“Got it.”
“Don’t make any sudden moves. Don’t reach into your jacket. Don’t even fucking twitch.”
“Jeez, Dad, I get it.”
“I want you to be prepared. That’s all.”
He got it. He did. Ned Walker was a fucking scary dude. And now he saw that his father wasn’t nervous for himself, but for him. Matthew wasn’t going to let him down.
After climbing onto his bike, he followed his father out of the clubhouse. He noticed several of the guys came out to see them off.
Pike was dead-set against this, but his dad had other ideas. He believed that taking Matthew proved to Ned Walker that he wasn’t there to kill.
Matthew wasn’t stupid. He was aware that his father was a killer and that he’d killed many people.
Today could end in bloodshed, but he wouldn’t mess this up. This was his one chance to prove to everyone that he wasn’t that fucked-up teenager anymore.
And of course, thinking about what a mess he’d been, he had no choice but to think of Luna. His Luna. The woman he loved more than anything else in the world.
He didn’t know what he was going to do to make it up to her.
What could he do?
Luna was … Luna. She hadn’t even been impressed when he convinced his father to pay for her scholarship to stay at college. He wanted her to have everything her heart desired. Mainly because he’d broken her heart. He had hurt her.
That feeling hadn’t gone away. The guilt stayed with him.
Taking on the open road was a welcome relief. Riding and seeing Luna were the two activities that freed his soul. That made him feel alive and ready to take on anything and everything. With Luna back, he was going to struggle to watch her from afar.
He needed to win her back.
What he didn’t know was how to do it. How could he win back the woman he wanted more than anything? Especially when they had a history? He’d been trying to figure out how to do that. How to make it up to her. He had even tried the whole letting-her-go thing, and that was bullshit. Loving someone enough to let them go was impossible.
Duke gave the signal that they were close to the meetup. They’d been riding for nearly an hour and were far from Vale Valley.
Matthew wasn’t nervous. He was ready. His dad had picked him for this and there was no way he was going to fuckthis up.
He slowed down, matching his father’s speed until they came to a stop. Matthew parked alongside his dad’s bike as he saw the single car up ahead. After turning off his ignition, he climbed off his bike and followed his father’s lead. This was about him being silent and just letting his father do all the talking.
They walked toward the space between where they were parked. Matthew saw the older man as he approached. His hair was white, and he had many lines, but he didn’t appear ancient, just older, wiser. A scowl covered his face as if he’d eaten something bad.
“Duke,” Ned Walker said.
The two men with him had stayed back a few feet.
“We said no muscle,” Duke said.
Ned Walker snorted. “You brought your son. You think I don’t know what that little shit is capable of?”
Matthew recognized the insult thrown his way.
“He’s family.”
Ned Walker laughed. “And you think you were able to forego my demand that you bring no muscle? I see the muscle on your son. Knowing who he is, where he comes from, I have no doubt he could hold his own.”
“He is still my son, and you didn’t stick to your own recommendations.”
“I’m an old man.”