Now he was like a grandfather to my daughter, and I didn’t want to leave this place. But I also didn’t want to deal with Josh’s freaky self, either.
Ever since the ballgame, things had gone from bad to worse between Josh and me.
It’d gone from scary, to downright terrifying, and I was beyond relieved that Silas knew about it. Though, I expected that had a lot to do with the fact that his son and wife were on our porch the night that Josh had dropped me off.
When I’d refused to give Josh a kiss, Sebastian had not only seen it, but he’d also stepped in to stop it when I tried to pull away after Josh hadn’t taken no for an answer.
Josh had pulled out in a huff, and Sebastian had given me a long, meaningful look, which told me everything he thought about Josh but had left without giving me the lecture.
But then Silas had shown up the next day, demanding answers, and now he was telling me that I was moving all the way to Mooresville, Alabama where another chapter of the Dixie Wardens were located.
I’d heard of them, of course.
The president of that chapter had died because he’d been shot by a gang banger.
It’d been big news everywhere because he was a law enforcement officer, but in our small town—where the majority of people were either members of the Dixie Wardens MC, married to a club member or were family members of a club member, it’d been huge news.
The Dixie Wardens were a tight-knit group of bikers, and it didn’t matter that this man had been the president of another Dixie Wardens’ chapter. If you were wearing the Dixie Wardens patch, then you were family regardless of where you called home.
And if something happened to family, then all of the Dixie Wardens were there trying to help out in any way that they could.
The six days that our club—no, Tunnel’s club— had been in Mooresville, Alabama for the funeral had left Benton, Louisiana feeling like a ghost town.
I’d been asked if I wanted to go, of course, but since I was working, I had Sienna and everyone else was leaving, it didn’t make sense for me to leave. I wasn’t a really part of the club…not anymore.
My husband had been, but I was just someone that they watched over at this point.
Like now.
Silas was speaking quietly on the phone, his voice a low rumble of sounds that sent shivers down my back. He was protecting me, just like he’d been doing since the day that Tunnel left this Earth.
“No,” Silas barked. “This is the end of the line for you. You either leave now, or you get ready to receive the ass-whoopin’ of a lifetime. I will personally dish that punishment out if you don’t leave her alone.”
My eyes closed.
That wouldn’t work. Josh was relentless. I knew that now, better than anyone, after the last week of his constant calls, unannounced visits and insistence that I do whatever he wanted.
The one thing I could say was that at least he hadn’t forced me to have sex with him.
I’d thought it was going to happen last night, but something had happened outside and Josh had left instead. I locked the door and then huddled in my house the rest of the night, scared to death that he would be coming back to finish what he’d started.
But he hadn’t. And now Silas was telling me that I was leaving.
With a startling realization, I knew that I wanted to go.
Maybe getting away from this place—permanently—would be enough.
He hadn’t followed me to Uncertain like I thought he would. Maybe that was the trick. Get far enough away that the thought of pursuing me would be too much of a bother.
Silas hung up the phone and handed it back to me.
“You’ll get that changed once you get there,” he ordered me. “There’s a house set up for you. The old ladies of that chapter have banded together and have already set up everything that Sienna will ever need in one of the bedrooms. You’ll only need to bring your clothes. There’s a job waiting for you at the hospital there, as well as the clinic in case you would rather work there instead.”
My brows rose.
“How did you manage that?” I asked him, stunned.
“One of the members there is a doctor. He’s involved with the hiring process at the hospital, and the clinic is also his. So, either way, whatever you choose, you’ll have a job waiting for you.”
I sat there, still stunned, after he left. Was this my life?
Would it be okay to leave?
Then, after biting my lip, I realized that it would be.
There was nothing holding us here anymore. Nothing but memories and a grave that never really felt like my man was inside of it resting eternally.
“I’ll be back in an hour with the rest of the ladies. We’re going to get you packed up and out of here within the day, that way you’ll have no excuse not to go tonight.”
He was right, of course. If I did it all myself, it could take me weeks, and by then Josh would catch on to what I was doing, and it wouldn’t be so much of a surprise anymore.
“Okay, Silas,” I said softly. “Let’s go.”
***
Nine hours later, I was parking my loaded-down Tahoe under the carport of what looked to be a brand-new house. It wasn’t a grand house or anything, but you could tell it was new. There were still stickers on the window denoting the manufacturer. The grass was still in squares where they had taken the sod off of a pallet and rolled them over the dirt of the yard to grow.
Then there was the dumpster that was still on the street. A dumpster that was filled with so much crap that it likely needed to be emptied long before now.
“Mom, why can I see all the way inside that house?” Sienna asked worriedly.
My lips twitched. She was so much like her daddy that it was uncanny.
I saw Tunnel in her every single day, and the more she grew up, the more I saw it.
If I were being honest, it was sad sometimes. It made my heart break to see her do the same things as her daddy.
“Because it doesn’t look like there are any curtains up, yet,” I supplied the answer. “It was likely a very new house, and they just acquired it for us. It’s pretty, isn’t it?
“Yeah, I guess. You could plant some flowers in that flower bed right there,” she pointed to the front walk where there was a flower bed, sans flowers.
“I could,” I agreed, happy that she was semi-on board for this new venture.
Though she hadn’t said as much. She was still upset about leaving her house, where her daddy had made her a bed and painted her room, to be overly excited about this new one.
My stomach clenched at the memory of that bed.
I’d helped with the bed, of course, but only enough as to offer Tunnel help where he needed it.
He’d made her an exact replica of a princess bed.
It had huge columns that represented turrets, and a peak on top of the built-in bookcase that resembled a roof. Then there was the paint—that was a masterpiece in and of itself.