“So you really kill people?”
“I’m not a serial killer, Eden. I do what needs to be done for my club. We don’t run with the kind of justice you’re used to. There’s no speeding tickets and lawyers in my world. There’s action, consequence, and punishment.”
“Aren’t you afraid of getting killed?”
“No. We run with the reaper every day of our lives,” Trev said. “When he decides to strike, so be it. I just hope I’m in my cut, defending my club. Like your old man was, beautiful.”
Eden felt her chest tighten. She hated the image of her father getting shot. She forced food into her mouth and her eyes filled with tears. She looked down and tried to hide them.
“Aw, don’t get upset,” Trev said. “I’m sorry. When you’ve seen as much as I have, it doesn’t have the same grab.”
Eden swallowed and sucked back her raw emotion. “I just want to know why.”
“Don’t ask. He died as a good man. That’s all you need to know. If you dig too deep it gets dirty.”
“No, Trev. Not him dying. But him and my mother giving me up.”
Trev nodded. He reached across the table and took Eden’s hand. “Let me ask you something. Did you have a good life?”
“What?”
“You heard me. Did you have a good life?”
“Not really.”
“You were adopted?”
“Yeah. But then my adoptive parents were killed.”
“Shit. I’m sorry.”
“My aunt then took me in.”
Trev nodded. “Did you get beat?”
“No.”
“Anyone touch you in ways you didn’t want to be touched?”
“No. Never.”
Trev nodded. “Good. You had a good life then, Eden. There’s always bad shit that will happen. At least yours wasn’t as bad as others. So maybe that’s why they did it. Because if your mother confessed who your father was, the implosion… you don’t get it. You’re the catalyst for a war so big and so bad…”
“No pressure,” Eden said. “Right?”
“No, beautiful, no pressure. We’ll protect you. I’m just being honest. And growing in the MC life… during that time… it couldn’t have been easy.”
“How would you know?” Eden asked. “You don’t look older than me.”
Trev grinned.
He had lines at the corners of eyes that ran down to the edge of his smile. It was freaking unfair how hot he was.
“I hear war stories,” Trev said. “I’ve been running outlaw and patched in since I was of legal age. Did my stint as a prospect when I was seventeen. I lied to get into the MC. This was the life I knew. Right now, it’s a little more peaceful than I’m used to. Guys with girls. Kids. Family. That’s good. What I’m trying to say is maybe they gave you up for what they felt was the greater good. So you didn’t become a pawn in some kind of biker war. I don’t know what else to say about it.”
Eden nodded. She touched Trev’s hand. “Thank you for being here. For letting me be here. For fighting for me or whatever. I thought I was coming here to find my family.”
“Maybe you found that,” Trev said. “Don’t deny the power of this club. We’re wild. We’re outlaws. I get that. Yes, we kill people, beautiful. But we don’t just go out and kill random people, okay? Everything has purpose. We view the greater good of it all. The people of this town. They don’t know what it would be like around here if it wasn’t for us. The streets would be filled with crews, drugs, guns, violence. But I’m not selling you this, Eden. Finish your breakfast.”
Trev took his hand back and stood up.
Eden forced herself to eat as she let his words sink in. She then asked, “You’d really go after the guys that killed Dimitrio?”
“The guys that went after you,” Trev said. “Yes.”
Eden caught herself smiling a little, sensing maybe a little jealousy from Trev. Not that she and Dimitrio were ever a thing. Yeah, Eden had always had a little crush on him but nothing ever came of it or would have.
“Aren’t you afraid of getting into trouble?” Eden asked.
Trev turned with his coffee in hand. “No. I could handle prison. I could handle anything. Even death. What I can’t handle is not making it known I don’t stand for bullshit. You fuck with me, I’m going to fuck with you. End of discussion.”
“Can you tell me something about my father?”
Trev drank his coffee and then put it down. “I had something else in mind for today.”
“Like what?”