Page 5 of Love Me Back
He’d been through this twice before already. He had two little girls from his first marriage. The woman was a cunt, from what Ellie had told me. I didn’t use that word lightly; in fact, I hated it. But sometimes it was warranted.
I wasn’t at the bookstore the day she came in thinking she would worm her way back into Ryder’s life after leaving him and the girls. If I had she wouldn’t have left.
If there was one thing I had learned from my family, it was how to hide a body so it would never be found.
Ellie told me how Tammi, Ryder’s ex-wife, had abused Tabby when she was only a year old and could barely talk. It’d had lasting effects because the little girl had stopped saying the few words she did say.
Only now, Melissa, one of Ryder’s MC brother’s old ladies, had been working with her. She was a child psychologist. Tabby was now talking at home, and occasionally at the store.
It was Avery, Ryder’s nanny, who had made him aware of what was going on, and Tammi disappeared. It was also Avery who had broken Tammi’s nose in the bookstore that day before Shotgun whisked her away just as the sheriff showed up.
I had to say, for a tiny little map-dot town, there was never a dull moment in Diamond Creek. Just a few weeks ago, a man had been shot dead in front of The Bake Shoppe.
That was a shit show.
Of course, the Silver Shadows had been tangled up in it somehow. I hadn’t asked Ellie for the details. I didn’t want to know. Once the rumors got around that Brian Buchanon, head of the IRA, was in town, nope, I was staying away from that shit.
I wasn’t sure if Nav had done a background check on me. Danny knew who my family was, but he never let it get in theway of our friendship. Ellie knew only a little. I tried to shield her from as much as I could.
I wouldn’t let the shit my family did touch her. She was too pure, too innocent.
They knew where I was. They always did. They kept tabs on me everywhere I went. But they kept their distance. That was the deal.
They let me go, and I didn’t talk to the Feds.
I was no stranger to the underworld. My family was one of the top dogs, now that Vasquez had been taken out at Christmas.
My uncle had called and warned me about being here. The Silver Shadows were small-time, though. In fact, this chapter wasn’t a 1% club. King wanted more.
At least that’s what Ryder had said.
My uncle didn’t believe me. He said there were things happening behind the scenes that King didn’t know about. I wanted to warn him, but I couldn’t do it without telling him who I was.
“Hey, you’re thinking awfully hard over there.”
I looked up at Ellie and smiled. “Just wondering how bad the food is gonna be while we wait.”
“Don’t worry, Mom won’t let us starve,” Ryder assured me. “I’m sure she’s already cooking and packing a cooler to bring up here.”
Ryder’s mom was the best. Abigail Thomas was a rare woman. She was nurturing and loving. She would drop everything for someone she loved. But she was tough, too.
She raised Ryder alone until she met his dad. Ryder’s biological father had taken off when Abby was pregnant. He didn’t know who his father was, and Abby hadn’t told him.
I knew, though.
It was another bomb my uncle had dropped when he called.
When he had taken over in Mexico, he dove into the people in town. He wanted to know with whom I was associating. Who might be an ally, and who might be a threat.
It was another reason I stayed away from Grayson. I wouldn’tlet my past touch him. I wouldn’t put him at risk like that.
He probably wouldn’t want anything to do with me anyway if he knew who I was. Who my family was. What they did.
A nurse came in and checked Ellie’s vitals. The distraction brought me back to the present and pulled me from the nightmare I was creating in my mind.
“You’re making great progress. How are you feeling?” she asked Ellie.
“I’m hungry. I didn’t eat this morning before we came in.”
