RUTHLESS HOLD (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel) (14 page)

“
No.
”

“
Anyone
touch you in ways you didn
’
t
want to be touched?
”

“
No.
Never.
”

Trev nodded.
“
Good. You had a good life then,
Eden. There
’
s always bad
shit that will happen. At least yours wasn
’
t
as bad as others. So maybe that
’
s
why they did it. Because if your mother confessed who your father was, the
implosion
…
you don
’
t get it. You
’
re the catalyst for a war so big
and so bad
…”

“
No
pressure,
”
Eden said.
“
Right?
”

“
No,
beautiful, no pressure. We
’
ll
protect you. I
’
m just being
honest. And growing in the MC life
…
during that time
…
it couldn
’
t have been easy.
”

“
How
would you know?
”
Eden
asked.
“
You don
’
t look older than me.
”

Trev grinned.

He had lines at the corners of eyes
that ran down to the edge of his smile. It was freaking unfair how hot he was.

“
I
hear war stories,
”
Trev
said.
“
I
’
ve been running outlaw and
patched in since I was of legal age. Did my stint as a prospect when I was
seventeen. I lied to get into the MC. This was the life I knew. Right now, it
’
s a little more peaceful than I
’
m used to. Guys with girls.
Kids. Family. That
’
s good.
What I
’
m trying to say is
maybe they gave you up for what they felt was the greater good. So you didn
’
t become a pawn in some kind of
biker war. I don
’
t know
what else to say about it.
”

Eden nodded. She touched Trev
’
s hand.
“
Thank you for being here. For letting me be here.
For fighting for me or whatever. I thought I was coming here to find my family.
”

“
Maybe
you found that,
”
Trev said.
“
Don
’
t deny the power of this club. We
’
re wild. We
’
re outlaws. I get that. Yes, we
kill people, beautiful. But we don
’
t
just go out and kill random people, okay? Everything has purpose. We view the
greater good of it all. The people of this town. They don
’
t know what it would be like
around here if it wasn
’
t
for us. The streets would be filled with crews, drugs, guns, violence. But I
’
m not selling you this, Eden.
Finish your breakfast.
”

Trev took his hand back and stood
up.

Eden forced herself to eat as she
let his words sink in. She then asked,
“
You
’
d really go after the guys that
killed Dimitrio?
”

“
The
guys that went after you,
”
Trev said.
“
Yes.
”

Eden caught herself smiling a
little, sensing maybe a little jealousy from Trev. Not that she and Dimitrio
were ever a thing. Yeah, Eden had always had a little crush on him but nothing
ever came of it or would have.

“
Aren
’
t you afraid of getting into
trouble?
”
Eden asked.

Trev turned with his coffee in
hand.
“
No. I could handle
prison. I could handle anything. Even death. What I can
’
t handle is not making it known I don
’
t stand for bullshit. You fuck
with me, I
’
m going to fuck
with you. End of discussion.
”

“
Can
you tell me something about my father?
”

Trev drank his coffee and then put
it down.
“
I had something
else in mind for today.
”

“
Like
what?
”

Trev walked to Eden and put a hand
to her shoulder.
“
You need
to just trust me, Eden. I
’
m
being patient but no more questions, okay? You need to just listen to me
carefully and do exactly what I say, when I say it. This isn
’
t a joke. There are people out
there that want me dead. There are people out there that want you dead. Fuck,
beautiful, there are people out there that would love to know you
’
re Griffin
’
s daughter. So finish your damn
breakfast and let
’
s go for
a ride.
”

Twenty minutes later, Eden managed
to brush her hair, get changed, and brush her teeth. Then she was strapping a
helmet to her head and climbing on the back of a motorcycle, her hands sliding
around Trev
’
s body.

Then it finally clicked
…
this was the life her parents
never wanted her to live.

*

When Eden saw the cemetery her
stomach flipped. When Trev turned and started to move up the dirt path of the
cemetery, her hands clutched tighter to his leather cut. She wanted to yell at
him but the motorcycle engine was too loud to do so. She really was at his
mercy.

Trev guided his ride along the path
and then came to a stop. He killed the engine and Eden kept her hold tight to
him.

“
What
are you doing?
”
she asked.

“
You
need to see it,
”
Trev said.
“
Proof. Closure. Anger.
Whatever you need to do here, beautiful.
”

Eden slowly climbed off the
motorcycle. She started to shake, looking around at all the remembrances of
death. She hated death. She hated cemeteries. It didn
’
t settle well with her. The last time she was in a
cemetery was
…

“
Come
on,
”
Trev said.

“
I
can
’
t,
”
Eden said.
“
No way. I just can
’
t do this. Take me away, Trev.
Right now.
”

“
Whoa.
Hold on a second
…”

Trev reached for her and Eden swung
at him. Her knuckles cracked against his jaw. She did it without even looking
at him. Her body was in
fight or flight
mode and for some strange
reason, she picked fight mode.

“
Goddammit!
”
Trev yelled.
“
What are you
…”

“
Now!
”
Eden yelled.

She swung again and Trev caught her
wrist. His other hand touched her back and pulled her tight to him.

“
Hey,
look at me,
”
Trev said.
“
Right now, goddammit.
”

Eden felt her lips starting to
shake now. Her body shivered as though she were naked in a snowstorm. Each
sight of a tombstone was another person dead. How did they die? Natural causes?
Old age? Cancer? A car accident
…

“
Right
now,
”
she whispered.
“
I have to leave. I have to go. I
…
I
…”

The panic overwhelmed her.

She finally forced herself to look
at Trev. There was blood on the corner of his mouth where she had hit him.

I made him bleed. I punched an
outlaw and hurt him.

“
Eden,
focus on me right now,
”
Trev said.
“
Nothing around
you matters. It
’
s just me
and you.
”

“
Okay,
”
Eden whispered.
“
Okay, Trev.
”

“
We
’
re going to sit down together.
Right against my ride. Don
’
t
touch the exhaust though, okay? It
’
ll
burn your pretty skin. I don
’
t
want that.
”

Eden nodded over and over.
“
Okay.
”

“
I
want you to take a deep breath in and count to four. Then slowly let it out,
count to four again. Can you do that?
”

“
Yeah.
”

Eden listened to Trev. He gently
touched her waist and pulled her to the ground. They then sat next to each
other, Trev turned toward her, hand on her leg.

“
Keep
breathing,
”
he said.
“
Then look at me and talk to me.
”

Eden got herself to calm and she
looked at Trev. She focused on his features. His sexy features.

“
I
don
’
t like this place,
”
she whispered.
“
At all.
”

“
I
can see that. You know this is what happens in life, right?
”

“
I
know that, Trev. I haven
’
t
been to a cemetery since my adoptive parents
…”

“
Ah,
fuck,
”
Trev said. He
slipped an arm around her and hugged her.
“
I
should have known. I already told you, I
’
ve
seen enough that it
’
s all
normal to me.
”

“
Not
to me,
”
Eden said.
“
Okay?
”

“
Okay,
”
Trev said.
“
But you have to do this. You
have to go see him. Look at his grave. Understand what
’
s happened. Learn to accept it. So we can start to
move forward with all this shit, Eden. It
’
s
only going to get worse from here. I
’
m
trying to do this for you right now because calls are answered and action takes
place.
”

“
What
does that mean?
”

“
It
means plenty,
”
Trev said.
“
None of it you need to know
about right now. Now take my hand and let
’
s
go.
”

Trev rose up first. He offered his
hand and Eden took it. He pulled her to her feet. She started to shiver again
at the sight of all the gravestones again. Trev kept to his word, holding her
hand tight. He interlocked his fingers to hers, almost romantic, and he started
to walk.

Eden felt a warm calm run through
her body. That was what Trev
’
s
presence and touch did to her. Nobody had ever made her feel like that before.

When Trev stopped, he pointed to a
grave.

The first thing Eden noticed was
how blended in it was. It just reminded her that she had purposely waited
almost a year to come to Frelen. Her eyes filled with tears and she put her
head to Trev
’
s hard chest.

“
Say
something,
”
she whispered.

“
Griffin,
brother,
”
Trev said.
“
This is your baby girl. Your
beautiful daughter, Eden. She came to the MC looking for you. I
’
m sure you know more about this
than we all do. Hell, for all I know, you crazy son of a bitch, you set this in
motion. Hell, maybe even after your death. You
’
re
that kind of wild, right?
”

There was silence and Trev put his
arm around Eden and squeezed her.

“
Keep
going,
”
Eden whispered.

“
We
’
re going to take care of her,
”
Trev said.
“
No bullshit, Griffin. I promise
you that, brother. It
’
s the
least I could do for you. I
’
ll
make sure she doesn
’
t get
hurt. I
’
ll make sure she
understands who you were. She knows you died wearing your leather cut. Maybe
that doesn
’
t mean anything
to her yet but someday it will.
”

Eden stood and wiped tears from her
eyes. She broke away from Trev and stepped forward. She stared at the stone and
couldn
’
t find any words.
Maybe there were no words because all her words were going to end up as
questions that her father could never answer. The bullet that stole his life
stole his voice and stole all of Eden
’
s
answers.

She stood for what felt like an
hour.

“
This
one time,
”
Trev said,
“
I had this beef with a guy,
okay? He sort of screwed me with some motorcycle parts. I paid him and he kept
giving me the runaround on things. I figured lesson learned. Shit happens all
the time like that to people, you know? Serves me right for being stupid.
”

Eden looked back and saw Trev
leaning against a headstone, arms crossed.

“
Isn
’
t it rude to lean against
someone else
’
s stone?
”
Eden asked.