“That’s crazy, Mom,” I replied. “I’m sorry.”

“Feels like a different lifetime, now,” she said with a sigh. “I just wanted you to know that I’ve been in that place—losing someone important and being helpless to stop it. It’s one thing when you’re literally diving for cover, it’s something different when you’re watching a bad thing happen from the sidelines and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Maybe I could’ve,” I murmured.

“Nope,” she said simply. “You took care of their child instead, and coming from a mother—the best one you’ll ever meet, thank you very much—if I had a choice between someone coming to help me or someone saving one of you kids? Please. All day, every day, no question, keeping you safe is what I’d choose.”

“So humble,” Mark said, his eyes crinkled in amusement as they met mine in the rearview mirror. My mom huffed and swatted his shoulder as she spun to face forward again.

“How much longer?” I asked him. Baby girl had slept the entire time we were in the car, but I had a feeling she’d be awake soon.

“Still gonna be a while,” he said apologetically. “An hour and a half, maybe?”

“Where are we going?” I asked tiredly.

“Arizona,” he replied. “Not too far over the border.”

“Why the hell are we going to Arizona?”

“The team’s got a house there. It’s not in any of our names, no ties to us at all. Hopefully, we can stop there for a minute and figure out what the fuck is going on.”

“Your team is meeting us there?” I asked.

“Most of them. Eph and Siah stayed behind to keep an eye on my place.”

“Do you think he’ll go back there?”

“Absolutely,” Mark replied. “Probably tonight when he thinks we’re sleepin’ and he’ll have the upper hand.”

“I don’t want anyone getting hurt because of me,” I said worriedly.

Mark chuckled. “They’ll be fine,” he assured me. “Alone, either of them could handle that fuckwad without breaking a sweat. Together? If someone shows up, they’ll have him and whoever he brings with him crying for their mamas.”

I didn’t bother replying. It wouldn’t have made a difference anyway. They were going to do things the way they thought was best, and because I didn’t have any experience, my opinion wasn’t going to amount to much. It didn’t matter that we’d all seen men I thought were invincible taken down by asshole twenty-somethings, or that sometimes, no matter how much experience you had, shit just happened.

I turned and looked out the back window. My dad and Cam were riding side by side, bandanas covering their faces and no sign of their colors—the beat-up leather vests that marked them as part of the Aces and Eights Motorcycle Club. It was weird seeing them on their bikes without them, but it made sense. I didn’t know who ran that part of California, but I did know that the Aces didn’t have control of anything south of the Sacramento area. My dad nodded at me and raised a hand to where his mouth was hidden behind the black fabric. He pressed it to his mouth and then flipped his hand outward. Smiling as my eyes filled with tears, I blew a kiss back to him before turning back around.

At some point, with my body aching and my head throbbing, I fell asleep.

* * *

“We’re here, Cec,” Mark said, waking me up as he unbuckled my seatbelt. “Baby made it the whole way here without a peep.”

“Is she okay?” I asked, startled. I looked toward her seat, but it was no longer in the truck.

“She’s fine,” he replied. “Your dad carried her inside. Come on.”

He helped me out of the truck and led me toward a two-story house. It wasn’t massive, but it was definitely big enough for the group of us to stay comfortably. The landscaping left a lot to be desired and the sidewalk out front was cracked all to hell, but as we walked in the front door, I realized that there was a reason it looked a little worn down on the outside. No one driving past would guess that the place was fully furnished and sported some serious tech inside.

“Welcome,” Wilson called out, crossing through the entryway with a computer monitor in his arms. “Eli is playing chef if you’re hungry.”

“Thanks,” Mark replied. “Any problems?”

“It was a quiet and delightful drive,” Wilson said as he disappeared down the hallway.

“Bet your parents are in the kitchen,” Mark said, grabbing my hand. “Let’s grab something to eat.”

He pulled me past the main room of the house and rounded a corner into an enormous kitchen. The previous owners must have really cared about where they’d be cooking, because the space was gorgeous, and the appliances probably cost more than my car.

Damn, I missed my car. I missed all of my stuff.

Tags: Nicole Jacquelyn The Aces' Sons Erotic
Source: readsnovelonline.net