“Well,” Athena demands, all business.
I turn my gaze to her and, for the first time, notice the way she protectively covers her abdomen. The same way Winter has subconsciously since the day I found out she was pregnant. It must be instinctual. And the gesture makes me soften toward the Saint girl. She’s looking out for her child too.
“We’ll leave Blackmoor,” I confirm. “Winter won’t be anywhere near you, and we’ll stay away.”
“How soon can you leave?” Athena presses.
We have a lot to get done, and I know we’ll need things set in place before the baby comes. I don’t see how we’re going to find a place to live, establish a new clubhouse, open a new chapter, and begin recruiting in less than six months.
“Eight months,” I say, trying to give us a bit of a buffer.
Dean scoffs, shaking his head, and Jaxon and Cayde bristle visibly.
“That’s not good enough,” Athena dictates.
“Six months then,” I counter. It’ll be tight, but I can still get it done.
“You better be gone in three.”
I open my mouth to object, but Winter squeezes my hand, her gaze catching my own as she silently tells me to let it go.
“I’ll be gone in three months,” Winter agrees.
“In the meantime, you so much as breathe in a way I don’t like, and I won’t hesitate to change my mind,” Athena warns.
I do my very best not to roll my eyes at that. Winter’s been nothing but amenable, and Athena just sounds like she’s flexing her muscles now. But Winter’s warning look tells me I better keep my mouth shut. And I know she’s right.Since when did she become the more reasonable of the two of us?Not that either of us has a particularly good track record for keeping ahold of our tempers, but I’m rather impressed by my girl.
“May we go now?” she asks, only a hint of defiance in her tone.
Athena nods, and Winter turns without a word, her fingers bringing me along with her. I can hardly believe how fortunate we’ve been, and I don’t dare look at the Blackmoor heirs. I feel as though our fate balances on the head of a pin, and even a glance could ruin it.
“Winter,” Athena says as we reach the door.
We both still as dread seeps into my chest. Slowly, Winter turns to look back at Athena.
“I hope you raise your child to be better,” the Saint girl says.
To my utter astonishment, Winter smiles. “I plan to.”
A moment of unspoken acknowledgment seems to pass between the two women, then Winter turns and leads me through the door. I hardly notice if Mark follows us from the house. As I wrap my arm protectively around Winter’s shoulders, I’m in awe of how impressively my girl carried herself. She’s stronger than I had ever realized, smarter than I could have seen, and I love her with a level of intensity that I never knew I could. I could worship this girl until the day I die.
Our ride back to the clubhouse is silent as we make our way down the darkened streets of Blackmoor. It feels as though a sense of peace has fallen over the town, gathering with the snow that coats the ground. Winter curls against my side, warm beneath my arm as I drive one-handed, unwilling to let her go.
After coming so close to losing her today, I can’t bear the thought of parting with her even for an instant. I can make it work. Three months, that’s what I have to find a place for us and get us settled. Fortunately, we won’t have much to move. But I don’t really want to leave Winter with nothing but a roof over her head.
I have a small bit of cash saved up from my years of working for Mark with nothing to spend it on, but it won’t buy much. We might have to find something temporary until we get our feet on the ground. I feel the weight of Winter’s happiness settle on my shoulders, the well-being of our baby. I wonder for the first time if my father ever felt the kind of worry that comes with caring for a family. He was always so easygoing, so carefree. But then, I also remember one late night when I snuck out of my room to sneak a late-night snack. Seeing the light on in the kitchen and my father’s face as he held his head in his hands, staring down at some piece of paper. He’d looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.
And then my mom had been there, her hands massaging his shoulders as she whispered something about it all being okay. That being a family was what mattered, not the rest of it.Is that what will become of Winter and me?I want to provide a life Winter will love. I only hope that what I have to give will be enough.
29
Winter
I can feelthe tension in Gabriel’s body as we drive home, and I hope he really does know what he’s doing. He seemed so sure earlier when he said we would leave. But now I wonder if he has a plan or if the plan was simply to keep me alive.
What were he and Mark talking about in the hall?I could hear their anger, the way their conversation shifted to a more reasonable tone as things went along. That’s what gave me confidence that things would be okay, that Gabriel knew what he was doing. But maybe I’m missing something. Still, I can’t bring myself to mention it on our ride home. I need this moment to be close to Gabriel, to absorb the fact that I confronted Athena today and walked away unscathed.
Her final comment sticks with me, rolling around inside my head as I ponder what she really meant by it.I hope you raise your child to be better. Better than me? Better than the way I was raised?Maybe better than the families of Blackmoor seem to raise their children. I can’t be sure, but what I do know is that those were the first words between us I could actually agree upon. I want my child to grow up safe and loved, with the freedom to find their own path in life. Not be trapped in the footsteps of a Blackmoor heir, not stuck as a means to an end, so our family can climb the social ladder, not forced into a biker’s life if they don’t want to. So many of the people surrounding me had so little say in their fates, and I don’t want that for my child.