Helpless (Steel Demons MC #5) - Crystal Ash Page 0,98

along this lake, I can give you a tour tomorrow. But we’re thinking of a community playground, a garden, and around thirty homes, depending on lot sizes. You can all stay together that way, if you’d like.”

“Sir,” Reaper coughed with a shake of his head. “I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s too much—”

“Four Corners doesn’t have standardized currency yet,” Vance clapped him on the shoulder. “So this is how I’m paying you and your men for bringing my Kyrie back to me. Offering a basic human need, such as shelter, is the least I can do. Please,” he shook and squeezed Reaper’s shoulder a little harder, “don’t think the homes come with strings attached. We can draw up a contract if that would make you feel better. But I’m forever in your debt, Reaper. Not the other way around.”

“If you would just let me think about it,” my husband said cautiously, though still starry-eyed with disbelief. “It’s just…a lot.”

“We’re not used to gifts like this,” Jandro explained. “We’re used to taking, stealing the things we value most, then fighting like hell to keep them.”

“It’s not a gift, it’s payment,” Vance insisted. “Your men risked their lives and returned what’s most dear to me.”

“No disrespect, sir,” Gunner chimed in. “But men like us are also not inclined to trust politicians at their word. I’ve seen firsthand the corruption brought on by wealth and power because I was born into it. Most outlaws have been a victim to it at some point or another.”

“I understand,” Vance nodded. “Well, after we have the time to get to know each other, I hope we can come to a place of trust. I think the Sons of Odin would vouch for me.”

“It’s because of them we agreed to come here.” Smoke curled around Reaper’s mouth. “They’ve been loyal to you longer than us and have lost a lot more. If anyone deserves home and community, it’s them.”

“They’re good men. I think of them like my own sons, in a way.” Vance lifted his eyes to where Dyno spoke to Grudge in a low voice a bit further away from everyone else. “It’s a tragedy what they’ve endured.”

He couldn’t see, but I spotted T-Bone talking to Kyrie near the patio doors. Her eyes were wide and dreamy looking up at him, their heads bent together in an intimate conversation.

Reaper followed my gaze over Vance’s shoulder and huffed out a quiet laugh. “I’m glad you think so, governor. Keep that in mind for when they do things with no apparent explanation. Bikers are unpredictable, and we mourn our losses in different ways.”

“Fair enough,” Vance shrugged, either not noticing, or ignoring what we saw behind him. He lifted his drink instead. “To remembering those we’ve lost and forging new, lasting friendships.”

“I can drink to that,” Reaper grinned.

Twenty-Nine

SHADOW

I breathed for what felt like the first time in hours. The governor’s car dropped me off at the B&B and I was finally alone. Blissful silence was freeing. Spending hours rubbing shoulders with men who wanted to do nothing but talk was suffocating.

But I did it. I made it through the night and lived. Now quiet and solitude were my rewards.

Once in my room, I undressed for bed, kicking my boots off and undoing the buttons on the crisp shirt like they were ropes binding me. I pulled my sleeping pills from the drawer, then sat on the edge of the bed, ruminating on the evening as I untucked the shirt from my slacks.

Mari looked amazing. Every man in the room stared at her like some exotic pet bird and it brought out a bloodthirst I’d never felt before. She wasn’t theirs. What right did they have to gawk so openly?

I huffed out a dry laugh to myself, knowing I wasn’t any better. At what point did I change? My whole life had been spent in fear and avoidance of women. Now I wanted to gouge out the eyes of strange men over one, as if I had any right to her myself.

Look at me. Pining over an unavailable woman and dining with politicians. You’re moving up in the world, Shadow.

I thought back to when Mari first told me she was proud of me. She had that same look when the governor toasted me, drawing everyone’s attention to me. I thought I handled it okay, but poor Grudge looked like he was the verge of a panic attack the whole time. Only looking at Kyrie, the governor’s daughter, seemed