Savage Love (Back Down Devil MC #7)(36)

When it all stopped, the rider stepped from the motorcycle.

“What is this?” Gaige asked.

Miller put his fingers to his mouth and whistled. “Take your f*cking helmet off!”

The rider reached up and slid the helmet off his face.

“No way,” Nate said.

“That’s our guy,” Miller said. “Filling in for Griffin. The only one who could do it. The only guy who would die for the cut but not ask for one.”

“One of the Lost Men,” Nate whispered.

The Lost Men. The bikers who gave up their patches and MC’s for the open road. A group of guys that were dirty, ruthless, and sometimes pure evil.

Their leader stood a couple feet away from Miller.

Yeah, it was a risk, but now was the time to take risks.

“Miller.”

“Trev.”

They shook hands and hugged.

“Holy f*cking shit,” Gaige said.

“It’s time,” Miller said. He patted Trev on the shoulders. “You look like f*cking death.”

“I’m ready to die, brother,” Trev said.

“You just might have to.” Miller looked around. “We all have to be ready to die.”

Even Ella. Even her little, sleeping family.





fourteen.



Beck woke up and wasn’t having anything. He wasn’t hungry. He wasn’t teething. He didn’t want to be held, coddled, loved, bounced, or played with. Simply put, he just wanted to be a baby and cry his freaking eyes out. There was nothing Ella could do about it either. She couldn’t blame the baby; he was in a new environment. Had no crib. Had no future at anything.

Sighing, Ella sat on the edge of the bed with Beck in her arms. Her eyes started to fill with tears. She stood the baby on her legs as he whined and thrashed his hands at her face.

“I don’t know what you want,” she said. “I’m sorry for that, Becky-boo. I promise that everything will be okay. You won’t even remember any of this someday. But I will. I’ll feel guilty for the rest of my life.”

Beck stopped crying. A stray tear fell from his eye. His head turned. He bent his knees and then kicked up, bouncing. Ella grinned and let the baby do that for a few minutes. His legs were getting way too strong which meant he’d be walking before she knew it. Right now, the clubhouse situation wasn’t all that bad. It was comfortable. But the second Beck started to walk, then what? The place was crawling with outlaw bikers. That meant cigarettes, booze, other drugs, maybe. There were weapons, knives and guns, making the place somewhere no child ever needed to be. Oh, and not to mention the enemies that wanted to kill everyone inside the clubhouse.

“I have an idea,” Ella said. She stood up. She eyed her bags and her keys were right on the dresser. “Just try not to cry.”

Ella walked to the door and tore it open. She let out a scream and Beck belted another fresh round of cries.

“I’m so sorry,” a woman said, standing there.

“Who are you?”

“Ava. Sorry. I’m friends with Emily and Mia. I was just coming to check on you. It’s going to get crazy around here.”

Ella poked her head out and looked, seeing the prospects in the hallway. “Is Jerry here?”

“No. Trev is.”

“Who the hell is Trev?”

“Someone I know,” Ava said. “Oh, that poor little guy. Can I get him anything?”

“He’s just fussy.”

“May I hold him?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

Ella couldn’t remember a time when she just gave her baby to strangers like this. But if these women were allowed in the clubhouse and were with other patched in members, then they could be trusted.

Ella hoped.

Ava took Beck with gentle care. She smiled at him and lifted him. She then wiggled him, tickling him, as she brought him down to her face.

“What are you doing up there?” she asked.

Of course Beck stopped crying and starting oohing and flirting with Ava.

She kept him busy as Ella moved out into the hallway.

Miller appeared a few seconds later, a guy next to him. The guy was big, thick with muscle, a gruff looking face with unkempt hair and dark eyes. He had a swagger about him that bothered the hell out of Ella. Like he was a guy that truly didn’t care about anything. He wore an all black leather cut that looked like the prospects cut, but as he closed in, Ella saw that there were threads of string on his leather cut and faded spots where maybe patches used to be.

“Trev, this is Ella,” Miller said.

“Damn,” Trev said. “Pleasure.”

“Hello,” Ella said.

“Ella, this is Trev. He’s from the Lost Men. He’s going to fill in Griffin’s seat for a little while.”

“Why the f*ck are you telling her this shit?”

“She’s part of it all.”

“What? You’re harboring *?”

*.

Ella cringed. She didn’t want to be referred to as that.

“Hey,” Miller said. “This is Jerry’s…”

“Ex-wife,” Ella said.

“Christ, Miller. You can’t just pour gas on the fire, can you? You have to go and throw the entire f*cking can into the flames.”