Page 71 of Bronco

His sharp intake of breath has me wanting to retreat, but I need to do this. He needs to know some of what happened, then maybe he’ll see why I am the way I am. Why I’ll never get married again, have a family, or probably settle down. I never want to be controlled ever again.

“I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry he did that to you.”

“My brother didn’t care,” I whisper. “We’d never really gotten along, but I thought he’d stick up for me, tell Vince to lay offme, but he didn’t. They both have multiple wives, and Erica was scared for Olive. Hell, I was scared; it’s the main reason we decided to leave Illinois.”

“This is insane, AJ. No wonder you ran for your life.”

“Yeah.”

“What’s the name of the religious group?”

I shake my head. “No, I’m not telling you that.”

He lifts my chin. “Because you know I’ll kill him, and your brother.”

“Yes, that’s exactly the reason. Like I said before, I don’t want you going to jail. It’s not worth it.”

“But what about all the other girls he could prey on?”

My eyes blur with tears when I think about that. “I know, trust me, that’s the part that haunts me, and the women who are being used and manipulated who don’t see it. One of my brother’s wives tried to stop us the day we ran away.” I tell him briefly what happened and his arms tighten around me.

“Even back then, you were a tough little cookie. I’m glad you knocked that bitch out.”

“I wanted to do more,” I admit. “I was so angry. She almost blew everything. I’d worked so hard to line this up, stash money away so we could get a bus to anywhere, and it was almost all for nothing.”

“But you made it out,” he reminds me. “You survived.”

“Since then, Erica has always been talking about trying to bring them down. She can’t let it go. It’s got me worried that she may have started something.”

“We need to talk to Star ASAP. Give me the name of the cult, I’ll find a way?—”

“No, Bronco. I know what you’ll do, and I don’t want that on my conscience.”

“Why not? He doesn’t seem to have one, or your brother.”

I know his words are true, but I still couldn’t stomach being the instigator of someone’s death knowingly. I’m just not made that way. I know Bronco thinks I’m some kind of badass, but that isn’t 100% true. I have doubt, worry, and fear all the fucking time.

“I know, but I want to handle this myself. I promise if I need your help, or if Star can’t get any trace of Erica, then I’ll tell you, but you have to promise me you won’t do anything.”

“Not gonna promise that,” he says. “I’ll fuckin’ cut his throat in front of his entire family if we ever come face to face.”

And that’s exactly what I was worried about. I know he would. Bronco isn’t just the big, oafy nice guy with a heart of gold. He loves hard, and if you hurt someone he cares about, you will suffer horribly. It’s how he’s made. I’m no stranger to what goes on in the MC, and while the club is legit and everyone works in their businesses, I’m also fully aware the club has done illegal things in the past. People have disappeared. Mafia and rival MC club wars have broken out. So-called drug fueled shootings on the news have been unsolved, or blamed on gangs, but I know the MC was involved. I’ve often reasoned with myself; if they only kill the bad guys, is that really considered a sin? I’m not deeply religious these days, but I still believe there is something higher than all of us. I also believe that bad people should be taken from the earth, unable to breathe the same air as us, or hurt anyone else. I do believe in vigilante justice to a degree, but Bronco is too close to this. The fear of him getting caught and locked away is too much for my heart to bear.

“Please don’t say that,” I chide. “It makes me nervous. I’m sure he’ll get what’s coming to him. In fact, I believe it strongly.”

“So he has no way of knowing where you are, right? You haven’t contacted your brother or anyone else?”

I shake my head. “No. I never had a phone, so he could never contact me. I even changed my legal name.”

“Were you always Amber?”

“Yes, just my last name.”

He starts to stroke my shoulder again. “I hate that you suffered.”

“It made me stronger.”

“Even so. That shit ain’t right. The fact that you escaped means they held you captive?”

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