Page 1 of Pike
Chapter One
Chloe
Ithought the worst day of my life was the day I killed my husband and his brother and then spent three years of my life in hiding. But like so many other times in my life, I was wrong. Today was the worst day of my life. It was the memorial service for Ashley Monroe, the woman who had kept me safe and hidden, who had rescued me and gave my little girl the love she needed for three years.
My emotions were at an all-time low, unbearable sadness had consumed me from the moment T-Bone and the Steel Demons rescued me in Shiloh Valley and today it sank even further. Ashley was young and vibrant, she had this zest for life I’d only glimpsed here and there during my pregnancy with Gemma. She smiled often, laughed easily and her heart was so big that she rescued us and welcomed us into her life and her home. She was gone too soon, and it was all my fault.
Her memorial service was exactly what you’d expect if you’d ever met Ashley. Her artistic friends showed up in colorful ensembles, sad, yet ready to celebrate the life she’d lived. They somehow blended in seamlessly with the leather and chromed out biker crowd that had shown up to support her brother, Will.
It wasn’t just the sadness that overwhelmed me, it was the unfairness of it all. I was the one who’d chosen the wrong man. I’d ignored my sister’s warnings about the darkness within him and married him anyway because I was convinced I was in love. I was the one who’d killed Marcus and Victor and yet I stood there physically whole if mentally scarred, while Faith had been shotand Ashley was dead. But the worst part of all? The man with the piercing blue eyes aimed my way was the only other person who saw the truth. He rightfully blamed me for his sister’s death and based on the way he stared hate-filled daggers my way, I shouldn’t have come to pay my respects. Her actual funeral had been quiet—family only, which was essentially Will—but today, now that everything had settled, the club was coming together to commemorate her life.
He clearly hated me, and I deserved his wrath but not even that could’ve kept me away on this somber day. Ashley wasn’t just a kind protector, she was the best friend I’d ever had. She was as much a sister to me as Faith. I had to come, for me and for Gemma. Ashley deserved to be honored for the sacrifice she made to keep us safe, and I planned to do just that.
“Here.” Faith offered me T-Bone’s black bandana, her eyes filled with concern. She released my hand and wrapped her arm around me, squeezing tight. “I’m so sorry, Chloe. This must be bringing everything back.”
I shook my head, crying even harder under her gentle sympathy. “Don’t be sorry for me,” I whispered. “I don’t deserve it.”
“Yes, you do,” she insisted as she squeezed me tighter. “She was your friend. She did for you what I couldn’t. You deserve to honor and grieve that loss.”
I tried for a smile, but my body betrayed the instinct, turning it into a wide-mouthed grimace that hurt my heart. In the months since I’d been rescued, I thought I was coming to terms with everything that had happened. But today, the wound had been ripped open again. “Thank you for saying that but this isn’t about me. It’s about him.” I sent a quick look at Will, whostill glared at me as if he wished for the same thing I did, that it was me in the ground instead of Ashley.
“It can be about more than that,” Faith shot back. “He’s still angry and he’s allowed to be but that doesn’t take away your pain. Or hers,” she nodded to where Gemma stood clutching her doll to her chest. “We’ve all experienced so much loss, Chloe. Toofuckingmuch.”
After being apart for three years, it would take some time to get used to this version of my sister—confident and badass with a potty mouth. She was always a capable woman, the one who’d taken care of me when I was younger. The one who solved murders in Las Vegas, but this version of her was something new altogether. Something better. “Still,” I said barely above a whisper. “She was his sister.”
“Sounds like she was yours too.”
I nodded because she was. “I just feel so guilty.”
“Don’t. Her death wasn’t on you, Chloe. The Ghost Riders did this and nobody else. Ashley did the right thing, she protected you and Gemma from a debt you didn’t owe. It was you or him and you made the right choice. She did too and it cost her dearly, it cost her too damn much, but that wasn’t your fault.” She leaned her head against mine, sighing heavily. “From everything I heard about her, Ashley wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if she’d given up your location.”
I knew that. On every single level I knew that was true but it didn’t lessen my guilt over the fact that I was still here, and she wasn’t. The loss I’d experienced, that we’dallexperienced was just too much. Faith and I had lost our parents at an early age, which taught us the ways of the streets too soon. Faith had always been my rock and my protector, but I’d lost her too fora few years when I refused to see reason where Marcus was concerned. We fought all the time and then Marcus, afraid of her influence over me, had begun to isolate me. I hadn’t realized it at the time because there was always a good reason to put off meeting her for lunch or calling her later. Except later never came and after his death, I never thought I’d see her again.
But here she was, at my side the same way she’d always been.
“I don’t deserve you,” I whispered.
She flashed a sad smile. “Too bad since you’re stuck with me.”
Those words managed to put a small smile on my face that quickly died as I glanced over at Will and saw in his eyes just how unwanted and hated I was. But that was okay because he couldn’t possibly hate me more than I hated myself.
I’d killed two men and even though they deserved it, the act weighed heavily on my soul. And it wasn’t just Marcus and his brother Victor, it was Ashley and the three men my sister had been forced to kill. Six people dead all because of me.
My life wasn’t now and never had been worth six lives, a fact I’d heard often enough from Marcus’ mouth to believe it.
But now I was given a second, possibly a third chance, and this time around I was determined to get it right.
Chapter Two
Pike
Ah, fuck. I never fucking imagined in my wildest dreams that I’d be holding a memorial service for my kid sister before my thirtieth birthday. But here I was standing in front of her grave on the sunniest goddamn day of the year. I didn’t think anything could have been worse than her actual funeral, which was just me standing by her open grave. Back then, Ghost Riders were still looking for revenge, and everything was so fucking raw, I wasn’t thinking straight. I thought that doing something like this would help me heal, but instead it felt like my heart had been ripped out of my fucking chest.
It didn’t help seeingherhere.
I tried not to look at the woman who was responsible for Ash’s death.
I stood there, stock still, sad and angry as fuck, raging with guilt because I couldn’t save my sister. Ashley and I had been through so fucking much in our lives, and I was always there to step in when she needed me to, hell, plenty of times when she didn’t need me to. But the one time when it really mattered, when she needed me, I wasn’t there. For most of our lives it was just me and her, left alone when we were far too young to be left alone in this world. We stayed under the radar together. We developed rules to stay together and out of sight of social services. I protected her physically, and despite being younger, Ashley saved me from myself more times than I could count.
