Page 78 of Jett

I don’t know what to say. It’s apparent from their gaping jaws that they don’t either, so we fill the awkward silence with hugs and useless platitudes. The girls tell me I need to eat something, but I’m not hungry. Nothing will fill the void inside me, so what use do I have for food?

“Darlin’, you need to eat.” Jett squeezes my shoulder gently. He’s so careful with me, as if he’s afraid I’ll break.Too late. I already broke the second I saw blood pouring out of my body onto my white carpet. I squeeze my eyes tightly closed and shake my head, willing the tears away.

They fall anyway and I turn and head for the stairs. “I just want to sleep.”

“Yeah, okay. Come on. I’ll show you the master.”

I let him lead me up the stairs. At the end of the hall, I stand in the doorway to the master suite. The bed he shared with his wife.

“Indie’s been here for the last hour. She changed the sheets and tidied up the place for us.” He pulls back the covers and I lean against the doorjamb and watch him. She had his lashes, his lips. Would she have had his temper too? His heart, or mine? It doesn’t matter now, because we’ll never know.

A sob escapes me and Jett hurries across the room, taking me in his arms. He leads me to the bed and helps me lie down. The mattress dips and he stretches out behind me, wrapping an arm around my chest. I grab his wrist and hold on tight as we both cry for our little girl.

***

WHEN I WAKE, JETT ISgone. Probably out on club business. I listen, but there’s no sound other than the faint noise of the TV. I close my eyes and wish I’d never answered that door. For just a second, I wish I’d never met Jett or the Savage Saints MC. If I hadn’t, I would never have had my heart filled with joy and slaughtered by sorrow. I would never have seen the most perfect face in the entire world and had to give her up. I wouldn’t be lying here alone in the marital bed of the man I love and a stranger. I would never know the grief and utter decimation of feeling life inside my womb, and holding my baby that contained none.

Maybe that would have been best for everyone.

JETT

IT TOOK ME FOUR FUCKINGdays to find the information I needed.

Daryl Brown and Kurt Schultz, the leader of the Arian sect and his fucking lackey, respectively. The two men who hurt my old lady, who killed my baby, traced back to this pitiful address.

I stare out the windshield at the ramshackle house. It’s lit up like a Christmas tree. Three bodies move inside by the windows, oblivious to what awaits them. The yard is littered with broken-down cars and sun-baked toys left out for too long in the weather.

It’s freezing in the van, but cold is in my blood now. It runs through my veins as bitter and icy as the anger in my soul. I’m consumed by it, engulfed by this rage to destroy the men who ruined Raine, who took my baby from me.

Tank turns to me. “Ready, Prez?”

“I was fuckin’ born ready. Let’s go carve up some Nazi arse.”

Tank grabs his bag of implements and pulls out the burner phone, hitting speed dial. “We’re ready.”

Kick, Grim, and Trigger all rode their Harleys here and parked farther up the hill. I give Tank the go ahead and he whispers into the phone, “We’re going in.”