Trev walked to Eden and put a hand to her shoulder. “You need to just trust me, Eden. I’m being patient but no more questions, okay? You need to just listen to me carefully and do exactly what I say, when I say it. This isn’t a joke. There are people out there that want me dead. There are people out there that want you dead. Fuck, beautiful, there are people out there that would love to know you’re Griffin’s daughter. So finish your damn breakfast and let’s go for a ride.”
Twenty minutes later, Eden managed to brush her hair, get changed, and brush her teeth. Then she was strapping a helmet to her head and climbing on the back of a motorcycle, her hands sliding around Trev’s body.
Then it finally clicked… this was the life her parents never wanted her to live.
*
When Eden saw the cemetery her stomach flipped. When Trev turned and started to move up the dirt path of the cemetery, her hands clutched tighter to his leather cut. She wanted to yell at him but the motorcycle engine was too loud to do so. She really was at his mercy.
Trev guided his ride along the path and then came to a stop. He killed the engine and Eden kept her hold tight to him.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“You need to see it,” Trev said. “Proof. Closure. Anger. Whatever you need to do here, beautiful.”
Eden slowly climbed off the motorcycle. She started to shake, looking around at all the remembrances of death. She hated death. She hated cemeteries. It didn’t settle well with her. The last time she was in a cemetery was…
“Come on,” Trev said.
“I can’t,” Eden said. “No way. I just can’t do this. Take me away, Trev. Right now.”
“Whoa. Hold on a second…”
Trev reached for her and Eden swung at him. Her knuckles cracked against his jaw. She did it without even looking at him. Her body was in fight or flight mode and for some strange reason, she picked fight mode.
“Goddammit!” Trev yelled. “What are you…”
“Now!” Eden yelled.
She swung again and Trev caught her wrist. His other hand touched her back and pulled her tight to him.
“Hey, look at me,” Trev said. “Right now, goddammit.”
Eden felt her lips starting to shake now. Her body shivered as though she were naked in a snowstorm. Each sight of a tombstone was another person dead. How did they die? Natural causes? Old age? Cancer? A car accident…
“Right now,” she whispered. “I have to leave. I have to go. I… I…”
The panic overwhelmed her.
She finally forced herself to look at Trev. There was blood on the corner of his mouth where she had hit him.
I made him bleed. I punched an outlaw and hurt him.
“Eden, focus on me right now,” Trev said. “Nothing around you matters. It’s just me and you.”
“Okay,” Eden whispered. “Okay, Trev.”
“We’re going to sit down together. Right against my ride. Don’t touch the exhaust though, okay? It’ll burn your pretty skin. I don’t want that.”
Eden nodded over and over. “Okay.”
“I want you to take a deep breath in and count to four. Then slowly let it out, count to four again. Can you do that?”
“Yeah.”
Eden listened to Trev. He gently touched her waist and pulled her to the ground. They then sat next to each other, Trev turned toward her, hand on her leg.
“Keep breathing,” he said. “Then look at me and talk to me.”
Eden got herself to calm and she looked at Trev. She focused on his features. His sexy features.
“I don’t like this place,” she whispered. “At all.”
“I can see that. You know this is what happens in life, right?”
“I know that, Trev. I haven’t been to a cemetery since my adoptive parents…”
“Ah, fuck,” Trev said. He slipped an arm around her and hugged her. “I should have known. I already told you, I’ve seen enough that it’s all normal to me.”
“Not to me,” Eden said. “Okay?”
“Okay,” Trev said. “But you have to do this. You have to go see him. Look at his grave. Understand what’s happened. Learn to accept it. So we can start to move forward with all this shit, Eden. It’s only going to get worse from here. I’m trying to do this for you right now because calls are answered and action takes place.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means plenty,” Trev said. “None of it you need to know about right now. Now take my hand and let’s go.”
Trev rose up first. He offered his hand and Eden took it. He pulled her to her feet. She started to shiver again at the sight of all the gravestones again. Trev kept to his word, holding her hand tight. He interlocked his fingers to hers, almost romantic, and he started to walk.
Eden felt a warm calm run through her body. That was what Trev’s presence and touch did to her. Nobody had ever made her feel like that before.
When Trev stopped, he pointed to a grave.
The first thing Eden noticed was how blended in it was. It just reminded her that she had purposely waited almost a year to come to Frelen. Her eyes filled with tears and she put her head to Trev’s hard chest.
“Say something,” she whispered.
“Griffin, brother,” Trev said. “This is your baby girl. Your beautiful daughter, Eden. She came to the MC looking for you. I’m sure you know more about this than we all do. Hell, for all I know, you crazy son of a bitch, you set this in motion. Hell, maybe even after your death. You’re that kind of wild, right?”