Page 13

Three Years Earlier

R azor knew that as the club’s enforcer, he’d have to constantly be looking over his shoulder, but that never seemed to matter to him—before now. Because now, the only thing that he wanted to do was protect the woman he loved and their growing family.

A year ago, he walked into the bar hoping to get a beer and maybe find a place to stay for the night. He was biking from the West coast to the East, and to say that he was tired and dusty from the road was an understatement. That was the day that he met Mace, the club’s Prez, and his entire life changed. The verdict was still out whether it changed for the better or worse, but that was an argument for another day.

met his woman two months after arriving in town and joining the Road Reapers. Tori quickly became his everything, and when she told him that she was pregnant, he was over the moon. He asked her to marry him, and for the first time in a long time, he was happy. It was a foreign feeling to him, but one that he knew he could get used to. But ’s happiness was short-lived.

He had bought a little house for Tori and him, wanting to get everything set up for their daughter’s arrival. He loved watching Tori nest and get ready for little Violet, and before either of them knew it, their big day arrived. Tory was a warrior, pushing their daughter out and jumping right into taking care of her.

They worked out a schedule for the baby—him taking nights after getting home from the club, and Tori taking mornings so that he could get ready to go to his nine-to-five as a cop. Well, it wasn’t really nine to five with the crazy hours he had to work as an undercover cop, but they seemed to make it work. Tori agreed to stay at home, and he had to admit, his inner caveman liked that. She said that she could always go back to work as an accountant after Violet was in school, but for now, she wanted to soak up all the time she could with their daughter.

Violet turned one, and they were all set to have a little party in the backyard for her. Spade offered to help him put up the bounce house that he rented for the kids, and they invited his whole club over to celebrate. He found Tori in the kitchen, frantically trying to get the food ready in time, and telling her that he had to go get the bounce house still wasn’t something he wanted to do. She looked about ready to murder him over the news, telling him that he should have done that the day before, and she was right. But his case got the better of him, and he ended up having to stay at work late. So, he came up with the plan to take Violet with him to give Tori time to finish making the food. She seemed good with his compromise, and he packed Violet’s diaper bag, kissed Tori on the cheek, and headed into town, not knowing that would be the last time that he’d ever see his woman.

But how could he have known that the Devils would find out where he lived or go after his woman? He had been assigned to go into the club to investigate the rumors about human trafficking. He looked the part, since he was a biker, and Spade couldn’t take the case since he was already on another one. There was no other choice but to send him in, and after six months of being undercover, the Devils seemed to figure out who he truly was. couldn’t figure out where he went wrong, but he had slipped up somewhere along the line, and that cost his woman her life.

He was only gone for about an hour, and finding her on the kitchen floor with a knife sticking out of her belly wasn’t even the worst part of the Devil’s attack. That came much later when an autopsy proved that she was about three months pregnant. wondered if she knew, or if she was going to surprise him with the news after Violet’s party. Maybe she didn’t want to ruin their daughter’s big day, not that announcing that she was going to be a big sister would ruin her birthday.

The only saving grace was that Violet had fallen asleep in the truck, and he rolled down the windows and let her sleep. She didn’t have to see her mother’s lifeless body lying on the kitchen floor with a pool of blood around her. She would never know that her mother suffered at the hands of the Devils, something that he found out much later on. No, he was the only one who’d have to remember Tori that way, and he had a feeling it would haunt him for the rest of his life.

The only thing he was sure of was that he’d have to find a new normal for himself and his daughter because that was what Tori would want. And he’d find a way to figure out who killed his woman and then, he’d pay them back for what they did. He wasn’t an eye for an eye kind of guy usually, but seeing Tori’s lifeless body on the floor changed that for him—it changed a lot of things for .

Present Day

dropped his little girl off at preschool and watched as she waved at him on her way in. He smiled and waved back at her and she turned to skip into the school. Violet was the happiest kid that he knew, and had no idea how that happened. After he lost Tori, he was scared to death that he would fuck up his kid. His saving grace was that the guys and their Ol’ladies down at the Road Reapers pitched in to help him with Violet as he got back on his feet.

He spent the first year trying to find the person who killed Tori, wanting revenge, but it was hard to come by. He always suspected that the Devils figured out that he was an undercover cop and found out where he lived, but he was never able to prove his theory. His captain pulled him from the case as soon as he found out that Tori was murdered. He put him on paid leave, and had to admit that he was grateful. It gave him time to grieve Tori and take care of Violet. And it gave him time to search for his woman’s killer.

He didn’t go back to work until Violet was almost two, and that involved him putting her into daycare for the first time. It was an adjustment for them both, but a necessary one. He also couldn’t do the undercover work that he loved so much. That would involve him needing to be away from home for too long, and he couldn’t do that to his daughter. She had already lost one parent; he wouldn’t risk her losing another. He worked his way up in the ranks and when he made captain, he was sure that was where he was supposed to be. He basically kept bankers’ hours and could drop Violet off at school and pick her up at the end of the day. They had a nice routine, not that it filled the voids in his life left from losing Tori.

He stayed on at the Road Reapers as one of the club’s enforcers, and he loved being able to do that for his brothers, but his time at the club was limited. He promised Mace that he’d try to find more time to hang out down at the bar, but the truth was, he didn’t want to leave Violet. Some nights, he even took his daughter to the club with him and let her hang out in Mace’s office. He’d set her up with earphones and her favorite movie, and be able to attend church. Sometimes, it felt like old times at the Road Reapers when he’d get to hang out with the guys. But then, he’d go home with his kid, and not some sexy bar bunny—not that he minded. He wouldn’t trade his time with Violet for any of the bar bunnies who hung out at the club. Since Tori’s death, he didn’t have time for another woman, not that he wanted one. He missed her every day, and no warm, willing woman was going to make him forget the pain of losing her.

He was on his way to work when he spotted a woman limping down the side of the road. wasn’t sure, but he thought that he actually groaned when he decided that he should stop to check on her. He was never one to play the good Samaritan, but since having Violet, he couldn’t get through a day without feeling the need to help someone. It’s what he’d want someone to do if it was his daughter in need of help.

pulled over to the side of the road, in front of the woman, and cut the engine. He hopped out of the truck and pasted on his best smile for the woman. She was skinny—too skinny, as though she hadn’t had a good meal in weeks. Blood stains covered her jeans on the right side, and she was limping.

“Hi,” he said. The woman didn’t even look at him as she tried to go around him. “Hey, I’m trying to help you,” he insisted.

The woman didn’t stop walking as she passed him. “Don’t need it.” She looked like she needed a whole lot more help than he’d be able to give her, but he still planned on trying.

“Your right leg is covered in blood and you’re limping. Just let me give you a ride somewhere,” he offered. She turned, her long dark hair framing her face as she stared him down with her empty brown eyes.

“You’re not listening,” she spat. “I said that I don’t need your help. You’ve done your good deed by stopping to check on me. Now, you can be on your way.”

“That’s not why I stopped. I don’t have a hero complex, and you’re hurt. Just take the help—no strings attached.” She put her hands on her bony hips, and he could tell that she was thinking about his offer.

“You don’t expect anything from me?” she asked. Her whole demeanor seemed to shift as she took a step toward him. Her eyes went from dark to pleading, but for what, he had no idea.

“No, why would you think that?” he asked. That was a dumb question. She had probably experienced men offering to help her in return for something that she might not be willing to give. “Never mind, don’t answer that. Listen, I just want to give you a ride. Look, I even have a car seat for my four-year-old in the back of my truck. I don’t want any trouble, and I’m sure that you don’t. I have to get into work, and then, pick up my daughter from preschool.” She peeked around his body at his truck and then looked back at him.

“Where do you work?” she asked.

“I’m a cop,” he admitted. “I’m heading downtown to the precinct, but I can run you where you need.”

She almost smiled at him, and he wondered what he had said that was amusing. “You should have led with the fact that you’re a cop,” she insisted. “Of course, that means that you know where to hide the bodies.”

“I promise you, hiding bodies is a thing of my past. Getting a babysitter for my kid is a pain in the ass, so I don’t get out much anymore to hide any bodies,” he teased. She giggled, actually giggled, and he was beginning to think that stopping to help her was the best idea he’d made in a long time. “So, how about a ride?” he asked again.

She nodded her agreement, “I’m Ella,” she said, not giving him a last name.

“,” he said, holding his hand out to her.

“Do I want to know how you got that name?” she questioned.

“It’s a long story,” he said. He led the way back to his truck and she followed him. pulled open the passenger door and waited for her to get in. Ella climbed into the cab of his truck, and he shut the door. She still seemed skittish, but at least she had accepted the ride. She looked to be down on her luck, but his cop instincts had kicked in and he had a feeling that her story was more involved than someone just down on her luck. He just wished he had time to figure her story out, but that would mean he’d have to get involved with Ella, and that wasn’t something he was interested in doing.