Page 60 of Hell & Back

“Yeah. Is the club still under lockdown?”

“Not anymore. Once Race got back, he told everyone to go home.” Tulsa checked his side mirror and pulled out.

“Perfect. Take me to the clubhouse.” He leaned back in his seat.

“You mind me asking why you didn’t want to go home with Tuck and Kylie? They’ve been waiting on you to get discharged.”

“No. I just need some space for now.” Darren refused to look at his friend, afraid of the judgment he might see there. He just wanted to go back to his room and stay as far from Kylie as he could get for now. He realized he was being an asshole bydodging her, but he didn’t know what else to do. He also knew she was going to be like a dog with a bone until she got to see him. She would want to see for herself that he was okay and safe.

12

DARREN

Darren was relieved to see only his brothers as he walked into the clubhouse with Tulsa. He was met with smiles and handshakes with back slaps and glad to have backs. He appreciated everything they’d done to rescue him and give their heartfelt welcome homes, but he really wasn’t in the mood to talk with anyone. He recognized that despite how badly he wanted to disappear into his room and hideaway, he felt he owed them at least the amount of time it would take to share a beer. God only knows, he’d been thinking about a tall cold one for days. He accepted the cold longneck from Cutter and made his way to the table where Race was motioning toward an empty chair.

“Good to have you back, brother.” Jed clapped him on the back and took the seat next to him.

“Thanks. I’m glad to finally be back.” He tipped his bottle back and took a couple of deep draws. “Fuck, that’s good.”

“Took a little bit, but we finally found you,” Dagger said from his other side.

“Never had a doubt you guys would find me.” He seriously hadn’t doubted it. He knew how dedicated the Sons were about keeping and protecting what was theirs, and for that he was grateful. But it was only a matter of time before one of them asked about his time with the PFMC. Until he’d gotten things straight in his head and his constant need to fuck under control, he had no desire to talk about it. When the time came, though, didn’t he owe it to Tuck and Kylie to talk about it with them first? In an effort to avoid the dreaded conversation, he tried to change the subject. He took a deep breath and let it out. “Where did Sadie and her nephew end up?”

Race thankfully picked up on what Darren didn’t want to talk about and answered the question from across the table. “We put them up in the apartment above Ink Envy for now.”

“How was she? Her and her nephew doing good?” Darren spun his bottle between his hands.

Race scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah. She said everything with Bacon checked out okay and she was beside herself happy when she got to Oliver. Cute kid. I had Jed and the guys swing by her house before leaving town and do a quick sweep. I had them get her pictures, her important papers and any of her personal things she or the kid might need. One of the guys drove her car up here.”

That was good. She’d been upset to not even have her purse in her possession. “That’s good thinking. I bet she appreciated it. How long are they staying?” He took a drink.

“She’s thinking about selling her house in Taos and staying here permanently. She can’t go back. The Phantom Furies will always be a threat to her and the boy until we take care of them once and for all.”

Darren nodded his head in agreement. The PFMC needed to be dealt with and he couldn’t wait to get his payback against Crockett and RIP.

“She also needs to get Oliver enrolled in school sometime soon. Lindsey said she could help her with that,” Trick added.

Made sense since Lindsey was a teacher at the school Oliver would be attending.

Race leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “The other old ladies have already taken her under their wing. I think Jane and Calliope were going to go grocery shopping for them and I also sent Miles over to drop off a new phone.”

He was happy to hear that. Despite what the club might think of her, she wasn’t the bad guy they thought she might be. Which reminded him. “Not sure if you guys figured it out or not but Sadie had no idea her name was on any of the properties here in Redemption. She was stripping at Bottom’s Up because Crockett had physical custody of her nephew and was using him to make her do things she didn’t want to do. He was holding the boy over her head and only allowed her to visit for an hour at a time. She was supposed to come up here, work at the club and get close to one of us. From what she said, she never did. She seemed like a really nice woman who’d been handed a shitty deal and I believe her.” He was silent for a moment, then added, “I just wanted you all to know so you didn’t judge her too harshly.”

“Jed filled us in on some things, too. We don’t hold against her. Hell, we’d all do whatever we had to if it was for one of our kids.” Race folded his hands together in front of him.

“Nothing about what you saw tonight gets back to Kylie or Tuck.” He wasn’t so much asking them to keep their mouths shut as he was demanding it. Now that he’d given his brothers a few minutes of his time and said what he needed to say, he wanted to get out of there. He could feel the eyes of everyone on him and he needed to go to his room. Especially before his dick woke upagain. He started to get up when the door opened and in came Kylie and Tuck. Her eyes went straight to him. He barely had time to set his bottle on the table and get to his feet before she was barreling toward him. She threw herself into his arms, her baby bump poking him in the belly, and started to cry. Damn it. She clung to him tightly while he floundered with wrapping his arms around her.

“Oh my God. You’re finally home. I’ve missed you so much.” Kylie’s voice was choked with emotion.

“Hey, now. It’s okay. I’m okay,” he choked while gently patting her back. God, he’d missed her so much. He dreamt of holding her in his arms so many times. Now that she was there he was terrified she’d know on some female psychic level that he’d been unfaithful to her. That just looking at him she’d find it written all over his face. He pushed her to arm’s length and tried to tease, “Did you start growing another one in there while I was gone?”

His eyes shot to Tuck’s over the top of his head. The panic he was feeling must have been easy to read because Tuck came over and pulled her back, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “Babe, gotta let the man breathe.” An urgent voice in his head was telling him to step away and stop touching her or the dirty disgusting feeling riding him would somehow make its way onto her.

She stepped back, wiping tears from her cheeks. “You’re lucky I’m so happy to see you or I wouldn’t let that one slide.”

Darren grinned at her like she expected even though his heart hurt. To be this close to Kylie and to deny himself the feel of her against him was almost too much to bear and the distance he’d put between them didn’t go unnoticed by either her or Tuck. He could feel a cold sweat spreading over his body, signaling his dick was coming to life, even with the brief contact he’d had with her.

Now that he’d experienced the relief he needed to escape the pain of the drug, he had to fight even harder to keep control. The urge to grab Kylie’s hand and race off to his room to fuck her for however long it took for EZ Lay to leave his system was hard to ignore. No matter how strong the need to find relief in her warm willing body got, he wouldn’t do that to her. The thought of rutting on her like some goddamn animal made him sick. He swiped a rough hand over his mouth and prayed for strength.

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