“He just needs some time,” Evie said softly. “He doesn’t deal well with change and this is a lot to handle.”
“I get it.” More than got it. If he hadn’t developed self-restraint over the years, he’d be slamming the door behind him, jumping on his bike and riding until he’d had time to process everything and clear his head. But, of course, he didn’t have that luxury. Not with Evie and his son to protect.
“Why didn’t you tell me when we first met?” His words came out sharper than he intended, but he couldn’t hide the emotion that burned in his chest.
Evie hugged herself and leaned against the wall. “I just … I didn’t know if you’d want him and I didn’t want him to get hurt and I wasn’t sure about involving him in your biker life. I was going to talk to you about him first, and then I wanted it to be perfect, a meeting in a neutral space—”
“There is no perfect.” He cut her off, his hands curling into fists. “You should have told me right away. I lost even more time—”
“Don’t take out your guilt on me,” she snapped. “You’re the one who left. You’re the one who decided to drop off the face of the earth. You’re the one who came back and assumed Ty was Mark’s son.”
Zane turned and smashed his fist into the wall, making the cheap bungalow shake. “And you were the one who jumped into bed with the first man who crossed your path.” He regretted the words the moment they dropped from his lips and tried to soften the blow. “I get that you were alone, but I have never broken a promise. I came back, Evie.” His voice caught as his emotion spilled over. “Fuck. I came back.”
And then she was pressed up against him, holding him tight, soothing his pain just as she had done the day they met. “I know you did.”
They stood in silence and he buried his face in her hair, breathing in the familiar floral scent, wishing he could turn back the clock and live his life all over again.
“What are you going to do?” she murmured against his chest. “Do you want to … are you going to be around for him?”
“He’s my boy.” Why would she ask that question? Did she honestly think he would walk away again? Did she think he’d leave his son without a father?
“I got lots of money,” he continued. “Anything you need—”
Evie pulled away, frowning. “I don’t want your money. We do okay.”
“You don’t do okay.” Overwhelmed by his feelings, and unable to get it together, he raised his voice and struggled against a tidal wave of guilt. “Living near a trailer park at the edge of town and driving a shit vehicle that’s about to fall apart is not okay. Working in a shop that’s almost all guys, with bikers coming in and out all the time, and a boss who goes missing when the Jacks show up—which should be a warning to you—is not okay.” Everything he’d held inside since the moment he saw Ty erupted in a burst of concerned anger. “I want my boy to have what you had—a nice house with a big yard in some leafy suburb where everyone is decent—”
“Like my mother?” Her face tightened. “You know that’s all an illusion. Good people and bad people are everywhere, Zane. It doesn’t matter whether there are nice cars in the driveways, or trees on the street. Sometimes the worst people can be found in the nicest homes.”
“And worse people can be found in the worst homes,” he responded. “And the fucking scum-of-the-earth, cock-sucking murderous bastards of the world can be found in Red River where you are definitely not going tonight. You and Viper. That’s over.” His body shook as he drowned in a maelstrom of fear, anger and regret. “I’ll buy you and Ty a house somewhere nice where you can meet nice people. And I’ll buy you a decent car. Something safe. And Ty can have all the toy motorcycles he wants.”
She twisted her hair around her finger and glared. “And then what? You’re going to go back to your biker life? How does that work? Gunfight in the morning; baseball in the afternoon? Lock Evie up in the kitchen so she doesn’t date men you don’t like?”
“I gotta figure it out.” He didn’t know what else to say, or what to do, his emotions still trying to play catch-up with his mind. He couldn’t think beyond the next hour, much less the future.
“Figure this out.” She poked him in the chest. “You can’t just walk into our lives and change everything you don’t like. Ty goes to school in this neighborhood. He has friends here. You want to buy him hundreds of toy motorcycles, but where will he put them? What kind of values does that teach him? I totally understand you want to make up for lost time. And I want you to spend time with him. But we need to talk about what’s best for him, and how we go about making this work. And part of that is you not telling me how to live my life. I’m going out tonight. With Viper. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Like fuck there wasn’t.
If that’s how she wanted to play it, he’d let her go.
But no way in hell was she going alone.
NINE
Don’t sweat it if you break something. You can always get another part.
—SINNER’S TRIBE MOTORCYCLE REPAIR MANUAL
Evie pulled open the heavy wooden door to the Riverside Bar and stepped inside, the warm air instantly thawing the chill from her skin. Too bad it couldn’t thaw her all the way through. How could she be here after what happened with Zane? She felt too raw, as if her deepest secrets had been exposed to the light.
And yet, how could she not be here? Zane had to understand that being part of Ty’s life didn’t mean he was part of her life. And there was no better way to drive that message home than to go through with her date as planned.
Still, her enthusiasm for meeting up with Viper had diminished over the course of the drive. Did she really want to keep seeing Viper when all she’d been able to think about over the last week was Zane? Especially since he was the rival of a member club.
She smoothed down her dress, wished she’d worn her jeans. Riverside was so not a dress-up bar. If she’d walked in any other night, she would have turned around and walked right out. Rough didn’t begin to describe the customers—mostly bikers, a few skinheads, shifty looking guys in shiny suit jackets—Zane would have a fit if he saw her here. He’d probably throw her over his shoulder and stalk out the door.
A smile teased the corner of her lips. Now wouldn’t that be hot in a totally primal kind of way.
The bar was bigger than it appeared from the outside, with a small stage in the far corner, and a sea of tables between the front door and the bar. Warm air, scented with yeast and the distinct tang of chicken wings, engulfed her as she made her way through the crowd looking for Viper.
“Nice to see you again, kitten.” He came up behind her, his voice a warm rumble in her ear. “You look lovely as always.” Viper’s warm hand slid around her middle and he pulled her into his chest, his lips brushing over her ear. “Good enough to eat.”
“I didn’t see you hiding in the shadows.” She looked back over her shoulder and Viper laughed.
“I live in the shadows. No one ever sees me coming.” He led her to a table in the back corner, guarded by four of the scariest bikers she’d ever seen. Clearly none of them had ever used a razor or had a haircut, judging from their full beards and long ponytails. But then who was going to complain given their height, the breadth of their shoulders, and their massively muscled chests and arms.
And yet, for all that Viper didn’t have their bulk, he was no less imposing. His arms were thick with ropey muscles and covered in colorful tattoos. His cut, worn and heavy with patches sat on broad shoulders and covered a barrel chest. He had trimmed his salt-and-pepper beard since she had last seen him, and tied his long hair in a ponytail. His broad face, weathered and scarred, was distinguished, rather than handsome, and he wore six rings on his fingers, the largest, a snake’s head with ruby eyes.