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  She pulled herself through the rear window. She wasn’t putting weight on her left arm and her left foot was limply resting at an odd angle. Carefully, she balanced herself on the trunk of her car. Carbon and Dash made adjustments with the ropes, inching Copper toward her.

  The car shifted, raising Reese about a foot above Copper. Her shrill scream reverberated through the night air. Scooting herself to the edge of the trunk, she nervously looked down to Copper.

  Dash, Phoenix, and Carbon were furiously pulling on the ropes, trying to raise him up. Everything was happening too fast. Before they could get Copper lifted to Reese again, the top of the tree snapped.

  Reese jumped.

  The car fell.

  Copper caught her.

  And that’s when the fucking fire department finally arrived.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Duke

  My Aunt Leigh walked into the emergency department waiting room carrying my sleeping baby boy, with Judge at her side. They sat down beside me and she laid James in my arms. “How is she?”

  I looked down at my son. My son. I still wasn’t used to that. I gently ran my hand over his fuzzy head. “I haven’t heard anything yet. Carbon went back with her and hasn’t come out.”

  “Do you guys have any idea how the wreck happened?” Judge asked.

  “I don’t know if she has said anything to Carbon, but I can tell you she was hit by another car, no question about that.”

  “How do you know?” Judge asked.

  “Her car looked like it had been T-boned. Couldn’t have been damage from going over the drop-off. Edge had the foresight to take some pictures of the car when we first got there, in case it fell. Good thing he did, too. You can clearly see paint from the other car. The police are up there now looking at the tire marks and trying to reconstruct the accident.”

  The emergency department doors opened and Carbon emerged. He looked directly at me. “She’s asking for James,” he croaked.

  I stood with my son in my arms. Carbon reached for him, but I shook my head. “I’ll take him back to her.”

  Carbon’s jaw clenched. He gritted out, “You got a right to be pissed. I do, too, so I get that, but don’t you dare upset her right now.”

  I nodded. “I won’t. Just going to take my boy back to her and see for myself how she is.”

  It was almost a whisper from the big man, “Thank you.”

  Reese went into a fit of great, gulping sobs when she laid eyes on James. She reached for him with her one good arm, the other was in a cast and strapped across her with a sling. “My baby,” she cried.

  James woke at the sound of her voice. His eyes darted around the room to find her. When he did, he launched his little body forward, causing me to almost drop him. “Can I lay him right there?” I gestured to the space between her good arm and her body.

  She nodded, tears steadily falling from her lashes. I placed him beside her and she seemed to instantly calm. She leaned down to smell the top of his head and gave him a gentle kiss. “I love you so much, sweet boy,” she murmured to him. He cooed and smiled up at her.

  I cleared my throat, “Are you okay?”

  She shrugged with her good shoulder. “Broken arm. Broken ankle. Staples in my head. Lots of cuts and bruises. Oh, stitches in my thigh. Probably going to have to have surgery on my ankle.”

  “Honestly, Reese, that’s not too bad, all things considered.”

  Her nonchalance vanished, “You’re right. I’m lucky to be alive.”

  “A lot of people are damn glad you are. When we first got there, we thought we’d lost you. If we hadn’t heard you calling for help, we would have lost you.”

  She looked at me curiously, “How did you guys find me?”

  I gestured toward the chair in the corner of her room, “May I?” She nodded. I took a seat and told her everything that happened, starting with the phone call from the daycare.

  She interrupted me at that part, “Duke, I’m so sorry about-”

  I held up my hand to stop her. “We’re not discussing that right now,” then I continued telling her how we found her.

  Just as I finished, there was a knock on the door. Apparently, that was just a warning because they didn’t wait to enter her room. Two uniformed police officers walked in. “Reese Walker, we need to ask you some questions about the accident. Is now a good time?”

  I stood to tell them to leave, but Reese stopped me. “It’s fine. Duke, can you please get James for me while I talk to the officers?”

  “Yes, but I’m staying in here,” I firmly stated.

  “That’s fine. Please, officers, what can I help you with?”

  “I’m Officer Bullard and this is my partner Officer Peterson. Can you tell us about the accident?”

  “Sure. I left work a little earlier than usual because I needed to go by my grandmother’s old house to pick up something and be back in time to pick James up from daycare. I noticed a car following me a little too closely. When the road straightened, the car passed me. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but farther down the road that very same car came out of nowhere and plowed into the side of my car.” Reese stopped there and looked down at her lap. Her breath hitched, but she managed to continue, “Most people stop when they hit something, but that’s not what happened. She just kept going until my car went through the guardrail and over the drop-off. I did everything I could to stop. I stood on my brakes, pulled up the emergency brake, but nothing worked.”

  “You said ‘she.’ The driver was female?” Officer Bullard asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Can you tell us about the car? Color, make, model?”

  “It was a yellow Nissan Xterra, with a brush guard on the front,” Reese answered confidently.

  The other officer chimed in, “When it passed you, did you happen to notice the license plate?”

  “I didn’t get the number, but I did notice that it was an Arizona plate.”

  “Good. What about the driver? Did you get a good look at her?”

  “Not really. She had dark, curly hair and was wearing large sunglasses. That’s about all I could see of her.”

  “Do you know anyone from Arizona? Anyone who would want to hurt you?”

  Reese shook her head. “Nope.”

  “Okay, I think that’s all for now. Here’s my card. Please give me a call if you think of anything else that might be helpful. For now, we’ll see if we can track down the car and driver that hit you. We should have the accident report ready for your insurance company by tomorrow. Do you want us to mail you a copy or would you like to come pick it up at the station?”

  I answered for her, “I’ll come pick it up tomorrow.”

  They both looked to Reese. “That’s fine, Duke can pick it up.”

  “All right. We’ll get out of your hair. I’d go buy a lottery ticket if I were you. You were awfully lucky tonight,” Officer Bullard said.

  Reese smiled, “I just might do that. Thank you, officers.”

  I opened my mouth to speak, but Patch entered the room before I could utter a word. He was dressed in light blue scrubs covered by the standard white coat. “Reese, my dear, what happened?”

  “Patch? What are you doing here?” she squeaked.

  “I work here. The group I work for has us rotate through the smaller hospitals in the area and tonight I was scheduled here. I looked to see which patient I needed to see next and saw your name on the board. What happened? Are you okay?”

  “I was in a car accident. My arm and ankle are broken. I have a few cuts and bruises, but I’ll heal,” she said, as if she hadn’t been trapped in a car mere moments from plunging to her death just a few hours ago.

  “Are you in any pain right now?” he asked, his face full of genuine concern.

  “I’m hurting, but it is nothing like it was when I first got here. This I can handle.”

  He glanced over to me, then down to the baby in my lap. He opened his mouth, but I shook my head. Not no
w Patch. He turned back to Reese, “You want me to see if I can get you out of here?”

  “Hell yes. I hate hospitals. No offense,” she exclaimed.

  “None taken, sweetheart. A lot of people feel that way. I’ll go look over your chart and talk to the doctor who saw you when you came in. Now, if everything is in order and we let you go home, you can’t stay by yourself-”

  I cut him off, “She’ll be staying at the clubhouse tonight.” He arched a brow. “Copper’s clubhouse.”

  “I most certainly am not,” she huffed.

  “Okay, you tell that to your brother. Someone intentionally rammed into your car and pushed you over the side of a fucking mountain, Reese! Carbon isn’t going to let you stay at your house and neither am I. It’s the clubhouse or you stay here. Pick one,” I ordered.

  “Fine,” she said sullenly. “Clubhouse it is.”

  “Well, that’s settled. I’ll go see what I can do,” Patch said and left the room.

  “What the hell, Duke?” she shouted at me.

  “I know about the letters, Reese.” She gasped. “Don’t want to talk about it now. Let’s just get you somewhere safe and get some rest. It’s been a rough night for all of us.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Reese

  Carbon carried me into the clubhouse. I had crutches and could have walked, but he insisted. I knew he was having a hard time dealing with the fact that he almost lost me. After our parents and two siblings were killed, Carbon and I became very close and stayed that way until this past year. That was my fault, too. The last year of my life, well year and a half, had been nothing but a series of fuck-ups. Fuck-ups that I was going to have to explain to several people in the very near future.

  Carbon placed me on a bed in one of the clubhouse bedrooms. He gently sat down beside me and his haunted eyes found mine. “Reese,” he croaked.

  I reached out and pulled him into a one-armed hug. “Don’t go there, brother. I’m here. I’m a little hurt, but I’m still here.” His shoulders shook, but he remained silent. He was killing me. My ferocious, badass brother was crying…because of me. I didn’t say anything, just silently waited with my arm around him, allowing him to hide his face in my neck.

  When he got his emotions under control, he pulled back and boldly informed me, “You’re coming back to Croftridge. I’m not giving you a choice. I almost lost you tonight. If we’d been even a minute later getting to you, I would have lost you. If you’re closer, I can get to you faster. If you’re closer, I can watch over you. I’ve missed you, little sister, and I want you to come back home.”

  With watery eyes, I agreed without argument, “Okay.”

  I must have surprised him with my answer because he did a double take before nodding once and standing. “You want me to get your boy for you?”

  “Please.”

  Carbon returned holding my whole world in his hands. He smiled down at James, “You named him after Dad.”

  “And Mason. His full name is James Mason Jackson,” I said softly.

  “How old is he?”

  “Four months.”

  He nodded. “I’m not going to lie,” he said, continuing to look down at my sweet boy, “I was fucking pissed as hell when Duke called me. I think I’m still pissed, but right now, all I can focus on is how grateful I am that we got to you in time and how perfect your little boy is.” He turned his pained eyes to me, “Don’t keep something like this from me again, Reesie Piecie. He’s family and I want to be a part of his life, as well as yours.”

  “I’m sorry,” I cried. “I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t. You would have told Duke and I wasn’t ready for that.” I hiccupped. “I was going to tell him about James. I don’t know when, but I wasn’t going to keep him a secret forever.”

  “I know you’ve been raised to believe the club comes first, and most of the time it does, but with you and me, family will always come first. If I had to choose between being a part of your life or telling Duke, I would have chosen to be a part of your life, both of your lives, and kept your secret. Just remember that, okay?”

  That surprised me. The club always came first, or so I thought. “Okay,” I sniffed. “I’m really sorry, Carbon. For the record, I missed you, too.” My breath hitched with my next words, “Thank you for finding me.”

  He placed James in my lap and leaned down to kiss my forehead. “I’ll always be there for you, little sister, no matter how old you get.”

  “Knock, knock,” a woman said as she wheeled something through the door. She looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t quite place her. “Hi Reese, you probably don’t remember me, but I’m Leigh, Judge’s mom and Duke’s aunt.” She pushed a pack and play beside my bed. “I brought this for little James to sleep in tonight. Do you want me to get him changed and ready for bed?”

  “Oh, yes, that would be wonderful. He’ll probably want a bottle first though. He tends to be a little piglet at night. Oh crap, I don’t have any of his stuff here!”

  She smiled sweetly, “You do. Judge got his diaper bag when he picked him up from daycare. I ran to the store and bought more of the same kind of diapers, formula, and bottles you had in the bag. As far as clothes, I picked up a few onesies and sleepers for him.”

  My eyes widened, “Thank you for doing all that.”

  “No problem. I remember what it was like to be a young mother around a bunch of bikers. You need all the help you can get. Besides, I just love babies and your little James is precious.”

  I smiled proudly, “He is a good baby. He’s happy as long as he’s fed and gets his cuddle time.”

  “Treasure it while you can. They grow up too fast,” she smiled wistfully, no doubt remembering when her children were small. She picked up James and walked toward the door, “We’ll be back and ready for bed shortly.”

  “Thanks again,” I called after her.

  Carbon walked toward the door, “I was going to stay with you, but I think, under the circumstances, that Duke should have the opportunity to take care of his boy should he need something during the night. That okay with you?”

  “Yes,” I said sheepishly. “Where are you staying?”

  “I’ll be right next door and Dash is on the other side of you, Phoenix on the other side of Dash.”

  “Thanks, Carbon. Love you, big, scary brother,” I smiled. I had been calling him that for years.

  “Love you, too, Reesie Piecie.”

  Duke entered the room a few minutes after Carbon left. I couldn’t look at him. I was feeling so many different things and I didn’t want any of them to show. I was ashamed of myself for not telling him about our son, but I was still angry with him for the way he treated me a year ago. While I was happy to see him, it also hurt to see him. I was worried he would try to take my son from me and I was scared because someone tried to kill me. And then there was the person who had been sending me threatening letters since James was born.

  I felt the bed shift from his weight when he sat down beside me. He picked up my good hand and brought it to his lips. “Reese, look at me, sugar.” I lifted my watery eyes to his. “We’ve got a lot to talk about and a lot to work out, but I’m not going to walk away from him. Or you.”

  “Duke…I…” I couldn’t find the right words to say, to tell him how much that meant to me, how much I had longed to hear those words from him.

  He leaned forward and gingerly wrapped his arms around me, cupping the back of my head with his hand. “Not tonight, sugar. Tonight, just let me hold you and take care of you, both of you. It took years off my life when I saw your car in that tree, with you inside. Then, I damn near had a heart attack when you jumped to Copper as your car fell from the tree.” He gently pulled me to him until our foreheads were touching. “I just need to feel you close to me tonight,” he whispered.

  He leaned back and searched my eyes, for what I don’t know, but he must have found it because the next second his lips met mine in a searing kiss. I lifted my good arm to pull him closer to me. F
uck, I missed this man. Duke always felt like home when we were together.

  He groaned into my mouth and placed his other hand on my jaw. He tipped my head back so he could deepen the kiss. Things were on their way to getting hot and heavy when we were interrupted by a throat clearing.

  Leigh stood in the doorway with our son, sleeping soundly in her arms. “He must have been worn out. He fell asleep during his bottle and didn’t even stir when I changed his diaper and put him in new pajamas.”

  “I think we’re all worn out from today,” I replied.

  “Agreed,” Duke said.

  I couldn’t get up and Duke made no move to go get our son. Leigh didn’t miss a beat. She strolled over to us and leaned down, “You want to give him a goodnight kiss and I’ll put him down for you?”

  “Absolutely, thank you for your help tonight.” I kissed my boy on his forehead and murmured, “Mommy loves you, little man.”

  Duke leaned over and kissed his temple, “Daddy loves you, too. Thank you, Aunt Leigh.”

  “No problem. You two get some rest. I’ll be around in the morning if you need me for anything. Goodnight.”

  When she pulled the door closed, I turned to Duke, “Why didn’t you get up and go get our son from her?”

  He looked at me incredulously. “Because I didn’t want my aunt to see how hard you made my cock, sugar.”

  “Oh,” I muttered. What else could I say?

  “Oh,” he mimicked.

  “Shut it, Duke.”

  “Go to sleep, Reese.”

  “Fine.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Duke

  I didn’t sleep for shit last night. Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was Reese’s fear filled face trapped in that damn car.

  Then, there was the other thing that kept me up. Something I wasn’t sure I should mention. Something I pushed to the back of my mind years ago and never thought about again. In my mind, it was like it never even happened.