“You need to tell me what happened that night.” I turned the truck off along with mycellphone.
“You need to tell me where the fuck we are first,” she bit back. I could see her fight mode taking over as fear started to course through herveins.
“Scarlett, I’m taking you to a safe house. We’re a little more than three hours away from Atlanta, and we have about an hour and a half left to go. There’s a small town up in the mountains called Vilas where another chapter of the Unaccpetables is located. They already know we’recoming.”
Her chest was heaving as she sucked in sharp breaths. “Did he followus?”
“No. My guys have eyes on him. He’s still at the garage. I just got off the phone with Jaxon, and he confirmed that information.” I put my hand on hers. Thankfully, that time she didn’t pullaway.
Scarlett told me everything she remembered from that night, from walking in carrying grocery bags and hearing her husband fucking her friend, all the way to blacking out after being thrown from hermotorcycle.
“That’s what I was going to tell you this morning before you got that call.” She wiped tears from her cheeks with the bottom of her tanktop.
“I am so sorry I let myself get distracted from something that was so important,darlin’.”
She sniffled. “It’s all right. You had no way ofknowing.”
I ran my thumb over her damp cheek. “Next time, make me listen. You can tell me no. You’re allowed to be strong around me. I want you to be—fuck, I need you to be. If there is going to be anything in our future or even in our present, you need to speak your mind and break through my thick skull from time to time. Club business, at some points, can wait when it comes to something as important as what we are dealing with. Your safety will always be at the forefront of my mind and my top priority. I will protect you. I will always keep yousafe.”
She pursed her lips before they slowly twisted into asmile.
“What is it?” I asked before leaning over to kiss herforehead.
“I’m that one girl for you, aren’t I? The woman that can be your oldlady?”
I nodded while turning my phone back on and letting the diesel engine of my Denali grumble to life. “Let’s get through the next five days, sweetheart, but I have a sneaking suspicion you’reright.”
Chapter 9
Scarlett
Isleptfor the rest of the drive. It wasn’t until we were just outside of our destination that the vibrating of Bear’s cellphone on the dash woke me up again. He ignored the call that came right as we were passing a road sign that saidVilas – 5miles.
Relief washed over me. Even though I was still scared shitless of Jasper and what he would do if he ever saw me again, I knew he would never be able to find me this far up the side of the mountain in such a little town. Add in the fact that now I was not only just under the protection of Bear, but his entire club, and I was in the safest situation I had been in since my father wasalive.
“I wonder what club my father was in,” I muttered to myself under mybreath.
“What’s that, sleepyhead?” Bear’s fingers brushed my hair behind myear.
“My dad was in a motorcycle club, I just can’t for the life of me remember which one he wasin.”
As we pulled off onto the exit, Bear smiled at me. “Your old man was abiker?”
I laughed a little. “Why do you think I have such an awesome bike? And not to mention my understanding of what you need in awoman?”
“Touché.” His smile spread across his face. “What was his name? Did he have anickname?”
“Shane Morgan. I think everyone called him Gunner.” It was hard to think back to it all; it felt like a lifetime ago. My father kept my brother and me as far away from his buddies and the club aspossible.
“No fucking shit. Your old man is a legend.” The excitement in Bear’s voice washed over me as I bounced a little in myseat.
“Really?”
“Yeah, Holt is going to flip his shit. Rave used to talk about your daddy a lot when he wasalive.”
“I think I remember thatname.”
We pulled into the gravel parking lot of a worn-outbar.