RUTHLESS HOLD (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel)

There was silence and Trev put his arm around Eden and squeezed her.

“Keep going,” Eden whispered.

“We’re going to take care of her,” Trev said. “No bullshit, Griffin. I promise you that, brother. It’s the least I could do for you. I’ll make sure she doesn’t get hurt. I’ll make sure she understands who you were. She knows you died wearing your leather cut. Maybe that doesn’t mean anything to her yet but someday it will.”

Eden stood and wiped tears from her eyes. She broke away from Trev and stepped forward. She stared at the stone and couldn’t find any words. Maybe there were no words because all her words were going to end up as questions that her father could never answer. The bullet that stole his life stole his voice and stole all of Eden’s answers.

She stood for what felt like an hour.

“This one time,” Trev said, “I had this beef with a guy, okay? He sort of screwed me with some motorcycle parts. I paid him and he kept giving me the runaround on things. I figured lesson learned. Shit happens all the time like that to people, you know? Serves me right for being stupid.”

Eden looked back and saw Trev leaning against a headstone, arms crossed.

“Isn’t it rude to lean against someone else’s stone?” Eden asked.

Trev patted the stone. “Me and Ashburne’s are solid on this, beautiful.”

“Oh.”

“So one night I go out for a few drinks,” Trev said. “Griffin tailed me. He knew I was pissed off. He knew I was looking to find a reason to fight someone. Always trying to save my ass. I get to this dive bar and the fucking guy who screwed me is sitting there. Two pretty women around him and he’s buying shots. When he saw me, he nodded like nothing was wrong. He fucked with me and I wanted to fuck with him. The thing was, I had gotten into a little bit of trouble and I had the PD on me. They were waiting for me to fuck up. They wanted to put me away and I was seconds away from having it happen. The guy walked over to me and put a hand out to shake my hand and quickly went on the defensive about the parts. I asked him what the fuck he was trying to prove. He laughed at me and wanted to know what I was going to do. He put his finger to my chest and said that a bunch of dirty leather guys weren’t going to rattle his chains. The second he said it I felt my hand go back. Then Griffin was there. Standing next to me. Before I could do anything stupid, Griffin knocked the guy out. One punch. The entire bar went silent. The guy was out, on the floor, arms out. Griffin knew how much I was out so he crouched down and dug through the guy’s pocket and got me twice what I had paid.”

Trev started to laugh. He let out a long breath and shook his head. He looked away, blinking fast.

“So I bought a round for everyone at the bar, for the disturbance. The bartender had two of his workers drag that asshole out. I never saw him again. And that was Griffin.” Trev looked at Eden. His face like stone again. “That was your father. He always looked after me when we ran outlaw together. When he patched back into Back Down Devil, down here in Frelen, it was like I lost a father. I get it. It was good to see him again years later but it wasn’t the same. There was a lot of shit he had to keep to himself, and so did I. But that was Griffin. He was smart as hell. Always managed the finances great. Always had business ideas. And at the same time, he’d drop the pencil while calculating some kind of percentage of something and grab his gun, ready to fight for his club and for his brothers.”

Eden turned and walked to Trev. She didn’t care what kind of message she sent, she put her hands around Trev’s back and hugged him. She clutched his leather tight, shut her eyes, and inhaled him. He smelled like a wild man. It was so dumb to think that, but that’s what came to her mind.

“Thank you for telling me that,” she whispered.

Trev hugged her back. “Anytime, beautiful. I know you don’t like this shit, but it’s important to see. Things are going to get wild around the clubhouse and the town. It’ll work itself out though. That’s what happens in this life. One second you’re having a deep talk with a good friend and the next there’s a bullet ripping through your neck and spine. Remember that.”

“I will. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“Okay, let’s get out of here. Let him rest. Let him do whatever he’s doing, wherever he is.”

Eden looked up at Trev. “Hey. Do you believe in heaven and hell?”

“I don’t know. I believe in what I can see. I’ve seen hell. I’ve experienced hell. But for some reason it never made me want to be a better person to go to heaven.”

“You’ve never experienced heaven…”

Trev smirked. He touched Eden’s face and wiped a tear off her cheek. “No, I’ve never experienced heaven, beautiful. But… looking at you… being near you… I sort of get it.”

Eden felt her heart drop into her stomach.

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