“Tell me where to find Wolf,” he said.
I flashed daggers at him with my eyes. I was so angry I’d have shot him through the heart if I’d had a gun.
“You’re leaving me now?” I said.
“Faith, I have to go.”
“You don’t have to do anything. It’s your pride that’s making you leave.”
“Wolf Staten deserves to die.”
“I don’t care about him. All I want is to run away with you.”
“I’ll never run away. You know that.”
“You’re running away from me. You’re a coward, Jackson Jones. If you leave me now, you’ll be a coward till your dying day. I swear to God.”
“I warned you,” he said. “I told you you’d regret getting involved with me. I warned you it would lead to nothing but pain.”
I took my wallet from my purse and threw a piece of paper at him. If he wanted to kill himself, who was I to tell him otherwise?
“The address is there. He goes to that house every night. It’s remote. There’ll be guards there, and they’ll shoot you dead before you get within a hundred yards of him. If that’s what you want, if you want to kill yourself rather than raise our baby together, go ahead.”
He shook his head.
“I warned you Faith. You knew from the beginning you’d regret ever meeting me.”
He was so wrong. I didn’t regret meeting him at all. Not for one second. The only thing I regretted was losing him.
Tears fell down my cheeks.
He grabbed his things and left. I collapsed to the floor. His sperm was still inside me, dripping out of me in a pool on the floor. I heard the motorcycle fire up and recede into the distance. I held my breath and listened. He’d stop. He’d change his mind. He’d come back to me. He had to.
But he didn’t. He never came back.
Chapter 16
Jackson
I RODE NORTH AS IF being chased by a wildfire. The clouds in the sky rose above me, curling in a vortex. A storm was brewing.
I had only one thing on my mind—to keep my word. I was going to do for Faith what I’d promised.
And she was going to do for me what she’d promised.
A life for a life.
If I had to die, I was ready for it. I’d done my best to be a man. I’d tried to love a woman, briefly though it was. I’d burned myself into her soul in the short time we had together. I’d put my baby in her—left behind a son to carry on my name.
Now I was going to kill the man who threatened everything I loved. He threatened every chance at happiness and peace Faith would ever know. He’d never let her escape his clutches. I knew that with a certainty that burned in my soul. Men like Wolf Staten didn’t care how much suffering they caused. His honor wouldn’t allow her to escape. It would threaten his manhood and his position as the head of Los Lobos.
I’m bad. I know that. I’m bad to the bone.
But like I said before, I never meant any harm.
I was doing the only thing I knew how to do. I was being the only man I knew how to be. I didn’t see that I had any other option. Faith called me a coward for leaving her, but could she have lived with a man who didn’t stand up for her like this? Could she raise the child of a man she didn’t respect?
She deserved better than that.
I crossed the state line into Nevada before stopping for gas. There was a payphone and I called the Brotherhood from it.
“Jackson, where the hell have you been? You left without a word. We thought you were in trouble.”
It was Grant Lucas, my friend, one of the brotherhood, a man I’d gladly give my life for. A man who’d step up to protect me no matter what.
“I had to clear my head, Grant.”
“Well, come home. It’s not safe out there.”
“That’s what I’m calling about.”
“What?”
“Did you hear about the shooting at the motel near Salinas?”
“Shit, that was you?”
“It’s a long story, brother.”
“Well, shit, Jackson. Where the hell are you?”
“Listen,” I said. “I’m mixed up with something.”
“And it involves Los Lobos?”
“Yes it does.”
“Come in and talk it out. The Brotherhood will sort it out.”
“This is something I have to face alone.”
“We’re brothers. All of us. You face nothing alone.”
“This is about a woman.”
“Shit,” Grant said. “Shit, shit, shit.”
“I know.”
“You’re a goddamn fool, Jackson.”
“I know it.”
“Well, I hope she’s worth it.”
“She is.”
“Right.”
A woman was the one thing most likely to get a member of the Brotherhood killed. We all knew it. We were the most careful, levelheaded criminals you’ll ever come across. We did nothing without calculating the risks first. We had a code, and we never deviated from it. Except when it came to women. That’s when the rules went out the window. That’s when brothers got killed.
“She’s different from the others, Grant.”
“That’s what they all say.”
“No, this time it’s really different.”