Ruthless Hold (Back Down Devil MC #9)(26)

“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 f*ck with me, I’m going to f*ck 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?”

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?”