Counter To My Intelligence (The Heroes of The Dixie Wardens MC Book 7) (25 page)

My parents were happy – and together – once again.

The only thing that was missing from my life were my three other brothers, and they would all be home soon according to the letters I’d received from them.

And then there were those criminal charges.

The ones that were just recently dropped.

I seriously couldn’t ask for anything more.

Oh, I take that back, I did want more. I wanted to marry Silas.

I wanted kids…kids that I knew would probably never happen.

I wanted a house to call my own, one that Silas and I built together.

I wanted a nice car that I bought myself. I wanted to wake up every morning beside the love of my life.

And I wanted Silas to be that man.

I wanted everything.

“Hey,” someone interrupted my thoughts.

I blinked and turned to find Sebastian standing at my side.

“Yeah?” I asked.

He nodded across the room. “Dad asked me to get you.”

I smiled. “Okay. Where does he want me?”

Sebastian grinned. “My guess would be next to him in some form or fashion.”

Nodding, I walked next to the big man that was entirely too nice looking for his own good.

Although, in my honest opinion, he had nothing on Silas.

That beautiful salt and pepper hair. Those big bulky arms. Tight clipped beard. Luscious lips. Strong, sexy stomach. And those eyes.

He really had it going on, and I still couldn’t figure out what he saw in me.

Especially with him standing in the sun like that, a bright smile on his face.

He took my breath away.

Once I reached Silas’ side, he held his hand out to me, and my heart skipped a beat.

Sebastian disappeared, and it was just the two of us under the bright noon sun.

“Where’d you disappear to?” He rumbled, eyes full of concern.

I would’ve answered him, but a rude voice cut into our conversation like nails on a chalkboard.

“You’re an asshole, and I hope your face rots off,” a woman hissed at Silas.

I blinked.

Well, that was harsh!

But seriously, the whole damn day had been full of everyone treating Silas like shit!

First his son, and now this woman.

What the fuck was going on?

“I don’t understand,” I said. “What’s she talking about?” I asked softly, looking up at Silas.

Silas’ head hung like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

“That,” he said, keeping his head down. “Is my ex. And it looks like she was just talking to my ex-wife.”

I knew the ex-wife.

The ‘ex’ was new, though.

I also couldn’t figure out what she was doing there.

“I take it they don’t get along,” I surmised.

He laughed humorlessly. “No, I don’t think they do. And it’s understandable.”

Yeah, from the explanation he’d given me about the two of them, it was understandable.

I’d probably hate him a little bit, too.

It’d help if Silas explained what had happened and why he’d acted like that, but he didn’t.

He thought he was doing them a favor by not saying anything to them or informing them of why.

“What is the ex- girlfriend doing here?” I asked.

Silas shook his head. “Not a clue. But I try not to have much of anything to do with her if I can help it.”

I had nothing to say to that.

From what Silas had told me of his ex, she did have a reason to warrant her snotty behavior.

And I couldn’t say that I wouldn’t do the same exact same thing had I been in that situation.

I would like to think that I was a better person than that, but right now Silas was my world.

I could even imagine having kids with him, something that would bind us even tighter together.

I’d be lost if I found out he’d cheated on me with his
wife
on the side…one I hadn’t realized he even had.

Wanting to change the subject, I asked, “How did the talk with Sam and James go?”

His mouth clenched and the strong muscles of his jaw started to work.

“Not good. They’re justifiably pissed,” he answered. “Don’t like that I’ve had men on them without their knowledge.”

I wondered if I should’ve said anything to that, but he sighed.

“I needed to tell them, it’s just hard to give my own kid more ammunition against me,” Silas finally admitted. “And I’m sorry that I took it out on you that I didn’t want to tell them. Getting mad at you was easier than telling them that Shovel is back in the picture.”

I blinked.

I never even thought that it was hard for him.

I just thought he didn’t think that his sons needed to know.

It’d never crossed my mind that he was scared to hear what his son would say.

“You want to dance?” I suddenly blurted.

He looked down at me. “In the sun?”

“There’s music,” I said defensively.

He laughed. “I’ll dance with you, honey. Just not here.”

I smiled. “Where then?”

His face got close to mine, so close that I could practically taste his lips on my own.

“When we get home. Promise.”

Home.

I liked the way he said that, almost as if he’d moved me in permanently.

“Sounds good,” I breathed, closing the distance until our mouths touched.

“Ewww,” a young kid squealed. “Papa’s kissing a girl!”

I looked over to see a blonde headed rug rat watching us with disgust on her face.

“Pru, darlin.’ It’s not very nice to scream,” Silas reprimanded his eldest granddaughter gently.

The girl grinned, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“Looks like you have your hand full with this one,” I teased.

He grinned. “Wait till you meet the rest of them.”

“Aren’t you the chick who killed those four people because you were drinking and driving?” Sam asked.

I sensed no condemnation in his tone, but it didn’t hurt any less.

He might as well have shoved a hot fire poker into my spinal column, because that was practically the effect he had on me.

“Yes,” I said softly. “I was the one who killed those four people.”

Sam blinked, surprised that I’d answered him truthfully, I guess.

“Hmm,” he said, not knowing what to say to that.

“Didn’t you go to prison for twelve years?” Shiloh asked.

I shook my head. “Eight.”

“Leave her alone,” Sebastian ordered, sitting down. “Dad’s going to be pissed if you hurt her.”

I smiled at Sebastian.

He was such a good guy.

“We were just asking her a few questions,” Shiloh defended herself.

Would it be rude to get up and leave?

Silas had asked me to wait at the table I was sitting at, yet I didn’t really want to be here right now.

“How are you allowed to be drinking? Shouldn’t you, you know, abstain?” Shiloh continued.

I closed my eyes.

Maybe I should be.

But then again, if I didn’t drink I wouldn’t be able to handle the two spoiled rotten children of Silas’ right then.

“I need to use the restroom,” I said softly.

I stood and walked carefully away from them, trying my hardest not to run.

I was surprised to find Silas on my way there, and instead of letting me go to the bathroom, he caught my hand and led me outside.

“Let’s go,” he urged.

I blinked. “You’re not going to say goodbye?”

“Why would I?” He asked. “It’s not like they’re going to miss me or anything.”

My heart ached for him.

“Let’s go home,” I confirmed, walking with him to his bike and ignoring my bladder’s reaction at not getting to use the facilities.

Once we got to his bike, he gestured to someone in the shadows, one of his men I guessed, and mounted the bike.

Offering me his hand, I mounted behind him and wrapped my hands around his waist as he started it up with a throaty roar.

My skin tingled as I felt the muscles in his stomach clench as he slowly started to accelerate forward.

I sighed in bliss as I closed my eyes and relished the alone time. My brain was a mess.

I looked over when another roar caught my attention, and smiled when I saw Sebastian and his wife, Baylee, directly beside us.

Well, not completely alone.

But I guess, at this moment in time, that having Sebastian next to us wasn’t that bad after all.

Silas could use the support.

And I’d be offering that until he didn’t want it anymore.

Because Silas needed a friend.

He needed someone to always have his back and have no other loyalties but to him and him alone.

That’s what a man like Silas needed in a woman.

Support.

Love.

Acceptance.

And lucky for him, I had all of that for him…and more.

I miss you sex is always worth the wait.

- Truth

Sawyer

“What are you doing?” I asked aloud as I followed Silas.

His head wasn’t there today, and I was worried about him.

I’d been worried about him for a while now.

He wasn’t the same man that I’d met in the beginning, and I feared that everything was weighing him down. My problems. His problems. Everyone in the club’s problems.

And what was worse was that he’d been acting different since we’d gotten back from the baptism yesterday.

I couldn’t figure out why he’d completely disregarded everything I’d said.

It was as if he was hurting or something, and I was determined to get down to the bottom of it.

So when he said he had to go, taking out a six-pack of beer out of his fridge on the way, I followed him. He has taken some alone time since we have been together. We aren’t together all the time, but this seemed different than his usual.

And I didn’t follow him very well. And not easily, might I add.

Mostly because he was on a bike compared to my car.

He could slide through traffic like a slippery eel.

I, on the other hand, drove so slowly that I could barely keep up with him.

When we hit the highway forty-five minutes later, it got easier.

I stayed at least ten car lengths behind him at all times, because I knew he’d make me in a heartbeat if I didn’t.

The only reason I saw where he was going was that I could see him turn at least three intersections away.

So I followed him as best as I could, eyes scanning my surroundings.

Finally, I caught a glimpse of him turning into what I thought was a cemetery, but I couldn’t quite tell since it was so far away.

But my suspicions were confirmed a few minutes later when I pulled up behind his bike.

Silas was nowhere to be seen, though.

So I got out and started walking, saddened by the hundreds of graves that were in the graveyard.

It was an old one.

Some of the headstones I passed on the way there were from the 1800’s.

I’d walked perhaps a thousand yards or so, just topping the tip of a hill, when I saw him.

He was sitting on a camping seat, one of the ones that had three poles and folded out into a triangle.

He had a beer in his hand and his back to me.

So I saw the cut clearly on his back, the huge scary, wraith like woman with her weirdly colored eyes staring at me hauntingly.

Beyond curious, but knowing he wanted to be alone, I turned on my heels and left, giving him the privacy I knew he wanted.

Well…not privacy…just not me.

And that didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would.

But I did make a phone call.

“Hello?” The man on the other end of the line answered.

“Hey,” I said. “This is Sawyer.”

“I know,” the man said impatiently.

I looked at the phone to make sure I’d called who I thought I’d called, and was surprised to find that I did.

“Umm,” I said, hesitating now that he’d answered so tersely. “Your dad’s at a cemetery drinking a beer with a tombstone. Should I be worried?”

There was silence on the other end for a very long time before Sebastian finally cleared his throat.

“Which cemetery?” He asked finally.

I looked up at the sign I was standing under and said, “Bayou Road.”

His swift inhalation was audible over the phone line, and I started to worry.

“Should I go check on him?” I asked anxiously.

“No. Leave him alone. We’ll be there.”

I didn’t get a chance to ask who ‘we’ was, because he’d hung up on me before I could say anything otherwise.

It was another twenty minutes of me sitting on the hood of my car, staring up at the streetlight that was trying to decide if it wanted to turn on or not, when I heard them.

It sounded like hundreds of motorcycles, but was more like ten.

I sat up and looked behind me to where I could hear the noise coming from, and smiled when I saw six men.

They pulled up behind me, each of them wearing much the same as I’d seen Silas put on before leaving the house.

“Hey,” Sebastian said.

“Hey,” I replied back.

He gave me a long look. “What are you doing here?”

I blinked. “I, uhhh….followed him.”

“You followed him?”

That came from the big man.

Kettle this time.

“He’s not going to just let you follow him,” Trance said.

I shrugged. “Maybe he didn’t see me.”

The blonde one, Loki, with the scary scar across his throat snorted, bringing my attention to him.

Him I didn’t know as well yet, but I could tell he was laughing at me.

“What?” I asked.

He smiled, showing off a row of straight, white teeth.

“Nothing. Just find it funny that you think he didn’t know you were following him,” the man explained.

I shrugged. “Well, he hasn’t said anything, and I’ve been here for forty minutes now. I would think I’d at least get a glare or a ‘fuck off’ from him had he known I was here.”

That earned me a couple of hard stares, but it was that of his son that caught me by surprise.

“Why do I feel like I’m not getting the entire truth from you?” He asked. “Where’d you pick him up at if you were following him?”

I couldn’t very well say ‘your father’s house’ to him. I wasn’t sure who knew that I was staying at Silas’ house. They knew we were in a “relationship” of sorts, but not that I was living with him.