Redemption Hills: The Complete Collection

40. Trent

FORTY

TRENT

Cutter stood at the end of my car. A gun in his hand and hatred in his eyes. He no longer had a beard. My gaze dropped to the left side of his neck where the skin was mangled and scarred.

Distorted and disfigured.

But that wasn’t what made him ugly. This nasty, vile creature standing there. No, it was the maliciousness lining his insides.

How the fuck was he still alive?

“Ah, don’t look so surprised to see me, son.” He cracked it. A taunt. A sneer. “Didn’t you miss your dear old dad?”

His body rippled with aggression.

With hate.

While I reeled.

Awareness slowly caught up. Every nerve in my body fired. Muscle binding and twisting.

My eyes scanned. Calculated. Searching for a way to get out of this when I had a gun pointed at my face.

Funny how things turned out that way.

Running and running and running, and I’d ended up in the exact same fucking place.

The wickedness abounding. Clawing and eating and decaying.

Guessed it was grief that slipped down my spine and stirred in my stomach. Fact I’d done it all wrong. All along. Regret after regret.

“Put a bullet in you,” I grunted.

Cutter laughed a disgusted sound. “You didn’t think I’d go out so easily, did you? Guess you should have been a better shot.” He tsked. “And here you were supposed to be the best.”

“And what…you crawled out of the sea like the snake you are and waited for the chance to strike?”

He hiked a shoulder. “Was never going to let you get away. Not from the beginning. Not when your bitch of a mother was gonna run off with you or when you decided to run off with that lying whore.”

Shock punched me in the chest. A full body blow. Kind that stumbled me back as my head dropped and my eyes squeezed shut for the quickest beat.

As the meaning of his words came to fruition.

Hatred heaved from my throat, my voice twisted with horrified disbelief.

With my stupidity.

With a brand-new grief.

“Mom.”

Chuckling, Cutter looked at me like I was ignorant.

Stupid.

I had been.

God, how did I miss it? All those fucking years chasing down a demon when he’d been standing right in front of me.

Had to force myself to remain still. Not to get knocked to the side like a fist had just landed on my jaw. Or just go running straight for Cutter when he’d pull that trigger if I so much as moved an inch.

“You really think that Demon was responsible? Come now.” The prick laughed. Playing me. Winding me up.

“I…” Memories slammed me.

I’d been just a kid…a kid who’d been oblivious to the truth.

Oblivious to Cutter’s intentions all along.

A smug smile filled his face. “Have no idea how you never realized it…guess you were so blinded by your hate, thirsting for revenge over her death, that you missed the whole goddamn point. You and your brothers…you belonged to me. I didn’t mind ending anyone who threatened that.”

“You killed her.”

“Gladly.”

Bile raced my throat, and my hands kept curling into fists. Rage simmering to the surface.

But I had to keep it together.

Stay focused.

Stay quick.

Hope to fuck that Cutter made a misstep and I could take him out.

Needed to play the bastard the way he’d played me for years.

“What does it matter now, Cutter? Why kill Juna? Why all this bullshit? That fuckin’ pig? Those pricks at my bar? You didn’t have to be a coward…you could have just shown your face. You and me.”

But truthfully…why?

He’d already lost everything. His crew. His club. His freedom. Fucker had been hiding for the last six years.

Dread slipped beneath the surface of my skin when I thought back to the intel Jud had gotten through Ridge.

Fact that Demons and Petrus had started losing members.

Shit.

Cutter was making a play.

Reclaiming turf.

Had been rebuilding. Behind the scenes. Growing in strength. Growing in numbers.

No question, those bastards in my bar had been sent by him.

Scoping.

Planning.

Inciting.

Because that’s what Cutter had wanted.

My fear.

He gestured wildly at his face with the barrel of his gun, his smile manic. “You didn’t think I was just goin’ to let you get away with this? Let you live after what you did? Figured I could have a little fun with it in the process.”

My teeth grated. “You killed my brother.”

“Nah, Trent, that was always on you. Now it’s time you finally paid that debt. Think I still have time to get some use out of your brothers and that little shit that started this all in the first place. Your son has my blood flowing through him. Only makes sense. Owls are back, but sorry VP, you’ve been demoted .”

Rage.

It flooded.

The irresistible kind.

The kind that made my mouth thirst for the taste of blood.

It was what I’d done for so long. For so many years.

Ghost.

Kill after kill.

The numb violence that had spilled through my veins before I’d spill blood on the floor.

No chance would I let any of them get dragged back into that sordid world.

Not my brothers.

Not my son.

I choked over all of it.

That man. One who’d gladly kill at odds with the man I wanted to be.

But for Gage, for my brothers…

Mocking laughter rocked from Cutter. “Tell me you didn’t go soft on me? Here you were, my pride and joy. Just your name incited fear. Loyalty. But that’s what you always lacked, isn’t it? Loyalty. Now look at you, standing there shaking. The deliverer of death should always be ready to die.”

I blinked.

Tried to see.

To focus.

I had to stop this here because Jud and Logan wouldn’t go down without a fight, and I couldn’t allow them to be put in that position.

Then I froze.

Awareness slithered.

The breath ripped from my lungs.

Metal clattered off to the side just as I was struck with a bolt of that energy. With that overwhelming intensity that blistered and lashed.

Cutter whirled around to the side.

Eden appeared through the blaze of sunlight that burned through the garage door.

Oh god. Eden.

Sweet, fucking Eden.

Didn’t need to slow to feel the terror that radiated from her flesh. To sense the determination that had lined her bones.

This brave girl with the brightest belief.

So reckless as she came into the garage.

For me.

For my son.

I knew it.

I knew it.

“Eden.” Fuck. Eden. “Get out of here.”

She ignored it. Stepped deeper into the garage.

“Police are on their way,” she said with a jut of that fierce chin. She kept moving forward. “They’ll be here in a minute. I told them about your guys hiding out here in Redemption Hills. They know you and the three of them are responsible for killing my sister. You’re not getting away with this. Not any of it. This is over.”

“It’s over when I say it’s over, bitch.”

“Eden, get down.” I dove for Cutter in the same second he lifted his gun her direction, tackling him from behind as the deafening gunshot rang out.

An oomph jutted from his mouth as I toppled with him to the floor. His arms and legs flailed, and the bullet pinged against the wall.

We both scrambled onto our feet. A war for dominance. A fight for possession of that gun.

“Motherfucker, it’s time to die,” Cutter spat.

Whole time, I was shouting, “Eden, get down. Take cover. Please, go.”

Please, go.

Since the minute I’d met her, I’d refused to let her get in the middle of my mess.

And there she was.

Danger all around.

I refused to let something happen to her. Refused it. This world would be the darkest place without her light in it, and this black, mangled heart would beat its last beat for her.

For my son.

This little family I couldn’t keep.

My mother. Nathan.

It all crashed down on me. The lives I’d stood for. The ones I’d lost. The ones that had to burn on.

No matter the cost.

No matter the cost.

Fury and fire singed through my being, my hands grappling to take Cutter down.

The man was a meaty fuck. Full of his own wrath and rage. “You spit in the face of everything I offered you. Everything I gave you. Ungrateful prick of a kid.”

But I didn’t want it. I never had. Had been manipulated.

Molded.

Exploited.

I was just a kid. Just a kid.

We struggled, banging into the car, the workbench, the wall. While I felt Eden’s chaotic spirit rushing through the space.

Punches were thrown, our teeth clenched, one hand around the front of his neck.

He ripped his arm free, the gun cocked.

In a flash, he had it pointed at my chest.

Hatred flared in his eyes. Ruthless victory. “Not even ghosts are immortal.”

Then those eyes rounded.

Surprise.

Fear.

Anguish.

He dropped to his knees. Slumped over. Fell to the ground. Blood poured out, and a puddle gathered quickly around his lifeless body.

The screwdriver Eden held slipped from her trembling fingers and clattered to the concrete floor.

Shock filled the air, and Eden stumbled in horror. In the gutting realization of what she’d done.

She lifted her hands that were soiled by my father’s blood.

The girl tainted by me.

Those autumn eyes stared and blinked and tried to process.

“Eden…baby…Eden.”

“You need anything else?” My words were a low grunt as I hovered at the doorway of the master bathroom.

Didn’t want to step out. Like maybe if I remained rooted, I could hold onto her forever.

Wrapped in a huge towel, Eden shifted on her bare feet. Water pelted the floor of the massive shower, the air misting with vapor and heat.

That quiet intensity that was this girl banged against the walls and hammered against my heart.

That’s what she’d been since the police had arrived on the scene.

Quiet.

Restrained.

Horrified.

Withdrawn.

Girl couldn’t even look at me.

Didn’t blame her a bit. I’d sucked her into this sordid world. Tainted her with who I was.

Bloodied this girl’s pure hands.

“No, I don’t think so. Thank you.”

My face contorted as my hands fisted in shame. “Don’t thank me, Eden.”

“Trent—” That gorgeous face pinched in something I didn’t recognize.

“I’m going to take a shower downstairs.” I cut her off before she said things she likely felt obligated to say.

I knew she’d say I shouldn’t feel bad. Claim she would be okay. Tell me not to worry about her when she went back to her safe life where I should have left her in the first place.

Or maybe she’d just give it to me straight. Tell me she was disgusted.

Violated.

Say she finally saw me for the monster that I was.

A savage who’d brought injustice to her door.

It’d only taken about thirty seconds after Cutter had crumbled to the ground for the police and paramedics to show. Apparently, Eden had called 911 as she’d raced to my house.

They’d wrapped her in a blanket and brought her in to sit on the couch while they’d gathered evidence.

While she’d shaken.

Cried silent tears.

Stared out into the space.

While they’d taken Cutter’s body away.

He was dead.

No question this time.

We’d also gotten word that all three of Cutter’s men had been arrested.

The threat was finally silenced all because I’d drawn this innocent, pure girl into the darkness. Into the corruption and degradation of this life.

Whole time, I’d itched to take that precious frame into my arms and mold her to my shape. Promise her we could fit.

“I’ll get rid of these.” My throat was thick as I glanced at the pile of bloodied clothes discarded on the floor.

She hugged the towel tighter to that body, still shivering from the shock.

From the strain.

From the thousand questions the investigators had asked, all while telling her she would need to come down to make an official statement tomorrow.

Warily, she nodded. “Okay.”

She dropped the towel, peeked back at me once, before she stepped into the spray.

Had to fucking tear myself from the lure of it, this girl my demise, my hands shaking like mad as I gathered up the soiled fabric from the floor and stuffed it into a black garbage bag.

Swore, I could actually hear the shape of her body under the fall of the water. Way it drummed and danced across that lust-inducing flesh.

I backed out, hurried downstairs, and stripped myself down to my underwear, shoving my things into the bag before I tossed it out into the garage.

The garage probably just needed to be burned.

Whole fucking house.

Set to ash.

It wasn’t like I could bring my kid back here. To the place where I’d been so close to losing everything.

I moved into the guest bathroom and turned on the showerhead, stepped under the heated spray. Closing my eyes, I tried not to picture her up there washing away the blood that stained her hands. Tried like fuck to just be thankful.

Gage was safe.

My brothers were safe.

Eden was safe.

But at what cost?

Juna.

Poor fucking Juna.

Wasn’t sure how I felt the grief of it, but I did. In the end, she’d made the ultimate sacrifice, and right then, I knew Eden was currently upstairs mourning her sister.

My thoughts spiraled to the rest. My mother. Her sweet voice. Nathan. His belief.

Agony clutched all while gratefulness throbbed.

I scrubbed my skin until it was raw and red, then I stepped out, toweled off, and pulled on a fresh pair of jeans and a tee.

My ribs clamped down when I heard the shower turn off overhead.

This ache so great that I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it through.

I wandered out into the main room. Not sure what to do. Where to go. Not when I wanted to go to the girl.

The girl who I felt pad up behind me.

Warmth spread like a flashfire.

Wrapping me like an embrace.

Like she could hold me the way I was dying to hold her.

Fuck. The only thing I wanted to do was curl into those arms, wrap her in mine, and never let go.

I could barely keep it together when I shifted a fraction to look at Eden standing on the other side of the island.

Dressed in a floral knee-length dress.

Hair soaked and skin damp and turmoil in those eyes.

Eyes the color of fallen leaves.

So fuckin’ beautiful.

Her sweet spirit written on my soul.

“You feel better?” I forced out.

Awesome. Small talk and a fucking foot in my mouth.

Like she was just going to feel better?

Could just wash the day away?

This fuckin’ nightmare?

Her throat tremored when she swallowed, the angles of her stunning face twisting in severity. “Trent?—”

There she went again.

I turned my back, mumbled, “We should get you home. I need to go grab a few things. Going to stay at Logan’s until I find a?—”

The book that went whizzing by my head and slammed against the wall cut off my words, and I whirled around to Eden trembling and shaking.

That gorgeous mouth quivered at the edges. “Don’t you dare, Trent Lawson.”

My brow furrowed in a pained knot. “Eden?—”

Energy lashed.

A shockwave.

Thunder.

She lifted that defiant chin.

“Don’t you dare turn your back on me. Don’t you dare act like this didn’t happen to both of us. Don’t you dare try to put a wall between us.”

Agony clutched me by the throat. “And just what do you want me to do?”

Her head shook in disbelief as she clutched her chest. “Love me.”

A tormented scoff ripped up my throat. “Love you? Loving you isn’t the fucking problem, Eden.”

I was.

Who I was.

Emotion blasted from her body. Scattering. Slamming the walls.

An earthquake.

“Then what’s the problem, Trent? Tell me.”

Anger ignited.

Old, old anger that I’d held onto my entire fucking life.

I stormed her way.

Greed lit in the air.

Possession.

“I dragged you into my mess. Like I knew I was going to do. Tainted you. Ruined it all.”

Her head shook. “The only way you could ruin me is by walking away.”

My head angled as I got close to her face.

My senses were pummeled by that sweet, honeyed scent.

It was all mixed with the smell of me—my soap and my body and my hands.

Like there’d be no washing me off her.

My guts clenched, the same as my hands. “You killed a man today.”

Tears streamed from her eyes. Tears I knew had been falling straight for the last two days. Wanted to reach out and wipe them away.

Hold her.

Keep her.

Fuck.

I wanted to scream.

“I did, Trent. I did. And it was horrible. Horrible. But I don’t regret it.”

My face pinched, voice haggard. “That’s on me.”

Her mouth fell into a grim line. “No. It’s on him. He came looking for death, and he found it. He was going to hurt you, and I refused to let that happen. Because that…that is what would destroy me.”

Squeezing my eyes shut, I backed away. “Your sister…”

It was a confession. Disgust underscoring the words.

Whimpering, Eden pressed her arms tight over that sweet, sweet heart. “I’ll miss her forever.”

“On me.”

“No, Trent, that was also on her. I know. I know what she did. She betrayed you. Hurt you. Destroyed so much of you. And I might hate her for that, but I love her for everything else. For the days we spent as children laughing. For the glimpses of joy. For her bringing me you and Gage.”

Shame sliced right through the center of my being. “You can’t honestly say you can look at me and not see your sister.”

She sniffled, a heave of air rushing from her lungs. “Do you really want to know what I see when I look at you? You want me to see a monster, Trent. But I don’t. The only thing I see is a man who is willing to sacrifice. I see goodness. I see an amazing father. I see a sweet, vicious warrior. Someone who’s fought for me. For his son. For his family. And that’s what you are to me, Trent. Family. My life.”

She heaved a breath, still clutching her chest. “So you really want to know what I see when I look at you? I see the man I want to spend my life with, and that is the truth.”

“Eden…”

“I know what you’re thinking, Trent. I saw it the second you realized what I’d done. But I was only doing the same thing you’ve been doing for your entire life. Fighting for the ones I love. And I love you. You told me you love me. That you’ll stay with me forever. Tell me you meant it. Tell me I’m a reason worth fighting for.”