Simple Ride (Hellions Ride Book 6) (10 page)

Well, I don’t want to cry, and I have
no remorse for the scumbag being dead, but I do feel bad that
Pamela had to witness this side of me, the side that will do
anything to protect the people who matter to me.

I have lost enough in my life
helplessly. Tonight, I wasn’t going to lose her at the hands of a
dickhead.

I am who I am. I have no regrets about
using my skills to keep her alive for her boys. I just hope she can
still accept me as I am.

~Pamela~

The paramedics come in, and the body
bag goes out, carrying Dennis. The police have taken our
statements. Boomer is not being arrested right now, but he’s not to
leave town without notifying them until the case is
closed.

Dennis is dead.

The man who has been my source of
torture, pain, and heartache for so many years is gone. I can go to
my kids and no longer look over my shoulder.

Elation runs through me. Then I look
over to Boomer whose eyes are hiding a pain so deep.

Guilt?

Sorrow hits me like a punch to the
gut. He took a man’s life to save mine. Does he feel
bad?

We are in his living room, and he
keeps looking to his bedroom door, the room that may not have a
body left in it, but still has the mess that shooting someone in
the head leaves behind.

Boomer doesn’t speak as the last of
the patrol cars pulls out of the driveway. He moves to the room,
his room, and I decide to give him space.

When he emerges a little while later,
he has showered and changed. No doubt, he wanted to feel clean.
Even though he had to change and give his clothes to the police, he
didn’t get to shower until now.

I notice he has my bag in his
hand.

Well, this is
it.

I steel myself. My problems are over,
so it’s time to send me packing. It’s okay. I can do this. I can
get on the road and get to my kids. I have some money saved. Mom,
my boys, and I can have a fresh start.

All that together talk was Boomer’s
way of supporting me while I was in trouble. Now it’s time to be on
my own. I got into this mess on my own, and I will walk away alone.
That is how it should be.

I will forever treasure my time with
him. Nathan ‘Boomer’ Vaughn has given me the best moments of my
adult life outside of holding my children for the first time. He
gave me little memories all for myself. Now it’s time to be ‘Mom’
again, and I need to focus my attention on Wesson and Colt,
anyway.

I don’t speak as he walks over and
takes me by the hand. He guides us out without speaking and doesn’t
bother locking his house.

“
Boomer, you should lock
the door,” I remind him, thinking maybe tonight has been too much
for him.

“
Honey, the only person
stupid enough to break into the house of an Army Green Beret is
your husband, and how did that work out for him?” His eyes grow
wide, and his tone is sharp. “I’ve got nothing real valuable inside
that house, because I live in the woods and know how to hide my
valuables better than that. The gun I keep inside is now in a bag
on its way to the police evidence locker. I have a side arm in the
glove box of my truck.

“
We’re going to a hotel
because we need to sleep, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t
feel like cleaning up the mess in my bedroom right now. My couch is
shit, and the jackass broke the glass on my back door, so the house
isn’t secure even if I do lock it. So let’s go get some sleep and
tackle what happens next in the morning, okay?”

“
Sleep, as in, together?
You’re staying with me?”

“
Unless you need space,
yeah, we’re going to sleep. If you want more, that’s on you. With
everything you’ve been through, you don’t have to, and that’s okay,
too. Right now, I wanna take us to get some sleep so we can clear
our heads safely then get you to your boys tomorrow.”

My boys … tomorrow. With all the
craziness and the many emotions running through me, this is the
light at the end of a very dark tunnel. I can hold my boys
tomorrow.

“
You’re gonna go with
me?”

His eyes flash with something I can’t
read. “As long as you want me around, I’m there. If you want me
gone, once I get you to them, I’m gone.”

He makes it sound so simple. He killed
a man protecting me, yet he is willing to walk away if I want him
to.

I put the back of my hand to my
forehead. I don’t have a fever. I’m not delirious. I pinch my arm.
I’m not dreaming.

My husband is dead. Boomer gave me
that escape, whether that was his original intention or not. Push
came to shove, and it was save me or let Dennis shoot. Boomer chose
me. Now, if I say the word, he walks away.

I have never had control or power over
my situation before. Boomer gives me that. If I want more, I can
have it. If I don’t, he walks. Simple as that.

“
Come on, Pami. Let’s get
out of here and try to get some sleep. You need your head clear to
figure out your future.”

I nod and follow him to his truck. We
go to town and get a room at the local hotel. It’s nothing fancy,
but it is a shower, a bed, and a place that doesn’t have remnants
of my husband on the walls.

I close my eyes and breathe deeply.
One step at a time, I will get beyond this. It’s over. I can
breathe. No more looking over my shoulder.

Today is like a birthday. Today is the
first day of the rest of my life. No matter how many times Dennis
has hurt me over the years, I get to have my boys now. I get to
have my life without him.

My boys won’t live their lives
worrying about their mom. They will get to have me with them every
day.

Tomorrow.

I watch as Boomer cautiously moves
around the room. He doesn’t touch me. He is giving me space. I need
space. I need to process this.

My husband is dead. The monster is
gone. He can’t get to me.

Boomer shrugs out of his jeans and
T-shirt, stripping down to just his boxer briefs. Earlier, he wore
sweats and a T-shirt to bed for my comfort. Since the hotel has two
beds, I guess he assumes we are sleeping alone.

I watch as the Hellions’ insignia
tattoo on his back moves with him. His shoulder has a tattoo of a
tombstone with a gun and soldier’s helmet.

I fight my pull to run my fingers over
each design covering his chest and, instead, move to my bag and get
my pajamas out. Okay, my oversized T-shirt that I love to sleep in
since formal pajamas cost more than a clearance man’s
shirt.

Brushing my teeth, I try to make my
mind stop spinning with thoughts of the future. I have to find a
job, get a new place for my mom and boys. We are from Virginia;
does Mom want to go back there? Do we start completely fresh
somewhere?

I hear Boomer shifting on the old bed,
bringing me back to the moment.

I finish cleaning up, thinking about
the man in the room with me. If it wasn’t for the man in there, I
wouldn’t be able to think of a future with my boys. No matter what
happens, I owe my future to him.

I will never forget that this man
saved my life and gave me a future full of hope when I was in a
hopeless situation. I will never forget that he made the sacrifice
of himself and how he will handle the rest of his life knowing he
killed a man. Whether defending me or not, I know it has to be
weighing on him. He sacrificed that to keep me breathing for my
boys.

Without over-thinking, I crawl into
the same bed as Boomer. In his arms, everything is finally right in
my life.

No matter what happens, he gave me
that, too: simple security, simple moments of peace, even if they
are brief. He has given me simple safety.

Chapter Ten

~Boomer~

I wasn’t expecting her to sleep with
me, and having her in my arms is a double-edged sword. It cuts
deep. I want to hold her close, but I need to let her
go.

I don’t think the reality has hit her
yet.

I killed her husband.

Will that forever stand between us? I
feel the urge to take off on my bike and ride again. I need to hit
the open road and not look back. I need to get Pamela to her boys
and let them build their lives without the shadow of Dennis
Williams and his killer.

I know I’m not going to be charged
with anything. It was self-defense. All the justification in the
world doesn’t change that her husband died by my hand,
though.

One shot, one kill, I have been
trained. Take out any threat without hesitation. I am the machine I
was built to be. There is no changing that. I need to accept all
that I have done and find a way to make peace.

In all these years, I haven’t found a
way yet. One can only hope the day will come.

A man shouldn’t feel all these
emotions. We are taught that at a young age. Well, I feel every bit
of the pain from taking a life. Regardless of Dennis Williams being
a piece of shit, wife-beating asshole, I took away any possibility
of change.

Would Pamela have wanted him to
change? Will she wake up one day and wish Dennis had the chance to
right his wrongs? Will she hate me for taking any hope
away?

“
Thinking awfully hard over
there,” Pamela says, waking from the other bed.

I have been up for hours, dressed, and
sitting on the edge of the other full bed in the hotel. I didn’t
want to wake her. Any sleep she can get, she needs to take. I’m
sure the weight of everything will hit soon enough, and the
memories will haunt her for who knows how long.

“
You wanna try to sleep a
little more or hit the road to the coast?”

She smiles at me, and I memorize this
moment: her hair wild around her face, her brown eyes dancing in
excitement, and a mother’s love shining in her features.

“
I’m ready to get to my
boys.”

“
What the lady wants …” I
try to smile at her.

She looks down at the bedspread shyly.
“You’re the only man who has ever treated me like a
lady.”

“
Umm, Pamela, don’t twist
who I am in your mind. Our relationship, or whatever the fuck you
call it, hasn’t been about you being a lady and me being a
gentleman.”

“
Boomer, half the Hellions
treat barflies like hookers, but you never did that with me. You’re
the only one who made sure I got mine”—she blushes, avoiding
looking up—“before getting yours. You made sure I had dinner or
breakfast. You made sure my car was running.” She waves her arm in
the air dramatically. “Before everything came out, you treated me
like I was normal and that we had something more than orgasms
between us. You talked to me, Boomer. You cared about my day even
if you weren’t getting laid that night. You randomly checked on me.
You, Boomer Vaughn, treated me better than anyone has in my entire
life.”

“
I’m no gentleman,” I
remind her.
Hello, I killed her husband
less than twelve hours ago.

“
Yeah, Tripp says that,
too, and Doll is over the moon happy and in love. Boomer, you give
me something to believe in. You give me hope when I’m hopeless. I
don’t know what the future holds, but I need you in my
life.”

I smile at her as her words soothe my
insecurities. “What the lady wants …”

“
Good to know.” She winks.
“Can we go to my boys now?”

***

Haywood’s Landing is a small town not
far off the Crystal Coast of North Carolina. With Croatan National
Forest nearby and the closest actual city being ten minutes away,
it is a perfect, little place for a group of bikers to have their
club, their businesses, and keep their families safe.

Roundman, Danza, Frisco, and Rocky
really thought through all the details of building a brotherhood so
many years ago. Not only have the Hellions supported each other
through the good, the bad, and the times one of our brothers is
locked up, they have created a family where blood isn’t thicker
than water, but one where brotherhood comes before everything. They
have created a brotherhood of total acceptance, a family where no
one is ever alone, a safe haven for less than perfect people to
feel like they can have hope for something real again. It’s simple:
once a Hellion, always a Hellion, and we have each other’s backs.
Whether you agree with a brother or not, you take his back, as he
will yours.

Family. We ride together, we die
together.

Our destination is a small, three
bedroom, two bathroom doublewide not far from the compound. Ruben
‘Ruby’ Castillo and his wife Jenna ‘Vida’ Natera de Castillo de
Natera have taken in Pamela’s mom and sons. I’m sure things are
crowded since they have three kids of their own, but Vida is the
perfect person to take in the boys and grandma. I don’t know them
well, but I know they have been together since back when they lived
in Mexico, and Jenna is a dedicated wife and mother.

Pulling up, I sigh. This is it—time to
let her go. If only it were that simple...