beats down my chest. I can hear the loud clicks from the heavy locks and that shit makes me cringe and my stomach fall.

It seems like time slows and the wait drags on. Feels like a damn lifetime before the gate in front of me slides open.

I can’t stop moving. Walking down the path, I stop when I see her. It feels so goddamn good to see her. Lennon’s standing at the end of the path, wearing what she was wearing the last time I saw her. She’s still so beautiful, so fucking perfect. I watch her scan the area, something desperate in her brown eyes. She looks almost frantic before her eyes land on me. A heartbreaking smile splits across her face the second our eyes connect.

Dropping her shit at her feet, she takes off, running towards me. She gets to me soon enough. She leaps and wraps her arms and legs around me, hanging on to me for dear life. She almost knocks me over.

The moment she’s on me, I get my hands on her. It feels so fucking good to feel her again. Feels like coming home.

Lennon holds me tight, clinging to me, her face in my neck. People could die, things could blow up, the world could fucking stop, and there isn’t a goddamn thing that’d make me let her go, not now that I’ve got her in my arms again.

“You miss me?” I ask her, dying to hear her voice. Squeezing me tighter, she shakes her head slowly.

“No,” she sniffles into my neck. Fucking lies.

“Did you miss me?” She asks. Has to be the most stupid question I’ve ever been asked. Fuck yeah I missed her. Missed her every day, every second she’s been gone.

“Not one fuckin’ bit.” Lennon says, her voice shaking. She fucking missed me.

“Take me home?” There’s nothing more I’d rather do.

“Yeah, babe.”

There’s an ache again, but this time it isn’t painful. It’s not day ruining or time consuming. It’s a good fucking ache. My heart is so goddamn full and complete, that shit might burst. Wouldn’t admit it out loud, but I’m so fucking happy right now.

Rode straight home. Once I had her on the back of my bike, I wasn’t letting her off until we were back up on the mountain. Couldn’t wait to get her here, where she belongs. I just didn’t have it in me to pull over, even if both of us were exhausted and in need of some damn sleep. Couldn’t imagine having her sleep in some shithole motel in some asshole town, halfway between her hell and home. My only thought was getting her home and keeping her there with me, where she belongs.

Standing by my bike, I watch Lennon stand in front of the house, her pretty face in awe. She’s hesitating. Her eyes are shifting quick as shit from house to property and back. They’re big, and so damn heartbreaking.

She leapt off the bike as soon as we passed the old house. She knew.

“You finished it,” she says, her voice quiet. There’s wetness in her gaze, and I know she’s happy. Looking up at the house, I can’t help my own smile. If it weren’t for her, I would’ve never finished it. But I’m so fucking happy I did. Best time and money I ever spent.

“For you.” Because of you.

When Lennon left, she left one hundred grand on my kitchen counter. For weeks I thought about burning it. For a month it sat untouched in my freezer. But she left it for a reason, and I knew I had to finish it for her, for us.

Lennon loved this piece of property as much as me, and I knew I had to do something to honor that.

Started working on the house three months after she left. Spent practically every waking hour finishing it. Poured blood, sweat, and my fucking heart into the house for her. Forgot how good it felt to build for a reason, a purpose. Last week I finished, just in time for Lennon to come home.