by Lane Hart
“I meant no, don’t cover up the tat because you’re a Savage King as much as any of us. You’ve gone above and beyond everything we asked of you,” Torin responds, which is the last thing I expected. “Not that I speak for everyone,” he adds. “What say ye?”
“I second Torin,” Chase says.
“I third,” War responds.
“Anyone opposed to Sax keeping his patch and office?” Torin asks, and there’s complete silence other than Dalton’s scribbling in the tiny notepad.
“Then it’s done.”
“You’re serious?” I say in disbelief.
“You never hurt the MC, did you?” Torin asks.
“No, I told the DEA I was wrong, that the drugs that killed April came from the Aryans.”
“Then no harm, no foul,” he replies. “And what you did with Isobel, to try and protect us all, that took guts, man. Whatever happens, we’ll handle it, though, as a group.”
“Wow, I don’t know what to say,” I mutter, my tongue feeling too thick to speak.
“Say you’ll put your fucking cut back on,” Chase tells me.
“Yeah, ah, okay,” I reply before having to clear my throat. “I appreciate you all being so cool about all this, truly I do. But, um, I still may resign from my office and, ah, ask if I can transfer to the nomads.”
“Why?” Abe asks.
“Isobel?” Chase asks.
“Yeah,” I answer. “She’s not going to settle down, and I don’t want her to. I just want to go where she goes, before her time is up. That is, if she’ll ever forgive me.”
“All in favor of Saxon Cole transferring his membership to nomad if he so decides?” Torin asks.
“Yea,” everyone says, and then Torin slams his gavel down. “Just say the word and I’ll start the paperwork to assign you to the nomads, if you decide that’s what you want. Even if you do, you’ll always be a member of this charter, and we’ll always have a seat for you at our table if you change your mind. Or if Isobel changes hers.”
“Thanks, guys,” I say, blinking back the moisture in my eyes. Even after all these years, I never felt like I belonged at the table with these men until now.
“Well,” Chase starts. “I don’t know about you, fuckers, but I need to see my woman. I say we cram in the van and haul ass down to South Carolina. No bikes; just us and our families.”
“Agreed,” Torin says along with the others.
“I think I’ll take my chances out there and try to get my girl back,” I tell them.
Dalton scribbles down our plans for Cooper, who sullenly says, “I need to find Jenna’s kid. But you guys have fun. And good luck, man.”
He offers me a fist bump across the table that I hit.
“You gonna be okay?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he says. “I’m getting better at the lip reading. Although, I should probably get me one of those writing boards.”
“Take care, and I’ll check in with you when I’m back,” I tell him, and he gives a nod of agreement.
I get the feeling he could use some time alone. And I’m probably going to have my hands full whenever I find out what country Isobel is currently charming.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Isobel
“So, what’s your plan now, Izzy?” Danny asks as we stand outside in his backyard while he grills the steaks we’re having for dinner.
“I hate to do it because my father will believe it’s all his idea, but I think I would like to try to get my license back. Is that just a crazy pipe dream?” I ask him.
“God, no,” he says as he flips the steaks. “I can put in a good word for you with Doug Hannagan on the Board. And I know they would give it back to you if Lawrence asked…”
“No, I want to do it without his help,” I say. “If I can’t, then I’ll try to be a CNA or something else in the medical field. I just want to help people. I miss it, you know?”
“Yeah, I thought you would eventually,” he replies with a smile as he lays down the spatula to face me.
“I’ve been selfish trying to knock out my entire bucket list, only thinking about myself. I could do both, right?” I ask him. “I mean on vacations I could cross off bucket list items while still giving back.”
“I’m really glad you came around to nursing again. That’s where you belong, Izzy,” Danny says before he leans over and kisses my cheek. When his lips cover mine, I immediately pull away.
“No, Danny. This…no,” I tell him. “We’re friends. That’s all. I-I thought you knew that.”
“We could try to be more. It could be amazing,” he says.
“I love Sax,” I blurt out without even thinking about it.
“Bullshit, you were just pretending you were with him to piss off your father. I know you, Izzy, better than anyone,” he replies.
“Sax was working for my father, actually,” I admit as I look down at my fidgeting, slightly trembling hands. “Not that I knew that at the time, but he was blackmailing him to manipulate me. Did you know?” I ask curiously since Daniel and my father are close.
“What? No, of course not! I would’ve told you if I did,” he declares, and I actually believe him. He’s never lied to me before.
“Well, it doesn’t matter now anyway,” I say with a heavy sigh. “Sax and I are over, and I caved. My father will get what he wanted and leave Sax alone.”
“He was blackmailing him? Something serious?” Danny asks.
“Yeah?”
“What was it?”
“It doesn’t matter now,” I say again. I’ll never tell anyone about the murder. “I took care of it.” Despite what I know, I’m certain that Sax and the guys must have had a damn good reason to risk themselves like that. And I couldn’t let those guys take the fall just because my father is a manipulative asshat.
“So you’re back here because you love Sax and want to protect him?” Danny asks.
“Yeah, unfortunately. But also, I need more in my life to be happy, more than a selfish list of wants. I want to do something good, something worthwhile too. I realize that now.”
“You’re gonna get your license back, and then you can come work for me again,” he says confidently. “The kids love you and so do I,” he starts, and I know he’s going to try and convince me that we could be more when I know in my heart Danny and I will only ever be friends.
“I’m not sure if working for you is a good idea, or if I should keep staying here with you,” I tell him honestly. “I don’t want to lead you on, and I really do wish I felt the same about you as I do about an outlaw.”
“I wish you would stay, but I guess you’re right. Maybe it is best,” he agrees.
“Besides, I don’t think I want to go back to working with kids. It’s just too hard,” I remark. “I’ll figure out where to go next if the Board lets me.”
God knows I could use the distraction of keeping myself busy with nursing if they reinstate me. Anything to take my mind off of Sax.
***
Sax
“Where’s Isobel?” I ask when I march right up to the governor’s front door and wait impatiently for him to come talk to me.
“She’s settling down, doing what I wanted her to do, thanks to you,” he says.
“Wait. What the hell are you talking about?” I ask with my hands braced on my hips. I had assumed she was in Europe or some shit by now and I was going to be on the next flight there.
“She obviously cares about you and your gang since she was willing to stick around and agreed to do a few events with me. She even gave me a few million for my campaign.”
“Why would she do that?” I ask. “You’re a dick.”
“You really are dense,” he says on an exhale. “I just told you! She cares about you and wants to protect you.”
“She shouldn’t,” I tell him. “I have the photos she gave me to hold over your head.”
“I should’ve known that she was behind those.”
“Fuck your reelection. She’s your daughte
r. Your only daughter! You need to let her go – let her live life while she still can on her own terms,” I tell the jackass.
“I think Isobel has finally figured out what I’ve known all along – the only thing worth living for is protecting those you love. I tried to protect her mother from her illness; and when I of course failed, I tried to protect my daughter from witnessing her dreadful future. Watching Lily slip away a little more each day was agonizing.”
“You saw her even after you threw her into the nursing home?” I ask.
“Every day,” he responds. “Usually while Isobel was in school or with her friends or the nanny on the weekends. I couldn’t resist seeing Lily even though it nearly killed me in the end when she couldn’t speak to me or stop shaking. When she could talk, she told me to stop coming, to move on, find someone else, a ‘real’ mother for Isobel. She didn’t understand that I couldn’t ever love anyone else again.”
“I’m sorry,” I tell him truthfully. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to lose the woman you love so slowly and painfully. “You did what you thought was best for Isobel, to help her have a normal life?”
“That’s all I’ve ever wanted for her. I don’t want to see her suffer, ever. Maybe one of your biker buddies can kill me once she has to be hospitalized.”
“That can probably be arranged,” I agree. “Besides, she won’t need you there to take care of her then. That’ll be my job. I hope.”
“You’re stubborn,” he says. “Good. My daughter deserves nothing less, and she deserves better than the likes of you.”
“I love her,” I admit to him.
“You’re a murderer.”
“Not technically,” I reply. “There’s no blood on my hands directly, but I have stood by and watched them happen. I would do it again too.”
“You don’t have any regrets with the Russians?” he asks.
“No. They came after one of my brothers and were extorting money from his in-laws. They had to be dealt with.”
Narrowing his eyes at me, he says, “I’ll make you a deal. If any more trash needs to be taken out, you’ll be my garbage men.”
“As long as they deserve it, we could probably help,” I agree. “The guys would have to vote on it to approve it.”
“Then I give you permission to date my daughter. If that’s what she wants,” he agrees.
“I didn’t need your permission, but I guess it will make things easier,” I respond. “Now, tell me where she is. How do I find her?”
“The last time I saw her, Isobel told me she was going to Danny’s,” he says, which drives the knife in my heart a little deeper.
“What’s his address?” I ask on a sigh, because I don’t care if she’s sleeping with him or not, I still want to be with her, if she can forgive me. In fact, I deserve every second of the pain.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sax
“I need to talk to Isobel,” I tell the asshole through clenched teeth when he comes into his office wearing goofy-ass scrubs with cars or some shit on them. Her father gave me his home address, but it was a weekday, and no one was there. Or, if Isobel was there, she didn’t answer the door. So, I decided to pay the good doctor a personal visit at work instead.
“She’s no longer staying with me,” he says.
Grabbing his throat, I pin him to the wall. “If you’re lying to me, I’ll kill you.”
“She’s not,” Danny squeaks.
“Where can I find her?” I ask, releasing my grip on his throat.
“She said she was getting her own place, but I don’t know the address,” he says while rubbing the sides of his neck, which is disappointing. “But right now I know where she’s at. She’s meeting with the Board to try and get her nursing license back.”
“Seriously?” I ask. “She wants to go back into nursing? Why isn’t she traveling the world or whatever?”
“She said she realized she missed helping others. Guess traveling on her own wasn’t fun anymore.”
“I don’t understand…”
“She loves you.”
“She loves me? She said that?” I ask.
“Unfortunately,” he mutters. “So, you better fix things with her. Look, I’m not going to lie to you. I love Isobel, and I’ve told her as much.”
Seeing my face darken in anger, he holds up his hands in surrender before I explode. “We grew up together; we’ve worked together. She sees me like a brother. I respect that, and I’m not like her father. I’m not going to push something on her that she doesn’t want.”
I sink down into one of the nearby chairs while Danny makes this confession, my anger slowly fading away. “I’m sorry,” I tell him. “I had this idea in my head that you were a vulture, circling the carcass of our relationship just waiting to swoop down for a feast. After meeting her father and seeing how much he liked you, it just never occurred to me that you might actually be a good friend to her.”
“Don’t feel bad,” Danny snorts as he moves around his desk. He sits down and pulls a notepad out of a drawer to begin to scribble down some notes. “I haven’t held you in the highest esteem either, you know. You looked like a drunken fling, or even worse, just a tool to infuriate her father. She’s talked a lot about you since she’s been back, though, and now I know that none of that is true. You make her happy, and that’s enough for me. Here,” he adds, tearing a piece of paper off the notepad and sliding it across his desk. “This is the address of the health department where the nursing licensing board is located. She’s supposed to be meeting them at two o’clock.”
“Thanks, man,” I sigh as I get to my feet. “What do you say we start over the next time we run into each other and put all this behind us?” I ask him as I pick up the paper from the desk and slip it into my cut.
“You treat Isobel well, and you and I will never have a problem,” Danny says. Getting to his feet, he walks to his office door, holding it open for me in invitation. “Go take care of her, Sax. I’ll send her a message later to ask her how things went with the Board, and make sure she knows you’re in town.”
I give him a nod and then leave the office. I have to suppress the urge to break into a jog and force myself to walk calmly to my bike outside, even though it feels like anxiety is crushing my heart. Even if she loves me, can she ever forgive me for the betrayal her father forced on us?
Before I crank up my bike, I run the address Danny gave me through my personal phone, glancing at the directions on my app. The health department is only a few blocks away, so I recite the street names in my head to settle my nerves as I roar through town. It’s not even one o’clock yet when I pull into the huge parking lot leading to the three-story stone building that houses the health department, but I still cruise through each aisle of the lot, looking for Isobel’s white Lexus.
When I don’t immediately spot her car, I rumble up to the front entrance of the building and find a place to park my bike. I notice while I’m taking off my helmet that almost a dozen people are outside staring at me after my tour of the parking lot, and there are even faces in the windows glaring down at me. Before I kill the engine on my Harley, I twist the throttle while I’m sitting in neutral, the roar from my custom-made straight pipes damned near rattling the glass in the cars surrounding me.
With a grin and a wave to everyone watching, I kill the engine and then walk up to the main entrance, prepared to stake it out the rest of the day, if necessary. Fortunately, after only half an hour of watching people come and go, I spot a pristine, white Lexus pulling into the lot. It’s only one-thirty, so I’m hopeful she’ll have time to talk to me before she has to rush inside. I go stand right in the middle of the walkway, making sure that I don’t catch her by surprise.
Unfortunately, despite my attempts to make myself obvious, Isobel approaches me while looking down at a folder in her hands and doesn’t acknowledge my presence until she almost bumps into me. Raising her eyes briefly, she mutters, “Excuse me,” before starting to step around me.
>
“Isobel,” I call her name softly, bringing her to an abrupt halt. She slowly turns towards me, closing the folder and squaring her shoulders as her gaze rises to mine.
“Sax,” she exhales my name in a whisper. “What are you…how did you know I was here?”
“I had to come for you,” I shrug. “I talked to your dad and then to Danny over at his office. They resisted a little at first, but they both eventually gave me their blessing and told me I could find you here.”
“They gave you their blessing?” Isobel scoffs. “What does that even mean, Sax? What did you think was going to happen if you came here? That I’d swoon over your grand gesture and forgive you for what happened? That I’d run off back to the coast with you and be your…what did your friends call it, your ‘old lady’?”
“No, Isobel, please, it’s not like that,” I protest. I can feel people stopping to stare at the two of us, but I press on, not caring who hears me or what they think. “When I drove up here, I couldn’t even think. I had no idea what I was going to do or say. I only knew that I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t rest, I couldn’t do anything without seeing you again. I went to your dad’s house, because it was the only place I knew to start. I was prepared to beat him half to death to find out where you were, and for what he had done to you…to us,” I pause for breath and see the faintest hint of a smile flash on Isobel’s lips.
“I told him that I knew about your Huntington’s, and about what he had done to your mother. He told me some things, things that he needs to talk to you about himself; but ultimately, I told him…I told him I want to be yours, Izzie. I want to be the person you can rely on, the person who stands by you all the days of your life and helps you through whatever comes. I want him to keep all his bullshit to himself, and just let you and I have a real chance. That’s what he gave his blessing to.”
“Do you really think my father’s blessing is the kind of ringing endorsement that’s going to impress me?” Isobel teases me, the small smile still playing around her lips. Her eyes narrow and her face turns stern as she continues, “Besides, Sax, what are you even hoping for? That I’ll run off with you, hop on your boat and sail into the sunset? I’m done running. I’m going to try and get my nursing license back. I’m going to use the time I have left to try to help people, to give something back.”
