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  “I can’t keep doing this. The bar is losing money. I was hoping it would give Tommy something to focus on having a business. He’s not and I’m sinking my retirement and my wife’s retirement into it all for my son to disappear.”

  “Look, it ain’t easy. Maybe you need to consider closing up. You and your wife enjoy your retired life. Let Tommy find his own way.”

  Something clicks in Benny. “Amanda needs her job.”

  I twist my fingers nervously.

  “Get you don’t know me, sir. Mandee and I have a history. Childhood sweethearts. While I don’t want to take her job away, I can promise you I’ll take care of her.”

  Benny looks to me. I nod. It’s weird hearing Bladen call me Mandee, but I’m thankful he didn’t send Benny into shock by exposing my lies.

  “If I’m gonna close up, it’ll take some work to pack stuff.”

  “We’ll get it all done for you,” Bladen says and I relax into him.

  Even though I never planned to stay here forever, it’s nice to know I’m not going to leave Benny in a pinch.

  "Can we use your truck?” Bladen asks.

  “I’ll go get the keys.”

  Benny takes off to do that. Bladen and I step inside. “Mean it, Tamalyn. I’ll take care of you.”

  “You want me to leave with you.”

  He nods. I want to be back in Tennessee so I move to the corner and grab the duffle bag I came here with.

  Things just don’t feel right as I pack my meager belongings. I miss Tempest and Haven’s Harbor, but Benny missing Tommy, after the other day and last night, I can’t help but worry.

  “Talk to me,” Bladen says, watching me as I fold clothes.

  “I feel like it’s wrong to just leave without at least helping Benny get things sorted for Tommy.”

  “Consider it done,” he says too calmly. “I have money. You know I was given my mom’s trust fund when I turned eighteen. Only thing the woman gave me that was a break from home life. I don’t spend it regularly. I go to the bank and take out what I need and a cushion for months at a time. I’ll make sure Benny is set up and has some for rehab when he finds his kid.

  “Bladen, this isn’t about your trust fund and giving him money. The bar has alcohol that needs to be moved. I don’t know if you and I can do this on our own. The man can’t simply lock the doors and never look back either.”

  He doesn’t respond. Instead, he picks up his phone. Typing away, he sends a text.

  “Devil’s Due will meet us there in an hour. I’m gonna go inside and get a list from Benny about what he needs from the bar and what he wants left. You finish packing, and when I come back, we’ll all go make sure Benny is taken care of before we ride out.”

  My heart warms. Bladen Jones has always been a good man down to the deepest part of him. I have known it all my life.

  In everything that crashed down around me, he’s always been my anchor in every storm. Even now, when he wants to leave and not look back on Utah, he’s holding me steady as I get ready to embark on this new life of freedom.

  Caleb Andrews is dead. It’s not surprising, but it leaves a strange feeling deep in my belly. I don’t know how to accept that it’s over.

  My mother stayed with him. She raised me with a monster. Did she see some good inside him or was she driven by fear? I think it was fear more than anything else. I just wish she could have been strong enough to escape.

  I don’t know how to clear my head. Rather than focus on what drove my mother or what the future holds, I finish packing, which is in record time since I don’t have a lot. Then Bladen and I take Benny’s old truck to the bar.

  I’m dressed in my comfortable jeans, paired with a tank and tennis shoes, all for the ability to move and clean without care.

  “I gotta make some calls, baby. Go on in, and I’ll be in right behind ya,” Bladen says as I look at the darkened bar, looking like it has every other day I have come in.

  I leave Bladen in the truck and make my way to the door, unlocking it then flipping the first light switch, already heading toward behind the bar on autopilot.

  The sight in front of me has me ready to scream. Before I can, though, a tight grip comes around my mouth, concealing it. Immediately, tears form and fall.

  I fight, kicking back as I see Tommy lying face down in a pile of his own blood.

  As I thrash, my shoes fly off, and I see they are saturated in red fluid.

  I was standing in his blood. I look to him and see it all around his head.

  The man holding me grunts but never loosens his grip.

  Calm down, I tell myself. Think, Tamalyn, think.

  Bladen is outside.

  His friends are coming.

  I try to relax, regroup.

  That’s when another man comes from around the very back, and I realize who has me.

  Tag-team duo.

  And in the man’s hand is a gun.

  That’s when the door opens, and all our attention goes to it.

  Bladen walks in. I can’t lose him. I don’t want him to get hurt because he’s here for me. I can’t let them hurt him.

  His eyes meet mine. Before he can register what’s happening, a shot goes off. His body jolts back. I watch helplessly as he goes down. Blood splatters the wall, and I hear the thud as his head hits the ground and then his body.

  Fear.

  Heartache.

  It’s all too much.

  I go wild, thrashing, kicking, screaming behind the hand over my mouth. I blink trying to see clearly through my tears.

  “You want a bullet next, bitch? Stop moving!”

  I still.

  “That’s what I thought,” the man holding me growls in my ear. He releases my mouth, only to hold me now with both arms pinning me to him. “We’re gonna have some fun with you first. We did promise you a tag-team duo, after all.”

  Oh. My. God.

  I want to puke.

  I don’t have time to assess what’s going on with Bladen as the gun man approaches, laying his weapon on the bar top as he steps around Tommy’s body. He reaches out to grab at my shorts as the man holding me cups my breast painfully while keeping me in his grasp.

  The door opens again, and the short biker they named Trapper walks in.

  “Oh hell, someone forgot to give us the memo to come late,” he mutters looking to me blankly, while still pressing forward, passing Bladen without even giving him a second glance.

  “You got a death wish?” the man holding me yells, trying to get Trapper’s attention on us and not his partner.

  “Fuck yeah, can’t come soon enough,” Trapper goads.

  It’s all happening so fast and in slow motion at the same time.

  Trapper approaches as the gun man goes for the gun, and the man holding me turns me to face Trapper and shield himself.

  “I wouldn’t grab that if I were you, buddy,” he tells the gun man. “And you”—he looks at the man holding me while pulling his own weapon from his back—“you should know that’s prime pussy you got there, so let the girl go and I’ll shoot ya in the head instead of shoving the barrel of this gun up your ass and firing my clip.”

  He’s brash. He’s bold.

  He fires his shot straight at the head of the man closest to the gun. He goes down with a thud, weird noises coming from his mouth as his body convulses wildly.

  Just behind him enter the two men and woman who were with Bladen last night. With what I overheard of their talks it’s Collector, Sonnie, and Rowdy.

  “Get to Judge; he’s out for the count, but still breathin’. Might’ve hit his head on the way down,” Trapper spouts off his assessment.

  I’m amazed. He never once let on he had even paid attention to Bladen.

  “Looks shot in the shoulder, possible through and through,” Rowdy says, kneeling in front of Bladen. “Lump on his head. I’m thinking he hit headfirst.”

  I don’t speak. Instead, I keep my eyes locked on Trapper. In all his antics, he pointed to
me once and if I wasn’t watching so intently I might have missed it. I think he’s doing this to distract the men who have me. I am trying to sort out what he’s trying to tell me.

  “You gotta shoot her to get to me, fucker,” the man holding me says.

  Trapper laughs. “Dude, told your ass you got prime pussy. Now, look, you should know I’m an ass man. I love a fine set of globes. Girlfriend, she could have a nice ass after a few cheeseburgers. She’s a little, tiny for my taste. If you think I’m not afraid to shoot her to shoot you, well, you are fucked, my friend.” He keeps his eyes on me.

  I start to move, and his lips tighten. Okay, I breathe deeply, trying to be still.

  “In fact, I’m pretty sure by the end of this, you are so fucked in the ass your momma is gonna feel the pain for ya.”

  “Dammit, Trapper, don’t fuckin’ shoot. You hit her, Judge will wake up livid. Get your head on straight, man!” Collector yells just as Bladen groans.

  My head spins. I feel like I could pass out.

  “Listen to your friend,” the man says from behind me.

  Taking another deep breath, I fight my instincts, just as Trapper fires.

  There is a burn in my thigh just as I’m released and practically thrown down. I catch myself before I land on my face, feeling the old wooden floor break my skin.

  Trapper strolls over to the man as I scurry away. He lets off another shot, this time in the guy’s arm.

  “You should know I’m a damn good shot. Had lots of practice huntin’ as a kid.”

  “Then take your shot, because I’m not telling you shit.”

  Collector comes over to me while Sonnie sits with Rowdy as Bladen comes to.

  “Hmm …” Trapper taunts. “I don’t remember askin’ you shit. But let’s make this easy. You roll over so I can fuck you in the ass.”

  “Fuck you!”

  Trapper raises his boot and stomps down on the man’s bleeding leg. There is a struggle before Trapper’s short size gives him the leverage to roll the man to his back. From somewhere, he pulls zip ties and binds the man’s hands. Then he cuts the guy’s pants away. The impeccable suits the men have been wearing are now covered in blood and destroyed.

  I turn my head when Trapper pulls apart the man’s ass cheeks. The man cries out with a high-pitched scream, while Trapper laughs sinisterly.

  “Told you I was gonna fuck you in the ass with my gun. Now, today is your birthday because today is the day you get to live. Get a message to your boss. Tommy is gone. He got what he needed. This chick and our club have no issues. He keeps pushing we will, got me? Devil’s Due is off your radar. You come for us, I’ll personally take each of you down, one by one. Trapper Gates—he’ll know the name. I know you, your organization, and your boss, who will be the first to tell you to forget you ever came to this town.”

  The man wails, and I dry heave, knowing what Trapper is doing just feet away from me. I am holding my leg trying to get the blood to stop while silently praying Bladen is okay.

  “Gonna give him the message, and you get to live. I think that’s a better deal than your buddy got. I like to leave my mark—ask your boss man. So now, every time you take a dump, you’ll think of me. For the rest of your life, I want you to remember what it is to fuck up so badly you had to take it in the ass with a piece of metal. Hot, searing metal. Gonna deliver my message?”

  The man lets out an unusual noise that I’m not sure is an actual agreement.

  “Now, your body lost some blood and you’ve been violated. Shock is gonna set it. We got some friends gonna come clean up. They’ll make sure you live and can get my word out. ’Kay, buddy?”

  Trapper says all this casually.

  “Looks like a graze,” Collector says, looking at my thigh and getting my attention off Trapper. I’m in a daze even as the burn turns to a throb in my leg.

  “Tamalyn,” Bladen groans.

  I rush to his side with a limp, pushing down my need to freak the fuck out.

  “I’m right here,” I assure him, looking him over and seeing so much blood.

  “Get us to a safe place,” he orders to someone behind me, and I turn to see Rowdy nod.

  “On it, brother.”

  “Lie still,” I tell him as he tries to sit up.

  “Been shot before, baby.”

  I gasp.

  “Just need a place to heal up. You okay?” he asks, looking me over.

  “I’m okay. Trapper saved me,” I croak out.

  In the background, Trapper is finally done with his victim.

  Standing, I listen as Trapper makes a call, asking for a marker and a cleanup. I feel like I need to crash as the shock overtakes me.

  Sonnie squeezes my hand. “You’re safe, Tamalyn. This is hard to take in, but I promise you, Judge and any member of the Devil’s Due will give up everything before any harm comes to you.”

  I nod. After experiencing this but still so very overwhelmed by it all I can’t find any words to speak.

  Chapter Seventeen

  ~Bladen~

  One Week Later…

  It takes time to heal, but we are ready to hit the road. I took a clean shot through my left shoulder. While it will take time for me to be one hundred percent again, I will have some muscle tenderness, but nothing longstanding. Hitting my head, I suffered a concussion so the doctor says I will need to take it easy, but again, no long term side effects. Tamalyn’s graze won’t even leave a scar. So physically we are all healing.

  Benny was heartbroken over Tommy’s death. They had a small private service two days later and the bar was closed. With whoever Trapper called, Tommy’s death was ruled an overdose and the other man was never even known to be there. The body was gone and there was no news for this small town to feed on. While Benny and his wife will struggle with the loss of their son, they aren’t in any danger by his actions.

  “Tamalyn,” I say her name softly to wake her where she lies on the hotel bed beside me.

  “Five more minutes,” she pleads on a cute whimper.

  One thing I have learned in this time, Tamalyn is a night owl and does better when she can sleep in.

  “Baby, Tempest is ready to see you.”

  She sits up, sleepy-eyed and studies me. “Bladen, I’m not sure this is a life I can live.”

  Disappointment hits me.

  “We haven’t talked about what happened.”

  “So talk,” I tell her simply.

  “What was Tommy into?”

  “Baby, I don’t know much. What I do know is that he had a drug addiction. Apparently, he was selling his body on the street to get his next hit. Got tied up with the wrong people.”

  “How does Trapper know the wrong people in charge?”

  I tip my head back against the headboard. “Okay, baby, you can ask me a lot of things, but about my brothers … well, they have their stories to tell and it’s not my place. Trapper has had a shit hand dealt to him.”

  “Is this your normal?”

  I shake my head. “Not at all.”

  “Are we safe? Trapper’s message, will it put us on someone’s radar like Tommy was?”

  “We are safe. The club has a reputation. No one will fuck with you because you’re mine and I’m Devil’s Due.”

  “Can it be that simple?”

  “In my world, yes,” I tell her, hoping this isn’t scaring the shit out of her.

  “Caleb, he’s gone.” Her mouth drops open before it closes. “I know you told me I was safe, but I can’t help but wonder, did you do it?”

  “Not gonna give you a direct answer. The less you know, the better. I’ll tell you I know he’s not your biological dad. And I know without a doubt he’s gone.”

  “I can’t do this.” I admit both to myself and him for the first time.

  “Then it will kill me, but I’ll walk away. Not gonna lie to you, Tamalyn; there are things about my life I can’t tell you. I can promise you safety, love, and my commitment, but you gotta go through this life with
faith in your man and what we have together.”

  “And if it’s not enough?”

  “Then I’m not enough.” Getting shot hurt less than the way I feel right now.

  “You make it seem like I have no control. I take you as you give me, what you give me, and I only get what you choose to give me.”

  Now I feel like I have a lead weight on my chest. “You need me to walk away from the club, I will. But, Tamalyn, you need to know I still can’t give you the answers about my past. This isn’t me trying to have some power play over you. It’s the life I lead. It’s the code we live by. So I can give you cookie cutter, but you can’t ask about the past.”

  “I don’t know if I can live that way.”

  “In the club? Or not knowing about the past?”

  “In the club. Your past is the past. I just can’t live day in and out wondering if we’re gonna have another experience like the Tavern.”

  “Then we don’t. When we get to Haven’s Harbor, if that’s where you want to settle, then that’s where we build our life.”

  “You can get out that easy?”

  I laugh. “Baby, this isn’t some blood in, blood out shit.”

  “You want a life with me? A normal life?”

  I smile proudly. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

  To this, I get a kiss. From her kiss, I take the time to worship her body like I plan to for all the days I am given with her.

  We hit the road back to Tennessee a little later than planned, but free from everything that’s held us back. We have nothing but time to get there.

  Chapter Eighteen

  ~Tamalyn~

  Three Weeks Later…

  We have a small place about half an hour from Haven’s Harbor. I’m back to work at Blood Thirsty, and Bladen is working construction. Every morning, I start my day with a kiss and end it the same.

  I sleep now. I didn’t realize before how every noise made me jump. Tangled in Bladen, I now have nothing but peace. I don’t walk around on edge like before. All in all I am happy, comfortable, and looking forward to the future for the first time in my life.

  Today the Devil’s Due Motorcycle Club are coming to visit. They had to make a trip back to Cloverville and spend some time there, checking on something for Rowdy. Before they head south to Alabama to check on Sonnie’s fish, they are going to stop here.