He’d done his job. He’d protected me from my father, made sure I was safe then left me. The club was keeping tabs on my father, he said.
Because he was violent. Because he was dangerous.
And they’d been alerted that he was coming here, so someone had to come to make sure he didn’t hurt me.
Elden had been doing his duty to the Sons of Templar.
Nothing else.
That’s what I told myself, at least. I tried not to think about him, tried not to pine for him. The weather was getting better. It didn’t rain. And when it did, I wasn’t driving. I ignored his calls, though it killed me to do so.
Sariah and I both decided to sign up for summer school, even though my mom complained about not having me home, and I felt guilty about not being there for her during her pregnancy. Not that she needed me. She had Swiss. He’d take good care of her. And I wouldn’t be able to pretend with my mother. Wouldn’t be able to lie to her about how I was, what was going on in my life. She definitely did not need to know about my father’s visit.
But I promised I’d visit. And I would. When I felt stronger.
Things were going along … until they weren’t.
Until Sariah came home one morning with red rimmed eyes and smudged eyeliner. Until everything happened after that.
ELDEN
“We got a situation with Violet.”
Every cell in my body tensed. Before this moment, I had been relatively calm. We were sitting in church, going over business, discussing strategies for dealing with the new sheriff who was not as agreeable toward donations to his retirement fund as the previous sheriff had been.
Fucker had a stick up his ass and ethics. He also had some plan to rid the town of us. Good luck to him on that one.
Everything else was running smoothly. As smoothly as things could go in this life.
I thought of her every day.
Every fucking day.
Multiple times a day.
I had to remind myself, hourly, of what would happen if I got on my bike, rode to her and made her mine.
There would be blood.
The club would suffer.
More importantly,shewould suffer.
And I would do a lot of things for her. Would gladly bleed. Even though I’d never thought I’d be willing to cause shit with the club—the only thing that had mattered to me in a long time—I was willing to do that... For her. To make her mine.
But one thing I’d never do was cause her pain. Not even for a second. And I knew that me acting on instincts that kept me up at night, instincts I battled with daily, would ruin the rest of her life. And no way was I willing to do that. I’d suffer through every fucking second I had left on this earth to protect her.
So I’d hide my feelings for her from my brothers, my only family. Which is what I was trying to do after Hansen had said her name.
Swiss was right fucking across from me. Swiss who loved that girl like she was his own. Because of that, we had her monitored every day, to make sure she was safe.
Swiss, who had a pregnant wife at home, who he was protecting from all the shit that was going on with Violet.
He’d been on me the second I got back from Rhode Island, dealing with her father. I’d spent a couple of days in Carver Springs, sitting on my bike outside the shitty condo he was now living in, watching him, making a point.
I assured Swiss Violet was fine, which was true. Except she was too fucking skinny, those curves of hers fading fast. She had shadows under her eyes from lack of sleep. She was not fine.
But there was nothing any of us could do to save her from herself.