by Brook Wilder
Diesel tossed me a gun. I caught it as I went past, aware that another bike was gunning up behind me. But I was more intent on getting after the shooter. I had been out of the game for a while, but I was still captain of the bikers, second-in-command to Mason. These were my people; this wasn’t going to be something I would take lying down.
The other bike was speeding along far too fast, but I knew the limits of my bike. I managed to get to those limits and was soon gaining ground. Before I knew it, I was close enough to touch him.
Close enough to take the shot.
I closed my hand around the gun and pointed it at the rider’s back. It was a perfect target. I just needed to give it a slight squeeze.
But something may me falter. I began to wobble, my legs unable to keep control of my Harley. My arm wavered, and I felt myself hesitate. I couldn’t take the shot. And I was about to lose control of the bike.
So, I did the only thing he could. I pulled out of the chase, skidding my bike to a stop and scowling as the shooter sped away with barely a backwards glance.
Bastard. I would have him. Just not today.
“Noah!”
I looked around. Diesel was riding up to me. He looked stunned that I didn’t have a dead body at my feet.
“What the fuck happened, Noah? I thought you had him!”
“I did.” I looked at the gun in my hand. It almost looked like it was glaring up at me. “But I couldn’t. I don’t know why.”
Diesel growled and snatched the gun off me.
“Sounds like prison’s fucked you in the head. You’ve been out of the game too long. The old Noah Calder wouldn’t have hesitated.”
I knew that. And I felt awful. I looked up at Diesel’s scowling face.
“How’s Rob?”
“Dead. He didn’t stand a chance,” Diesel growled as he turned his bike around.
Now I felt even worse.
Chapter 5
Noah
After Rob’s murder, I didn’t feel like going home. I didn’t know what I wanted. When we got back to the annex more somber than we had been going out, I just headed out on my own. I drove around Eden for hours, until long after the sun had gone down and the street lamps had come on.
One of my brothers had been killed. I had known Rob for twenty years. We had been good friends. And now he was dead. I didn’t know what to feel anymore. All I could feel was numbness. A lot of it.
Finally, after two hours driving around aimlessly, I ended up outside a quaint suburban home in the nicer part of Eden. It looked like a picture-perfect house and I knew there was a picture-perfect family inside.
How I had ended up with family who were so different from me and still accepted me as one of their own, I had no idea. But I was grateful for the refuge my older brother gave me when I needed it.
Even then, I felt a lot of apprehension going up to the door. Harry and Julie had come to see me on a regular basis, but it wasn’t the same. I didn’t want Julie being there; she was a tough woman, but prison wasn’t a place for her. I knew they were on my side, but I wondered for how much longer.
I was about to find out.
The door opened after I rang the bell and a huge man with sandy hair not unlike mine stood in the doorway. He was wearing suit pants and a white shirt with no tie and the collar open. He was barefoot. It looked like he had just come home from work. His sleepy expression cleared when he saw his guest.
“Noah.”
“Harry.”
My brother let me inside before embracing me, hugging me tightly. I tightened my arms around him. My older brother was solid. This wasn’t a figment of my imagination. I was really here.
Harry eased back and searched my face. “God, you look exhausted.”
“Yeah.” I swallowed. “I… we lost Rob today.”
Harry’s face paled. He wasn’t a biker, but he was regarded as family due to my status. He had known Rob since he was a kid.
“Shit. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I wasn’t about to admit I had gone after someone with a gun. “I got out this morning. I know I should have called…”
“But you had things to do.” Harry squeezed my shoulder. “I understand. But it’s good to see you out now.”
I could heartily concur. I looked around the living room. It didn’t look to have changed much since I had last been in there, except the pictures of the children were of older kids, reminding me that his niece and nephew were growing up. At sixteen and thirteen, they were growing far too fast for me to keep up.
I wondered what they would think when they found out they had a cousin.
“Where are the others?”
“Hollie’s studying at a friend’s, Davey’s at a sleepover and Julie’s in the kitchen fixing dinner.” Harry smiled. “Come on in. She’ll be happy to see you.”
I hoped so. I liked Julie. She was warm and friendly, perfect for my placid brother. I followed Harry into the kitchen, where a petite redhead was stirring something in a saucepan. Her hair was a different style, cut short in a pixie cut, revealing the smooth shape of her neck. She wore black leggings and a white tank top. For a woman pushing forty, she was looking incredible.
Harry went over to her and placed his hands on her hips, kissing her neck.
“We’ve got company, honey. Guess who?”
Julie turned, and her blue eyes landed on me. They widened, and she gasped before she beamed and came to me.
“Oh my God, Noah.” She hugged me warmly and kissed my cheek. She stepped back and cupped my face in her hands. “Oh, you look like you need a decent meal inside you. What were they feeding you in there?”
I made a face.
“I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t your cooking.”
Julie grinned.
“Well, we’re about to have dinner. I’m doing meat loaf and potatoes.”
“You don’t need to…”
“Yes, I do.” Julie cut off my protests. “You need a good meal in your belly and I made plenty.” She shooed me out of the kitchen. “Now, go and bother your brother while I finish off. I’m nearly done.”
Harry chuckled.
“You do know she won’t let you go until you’ve eaten.”
I knew. And I wasn’t about to complain. Julie was a good cook and I couldn’t resist anything she made. I followed Harry into the dining room and helped to lay the table. It was something strange, so mundane, but I needed something mundane to remind me that I wasn’t back behind bars now, sitting on a cramped bench trying to eat with elbows jostling me. Having my own space again while I ate something that didn’t taste like it had been digested already felt like bliss.
I even asked for seconds before remembering where I was. But Julie laughed and simply gave me a thicker piece of meatloaf. Harry tried to follow suit, but Julie slapped his hand away, wagging her finger at his face. That made my night.
After the meal, Julie stuck the plates into the dishwasher while Harry and I sat on the couch, the sports channel turned down low.
“I’m going to head up to bed now. I’ve got an early start.” She kissed her husband’s head. “Don’t be up too late, honey.”
“I won’t. I need to let Hollie in, anyway.” Harry cupped his wife’s chin and kissed her gently with a smile. “Love you, babe.”
“Love you, too.” Julie gave me a grin and kissed my head before hugging me around the shoulders. “Night, Noah.”
“Night.”
I watched Julie go. I couldn’t help but compare her to Liz. There was something about Julie that was enticing but I knew better. However, as lovely and almost-perfect as Julie was, she was no Liz.
“So.” Harry picked up his beer bottle and took a swig. “Have you seen Liz yet?”
I grimaced. I had hoped not to talk about Liz just yet. But Harry wouldn’t let me get away with it that easily.
“Yeah, I have. She’s doing well.”
“I hope so. Julie tried to contact her, but she didn’t respond. We t
hought she had simply moved on.”
I sighed. That was far from the truth. Liz loved my brothe’s family. She wouldn’t have ignored them for anything other than knowing about her son.
Our son. I corrected myself.
“She knew, if you and Julie found out, you would have told me.”
“What do you mean?” Harry sat up. “Noah? Is Liz ill?”
“Nothing like that.” I let out a heavy breath. “She was pregnant.”
I watched as Harry’s eyes grew round and his mouth dropped open. My brother sat back, still looking bewildered.
“You… you have a kid?”
“A little boy, Hunter. He’s fifteen months old now.” I found myself smiling as I remembered the beaming smiling he first received from the boy. “And he’s a lovely little lad. Looks so much like Davey when he was little.”
Even now, hours after I had come face-to-face with the next generation, I still found it hard to get the news to sink in. I was a father now. A little boy to look up to me. I hoped I didn’t become a disappointment to Hunter.
“She had a baby.” Harry still looked like someone had hit him over the head. “Why didn’t she tell us? Hell, why didn’t she tell you?”
“The cartel,” I said darkly.
I didn’t believe that was the whole reason, but I would take it for now. It was one Harry would understand. And from the expression that dawned on my brother’s face, he did understand.
“They wouldn’t have stooped so low as to go after a baby, would they?”
“What do you think?” I swirled the rest of my beer and watched it go in the bottle. “I get why she’d want to keep info about my son from me. But still…”
That was a lie, even to his ears.
“Wow.” Harry was still looking stunned. “We have a nephew and we had no idea. Do you think Liz will let us see him?”
“I’ll talk to her,” I promised. “I don’t see why not. She loves you two.”
Now that I knew, hopefully Liz would also be more open about letting Hunter meet the rest of his family. She may have deprived me of knowing about Hunter, but she wouldn’t do that to Harry and Julie.
“There’s something else bothering you, isn’t there?” Harry said quietly.
“What makes you think that?”
“Noah, I know you. There’s a lot going on up here.” Harry tapped his head. “What else is going on?”
“I…” I sighed heavily and slumped down, resting my head on the cushions. “I don’t know. I really don’t. Liz has withdrawn from me. She’s not the same. I can’t see the woman I loved before. It’s like there’s a shadow over her now.” I rubbed at my eyes. My head was beginning to hurt. “Something’s happened to her, but she won’t tell me. She’s never been this secretive before.”
“People are allowed to have secrets.”
“Not like this, Harry. This is something big.” The question that had been nagging me since I had left Liz earlier that day came back, and I lowered my hands. I couldn’t believe I was asking this. “Do you think she could have sold me out?”
“What?” Harry sat up. He looked startled. “Why on earth would she do that? Liz loves you.”
“To save her own skin? To keep someone she cares about alive? I don’t know.” I pressed my fingers to the bridge of my nose. “It’s been going over in my head for a while now.”
Harry snorted.
“I don’t believe that. You seriously think Liz would do that to you? She’s the most loyal person I know. She would have died for you! I know it, and you know it too.”
Knowing it and doing it were two different things. And I didn’t know what to think anymore.
“I don’t know anymore, Harry. Someone close to me used me and put me in a position where I could be arrested for something I didn’t do. They made sure the noose was good and tight around my neck.”
“Someone close to you, yes. But it wouldn’t be Liz.” Harry insisted. “I won’t believe it.”
I grunted. I wanted to believe it that Liz was on my side, but I had seriously no idea.
“You have more faith in her than I have right now.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“I don’t trust many people at the moment.”
Harry arched an eyebrow and regarded me.
“Do you trust me?”
“Without question.” I grinned and held up my bottle. “Or I wouldn’t have let you get me drunk.”
Harry rolled his eyes and took another swig of his beer. “I’ve missed you, brother. I’ve fucking missed you.”
Chapter 6
Liz
I hated getting up early. Hunter has been up far too early lately, so I was walking around like a zombie. It drove me nuts, but I couldn’t be angry when I saw that gorgeous little face grinning at me when I came into his room and found him standing up in his crib jumping up and down.
It did help my mood, just a little.
But today, I was grateful for it. I had an important interview to go to and I couldn’t afford to be late. So, when Hunter started calling for me five minutes after my alarm was supposed to go off, I couldn’t have been more grateful. I had forgotten to put my alarm on.
At least I had a reliable one in the other room.
I dressed and changed Hunter before showering and putting on clothes I didn’t realize I had; a simple white blouse with a black skirt and low heels. I tied my red hair into a simple ponytail, decorating it with a few clips. Now I looked presentable and professional.
A far cry from what I’d been forced to wear for the past two years.
Not working was one thing but not working when you had a child was something else. There was a little help from the Riders, but nothing that I could use to support myself. So I turned to other methods.
Just the thought alone sent shivers down my spine and I hugged myself, repeating silently that it was all behind me.
It had been a while since I had been to work—real work. I had simply crossed my fingers that I would get seen. And I had. Now I was getting interviewed for a pharmacy assistant’s job, something that would have me on my feet all day. I didn’t mind as long as I got paid.
I had barely been dressed five minutes before Hunter managed to spill yoghurt onto my jacket sleeve. I desperately dabbed at the mess, trying to clean it up. But it was futile; the jacket was going to look very obvious with a darker patch on my arm. Sighing, I tossed it into the wash. It was too hot for a jacket, anyway.
Hunter was sitting in his high chair, happy as anything as he munched on his banana chunks. I glanced at the clock and realized I was going to push it fine in leaving. My mother Gloria wasn’t here yet and she’d promised to be there in plenty of time.
She was not known for her punctuality.
Grumbling about my mother’s lack of presence, I snatched up a pen and notepad and started scribbling out Hunter’s schedule. There would be no time to go through it all with her, so a written timetable would have to do. Gloria had been known to completely ignore a routine and Hunter had suffered as a result, although I was the one who really suffered with the fallout. If I had it written out, it should work.
I hoped.
I barely looked up when my cell phone started ringing. I picked it up off the counter and put it on loudspeaker as I finished scribbling out Hunter’s timetable.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Liz. It’s Nate.”
I froze. Was it that time again? Nate Park was a former classmate who had dogged me and my friends at high school, thinking he was God because he was the high school quarterback. I hadn’t cared for him, his sickly charm making me uncomfortable. In the last couple of years since Noah had gone to prison, Nate had suddenly turned his attentions to me. He kept asking me out for a drink, for dinner, anything he could think of. Sometimes he came out with it bluntly and said he wanted to take me to bed. Those were the calls that I hated the most.
I hoped he wasn’t going to do that this time. Eden was a small town. Surely, he�
��d know Noah was back now. Evidently, he still thought he had a chance.
“Liz?”
I sighed and carried on writing.
“What do you want, Nate? I’m in a bit of a rush.”
“You taking your kid out?”
He didn’t address Hunter by name. It was either ‘the kid’ or ‘kiddo’. I hated it.
“If you must know, I’ve got a job interview to get to. I don’t want to be late.”
