Page 126 of Bronco

“In Heaven?” He snorts. “You really think there’s a happily ever after for people like me? Let me tell you, Amber, there isn’t, and you know what else? I like killing. I actually fuckin’ enjoy hurtin’ people who hurt others.”

His words should shock me, but they don’t.

“Vigilante justice?”

He nods. “Somethin’ like that.”

“Is that why you‘re in and out of the MC?” Even Bronco hasn’t told me the whole story, but I got the general gist of it.

“There’s always work to be done somewhere.” It’s almost like he’s pissed that he wasn’t part of this take down. All the way over in Illinois with people he doesn’t even know.

“I agree. Scum of the earth are everywhere.”

His deep, green eyes look pained. So much so, I have to look away. This man is strangely soulful in ways I never expected. “You’ve no idea.”

Titan sounds off a loud bark right before a commotion at the door. I jump, and in a split second, Brew pushes me back into the couch and has a gun raised, pointed in front of him with both hands. Titan runs toward the front door faster than I can blink.Holy shit, that was fast.

Brew walks slowly to the edge of the loungeroom, and I swear to fucking God he’s about to shoot when we hear:

“Amber? It’s me!” Bronco yells through the house. Titan’s bark gets louder as I hear Bronco greet his dog. Then, probably seeing Brew’s gun pointed at him, I hear, “Holy fuckin’ shit, Brew!”

“Sorry man.” Brew lowers his piece. “Shit’s just gone down, had me on edge.”

“What shit?” I hear his heavy boots on the wooden floors before I see him.

“With the cult,” he says it like he already knew about them.

Then it clicks. Did Bronco have something to do with this? I know he was overly interested in the tattoo on my wrist and where it originated.

“What the fuck?” And then he appears. Pushing past Brew, he reaches for me and I dive into his arms.

“Oh, I missed you so much.” I’m a babbling mess. “Vincent escaped from the compound, the feds raided it, and… and they found stuff, and Steven is in jail.”

“Slow down.” He kisses me on the forehead. “We’ll get to that in a second, okay?”

I look past him and my eyes brim with tears. Erica’s standing there, Ryder behind her as her hands fly up to her face.

She’s in my arms in two steps when I cross the floor to get to her. We embrace and the tears fall freely. “Don’t you ever do that to me ever again,” I scold.

“I’m sorry,” she whimpers. “I was in a lot of trouble.”

“I know, but that’s no reason to go AWOL on us. You could’ve been killed, Erica. You didn’t think. What about Olive? What if you’d been killed?”

“I’m sorry. I had to get out of town. When they tracked me in Louisiana, I had to lead them away from New Orleans. I didn’t want any of them knowing about you, or about Olive. If there was any other way?—”

“We’ll talk about this later.” I pull back, holding her at arm's length. “I’m so glad you’re back. Why didn’t you call from a payphone?”

“Trust me, I wanted to. I was scared, Amber. You don’t know these people, what they’re capable of.” She glances up at Bronco. “Then my saviors rolled up into the diner, and I thought they were there to kill me.”

“Lucky you got us and not the Olgettis,” Ryder mumbles from behind.

Tears leak from Erica’s eyes. “I’m so grateful, Amber, for everything. I promise I’ll never do something like this again.”

I nod. Unable to say any more because I’m still mad, but also relieved. Then I have to break the news about Vincent and Steven.

“So, I just saw the Kingdom of Faith have been raided,” I whisper. “You’d better come and sit down for this.”

We move over to the couch, the boys hovering between the open space of the lounge and the kitchen. Titan settling himself at Bronco’s feet. I swear Brew is pissed he didn’t get to shoot someone.

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