Page 32 of Wild Ride

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

DAKOTA

I’m not quitesure what I’m looking at. Hearing someone let out a low whistle causes my body to jerk, and I slowly turn to face the direction of where the man was focused and whistled, and that’s when I see it.

There is a woman standing in the distance, but next to her is Bullet. She’s dressed in what I loosely consider clothing because there really isn’t much of it at all. The black skirt is so tight and so short, I’m afraid if she shifts her hips at all, her lower lips are going to make an appearance. Her top, or lack thereof, isn’t much better. It’s a straight-line tube top in stretchy fabric, but it only covers her breasts and literally nothing else.

I try not to stare at her, but her big blonde hair that’s curled and teased, her heavy makeup and bright-red lips don’t help matters, and then again, neither does the fact that she’s staring straight at me—challengingly.

Bullet jerks away from her, and I watch as she softens her expression then looks up at him as if she is hanging on his everyword. But something changes. Her lips part, and her body shifts backward, almost as if she stumbles.

Turning my attention toward Bullet, I watch as he stalks toward me. And he is stalking toward me like I’m the prey and he’s the alpha. Which, to be fair, is probably a correct interpretation of the two of us, especially since I can’t deny the way my body wants him, and my whole brain shuts the hell off when he’s near me.

“You good?” a gruff voice asks me.

Looking over, I see a man who is probably around sixty years old, maybe even older, standing a few feet away from me. He’s got a full gray beard, and he’s carrying a little extra weight, but he still looks strong. But it’s his eyes that cause me to pause. He’s wearing an expression of true concern.

When I shift my attention back to Bullet, my breath hitches when I realize that he’s almost reached me. I’m not sure what I’m going to say to him. I don’t know how to navigate any of this. My father, his people, this man. It’s all brand new, and it’s a lot at once. A lot of it I don’t understand.

“I think so,” I exhale as I tear my eyes from Bullet and look at the man.

“Name’s Shocker. Knew your dad and your mom.”

Instantly, all thoughts of Bullet and that woman disappear. My eyes widen, and I face him fully. Shocker. I open my mouth and start to ask him what he knows, but it’s as though he can anticipate my questions because he starts talking.

“I didn’t know your mother well. She wasn’t here for long. But what I do know is that Nathan loved her. Loved you, too.”

“She said he was a monster,” I whisper.

Shocker snorts just as I feel a hand slide across my lower back and curl around my waist. I don’t have the ability or the brain power to deal with Bullet and that woman right now, so Idon’t fight the hand on my waist. Every ounce of my attention is on Shocker and only him.

He shakes his head before he speaks. “Don’t know about that. What I do know is that she was too young to be with him, too young to be hanging around here, and as far as I know, Nathan didn’t know how old she was until you were born. That bein’ said, not sure he pressed her about it, either.”

“How old was she?” I ask in a whisper.

I’m not sure how I never realized how old my mother was when she had me. I’m sure it’s right there in print on my birth certificate. But I was always so focused on my father’s identity that I never thought to really take in the document or anything else printed on it. Seems like maybe I should have looked further into it.

“Sixteen, though she claimed she was eighteen.”

I think back to my own childhood, and my breath hitches when I remember the fact that she wanted me to have sex at sixteen with Uncle Freely and was disappointed when I refused. My gaze searches Shocker’s, and he must see something in it because he reaches out and takes my hand.

His touch is firm and comforting, two things that I had no idea I needed in that moment. Thankfully, he doesn’t ask me why I’m silently freaking the fuck out. Instead, he gives my hand a squeeze and flashes me a warm smile.

“Maybe he wasn’t as scary as she said he was,” I whisper.

“Could be, or maybe she was just scared.”

Tears fill my eyes, and as much as I don’t want to cry, they slide down my cheeks anyway. I wish that my mother were still alive. I have so many questions. Most of them start with the wordwhy. I’m not sure she ever would have answered them, though. Maybe it’s best that I don’t know the whole truth.

“Maybe we’ll get some answers once we get to the commune and start asking questions,” Bullet announces.

I’d forgotten he was standing next to me, his arm still around me. Shifting my attention from Shocker to his, I look up into his face. He’s giving me a small smile, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. I can’t guess his thoughts, but he seems solemn.

“Maybe,” I whisper.

He gives me a smirk then clears his throat, and before I realize what’s happening, he turns to the crowd of men who aren’t surrounding me anymore, but they haven’t ventured off too far, either. Then I hear Bullet announce something, and my entire body jolts with a jerk.

“I’m laying claim right fucking now to Dakota. She’s my woman and goddamn off-limits.”

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