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A sob escaped through a laugh as I got to my knees and threw my arms around my dad.
“I’m already planning family dinners in my mind, Dad. I love you.”
Once he drew back and I helped him up, we made our way back to the cabin, and he muttered softly, “Maybe now that we’re clear of the club, you can finally have that life you dreamed of with Wes.”
Smiling, we rounded the side of the cabin, clearing the front, and I saw a new bike parked next to the truck. My stomach dipped with excitement, knowing Wes was waiting inside.
“I have a feeling we’ll still be linked to it for a while. Besides, Wes helped me realize these roots aren’t all bad.”
A kiss landed on my forehead as he pulled on the screen door.
“It’s good to have you back, sweetheart.”
“It’s good to be back, Dad.”
And for the first time in my life, I meant it.
TWENTY-SIX
WES
Killian was waitingfor me when I pulled up to the house.
He was helping me lay down sod before the sun got too high and it was too hot. Callie and I were moving into the new house in a few days, and I wanted to surprise her by having the yard finished. Kill offered to help me—well, several of the guys did, but I wanted to talk to him alone first.
“You eat already?” I asked, lifting the bag of donuts I’d grabbed from The Drip before driving up.
Killian’s arms were folded while he nodded.
I could tell he was pissed by the way he tossed off his cut and started aggressively raking the dirt to get it even.
“Look, I know you’re pissed,” I started.
“You don’t know shit!” Killian yelled, swinging his wild gaze my way. “No, I’m not pissed, Wes. I’m fucking hurt. You sent me on a wild goose chase, and you almost died because of it. You almost got Callie killed. She’s my family, Wes, as much as you are. You should have told me!”
He threw the rake across the yard.
Kilian’s chest heaved as he pinned his hands to his hips. “I tried to stay quiet and respectful for weeks, Wes, but fuck this. I can’t believe you did that. I can’t honestly even process how close you both came to dying. Now Callie made some sort of alliance with Silas, the new leader of the Death Raiders, and you’re stepping down? Just fuck all this.”
He started walking back toward his bike, belatedly remembering his cut.
I followed him, keeping calm so he could get out all his anger.
“What am I supposed to do now? Simon is gone, half the club won’t even get to know he’s still alive. But I’ll know. This is too much change for our club at one time. I need you to stay on for a while, Wes. I can’t do this—” he trailed off, clenching his jaw tightly before leveling me with a hard glare. “I feel like I just lost my entire family in one day. I need you around for a while.”
I was close enough now that I pulled him into a hug. Like fuck did we do this in front of other members, but Killian was my brother, and I felt like shit for making him feel this way.
“I’m not going anywhere. Callie’s here, too…stepping down doesn’t mean leaving.”
We separated, and Killian ran his hand over his head.
“Pretty sure Callie is going to have something to say about that…she left because of the club.”
The sky was turning a darker blue. The sun was getting higher, and we were going to have to lay this grass in the hot as fuck afternoon. I bent down to grab a new rake and started scraping over the gravel and dirt to level it out.
“Callie didn’t leave because of the club. She left because of me. I was keeping her out of the loop and ignoring her. We were young, and I had no idea how to balance the role I had taken on, not to mention that I wanted to do right by Simon. But Callie feels at home here.”
Killian smiled, letting out a laugh as he started joining me with leveling the yard.
