Page 67 of Not Your Romeo
“He’s your son,” she challenged, lifting that chin of hers as she did when she felt righteous.
“He wears this patch.” I thumped my chest where it was stitched. “Same as me. I told him to take his ass to the service. All the rest of my kids did.”
“Stop,” she interrupted my tangent, raising both hands in a silent plea.
“I won’t!” I roared.
I didn’t mean to scream at her, but the thought of losing more children had taken me to a new level. Tears stung my eyes as I gave her my back and gripped my head.
“You have to,” she whispered, her voice so close I was afraid to turn around. I did, however, when she repeated herself, “Ziggy, you have to.”
“The fuck I do. I’m so goddamn tired of losing–” I studied her face and shook my head, uncertain of how to make her comprehend. My voice cracked and I swallowed, as I recited the growing list, “Ruby. Jolene. Sammy. Fuck–Sauce.”
I laughed, but it was more madness and pain than anything humored.
“Then you ran off to them with our babies–” My chest was so tight, I couldn’t even think straight, let alone finish my thought.
“Ziggy.” Her fingers grasped my shoulder, and she jerked me back toward her. Slender fingers spanned my cheeks as she held me firm and made me listen, “Ziggy, I’m sorry. I couldn’t have that on my conscience. I didn’t think like that. I just knew your son was going to die because of me.”
I closed my eyes and hugged her back when she wrapped her arms around me.
“I don’t want to lose you,” she gasped.
“Yeah,” I grunted, shaking my head without relinquishing my hold, “Ain’t nobody going anywhere.”
“You don’t understand.” Her fingers curled, wadding up my vest as she started to cry, “They won’t let me be happy with you. They’re never going to. It will always be one of us that pays… Someone getting lost along the way.”
“Who?” I couldn’t keep the growl out of the question.
She wiped her face and looked up at me, her brows raising as if it weren’t obvious. When I didn’t respond, she pointed to the bruising.
“The fucking Double Nickel gang.”
“Sean’s people?” I squinted, not following.
She closed her eyes, but the tears still leaked. “Rory said I embarrassed the family legacy and name one too many times. He said I married a dirty biker and when I told him you’d kill him–”
She flipped her hand up to wave a circle around her face, “He kicked me in the face, I don’t know what he did to my hand, but it woke me up after he knocked me out.”
The wind rushed from me. She might as well have thrown a gut shot. My club had nearly gone to war over that shit. She’d nearly gone to surgery.
And all along, it was Sean?
“He knew that, and he was still gonna–”
Ro nodded. “I told you once, I’m always left crying and bloody after his lessons.”
“And I fucking told you, that shit is over with,” I growled.
Her gaze dropped to the ground, and I framed her jaw and tilted her head up. I kissed her until those hot tears of hers were staining both our faces.
“Get on the bike.” I murmured, nipping her lower lip. “Let’s get the hell out of here. I got business to attend to.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Savages and Lions
Ziggy
