They all thanked me for the amazing home cooked meal when we were finished. Shocked when they started to help me clean up, loading their dirty dishes in the dishwasher and wiping down the table. Grabbing their beers and cigarettes, excusing themselves to go outside. Creed said something about them needing to have a word, whatever the hell that meant. He kissed me before he followed them out to the porch. I put away the leftovers, even though I knew they wouldn’t last long. Not with Creed and Noah both in the house.
I sighed, smiling when I realized Doc had left his take-out bag that I made for him, on the counter. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why he was still single. He was such a sweet man, had been since the day I met him. I had grown close to him in the last few months, he felt like an uncle.
I opened the front door and called out, “Hey, Doc! You forget something?” Holding up the food.
He laughed me off, setting his black bag in the side-by-side, and jogging toward me. I stepped off the porch on the side of the house so I could meet him half way.
“Man would forget his own head if it wasn’t attached to his goddamn body,” Diesel shouted from behind me.
“It’s okay, I’m forgetful too.” I handed him his bag. “I’m actually glad I have a second alone with you,” I whispered loud enough for him to hear, even though the boys were several feet away from us, in front of the safe house. “I just wanted to thank you. You have no idea how much of a relief it’s been to have you come by as much as you do. I will never be able to repay you for the peace of mind you have given me with my baby girl.”
He placed his hand on my stomach. “Mia, for the first time in I don’t know how long, I’m actually doin’ somethin’ good. It’s been an honor to be part of your journey with Maddie. I can’t wait to help you brin’ her into this world.”
I nodded, pulling him into a hug. He froze, not expecting my gesture.
“Doc, your old ass tryin’ to hit on my girl?”
“Don’t listen to him. He’s just being Creed.”
He finally relaxed, and I felt the tension release from his biceps as he hugged me back. “You better go inside, before you catch a cold,” he murmured, reminding me of something my dad would say.
My momma always told me I had the ability to make people smile, to make them laugh. To make them feel whole when they might have been broken. She called it my special gift. Saying the world was surrounded by too much devastation, destruction, and despair—where bad things happened to good people every single day.
To people who didn’t deserve it.
To people who didn’t expect it.
And to some people...
Who did.
I refused to ever think like that. I wouldn’t let evil taint me. Take me under. Allow it to consume my mind, my body, and especially my heart.
But I couldn’t have been more wrong.
This would be the moment in my life where evil would win. It would prevail and destroy, conquer and succeed, setting the tracks in motion for the collision courses to hit head on.
My mind would be forever changed.
My body forever damaged.
My heart eternally broken.
As soon as I pulled away, I turned around, locking eyes with Creed. Except, this time he wasn’t smiling back at me. He wasn’t laughing. He was no longer the man I made whole. The man I spent years loving, praying he’d love me back, was gone. There was nothing but his regrets in between us, his truths bleeding out for all to see. It was the expression on his face that would forever haunt me. I’d never forget the look in his eyes, the moment he realized...
He was going to die.
The next few seconds played out in slow motion, as if this was just a figment of my imagination and not my reality of what loving a Jameson man would bring.
His world collided with mine, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake.
Where neither one of us would make it out, alive.
“NO!” Creed shouted with everything he had in him. “MIA, RUN!” he roared, an ear-piercing sound that resonated deep within his lungs, echoing off the trees and into the woods as he simultaneously pulled out his gun from the back of his jeans. Aiming it right for me, he didn’t hesitate, pulling the trigger.
“Cree—” I stumbled forward, trying to remain upright.
I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t breathe.
More gunshots, more bullets, more chaos erupted all around me. Time stood still, or maybe it moved faster. Everything blended together. Nothing made sense.
I was there, but I wasn’t.
My trembling hands moved down to my chest and stomach, shielding myself as best as I could while I staggered on my feet. Trying to regain my balance, swaying all over, on the verge of becoming one with the ground. My eyes blurred, my vision tunneled, darkness drew me in and out.
“GET HER OUT OF HERE!” I heard Noah scream, or it could have been Creed.
It all sounded the same—the panic, the voices, the lives that were being taken, collapsing to the ground. I made one last attempt, willing my feet to run. Gasping for air, struggling to stay standing, all while shades of copper flew inches away from my body. From my face.
From my life.
And my baby’s.
“Cre-ed... He-ee-lllp m-eee...” I managed to sputter, reaching my hand out to no one. I suddenly fell backward as strong arms caught me in their grasp. Bringing my limp body to the hard ground with them. I thought they were Doc’s.
“Baby, baby, baby... no, no, no...” he stammered, close to my face. “Stay with me. You fuckin’ stay wit’ me.”
Through hooded eyes, I saw Creed above me. Covered in blood, in anguish, in hatred and despair.
It was only then I finally realized...
I’d been shot.
“What the fuck?” Diesel snapped, his eyes focusing on something behind me.
I spun around, following his stare. Narrowing my eyes, searching the dense woods just beyond Mia and Doc. Trying to locate what he saw. Never expecting what stared back at me.
Choices...
Everyone had them. Especially me.
Good.
Bad.
Right.
Wrong.
They were one in the same. I couldn’t tell them apart anymore or maybe...
I never could.
My life had been defined by decisions. Most of which cost me my morality, and a man without a conscience was capable of anything.
Now.
Forever.
And every day in between.
I thought my life was forever fucking gone the moment that I killed Luke. Brutally ripping away everything I wanted to believe in. Everything I prayed to be true.
Violence was all I ever knew.
The blood on my hands was so fucking thick, it became part of my skin. Engrained so far deep into my pores that I was drenched in nothing but the lives I had taken.
Until I met Mia Ryder.
She was a woman to love. To cherish. To fucking claim.
She was mine.
I wanted to be a part of her world. Never wanting to bring her into ours. Trying so damn hard to separate the two, but failing fucking miserably. This was the moment life had fucking saved just for me.
It. Ended. Here.
What started with her.
Ended with her.
My heart dropped, my chest seized, and all the blood drained from my face when I saw the barrel of the rifle peering from behind the tree. Giving me no time to react, I was driven on pure instinct.
My past and my present collided, leaving no road for the future.
Mia turned around as if she felt my pain.
My agony.