Page 26 of Forever Zara

Dragging hands through his hair, Rider caught it in a messy heap and tied it back off his face. Hawk stepped out of the church to call his old lady, so Rider grabbed his phone and connected with his girl within a few rings.

Her voice, sweet as candy, went through him, hitting him square in the heart.

She was the other half of him; he did not doubt it.

If a man lacking in scruples and unethical as him could deserve her, then he knew she was his soulmate.

“My biker-man,” she smiled with her voice. “Only thirteen days, wheeee!”

He grinned. Fucking loved this woman until he ached with want for her. “Icy-baby, gonna be a few hours yet, need to take a ride, you good there? Have you and the kids' eaten dinner?”

“What haven’t we eaten?” She chuckled, and he smiled, hearing her happiness. She’d settled in the last few hours. That made his decision the right one. Nothing he wouldn’t give for her peace. “Your mom baked cookies with Harper, and I tried every one of them. I feel sugar sick. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, baby. I’ll let you know when I’m home. You don’t have to wait up for me.” He knew she would, and he wanted her waiting for him so he could hold her. “Hey, Zara?”

“Yeah, honey?”

“Love you. You know that?”

She paused on the other end, the silence palpable in his ear, as if gauging his words and why he was saying it now. Then replied in a hot croak. “I love you, Ambrosio, more than ever. Is something wrong?”

“Not a thing. Marrying my girl, aren’t I?”

She chuckled lightly, “even if I have to drag you there kicking and screaming.”

“Hardly, been wanting it for a long time. Listen, can you put Mad-dog on the phone?”

“Rider…” he probably should have called Ajax directly; she knew he never voluntarily talked to his father unless he had to. Now she was suspicious. “Something is going on.” She whispered because his parents were somewhere in the background.

“There’s no danger, baby. Tell you when I’m home,” he repeated. “Mad-dog, Zara.”

“Okay.”

The next voice on the line was jagged in tenor.

They’d made some inroads into changing their father-son relationship since the kids came along, but they were never going fishing or doing other father-son shit. It wouldn’t suit either of them. Rider had Uncle Jed for that stuff.

“What’s up, Rider?”

“I gotta go on a ride for a few hours. Can you and mom make an excuse to stay there with Zara and the kids? Don’t freak her out. Act like you’re tired or some shit.”

Which was gonna be a big stretch seeing as their house was only a few blocks away, and they could walk it home.

There was stillness and then the sound of a door closing. “Okay, I’m outside. What the fuck is going on? Do I gotta hop in the truck?”

Rider laughed. Some tightness in his chest loosened at the thought of his aging father, a once-renowned biker VP, hardass extraordinaire, rolling into battle alongside him.

“Nah, need you at the house. Pretty-Boy will be outside too. Nothing is happening. Just feel better knowing someone is there with Zara. She saw aRaging Rebelsthe other day.”

“The fuck!” His father cursed.

“Yeah. A new branch forming in Hades’ footsteps. I talked to them already, supposedly innocent, but my gut says differently.”

The slew of expletives to come out of his father was fast-paced. Rider let him go on for a second. “You gonna stay at the house?”

“Of fuckin’ course I am. That girl is my family too, Rider. You’re getting rid of them?”

“Yes.”

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