Chapter 18

Silk

The days passed in a blur as I tried to get my head straight. The men took turns checking the land around the cabin each morning and again at night. They even spent some time each day sitting up on the roof, binoculars in hand. Aside from thinking a lot, I spent my days sketching. I had several new tattoo ideas roughly outlined and I was nearly finished with Eagle’s artwork. So far I’d even managed to keep it hidden from him. I wanted to surprise him with the finished thing, so when he was near me, I worked on other images. Immersing myself in my artwork, I’d managed to regain a level of peace I hadn’t thought possible after the bomb I’d discovered back at the club house however many days ago it had been.

I’d also spent a fair amount of time with all three men, getting to know them. Eagle never left my side for long, but that didn’t stop Taz from flirting. It was pretty obvious he enjoyed stirring up his buddy. I didn’t honestly think he wanted me to come climb into his bed after Eagle had finished attempting to satisfy me.

“What’s that grin for?”

I turned to Eagle. “Just thinking about how funny you looked chasing Taz around the house with your hunting knife last night.”

He frowned at me with a low growl, which just made me laugh. Taz walked in with a wide grin.

“The offer still stands, darlin’. You just come to me, baby, and I make sure you’re well and truly satisfied.”

I grabbed Eagle’s arm when he went to stand. “Settle down, babe. You know he’s joking.”

“I’m sure a broken nose would drive home the point.”

Mac strolled in with four beers. “Settle down, boys. You both know full well Silk ain’t going anywhere with anyone other than Eagle.”

I closed my sketch book and took a bottle when Mac offered it, then sat back to take the first sip.

“Hmm. Damn, that’s good.”

Eagle was still grumbling under his breath when he took a bottle from Mac, put it down on the coffee table, then took mine and set it there as well.

“Hey! Give that back!”

Then I was up against his chest before he sat down where I’d been, with me now in his lap. I slung my arms around his neck and nipped at his jaw.

“You know I’m yours and would never give in to Taz, no matter how charming he is with that Australian accent of his.”

“Hear that? She thinks I’m charming.”

Taz exaggerated his accent and had a gleam in his eye when Eagle tightened his grip on me.

“You have no reason to be noticing any man’s charms other than mine. And I will always, always, make sure you’re fully satisfied.”

Mac shook his head with a chuckle, then he turned his icy blue gaze to me.

“So, Silk, how long do you normally stay up here? Much longer and we’re going to need to go grab some more supplies.”

I snuggled into Eagle’s embrace as a chill ran up my spine. With the three of them here to keep me distracted, I’d managed to not think about 9/11 for days now.

“Ah, normally I go back two or three days after the anniversary. Sometimes I stay here for up to a week after. If I’m sketching, I often lose track of the days.”

“I gathered that happened. You have no idea what the date is today, do you?”

Eagle stiffened and gave Mac a low growl. I frowned and thought back over how many days we’d been here. We went to Galveston on Tuesday. I pulled out my phone I hadn’t even glanced at in days, and turned it on.

“The twelfth?”

Yesterday had been the anniversary and I hadn’t even known. I’d spent most of the day playing Monopoly with the men. Apparently Marines are highly competitive, no matter what they did. It had made for a highly entertaining few games.

“You all kept track of the days, though? You all knew yesterday was 9/11?”

Eagle pressed a kiss to the side of my head. “Yeah, babe. We all knew. But none of us wanted to bring you down. You’d been relaxed and having fun. That’s why you come up here each year, isn’t it? To escape the hype and to relax?”

Emotion had a lump forming in my throat and I swallowed to try to clear it.

“Yeah, but not to forget completely. Never to forget.”

How could I have forgotten? Missed the day? Not thought of my parents at all!

Eagle tightened his grip when I tried to stand.

“Silk? Look at me.” I flicked my gaze to meet his. “I’m sorry, baby. I thought you didn’t want to dwell on it. If I’d known you wanted to do something on the day, I would have told you. We can do it today. Whatever you normally do, we can do it today.”

The pain and regret in his eyes had me leaning forward to press a kiss to his lips.

“I just need some time on my own. Give me an hour or so before you come looking for me, okay?”

He cupped my face and kissed me again before he helped me stand. I walked away without looking back. I went for the back door and out into the wilderness. Mac had shown me the traps around the yard, so I avoided them all. Turning away from the cliff that dropped down into the ocean, I made my way into the national park that the cabin backed onto. Surrounded by trees, I stopped to take a deep breath. I loved how the air smelled out here. I’d often thought about moving into this cabin permanently. It wasn’t that far from Bridgewater and my shop.

I started walking again. Further up the mountain there was a large rock that was big enough to sit on comfortably. It was also above most of the trees, so it had an excellent view. I would often spend hours sitting up there but I hadn’t gone up at all this trip. Maybe that’s why I felt so overwhelmed still. I hadn’t taken the time for my usual mediation sessions I normally took on these trips.

Once I arrived at the large boulder, I climbed up on the flat surface and settled in. Closing my eyes, I lifted my face to enjoy the warm sunshine. Continuing to take deep breaths, I started to process all the thoughts in my mind. One by one, I worked through them. First off was my parents. What had really happened all those years ago when they left Texas? I tried to work it all out. Mom had been a club whore, forced into the role as a teen, by the looks of those photos. Thinking back to my childhood, I couldn’t see her using drugs by choice. She’d always been softly spoken, always did everything Dad told her to do. But I couldn’t recall a single time where she’d had so much as a glass of wine. Mom had loved my father with all her heart. I remember seeing the look in her eyes when she’d look at him when she thought no one could see her. Total adoration. Same with Dad–he loved Mom. He always made sure she had what she needed, and pretty much anything she wanted, he made sure she got. Not that she ever asked for much. We’d lived simply up in Boston, but it hadn’t stopped us from being happy.

Now that I was thinking through things with a clear mind, taking into account my parents’ personalities, I knew no matter what had happened, both Mom and Dad wanted me and loved me. That would have to be enough. If I started digging into the Iron Hammers, they could easily decide to take me and claim I was one of them. The Charons would fight for me–even if I wasn’t the niece of the VP, the club would go into battle for me. But it was a war that would have fatalities and injuries and I didn’t want any of my club family hurt. Especially for something that would change nothing. John was the man who raised me and claimed me as his own. That was good enough for me. He was my dad, always would be.

I couldn’t help but grin when I thought about those boxes he left. Both so far had a weapon. I’d put money on the others being the same. He’d loved me enough to leave me a way to defend myself, if his enemies ever caught up with me. And I had the knife on me. The sheath it came in fit snuggly inside both my hiking boots and my riding ones. I felt closer to my dad with it on me.

Like I had a little part of him with me all the time now.

Eagle

I felt like a fucking heel.

“Don’t beat yourself up over it, mate. We all assumed letting the day pass unnoticed was the best way to go.”

Mac cut in on Taz. “If she didn’t have the ledger shit hanging over her head, I wouldn’t have said anything today. Trust me, I don’t mind hanging out here. She’s found a fucking great place. I’m actually wondering why she doesn’t live here all year round. I would in a heartbeat in her shoes.”

Taz wriggled his eyebrows at me. “Yep, even with the amorous soundtrack each night, I’d totally stay here indefinitely.”

I threw a cushion at Taz as I chuckled. “Asshole. You’re just jealous.”

Now that I thought about it, by staying up here, Taz had put himself through one hell of a dry spell for me and Silk.

“I appreciate you both staying here with us. I know you’d both prefer to be doing other things this past week or so.”

Taz’s glare would have been enough to kill a lesser man. “What the fuck, man? I know I’ve been living the man-whore life since joining the club, but pussy will never be more important than watching my brothers’ backs. I can live without sex just fine, it’s just nice to not have to.”

Yep, that was Taz. Went from rip-shit pissed to cracking a joke in under a minute. I was about to make another crack about his need for pussy on a regular basis when a jolt ran down my spine. Something was about to go down. I jumped to my feet at the same moment the alarm sounded.

“Where?”

I barked out the word, knowing full fucking well Silk had gone outside for her alone time. We’d fucked up. Again.

“North west. Up the mountain around a hundred yards.”

“Fuck. I can’t believe I let her go alone! I should have known better.”

I rushed to our weapons, and Mac handed me my Glock. I already had my knife strapped on to my belt. “Take a breath, brother. We have a mission to complete first, then you can beat yourself up for being fucking human. We all got slack. We’ll debrief after we make sure your girl is safe. It could be a deer that’s set it off, or Silk forgetting where one was.”

I shook my head. “Not with how my senses are twitching. Shit is going down right now. Let’s move out.”

As we’d always done things, Mac took the lead, directly toward the triggered trap. I stayed with him until we got closer, then broke off into the shrubs. Taz hung back and covered us both. I’d never been so grateful for my time in the Marines that gave me the skills and the brothers I needed to save my woman. Again. Maybe I’d tether her to my side from now on. That way, I’d always know where she was.

“Heads up.”

Right. I mentally shook my head. I had more important things to do right now, other than kicking my own ass.

We didn’t have coms, so the three of us made sure we could see each other as we arrived at the triggered trap. Mac crouched and examined the ground for a moment, then signaled us toward the north.

We continued being careful to stay silent until I heard Silk scream. Then I went as fast as I could without giving away my location. Someone was hurting Silk. Whoever it was, was about to die.

I slipped around a wide tree trunk, catching a glimpse of Silk, which left me silently cursing before I moved back into cover. Glancing around until I spotted Mac and Taz, I used hand signals to tell them three men had Silk. My heart rate was pounding, but my mind was calm. Just like in war, this was a battle. I needed to use my head to successfully complete it, then I could let my emotions rise up. The fact my woman was being beaten wasn’t what I needed to focus on. No, it was the fact that two of the bastards had their backs to me, and the third was side on. Silk was being held between them, standing so I couldn’t use a gun without risking her. Taz could take one out with his sniper rifle... if he had it. We hadn’t brought it with us, unfortunately. I pulled my knife free and looked to Mac. He’d been our top for so many missions, it was natural to check in with him.

I watched his signals and nodded when he was done. It was difficult to block out the men demanding Silk tell them where the rest of the money was, to ignore the sounds of their hands landing against her. But she wouldn’t suffer for much longer. They were all dead men–they just didn’t know it yet.

Waiting for Taz and Mac to get in position seemed to take forever, but I knew it had only been moments. Less than a minute. Then we were on the move again. We each had a knife in our fist as we crept across the small clearing to where they were standing near a large rock. Sabella needed to train his men better. All three were so focused on Silk, and they had no idea they weren’t alone.

I stayed hunched down until I came up close to the back of one of men who was hitting Silk. Keeping an eye on my brothers, I needed to rise at the same time as them. I took a firm grip in the bastard’s hair before I swiped my blade across his throat. Taz had moved at the same time as me, and we each tossed the rapidly dying men aside to focus on the one holding Silk.

Seemingly oblivious to the fact Mac stood behind him with a knife to his throat, the fucker had his own blade pressed against her neck, and his other hand was behind her back, presumably holding her arm up to prevent her from moving–not like the knife at her throat didn’t do that trick on its own. I didn’t focus on her at all, I couldn’t. I knew the moment I saw Silk bloody and beaten, I would lose focus and switch from being Eagle the solider, to Eagle the lovesick idiot.

Taz stepped to the man’s side and pressed the muzzle of his Glock against his ribs.

“Release her now.”

As Mac spoke, Taz wrapped his free hand around the guy’s wrist and jerked it away from Silk’s skin. The moment his hold on Silk loosened, she tore free and threw herself at me. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her firmly against me, doing my best to ignore the sobs that were wracking her body. She was alive and I had her now. She would survive this.

“How many came with you?”

The man’s eyes bugged but he remained silent, until Taz pulled the muzzle away from his ribs, aimed at his foot and fired. The sound of the gunshot and scream had birds rising from the trees and Silk clutched me tighter with a squeal.

“You got plenty of non-vital places we can shoot, if you want to keep this up.”

“Th-th-three. Just us three.”

Mac looked me in the eye. “Take her away from here. Call the club and let them know. We’ll let Scout take the lead on clean-up.”

I gave him a nod and pulled my phone out to shoot off a text to Scout. It was going to take some time to get back down to the cabin holding an injured Silk, and I wanted these bodies cleaned up sooner, rather than later.

Seconds later a reply came saying the club was on its way. Silk was going to hit the roof that her secret cabin was about to become public club knowledge, but this was more important.

“Club’s on its way.”

I moved Silk so I could scoop her up in my arms. She wrapped a fist tightly in my shirt and buried her face against my throat with a shudder.

“I got you, baby. Let’s get back to the cabin and get you cleaned up before your uncle gets here.”

For the first ten minutes or so that I walked down the mountain, I could hear the screams and pleadings of the bastard Mac and Taz were questioning. Hopefully they were getting some answers in between all the man’s begging. Namely, getting firm confirmation that it was the mob who had come after her, so we could then go deal with them.

By the time I got back to the cabin, Silk was silent and still against me. I made my way into our bedroom and then to the bathroom. I wanted to clean up Silk and assess her injuries before the club arrived. She was mine, and therefor mine to take care of. Even if I couldn’t make it official or public yet, it was the truth. And her being so still was scaring the fuck out of me.