AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Gray isn’t made to blend in. Not in this car and not in anything else. Even before all the tattoos, he wore his hair long. He was tall and muscular before other guys hit their growth spurts. His eyes aren’t green like any other green I’ve ever seen. I’ve never stood in a field of wild grass before, way out in the mountains, but I imagine such a thing exists and all those waving strands would mirror the color perfectly.
I know how silly and girlish that is. I’ve held onto that thought since I was ten or eleven. Grass probably doesn’t even grow on the mountains, let alone in fields, but the grass down here, the leaves, the plants, any gemstone—all natural and manmade things—they’re all the wrong color, so I had to invent something that doesn’t exist.
We pass through town, driving slightly under the speed limit. Gray is never reckless. As an outlaw, that’s the first thing people think. They don’t realize how much order and law belongs to the club. Raiden and Gray would die for each other, but they’d die for their brothers there too. The club gives all sorts of men a brotherhood. Not just the men, but their women too. They’re a family. That’s the most Raiden has ever told me and probably could tell me, but his eyes shone when he tried to explain what it was that drew him there when he had every opportunity in the world to go a different direction.
I get it. I think.
Gray finally stops the car out at the edge of town. There’s not much out here other than a few dirt roads, gravel turn offs, and the highway that leads out to all the ritzy cabins and vacation homes outside of Hart. Before all of that, before the mountains and the woods really start, there’s a bunch of nothing but a few houses hidden away along the back roads.
Hart is strange that way. You can drive half an hour and go from bustling industry, offices, a metropolitan center like any big city, to absolute calm, quiet, and peace. Hart is unique for other reasons. It’s halfway between Seattle and the Canadian border, which made it an ideal place for Zale Grand’s father to start his club. Since Zale took over, the club has grown because it had every opportunity to take power. Most of their money has to come from drugs now. I know that because I listen to what people say. Even if it’s only rumors, there’s always some truth to it. I’m also fully aware of what my brother went away for.
Gray rolls the car right to the edge of a field, down a dirt road. There are trees in the distance. They look slightly sinister in the sweep of his headlights. He shuts off the car and they go out a few seconds later. It’s still not fully dark inside. My heart races when Gray turns his face, and the moonlight illuminates just how ridiculously handsome he is.
I study him, drinking my fill shamelessly, without blinking. He’s one of those guys with a face carved of stone. His cheekbones are sharp, his brow strong, his eyes always that piercing and intense green. His lips are almost too full for a man, but framed in his thick beard, they only add to the ruggedness. He knows just how to grin, how to wink, how to float past women to make them fall at his feet.
He has this magnetic aura about him that draws men in too. Not in a sexual way, at least not when it comes to the menhe surrounds himself with. People just want to be around him. Gray isn’t scary even though he’s heavily tattooed. The black ink extends up his neck and covers his hands and arms. He doesn’t swagger when he walks. It’s almost like he floats, which should be impossible in his huge, heavy boots. It might be his hair. It’s more like a mane and a riot than it is orderly and well behaved. The way it storms around his face, swaying and curling softly, dampens his sharp features. He’s the epitome of romance cover Viking or rock star.
I know we haven’t said anything this whole time. It feels like we don’t have to, but I break the silence anyway. I fold my hands in my lap tightly. “What are you thinking about?”
His sigh rattles through the car. “If I tell you something, will you promise not to share it with another soul?”
I’m shocked. So shocked that I might as well be having an out of body experience. Gray turns, and his face is half gorgeous and half terrifying. I hate the haunted shadows in his eyes.
“I promise,” I whisper, my heart rattling in my chest.
“You listen to the whispers. I know you do. What are people saying about my dad?”
I gulp, my mouth dry and suddenly bitter. I owe Gray the truth. He’s not going to be hurt by my words. He wants to know what I’ve heard. He’s not asking for intel he already knows. I still turn away and look out the passenger window, seeing nothing at all beyond the black except a few tiny twinkling lights in the distance. “That he might have turned against his own club. He doesn’t seem to care about his brothers anymore. He’s in it for the money. The greed. The power.” I run my tongue over the inside of my teeth, trying to wet my dry mouth. “I know it was you and your club brothers who scraped together the moneywhen Raiden and the others were busted. It should have been a minimum of ten years, and I don’t know what that lawyer did or how you could afford him, but he worked magic.”
“It’s still five fucking years.”
“Yes.” It hurts to breathe thinking about my vibrant, sweet, smart, loving brother locked away in prison with real criminals. “No court looks kindly on someone with biker affiliations, so the lawyer you hired was more than magic. I can’t imagine your dad would have hired the same man, all the way from New York. He would have just used your regular club lawyer. It wasn’t him going away. Raiden might get out sooner, for good behavior. I know at twenty-five, it feels like a life sentence, but it’s not. Because of you.”
Silence. Everyone expects Gray to be a loud person like most wildly attractive, popular, magnetic people are, but that’s not him. He’s not broody, but the silence shifts in his wake like it holds him in an intimate embrace. I think that’s the real reason people like Gray so much. It’s not because of his easy laughter and good humor, not because he’s fiery and intelligent, not because he’s athletic and looks like he belongs in magazines and movies. It’s because he’s wise. He knows what to do in any situation. Guys know that he’s loyal. He’ll fight to the death if he has to, but usually, he can find a way out first.
“People are saying you’d be a better leader.”
I get zero reaction, which says he knows it, and if he knows it, then it’s real. My insides squirm and a real shiver of fear crawls through me, turning me to ice. It’s a dangerous thing, to have the current leader even think there might be a mutiny. It doesn’t matter that Gray is Zale’s son. I know more about Gray’s dad than most people, because of how close he and my brotherare. I know he’s the kind of man who wouldn’t hesitate to do something to his own son if he ever challenged him.
“What would you do if youwerepresident?”
It’s dangerous as death to even think it, but the words squeak out anyway. What can I do to stop Gray if he wants this? Nothing. I can do nothing. I’m sick with fear that I have to shove back down, telling myself that Gray is smart. He knows how to watch his back and keep himself safe.
“I’d grow the club,” he responds gruffly.
I turn to him, but he’s facing straight forward. The urge I have to take his hand is almost overwhelming. It fills me, stifling me. My fingers twitch in my lap. I clench them harder together, twisting my fingers so my nails face my palm, and I can dig them in, in and in and in to ground myself and to keep my thoughts from becoming stupid words that will ruin everything.
“Grow our infallibility.” He’s thought about this.He’s. Thought. About. This.“I’d make it so no run ever gets fucked up like that one. No one gets caught. And if they do, no one can do a thing about it because we are the law, and we own the law. We’d own this town. Own the politicians. Own the cops. Finish what my dad started by cleaning the place up so all the low-level criminals can’t keep causing trouble. I’d buy into more legit businesses. And ones that aren’t legit.”
Raiden isn’t here. Gray has no one to share these thoughts with. I realize what he’s risking to tell me. I act before I can think. That’s not true. I’ve thought about it for years. Years, and years and endless years. An eternity worth of nights and hours and minutes of longing.
I twist in my seat and lean sideways, setting my head on Gray’s shoulder. He’s so broad that I don’t have far to go. It’s not really his shoulder either, but his upper arm. I can feel the muscle beneath layers of fabric. He freezes, which tears me up like a wild animal inside. I’ve crossed a line, pushed past all the invisible boundaries.
I slowly straighten like nothing happened. Like it was a gesture of solidarity and friendship. Something a little sister would do to offer comfort and understanding.
“I’m going away,” I whisper, going for strong and getting strangled instead. “You’re going to be president when I’m back.”
“Prez,” he mutters. “President just sounds wrong.”
