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Drugs.
Whatever illicit materials needed to get from the south and across the US.
“Yeah,” Theo agreed from the other side of River as he took a swig from his bottle. “Neither of them would think twice about driving a knife into your back, and not the figurative kind.”
“Don’t worry. Always have an eye on my back.”
Living a life like this, if you dropped your guard for even a second, you got dead.
River lowered his voice even further, making sure no other members of the club could hear. “Or Cutter, either. Don’t like the vibe that’s been rolling around. Something isn’t sittin’ right.”
“I get in, get the job done, and get out.” Kane said it nonchalant, though a gust of unease rippled through him. He knew it, too. Things had gotten strange.
“Good,” River said. “Keep it that way, and keep it clean.”
Kane arched an incredulous brow. “You suggesting anything we do isclean?”
River’s expression remained flinty. “Maybe it’s time we did.”
The old bracelet burned against Kane’s wrist. The bracelet that he’d never taken off. Now worn and tarnished. A suffocating vise that still felt like a lifeline.
The haunting of his mother’s voice fluttered through the darkest recesses of his mind.
“Don’t ever change. Don’t ever let that beautiful light fade. Fight for love and what’s right. I know you will…because it’s who you are.”
Except it wasn’t who he was.
Not anymore.
He’d lost himself.
Maybe in the exact same way as she had, only his circumstances were just different.
And there was no way to find himself again.
So, he rode the runs he’d been charged to do.
The roar of his bike rumbling beneath him as he followed the trucks to their destinations and did whatever was required to ensure the loads were protected.
Spiraling and spiraling.
Until he swung off his bike on that fateful evening, standing guard as Tyke hopped out of the driver’s side of the truck and came around to open the back.
Until the moment when he saw what was inside.
“Don’t ever change. Don’t ever let that beautiful light fade. Fight for love and what’s right. I know you will…because it’s who you are.”
He’d never heard his mother’s voice shout so loud. And that spiraling he’d fallen into?
It came up on a quick dead end.
FORTY-THREE
EMERY
Kane reachedinto the massive stone shower and turned on the faucet. The muscles of his big body flexed over the designs that covered his back. The grim scene of the dead woods with the skulls hanging from the trees on full display. Haunting and beautiful. The perfect match to the man.
The water began to fall, and he turned back to me.