Page 2 of Paladin's Hell

Chapter 1

Paladin

“I don’t like this, Slick.” I grab a couple of beers from Paige, one of our sweet butts who’s minding the bar. Luckily now I’ve turned twenty-one no one can make snarky comments about underage drinking any longer. Yeah, while I’ve indulged in alcohol since I was a prospect, being the youngest member made me the butt of many jokes, brothers enjoying yanking my chain. Now there’s one less thing to tease me about. But it’s all good. It’s what family does.

Taking one of the bottles from my hand, Slick’s eyes narrow. “You and me both, Brother. Thought the Herreras were long in our rear view. Or at least, where Jayden is concerned, that is.”

Looking across the clubroom I see Slick’s old lady, Ella, and her sister Jayden, heads bowed talking together. Reckon they’ll be discussing baby shit. Ella’s pregnant after a couple of years of trying, and Jayden couldn’t be more excited at the prospect of being an auntie—she adores kids. The promise of soon having one that’s truly blood family seems to have gone to her head. Having got to the end of that apparently risky first trimester, Ella’s glowing and excited, and it seems she and Jayden talk of nothing else.

Slick must be able to read my mind. “Hate for Ella to lose Jayden now. They’re both excited as fuck about the kid.”

“As you are,” I smirk at him. Slick’s a real softie where his old lady’s concerned.

He takes no offence. “As I am,” he confirms with a grin. Then his face grows serious. “You know, as well as anyone, Brother, what a hard time those girls have had. Everything that happened to Jayden that led to us being in this mess, Ella’s fuckin’ run-in with the Rock Demons, then thinking she wasn’t going to be able to have a baby of her own. Those girls need each other.”

I grit my teeth. We’ve been through this often enough. I know what he’s saying, but the time’s approaching when I want to be the one Jayden leans on, the one she looks to instead of running to her sister all the time. Trouble is, according to the rules I’d been given, I’ve still got eighteen months to wait. Too fucking long.

I raise my bottle, taking a long swallow, thoughts of when I first met Jayden coming back into my mind. I hadn’t been the one going into the house to find her about to be raped by a group of much older men, or one of the brothers who’d stopped them. Unfortunately, it hadn’t been the first time it had happened to her, girl had got caught in a trap. The fuckers had carefully groomed her, sucked her in, then kept her from telling her mom or her sister with a barrage of threats. Only fourteen and already abused on many occasions.

My involvement began when I’d been called in from my guard keeping duties outside. It had been me who’d carried her drugged-up, almost lifeless body out of the way of the carnage that would be wreaked once she was gone. I’d been that man, a boy really, just turned nineteen myself. She’d woken up, luckily all she remembered was me carrying her.

That she wanted more from me than a girl her age should was clear, as were her reasons. To wipe away all that had happened to her, she wanted to replace her ordeal by making fresh memories with a man she had chosen herself, instead of living with those that haunted her.

God knows I was tempted. But I couldn’t go there. She pushed, tried to make me show my interest. Fuck, was I interested. But Drummer put a stop to that. He forbade me to touch her for three and a half years, until she was legal in the eyes of Arizona.

Jayden had felt slighted, but even then, I knew Drummer was right. Let her have what remained of her childhood, a time to regroup, to recover from her ordeal before pushing her into becoming a woman too soon.

You’re still a virgin,I’d told her. To me, you are. You’ve never had a first time the way it should have been.

I’ve been waiting over two years, still more than a year to go. In all that time, I’ve thrown myself into being there as her friend, have dedicated myself to watching out for her.

But things are changing. Word on the street is that the Herreras might be coming for her again. In their eyes, she was the one who got away, the one who caused multiple deaths in their family. When the rumours had been raised in church, Drummer went as far as to suggest I should take her some place safe, away from Tucson, away from her brother-in-law and sister. After we’d left the meeting, he said he’d give Hellfire, the prez of the Colorado chapter, a shout to see if he’d be on board with the idea of us relocating to their base in Pueblo. Hellfire being chosen because he was a family man.

Drummer’s suggestion was a step too far for Slick and his old lady. Knowing the danger threatening Jayden, though, they’d left their home in Tucson, and had moved back to the compound, taking two adjacent suites that were made empty for them. It wasn’t an ideal situation, not with a baby coming along. But for now, living amongst the Satan’s Devils was the most we could do to ensure Jayden was kept out of danger.

Breaking free from my reverie, I return to the conversation, reassuring the man seated opposite me. “Slick, both you and I have Jayden’s best interest at heart.”

“I think there’s another part of you more involved than your heart, Brother.” Slick sneers. “I can read you like a fuckin’ book. Moving to Colorado would hold attraction for you. You’re thinking it brings the end of your waitin’ time forward a year. Not happy about that, Brother, not happy at all.”

I can hardly remind him she lost her innocence a long time ago. Ella and Slick have never treated her as anything other than virgin and pure, as I’ve done myself. Fuck, I’ve not taken such liberty as to kiss her, not touched her except for a brotherly hug. Sometimes I wonder whether she still wants me that way, or if she’s changed her mind over the past couple of years. Once the boundaries had been established between us, they were never referred to again. I’ve acted as her friend. Nothing else.

My feelings for her haven’t dulled in the interim. Like I told her that long-ago night, I’d wait for her. And I have. She’s filled out, looks like a young woman now. A woman I’d be proud to have on the back of my bike.

As if our conversation has in some way summoned her, Jayden gets up, says something to her sister and then crosses the room. Reaching us, she plops herself down on the couch beside Slick, leaning in when he holds out his arm to place around her. If you didn’t know different, you’d think she was his daughter. Sometimes I get scared when she looks at me, she views me only as something akin to a brother.

“What are you two old women gossiping about?” she asks cheekily, her brow raised toward me.

“Just shootin’ the shit,” I tell her. Noticing the pool table’s free, I nod that way. “Want to play?”

“You’ve been talking about me,” she says firmly. As I wonder whether she knew from her female intuition, she adds, “One or the other of you kept looking my way.”

“Ella,” Slick says firmly. “We were talking about Ella and the baby. But there is something else I want to talk to Paladin about. Go get the balls set up, will you?” I tilt my head slightly as she gets up and goes. Slick’s lips press together, then he nods. “Ella and I have been talkin’. You and Jayden? No idea where that’s going to go. Most girls her age by now would be going to the movies with a boyfriend, a walk in the park holding hands. Innocent stuff, but maybe the basis of a relationship in the future. If she had a normal life, she’d be playing the field.”

I can’t suppress the growl that comes out of my throat at the thought of her with another boy.

He barks a laugh; it sounds a bit strangled. “Reckon Drummer and I might have tied your hands too much. Perhaps we should cut you some slack. Start slow though, maybe we should allow you to take her on dates. Think we could trust you enough not to take advantage. Proved yourself, Brother.”

I raise my chin at the compliment. My heart rate speeds up as I consider what he’s offering, but then I shake my head, pointing out the problem. “Now’s not a good time, not with the Herreras about.”

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