Redemption Hills: The Complete Collection

25. Trent

TWENTY-FIVE

TRENT

“Ready to tell me what the hell is going on?” Logan forced under his breath once we were out of earshot of Eden and Gage.

The two of them had gone into the great room. She’d wanted to clean up after breakfast. I’d insisted she relax. And what had the girl done?

She’d climbed to sitting on the carpeted floor, her knees hugged to her chest and all that lush hair wisping around her shoulders, and started to play with my son.

My chest tightened when I took them in. Adoration was written on that stunning face as she watched Gage scramble around on his knees, showing her every toy in his toy box. No doubt, the kid was telling her the whole damned history behind each of them, too, prattling on the way he did.

Nonstop jabbering.

That shit was probably annoying to anyone who didn’t know him. To those who didn’t love him like mad, since the only thing that sweet little voice did was fire at warp speed.

Eden…Eden watched him like he was a treasure. Like every word out of his mouth was precious.

And fuck me if watching it wasn’t precious to me.

I roughed a hand over my face to pull myself out of that fantasy. One where I could deserve something more. One where I didn’t destroy the ones I loved most.

Gunshots.

Blood.

Loss after loss.

I sucked for a staggered breath as fear rushed. Bottled in my being. Dread sinking into my bloodstream.

A low, disbelieving chuckle rumbled to my side, and I swung my attention to Logan who caught me in the vicious act of trying not to spiral.

“Dude, you have literal fucking hearts in your eyes, all while looking like you’re about five seconds from packing up and running for the hills. Quite the accomplishment, if you’re asking me.”

“Wasn’t asking you,” I grunted, breathing out a heavy sigh when I moved to join him at the sink. He had the water turned to full blast as he rinsed the dishes, a buffer to hide the conversation we needed to have.

He gave a cynical shake of his head. “Even if I don’t say it out loud doesn’t mean it’s not true. Fact you’ve got a girl here says it all, anyway, doesn’t it?”

My past mistakes gripped me by the throat. Constricting. The lie I pushed around it tasted like dirt. “Just watching out for her until we figure out who was responsible for what went down last night.”

Logan scoffed. “Right, brother. Tell me you don’t believe the bullshit you’re trying to feed me. And while you’re at it, how about you fill me in on why we are watching her?”

He tilted his head in the direction where Eden was currently singing a song.

Her voice this soft, lush timbre that weaved itself way down deep.

“You know,” he continued, “the one who means absolutely nothing to you, even though she woke up in your bed and is currently chilling with Gage in the other room.”

I hadn’t had time to give him the low down. The only thing he’d gotten was a vague text late last night warning him to keep out an extra eye. That something went down at the club. By the time he got here with Gage this morning, I was already heading out the door. I’d asked him to stick around until I got back, and that I’d explain everything then.

Huffing through my fear and frustration, I started to load the dishes into the dishwasher like it might distract from the undeniable fact that our past had caught up to us.

“Think we’re in trouble, Logan.”

Logan stilled for a beat, then moved on to scraping another plate, putting on that casualness he wore like a brand. “And what kind of trouble might that be?”

My voice was a rough warning. “Someone slaughtered a pig and tossed it through Eden’s windshield.”

His body rocked with the severity before he shook his head and attempted to joke, “Wow, that sweet little thing pissed someone off that bad? Does she have some crazy-ass-stalker ex we’re going to have to take down? If she does, sign me up because that shit is messed up.”

My voice was grim. “Logan.” His name was a warning to prepare himself. “In the blood running down the side, there was a message. A message for me.”

Logan hesitated as he glanced my way, his brows lifted as he waited.

“Someone wrote in the blood, ‘Not even ghosts are immortal.’ Not a chance that shit was random.”

Logan froze, and I could physically see the dread race through his system. Way it slithered down his spine and twitched through his muscles. He just stood there, holding the plate under the spray of water as he fought to catch up to the implication. “You sure?”

“Clear as day. Someone knows we’re here.”

His throat bobbed as he let the plate slip into the sink. His hands pressed to the counter, and he dropped his head between his arms before he looked at me from the side. “Who is it?”

It was a hiss.

Old animosity.

New fears.

“I don’t know yet. Jud has some connections digging. We’ll find out. End this before it starts.”

Logan’s hands curled tighter onto the counter. “Before it starts? Sounds to me like it’s already started. If someone is here? Throwing threats? Sending messages like that? Someone wants to get messy.”

Question was who and why.

Apprehension bounced between us, a sticky awareness that slithered and crawled through the room.

Since last night, my mind had been back on the three assholes who’d been at the bar all those weeks ago. Way the one had left something itching in my consciousness, though I was sure I’d never seen the prick before.

Sultry laughter rang through the air, and my attention was drawn that way, to where Eden laughed while Gage jumped and flailed his arms in front of her, being a goof, girl waving her hands over her head, playing into whatever antics he was tossing her way.

Everything clutched.

My heart and my body and my mind.

How had I gone and gotten so reckless? Let this girl invade? Take up the places inside me that she couldn’t?

“We left so we could get a second chance at life, Trent.” Logan’s voice came as a bid where he stood at my side. “All of us. Stop refusing it for yourself.”

I glanced at him with a scowl. “Not sure I get that luxury, Logan. The one thing I need to focus on right now is making sure everyone is safe. I can’t get distracted and fail again.”

At protecting Gage.

At protecting my brothers.

Fuck.

At protecting her .

Eden was the only person I’d ever considered letting in, and the first thing I’d done was put her in danger.

And I didn’t know how to stop.

How to resist.

This girl the kind of dream I didn’t want to wake from.

“You deserve joy, man.” Logan squeezed my shoulder. “Stop fighting it.”

The old demons screamed.

Whimpers and pleas.

Gunshots.

Blood. So much blood.

All of it on my hands.

“Not so sure about that.”

The sound of a motorcycle out front pulled us from our conversation, and I glanced to the screen on the security system to see Jud pulling into the driveway. He eased to a stop and climbed off. Dude nothing but a goliath who came striding to the front door. He entered the pin on the keypad to let himself in.

At the beeping, Gage hopped up and went beelining that way.

“Uncle Jud, Uncle Jud, did you come to see me, too? This is the best day ever in my whole life!” he shouted as he flew through the archway and out into the main room.

Way I wanted it. My kid completely oblivious to the turmoil that was raging inside me.

“Whoa, there he is. Gage in the cage!” Jud shouted. Inevitably, he was hoisting Gage up and spinning him over his head like he was gonna pile drive him. The two of them were in a constant wrestling match.

Gage squealed and laughed and hung on tight as Jud carried him in through the archway.

“No way, nuh-uh, Uncle, you can’t keep a good man down. I’m comin’ for you. You won’t even know what hit you.”

Jud had tossed him onto his back, one hand slung over his shoulder to keep the child from falling, and Gage had gotten him into a chokehold from behind, squirming all over like he was actually going to take Jud to the ground.

My chest stretched tight at the goodness of it. Way my brothers had surrounded me, come together as one, to raise this kid when I hadn’t known how to do the first thing right.

They’d sacrificed.

Relinquished a shit-ton of their freedoms and offered them to me.

Then that tightening was turning to a seizing when I felt the pressure in the air.

A zap of energy. A burst of light.

That magnet had me shifting my attention to where Eden climbed to her feet.

She was all nerves and hope and kindness.

So fucking gorgeous wearing a floral dress that hugged her just right.

My mouth watered, and my mind sprinted to the second I could get her alone again.

Little Temptress.

Distracting me in a way she couldn’t.

“Eden,” Jud said, dipping his chin.

My brother’s eyes flitted around to take in the situation. Adding. Calculating. Sliding to me for a quick second of speculation.

She’d stayed, and she wasn’t fucking going anywhere.

“Hi, Jud,” Eden whispered in that wispy tone.

Sound of it had always twisted me inside out.

After last night?

It was nothing but shackles and a chain.

“How you holdin’ up, sweetness?” Jud asked, the man rigid and hard and looking for a fight.

Knew him well.

He wouldn’t rest until we put this threat to bed.

Autumn eyes found me. A question. A whisper. A claim.

The connection that bound us thrashing wild.

She looked back to Jud. “Better than I could have imagined.”

Possession slammed me, and I was moving that way, the lure unstoppable. I moved up to her from behind, wrapped my arms around her waist, and fucking stuttered out a relieved sigh.

No use in denying it now.

She leaned back into my hold, exhaling, too.

Jud’s lips twitched at the side, dude silently gloating that he’d called it with that bet. Taking the girl to my bed.

Apparently, I owed him my share of Absolution.

Would gladly part with it if it meant keeping this girl whole and safe. My son happy and unharmed.

I dropped a kiss under Eden’s ear.

Gage howled from where he was perched on Jud’s back like he was witnessing the most scandalous thing. “See, Uncle, see?! My dad’s got a girlfriend and he’s gonna be kissing her like a bazillion-gajillion times!”

“I see that, shorty,” Jud said, voice a tease but his eyes intense and on edge.

“Would you mind taking Gage in the other room so I can talk with my brothers?” I murmured at Eden’s sweet flesh, not wanting to let her go, but I needed to find out if Jud had gotten any information.

Eden shifted enough so that those eyes could meet mine. A thousand questions swirled through the fathomless depths. Girl trying to get a read on me.

Piercing.

Cutting deep.

Trying to touch way down in those places I was terrified for her to see.

Instinct had me wanting to put up a wall. To stop this from happening. From her getting any deeper than she already was.

The sick part of me just wanted to give it all, lay it at her feet.

Probably was no use in hiding, anyway. With just that one look, I could feel her crack me wide open.

She got me on a level no one else could.

Both wary and devoted, Eden nodded. “Of course.”

“Thank you.” I turned my attention to Gage who Jud was flipping over his shoulder, making him laugh as he somersaulted, before he carefully set my kid on his feet.

“Why don’t you show Miss Murphy your room?” I suggested.

“You wanna, Miss Murphy, do you wanna? It’s so cool! I got a whole solar system and I know all the planets. Do you want to see ’em?”

Eden stretched out her hand and took my son’s. “I would love that.”

I watched them disappear out the archway, heart wanting to go chasing after them. When I looked up at Logan and Jud, they were both holding their laughter.

“Miss Murphy?” Jud mouthed.

“Shut it, assholes,” I grumbled, turning and heading for the refrigerator while the two of them busted up.

“Dude, you’re so screwed.” Logan was all grins.

“Pay up, bitch.” There it was, Jud deciding it was time to collect.

I grabbed a beer from the fridge, shut the door, and leaned against it as I twisted the cap and took a long pull. I rocked my head back on the cool metal, meeting their questioning gazes. “I’m fucked, guys.”

So fucked.

Because I was never supposed to let myself get in this far.

Tangled and tied.

Logan shook his head. “Nah, man. You’re fucking blessed, so stop this shit. You’ve got an amazing kid and a woman who clearly adores your surly ass considering she’s still here, so suck it the hell up.”

“Mom would like her.” Jud leaned his hip on the end of the island, looking at me with his beefy arms crossed over his chest.

Emotion locked at the base of my throat. So tight I couldn’t breathe. “She would if she was here, but I failed her.”

Failed at protecting her like I was supposed to do.

And she was gone.

Gone.

Just like I’d failed at protecting Nathan.

And I’d never outrun that.

Jud exhaled and scruffed a palm down his face. “No, Trent. Would bet my life she’s watching down right now, and she’s fuckin’ proud. Fuckin’ proud of who you are.”

Shame billowed through my being.

The sins I’d committed.

The awful things I’d done.

“Just…promise me you won’t shut her out,” Jud pressed. “That you give this thing a chance.”

I took a gulp of beer as I tried to process all the shit spinning through my brain.

“She’d be terrified if she knew what I’d be willing to do to protect her.” The words slipped out a growl. A warning of what was likely to come. If violence had followed us here? I was going to return it tenfold.

Jud gave a tight nod. Catching my meaning.

“Did you find out anything?” I asked.

“Talked to Ridge.” Ridge rode with Pillage of Petrus, which was another MC back in LA we’d had ties with. Worked with. No bad blood. Ridge and Jud were good friends. Went way back. Dude was someone Jud trusted with his life, which meant I did, too.

“There’s been some strife within the ranks of Demon’s Day.”

Mention of that club sent fire lapping through my insides. Singeing. Searing. Burning me alive.

Bad blood was all we had with them.

A war had started with them the day my mother was gunned down on our front lawn. Kind of war that was never going to end. Which was why I’d fucked Juna Lamb in a bid to get back at their president.

No better way to piss off an enemy than to put your dick in his girl.

Grief thudded in my spirit.

It was that mistake that had set the rest in motion. What had led to us losing Nathan. Another score on my soul.

But it was also the one that’d brought me Gage.

And I still didn’t know how the hell to balance that.

My throat felt tight, and my ribs clamped around my charred heart. “And how does that relate to what happened last night?”

“Not sure if it does, but Ridge is always keeping an eye out for what’s going down in the city. Demon’s Day has had some guys go missing. A few jobs gone bad.” Jud blew out a strained sigh. “Still not certain the two are connected, but there was also an attempted hit on Keeton Petrus.”

“Fuck,” I hissed. “Is he okay?”

Keeton was the President of Pillage of Petrus. Which meant if someone was targeting both clubs? Moving through the ranks of both Demon’s Day and Pillage of Petrus? Even going so far as to come after us? This was ugly. Dirty. Someone making a play for territory.

“Yeah. Someone shot up the outside of the dive they were hanging at as they were coming out. No one was hit, but the shooter got away. No one got a look at who it was. Ridge is doing everything he can to find out if there is a link to us.”

I dipped my head. “Tell him I appreciate it.”

“Will do. So what in the meantime?” He angled his head in the direction of the footsteps we could hear banging above in Gage’s room.

“We don’t let either of them out of our sight.”

I wasn’t going to let a soul get near either of them.

Would fight. Stand in front of a raze of bullets. Die protecting the two of them.

All of them.

Because I was done losing the people I cared about. And this time, I wasn’t going to fail.