I couldn’t stand to look at her, I couldn’t bear to see the sadness radiate from her knowing I’m the guy who put it there. So I kept my eyes on the road as she continued to ramble on about Jack. He’d be proud to know she’s got so much faith in him. It’s funny how life comes full circle right before it ends, isn’t it? Who would have thought Ally would be Jack’s number one supporter? When we started this thing, you didn’t think she’d be the girl that turned everything around. You thought she was just another name, just like I did.

Another face.

She surprised us, didn’t she?

She taught us a few lessons too.

Now it’s time for her to learn one.

It’s time for Ally to learn the carnal rule of any motorcycle club. A sacred rule the Satan’s Knights live and breathe to obey. It’s a rule I never quite mastered, which is ridiculous considering who my old man was. Thinking about it now, my old man and Jack were a lot alike. They shared the same values and cherished the same principles. I’m well prepared for the consequences of my actions because my father would’ve done the same exact thing. He would’ve delivered the same sentence.

Still, Parrish managed to throw me for a loop when I turned into his driveway and found him sitting on his front porch at one-thirty in the morning. Holding Ally’s hand in mine, I lead her up the walkway.

“What’re you doing outside in the middle of the night?”

“Counting the fucking stars,” he bites back, lifting a vaporized cigarette to his lips. His eyes dart between me and Ally before I finally grab my balls and I turn to her, finding relief in her eyes.

My girl.

Goddamn, my girl.

She’s the real deal.

The girl you find once in your life.

If you’re lucky the timing is right.

If you’re me, you’re fucked.

“Give us a few minutes,” I tell her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Seeming to believe everything will be all right, she smiles at me and kisses my lips.

“Okay,” she says before turning to Jack. “Thank you.”

“Ah, fuck,” he mutters as she climbs the rest of the stairs. I wait for her to close the front door before I turn my gaze back to Jack.

“You ever notice the wind?” he asks, staring up at the pitch-black sky. “It blows angry and hard right before the shit rolls through these streets. It’s been fucking ferocious tonight,” he adds, turning his eyes back to mine. “Thought it was just my maker playing me for a bitch then you show up looking like you do and Ally looking at me like I’m some mythical God that’s going to answer her prayers.”

“There’s something I have to tell you,” I say, shoving my hands inside my pockets.

“I gathered as much,” he grunts, leaning his back against the cement steps.

“Does the name Dante West mean anything to you?”

“No.”

“What about the Bastards of Mayhem?”

“What the fuck is this, twenty questions? Spit it out, Cowboy,” he sneers impatiently.

“My father, Dante West, was the president of the Arlington chapter of the Bastards of Mayhem MC,” I reveal, letting the truth settle over the both of us. Waiting for me to elaborate, Jack stares at me blankly. “The MC raised me and it was decided at an early age that when my father hung up his cut I would follow in my father’s footsteps. Then he died and I wasn’t prepared. I was distraught over his death and when it came time to elect a president, the club voted his vice president as our commander.”

“Why am I just hearing about this?” Jack interrupts, lifting his index fingers to his temples. “When Wolf brought you here he said you were a nomad.”

“I was,” I tell him. “After King took my father’s position he started running the club into the ground. All my father’s hard work, his values, his beliefs…they were all torched and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. So I recklessly took his woman as revenge.”

“You fucked your president’s old lady?”

“It seemed like the perfect revenge back then.”

“Your old man is probably rolling in his grave,” Jack hisses.

“You’re probably right,” I agree. “Still, Chelsea wasn’t supposed to be more than a quick fuck. Then I got hooked on her, but when the woman you’re into cares more about drugs than she does you, you’re no winner. My plan fell to shit and I didn’t even care about King finding out anymore or even about my revenge for the club. I just wanted her.”

“You fell in love with her,” Jack accuses.

“I thought so,” I say thoughtfully. “King wound up finding out and he killed her and used my gun to do it.”

“Then why are you still standing?”

“Because my trigger finger is quicker.”

“Whoa, back the fuck up. You’re telling me you stole your president’s old lady and then fucking killed him?”

“Yeah,” I nod. “That’s right.”

I don’t know what’s worse, the silence or the way he stares right through me.

“Then what happened?”

“I ran.”

“And you’ve been running ever since?”

“Yes,” I admit.

“Why are you telling me this now? Why the fuck didn’t you tell me this when I handed you your patch and gave you a seat at my table?”

“It was never my intention to stay in one place,” I defend. “I made my way to Kansas, to the Satan’s Knights down there and the president had beef with King, he gave me my colors and set me free. He warned me not to take root anywhere.”

“Yet, here you are.”

“Here I am, in a place I was proud to call my home, in front of a man I was equally proud to take my orders from.”

Leaning forward, he narrows his eyes at me before glancing over his shoulder.

“What am I missing, Cowboy,” he questions, bringing his attention back to me. “Why is that girl in my house? Why are you standing in front of me in the middle of the night sharing your sorry story?”

My eyes dart toward the front door before I slip my cut from my shoulders and meet Jack’s gaze. Draping it over my forearm, I trace the reaper with my fingers. When I put that reaper on my back, I never thought I’d come this far. I never thought I’d find true brothers or one girl who made me want to change the course of my life.

When I put that reaper on my back I never expected to find my heart.

Now, here I am handing it over to the man who forced me into finding it.

“Put your cut back on,” he demands.

“I can’t,” I tell him, extending it to him. “They found me, Jack. It’s over.”

“I’m losing my patience, boy,” he growls, ignoring my vest.

“Someone slipped a photograph under my hotel door. I was in the bathroom and Ally found it. It was a picture of Chelsea. Dead.”

“Jesus Christ,” he mutters, swiping a hand down his face.

“Only her name isn’t Chelsea,” I add, swallowing the lump in my throat. “Ally recognized her, just like she said she would.”

“What are you talking about?” he asks, dropping his hand from his face. Dread washes over him and I nod when I see realization shine through those dark eyes of his.

“She was the girl in the warehouse with Ally, the one that disappeared.”

“Are we sure it’s the same girl?”

“I know Chelsea, and I was there when she was killed. That image burns my memory every single day. And Ally knows Sara, they are one and the same.”

“And now you’re telling me the Bastards of Mayhem put that photograph under your door.” He shakes his head. “Why not just kill you?”

“I don’t know,” I say with a shrug. “Maybe they want to play with me, make me sweat like I’ve made them sweat.”

“No,” he says, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t give you a chance to get away.”

“Whatever the case may be, they’ve been watching me and they’ve been watching Ally.”

“How did the girl end up in Arlington?”

“What?”

“Chelsea, Sara, whatever the fuck you want to call her. How did she end up in Texas with you?”

“I have no idea. I told you, she was King’s girl.”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” he mutters. “Was she around King when your old man was still around?”

“I don’t remember. I wasn’t keeping tabs on King back then. I didn’t pay attention until he started fucking with my father’s legacy.”

“Well it’s important because Yankovich had to sell that girl to someone. Now, either he sold her to your old man or he sold her to King.”

“My father wouldn’t have done that, Jack. My father was a good man,” I bark, shoving the vest at him once more. This time I let it go and it falls on the steps between us. “I didn’t come here to figure out the mystery with you. I don’t have time for that.”

Silently, he eyes the leather.

“That’s your job,” I tell him hoarsely. “It’s your job to make sense of Yankovich, and my God, I pray you do. I pray you get this cocksucker once and for all.”

“We will.”

“There’s no we. I won’t let my mistakes take down this club, and more importantly, I won’t let anyone hurt Ally. I know what’s supposed to happen here. I mislead my brothers, I put my club in a situation they don’t need right now and I lied to you. By right you should put a bullet in my skull,” I pause, drawing in a wrangled breath. “I’m sparing us both the agony of that.”

I pause, driving my fingers through my hair as I lift my gaze to the door again.

“She’s your responsibility now,” I whisper. “Please, keep her safe,” I say, slicing my eyes back to him. “She trusts you, Jack. She respects you. Don’t fail her.”

“You’re the one failing her.”

“I know that.”

“Then why are you doing it?”

“There’s no way out,” I argue.

“Let me think, goddamn it,” he roars. “You just dumped all this shit on me,” he adds. “You and her stay here tonight, tomorrow we’ll call church and we’ll figure it out.”

“You can’t save everyone, Jack. As much as you want to, you can’t. The sooner you acknowledge that, the better off you’ll be.”

“It’s not about saving people, son, it’s about keeping your family together,” he replies. “It’s keeping your circle tight and the people in it safe.”

“You’re a good man, Parrish,” I tell him. “A helluva good man,” I say, laying a hand on his shoulder as I climb the stairs. “Just give me a minute to say goodbye to her.”

“Deuce, think about what you’re doing.”

“I have.”

“You’re throwing away your heart.”

“I’m saving it.”

“No, you did that already,” he corrects as I reach the landing. “Now you’re breaking it.”

He’s right.

I am breaking my heart and hers too.

But a broken heart will still beat.

A dead one won’t.