Blade (Silver Shadows MC #1)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Blade

“I will tell you everything if you just give me a chance,” I pleaded.

“Baby girl, I want you to tell me what this fucker did to hurt you so much?” Declan asked.

Looking over at me, she said, “He died.”

Declan looked back at me. “What the fuck is she talking about?”

I stood from my seat. Taking Becca’s hand in mine, I lifted her up as well.

“Let’s go somewhere private, and I will tell you everything.”

Dec stepped in front of me, stopping us from leaving.

“Why don’t you just share with us all? That way, nothing gets lost in translation when she tells me later,” he demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.

Becca looked up at me. “Is there anything we can’t share?”

“It’s not that. This is going to be hard for both of us. We don’t need an audience,” I told her, compelling her with my eyes, hoping she understood.

Nodding, she turned to her father.

“Dad,” she said hesitantly. “I’m so happy we found each other, and I want us to get to know each other and have the relationship that was kept from us.”

She looked back at me, and I nodded.

“I need to do this alone. I will tell you everything later, I promise. You won’t be able to get to know me without knowing this, so you don’t have to think I’d keep it from you.”

“Baby girl, I need to know if I’m going to bury him in the ground or just beat his ass.”

She giggled and leaned up on her toes to kiss his cheek.

“I will let you know what I decide after I hear what he has to say.”

Dec smiled at her and then turned and glared at me.

“Don’t forget, we have that meeting with Matlock in the morning to go over the will,” King reminded us.

“I know. After what I learned today, I need to know everything before I see my mother again. Oh my God, how is this my life?” Becca said, shaking her head and looking at Rachel.

“Girl, please, you have always been dramatic.” Rachel waved her hand in the air, then laughed. “How can your life be anything else? If you need me, call me. I’m gonna go find my man.”

Rachel got up and left the room. Before we could make our escape, King stopped us.

“Tell her everything.” His eyes bored into mine. “She doesn’t need to be protected from her anymore. Not after this.”

I nodded, and he looked down at my girl. “I knew you were special the first day I met you.” He kissed the top of her head.

“Thanks, Uncle King.” Becca laughed, and King groaned as we walked through the clubhouse and out the door.

“Do you want to go to the house, or take the bike up to the mountain?” I asked her.

Becca looked across the street at her home. It was her home now. I could only hope that after I told her everything, she would want to stay and make a home with me and the club.

“Let’s take the bike. There are too many emotions surrounding the house right now.”

I placed the helmet on her head and climbed on my bike. Holding out my hand, she grasped it, climbing on behind me.

I pulled her knees forward, so she pressed up tight against me. She wrapped her arms around my waist, and I felt like my heart could beat again.

We rode through the gate, but instead of heading directly for the trail, I took her for a ride through town first. I wasn’t ready for her to put any more space between us yet.

Not being with Becca all week just about killed me. She didn’t know it, but I never left her.

King ordered me to give her some space after what happened at the diner and then finding Grams when Jack took her home. I made sure she didn’t see me, but I had eyes on her the whole time.

My eyes.

With Grant out there somewhere, I wasn’t leaving her safety in anyone’s hands but my own.

Guiding the bike up the trail to our spot, I knew this was the only option for coming clean. This was where we told each other our secrets. Where we shared our dreams and our fears. This was where we screamed at the world on our bad days and celebrated the good days.

Here, I would tell her everything. About my dad, WITSEC, the accident, her mom. I wouldn’t leave anything out; I just prayed she loved me enough to forgive me.

Pulling up to a stop, I let the bike idle for a minute while I soaked up every moment I might have left. I turned off the ignition and tapped her leg to let her know she could climb off. Swinging my leg over, I took a deep breath. Placing her helmet on the seat, I grabbed her hand in mine, and we walked over to the edge.

We stood there looking out over the town while I tried to find the words I needed for her to understand why everything happened the way it did.

“Blade,” she said, breaking the silence.

I looked down at her.

God, she was so beautiful.

I turned to face her, taking her other hand, so I was holding both now.

“First, you need to know, I noticed you. I noticed you on that first day. I didn’t want to let you into my life because I didn’t want to lose you. Even at seven years old, I knew you were special.”

She closed her eyes, and I knew she was trying not to cry.

“Let’s sit down, and I’ll start at the beginning.”

Sprawling out on the ground, I eased her down to sit between my legs with her back against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her tight.

“I need to hold you while I tell you this,” I said, and she relaxed back against my chest.

“You knew the rumors about my dad. That he was into some shady shit. Well, they were true. He was an accountant, but he was an accountant for the Mob.”

She gasped. Sitting forward, she turned to look at me.

“What?”

“Please, baby, let me get through this,” I implored, pulling her back against me. “My dad got caught doing something. I still don’t know what. I never asked. But the FEDs got involved and to stay out of jail, my dad offered to turn state evidence against his employers. So when I was two years old, my parents entered WITSEC. I want you to know I didn’t lie when I told you my name was Justin. That was the name on my birth certificate originally.

By the time we moved to Diamond Creek, I had been in four different schools. Every time we got settled, our location would somehow get leaked, and we’d have to move again. I grew tired of losing friends, so I had decided I wasn’t making any more friends. You disagreed,” I said, and she giggled.

“Somehow Diamond Creek became home. I don’t know if it was because it was so small and remote or because our handler told no one where we were. He was the only person who knew. For eight years, no one knew where we were. We were safe. Until we weren’t.

“Remember when you told me you were going to break a big story because the Mob had come to Diamond Creek? I tried to convince you Old Man Johnson had a gambling problem?”

She nodded her head. Maybe she was afraid to say anything.

“Well, you were right. They had found us. A few days later, when I kissed you, I knew it was the last time I would see you. I couldn’t leave without tasting you just once. Because I had noticed you, Becca, and I wanted you. I was so afraid of ruining our friendship that I had decided you were off-limits.”

She tried to sit forward, and I held her tight.

“Please stay with me,” I urged her. “After the staged accident, the FEDs whisked us away yet again. Sent further out west to another small town. When I was seventeen, they found us again. They killed my mom.”

She gasped. “No! I’m so sorry, Micah.”

She placed her hands around my arms, pulling me closer.

“They moved us again: another new town, another new name. No new friends. Within a few months, they found us again. They killed my father on my eighteenth birthday. I watched them do it. I was expecting to be killed as well. Instead, they told me I was safe. For sixteen years they hunted my parents, but because I was two when my dad turned against them, they didn’t hold it against me.”

I certainly hadn’t expected to walk away.

“I think maybe my reaction to my dad’s death played a part in why they let me live. There was no crying. I didn’t scream, didn’t even accuse them. It might have been shock, but I thanked them. Finally, I was free.”

This was where it would get dicey. This next part would make or break my future.

“It took a few months to get cleared from WITSEC. I was eighteen by then and they couldn’t force me to stay in the program. So I left. I went through the process of having my name permanently changed to Micah Spade. Then I came home. For you.”

This time I let her lean up, as she turned to look at me.

I needed to see her face, and I needed her to see the truth in my eyes.

“You were gone by the time I came home. You had moved away with your mom. I went to see Grams, and she told me what had happened. How you weren’t doing well here anymore and so she sent you off to college. She told me how to find you and I left again. I was coming for you, Becca. I decided I wouldn’t live anymore of this life without you.”

“What happened?” she asked, waiting to hear my story.

“I went and found you.”

Seven years ago

I had to find her. Grams said she hadn’t been the same since I died. I needed to know if she loved me the way I loved her. I wanted a shot with her. Trying not to ruin our friendship wasted so much time. I almost lost her forever.

I pulled my bike up to her mother’s house in Ohio, idling at the curb. Garnering the strength to climb off my bike and walk up the steps, I tilted my head to the sky and said a silent prayer. I swung my leg over and it took everything in me to face what I hoped was my future.

Knocking on the door, her mother answered. She never really liked me, but she tolerated me as much as she tolerated anyone.

“Micah? Is that you?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“How? You died! What are you doing here?” she questioned, looking over my shoulder like she was expecting someone.

“It’s a long story, but in a nutshell, everything you thought about my dad was true. He’s gone now. Both my parents are, and I’m free to live my life however I want. I want to live that life with Becca.”

“Oh, Micah, I’m sorry. Rebecca has moved on. She’s happy, finally. Your death really took a toll on her and we had to move away.”

She crossed her arms against her chest and leaned in the doorway. She never invited me in.

“I can’t let you see her. She has a boyfriend now and they’re pretty serious. He’s planning to propose soon. Do you really want to disrupt her life when she thinks you’re dead? Do you know what that will do to her? I can’t imagine she would be happy knowing you lied to her.”

I’d thought about that, but I had to know for sure.

Standing there, I didn’t know what to do. I loved her so much.

Did I love her enough to let her go?

“I’m settling down in Diamond Creek. When she comes to visit, we’ll run into each other. I think it would be better for her to know the truth sooner rather than later, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t. She won’t go back there. She said she would never go back. Not even for her grandmother’s funeral. She never wants to step foot in that town again. Please, Micah, let her live her life. You don’t know what she’s been through.”

“I’m really sorry, Miss Washington.”

“It’s Sawyer now. Rebecca and I have moved on from Diamond Creek. Forever.”

“Yes, ma’am, congratulations. Goodbye.”

I turned and walked back down the steps toward my bike. Firing up my bike, I sped off. With nowhere to go, I just rode around for a while and circled back to Becca’s street. I had to see her for myself. Had to know she was happy.

I sat on my bike for hours that first night without ever getting a glimpse of her. The next day was more of the same. On the third day, I finally saw her. A car pulled up in the driveway and a man got out. He was big. Becca climbed out of the other side.

The douchebag didn’t even open her door for her.

I saw her smile at him when she walked round the back of the car. He held out his hand, and she took it. My gaze followed him as he leaned down and kissed her cheek and together, they walked up the steps and knocked on the door.

When I saw her mother open the door, she smiled, hugging them both. Her mother almost never smiled, and I never saw her hug Becca. They stepped into the house and before closing the door, her mother looked over to where I sat. She knew I was out here. She raised an eyebrow in silent question, and I fired up my bike and drove off.

“I didn’t go back to Diamond Creek. I couldn’t live there without you. Heading south, I wandered around until I met Jack and the Silver Shadows. When King needed a location to open the new chapter, I figured if you wouldn’t go back, I could hide out there and never risk running into you and your husband and any kids you may have.”

I held my breath, waiting to see how she would react.

“That bitch. She fucking lied to you.” Becca jumped up from the ground and started pacing. “That guy was Michael. My stepbrother.”

“The guy that had his fucking arm around you at the funeral.” I growled.

“Yes. Michael and I are close, don’t get me wrong.”

I growled again, not wanting to hear about Michael.

“Stop growling at me. You know you have been doing that since I met you. Looking back over the last few weeks, I don’t know how I didn’t know it was you. You haven’t fucking changed a bit.”

I chuckled as I stood up. “You certainly have. You and your dirty mouth.” I pulled her over to me. “Give me that mouth.”

This was it, the moment that told me if we had a future to work toward. She smiled, leaned up on her toes, and pressed her lips to mine.

My chest rumbled as I deepened the kiss. Splaying my hand across her back, I drew her close, pressing my dick against her belly. My other hand slid up the back of her neck into her hair, holding her in place.

“I’m never letting you go, baby. Tell me you forgive me.”

“I want to.”