Page 19

19

Legacy

My hands grip the steering wheel as I hit a bump, and the truck shakes. Being in a cage always puts me in a sour mood, especially on an overcast day when the ride would be much more pleasant on my bike. But Steel needed Havoc and me to drop off a shipment of parts to Kings Auto, so here I am, taking the truck when Bea and Reagan aren’t even with me.

Lately, I’ve been on four wheels more often than on two. Between healing from my gunshot wound and driving the two of them, I’m barely on my bike, and I miss it.

“He’s right here.” Havoc pulls the phone away from his ear, placing the call on speaker.

“I got the info you were looking for.” Ghost’s voice comes through the phone. “Background. Credit. Police reports— ”

“Lincoln has a record?” My hands clench the steering wheel tighter.

“A restraining order from a few years back. He was stalking an ex.”

“Fuck.” My teeth grit.

While Reagan’s been downplaying Lincoln harassing her, I knew there was something more. Men who can’t take no for an answer rarely stop unless they’re forced to, and she’s so sweet he’s using it to his advantage.

Which is why he’s been escalating.

Firing her.

Stalking her.

Calling her nonstop.

Nothing good comes from that pattern.

Havoc’s gaze cuts in my direction, sensing my irritation.

“It gets worse.” Ghost’s tone is clipped, and I know I’m not going to like whatever he has to say. “He’s no longer at the school she was working for. Apparently, he quit before the school year started, and no one’s seen him since. It all lines up with the same week Reagan first showed up in Vegas.”

“Tell me you at least know where he is.”

“He’s off the grid. Hasn’t so much as used a credit card in his name to give away his location.”

That’s not what I wanted to hear. “Regular people don’t do that shit.”

“We would.”

“Yeah, and we’re not regular.” I clench my teeth. “No one worries about tracking their digital footprint unless they think someone is after them who has the ability to do it.”

“You think he knows she’s with us?” Ghost asks.

“If he does, and he’s trying to stay off the map, then what does that say about how much he knows about us?”

“Nothing good.”

“Exactly.” I brush my hand down my face. “All right, keep an eye on her, and let me know if you get any hits on his position. Especially if he crosses the Nevada border.”

“Will do. I sent the rest of the info to your email.”

“Thanks, brother.”

Ghost ends the call, and Havoc tucks his phone back into his pocket.

“Reagan’s ex causing problems?” Havoc asks, eyeing me.

“He’s barely an ex. He’s her former boss. They had one date, and he didn’t take the hint.” It grinds my gears for a multitude of reasons.

The fact that he won’t accept no as an answer.

The fact that he’s in the wind when his obsession is peaking.

Reagan finally admitted she didn’t want to tell me because she didn’t want to add to my problems. What she fails to understand is that if she’s not safe, nothing else fucking matters.

And to think I tried to put her on a plane and send her back to Glendale that first night. What if she’d listened? I’d have been sending her directly back to him.

I swallow those fears and remind myself she’s back at the house right now with Tempe and Austin .

She’s on the compound.

She’s safe.

A headache hammers between my temples. One that medicine hasn’t been able to dull all day, and this conversation just made it worse.

“You think he’s in Vegas already?” Havoc pops his knuckles.

“I fucking dare him to step over that border.” What I wouldn’t give to get my hands on this piece of shit.

“If we get word he’s in town, we need to let Steel know about it.”

“Ghost is already keeping him in the loop. But now that Lincoln’s officially in the wind, I’ll send you the info as well. We all need to be on the lookout for him.”

“Especially if he might know about the club.” Havoc stares out at the road. “So you and Reagan…”

It’s as much a statement as it is a question.

I haven’t told anyone what happened with Reagan a few days ago, but they’re all aware things have changed. All it took was Soul walking up to me at Kings Auto this afternoon and asking for her number to get that truth out of me.

I nearly put his head through a fucking wall.

To which Soul grinned because I proved his point.

“Me and Reagan” is all the response I give Havoc.

“You bringing her out with the other girls this weekend?”

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

Once every few months, the club hits the town in a show of force. We walk the Strip and circle the city to check on our investments and remind our rivals that we’re ready and waiting if they want to try and fuck with us. This weekend is one of those nights, and now that Ghost and Steel have both taken old ladies, they’re coming along.

Something Ghost made a point to mention in front of Reagan this morning because he’s an asshole.

“Why not?” Havoc looks at me. “Because of the ex-boss?”

No . “Yeah.”

Havoc chuckles, seeing straight through me. “You like her, Legacy.”

“Great observation.”

“You owe it to yourself to give it a shot. You and Bea—”

“It’s not about Bea.” It comes out sharp because that insinuation always grates my nerves.

Do I wish Bea had a mom who loved her and cared about her?

Yes.

Am I willing to let anyone fill that role just to pacify what people expect?

Fuck no.

Not that Reagan is just anyone. But she came here for her great-aunt. For a job. She doesn’t need more responsibility in her life. And Bea doesn’t need another person who might just leave her behind.

Digging my hand in my hair, I let out a sigh. “After all that shit with Sera, I told myself I’d be smarter than this.”

“Reagan’s not Sera. ”

“Don’t I know it.” Sera seemed nice when we met. But at the time, I was partying so much that I didn’t really look past her smile or willingness to fuck. We were young and dumb. “Reagan’s the opposite of Sera. She cares so much about everything. She’s so fucking trusting and sweet and warm.”

“Your opposite.” Havoc chuckles.

“She makes me stupid.”

“The right woman will have that effect.” The way he says it makes me think he knows something about it, but I’ve never seen Havoc hung up on a woman, so I must be imagining it.

“I don’t know how this could work with her, but I don’t know how to let her go either.”

Havoc hums, staring out the front window. “Only thing worse than pain is regret.”

“What do you regret, brother?”

“Plenty.” He rests his head back, not elaborating.

We’re quiet the rest of the ride. I’m lost in thoughts of Reagan, while Havoc stares out the window with vacancy that seems like he’s remembering a different time in his life.

The sun is about to set as I drop Havoc at the clubhouse. He’s still quiet when he climbs out, and it’s clear there’s something on his mind, but I don’t push.

I circle the property until I reach the neighborhood and try to tell myself I’m doing the right thing. Even as I climb out of the truck and smell what Reagan’s cooking for dinner in the air, I try to resist that constant reminder that she’s too good for me .

I start the path up the front steps when my phone chimes with a text from Mom confirming the dates of her flight in a few months. It’ll be one of the handful of times she’s been back to the compound since Dad died.

If it wasn’t for Bea, I don’t think she’d come back at all. She loves me, but she doesn’t miss it here, and I get it after how my father was with her.

King was a shining example of how not to treat the people you’re supposed to care about. Something all too common when you’re involved with the Twisted Kings.

My stomach sours as my thoughts turn to Reagan.

Like Mom, she’s too fucking good for this place. She deserves more from the world—from a relationship.

She’d never be happy with a man like me.