? ? ?
I walk out of the police station, fuming, and get into my car. When I was called in for a chat with the chief, I had no idea it would be about my personal life. Everything has finally caught up to me; everything Travis warned me about is coming true. Apparently a woman of the law should not be fraternizing with an MC gang, and as such, I need to cease all contact with them if I want to keep my job. Also—an investigation into my activities may be taken. I wanted to tell her it’s not a gang, it’s a club, but I don’t think that would have been appreciated. The chief, who was once my ally, the woman who I’ve known for years, now tells me that I can lose my job just for falling in love. It was hard to hear it, even harder to hear it from her.
I haven’t done anything illegal, and it really sucks that this is happening to me. I’m a good cop—I love my job and I’m good at it, but I guess I can see it from her perspective too. I just don’t know what to do now. Sure, I could stay away from the clubhouse, but there’s no way I can stay away from Ranger.
Shit.
I head home and give myself a little bit of time to lie in bed and feel sorry for myself. I send Ranger a message that says we need to talk, so I’m not surprised when he shows up not an hour later at my house.
“What’s wrong?” he asks as he walks into my bedroom. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly, glancing up at him. “I don’t know how we thought this would be okay, that I could be with a biker and be a cop at the same time. We got away with it up until now, I guess.”
“Tell me everything,” he demands, sitting down and gently stroking my hair. “Who do I need to kill?”
I throw my hands up in the air. “See! You can’t say shit like that. I don’t even know if you’re joking or not.”
I feel like crying, and that’s just not me.
I have to choose—my career or Ranger.
THIRTY-NINE
Ranger
I’M not joking.
“And unless you’re going to kill the whole police station, nothing else can save me.”
“Babe, tell me what happened. I can’t fix it if I don’t know,” I say, wondering what has happened. I can guess, but I want to know the whole story. Whoever is giving her shit will pay. She hasn’t done anything wrong, has never crossed the line by doing something that goes against her ethics or morals, except love me. And that shouldn’t be a crime.
It can’t be.
She tells me everything that was said in her meeting, and I listen, already forming a plan in my head. She’s right: we were na?ve to think there would be no repercussions from our union. Of course they wouldn’t want a cop with a biker. I don’t want her to lose her career, her identity, and then resent me forever after that, and I don’t want Jo to have to change who she is; I would never expect her to.
“I don’t know what to do, Ranger,” she admits, sitting up and shuffling back against the headboard. “And don’t you dare say I don’t need to work, you know how much I love my job.”
“I know,” I tell her, my hand on her bare knee. “And I want you to keep it because I know that it’s a part of you.”
She hasn’t said that we shouldn’t be together yet, which means running isn’t on her mind. I hope she’s not thinking it though. There has to be an alternative, but I can only think of one option.
The thing is—I’d do anything for this woman, and I’d never regret it. I look at the ring on her finger. This woman is going to be my wife. She’s all in, and so am I.
“I’m going to fix this,” I tell her, standing up. “And no, not by killing anyone.”
“What are you going to do?” she asks in suspicion. “I’ll just stay away from the clubhouse is all. They can investigate all they want, I don’t have anything to hide. Sure, it will be annoying, but once they figure that out I’m sure they’ll leave me alone.”
I don’t think it’s going to be that easy. They have something over her now, and they might even try to use her to take the Wind Dragons down. I won’t put her in that position. Not that the Wind Dragons do any illegal shit like the Wild Men did, so really we don’t have anything to hide.
“Do you trust me?” I ask her.
“You’re quoting Aladdin,” she says, but then adds, “Of course I trust you, Ranger.”
I love being a biker, and being in an MC. The Wild Men were my family, and now the Wind Dragons are my family, and they always will be.
But they don’t need me.
Jo is the most important person in the world to me, and I only see one way out of this. It’s not like I haven’t been thinking about this for a while anyway, but my plan was to go nomad, not to quit the lifestyle and settle down. I don’t think anyone saw that coming, myself included, but here we are.
My first thought: Talon isn’t going to take this very well.
? ? ?
“Have you lost your fuckin’ mind?” Talon yells, pacing up and down the patio. “No, Ranger. I can’t let you do this. We’re your family, your brothers, you can’t give up on an MC you never gave a real chance to.”
“I second that,” Faye says, her eyes filled with sadness. “If I knew she was going to take you away from us, I would have taken her out.”
“Faye,” I growl, but she just stares at me defiantly. “She doesn’t even know I plan on doing this, so don’t blame her.”
“So you’re leaving the MC voluntarily? That makes it so much worse,” she says, sniffing. “I know I haven’t known you long, Ranger, but you’ve become one of the brothers. I care about you. Stop being selfish. I can fix this. I’ll talk to the feds, ask them to handle it or something, I don’t know.”
“What are they going to do? Put out a new law that cops can fuck bikers without any repercussions?”
“Ranger, you’re my brother. I fuckin’ love you. Don’t make a decision you’re going to regret,” Talon says, stopping in front of me.
“It’s not like I’m not going to see all of you!” I tell them, scrubbing a hand down my face. “You’re still my family, and always will be. Sin and Faye stepped down, and they’re always still around. It’s going to be the same thing. When I joined, I felt like something was missing here, but that something was Jo. Just because I hand in my cut doesn’t mean we aren’t still a family, okay? It’s not like that. I’m not going anywhere. Fuck, Faye, we’re looking for a house right near yours! We’ll be fuckin’ neighbors—get that sad look off your face because I can’t deal with it!”
I didn’t know how much she’d grown on me until this very moment. She’s just always been here for me, every time I needed someone to talk to, and even when I didn’t think I wanted anyone to talk to. “And, Talon, you’re my brother. My best friend. We’ve been through hell and back together. If you think I’m going to turn my back on you, then you don’t know me as well as I thought you did.”
His green eyes fill with pain, and it hurts me to know I’m the cause of it. “You’re serious about this.”
I nod and repeat, “I’m still going to be here, Talon.”