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Chapter One

Rock

Few things in life can be hidden for long The sky The sun The moon

The truth

When I was younger, I thought the biggest regrets inroads I’d traveled The reality is more complicated

The biggest regrets come from the places we never expect From the decisions that we don’t realize until much later are mistakes Mistakes that, if I allow it, see I’ve tried to build for myself and for my club

Adrenaline rushes through my veins Blood pounds in my ears

The freedos made sense usually did the trick

The stretch of road in front of o the pavement was plenty

grippy Now it’s slick and shiny froe to open up the throttle It’s not the first tiotten a wet ass

Soon we’ll have an answer Find out which one of us fathered Inga’s child

The kid isn’tabout that

What’s bothering ht now is that, until the truth comes out, my wife has to deal with the chaos

Almost home

I can’t see the turn for our property yet, but I know it’s there I brake earlier than usual, not liking what the front tire’s telling rip on the road As I h rain to choke a full-grown mallard

Motherfucker

I’arage No one’s around this early to give h the foulme

It’s doubtful Hope’s up yet, and I’m still too restless to be in our quiet home Instead, I step into the clubhouse Sparky’s passed out on the couch Hoot’s on the other couch Somehow Birch and Stash ended up on the floor

The sight pulls a chuckle fro to do with drinking or sht

Maybe I can work off ym

Fifty-fivethe elliptical to its limits later and the clutter in s burn as I tap the incline up another notch

Physical pain I can tolerate

The pain being inflicted on my wife over this ordeal, that’s harder to cope with

Not that she’s said a’s lawyer

Maybe it’s in my head, but the tension in her face wasn’t there before we received the petition She says she’s not stressed That the case is nothing more than a trivial annoyance But the lines around her mouth and the way her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes is new too

All I’ve wanted to do since we found out about baby Grace is pamper my wife Make life as easy as possible for her so she can concentrate on all the changes taking place in her body and in our world

Bitterness burnswith my “ex” was never part of my spoil-the-shit-out-of-Hope plan

“Fuck!” A loud crack echoes in the room as my fist connects with the plastic monitor in front of me

“You know the club just replaced those ht?”

My fury recedes, oragainst the door frame with his arms folded over his chest

“You tryin’ to break it, or punish yourself for soinary crime?” he asks

“Both” I grunt and slowin his lack of a ser aside “You okay?”

He shrugs and strolls into the roo me off”

“Take a number” I finally stop, and Z tosses the towel my way

“How’s Hope handling it?” he asks

“You really coe?”

“Uh, yeah I actually care about both of you”

Shaking my head, I run the towel over my face and neck “Sorry”

“She mad at you?”

“Doesn’t seem to be”

“You want her to be Think she should be pissed at you, right?”

“I’m really not in the mood, Dr Frazier Go play relationship counselor somewhere else”

He snorts “That’s the last thing I’ to do”

I chuck the towel in the laundry basket and glare at hi up?”

“No You’ve dealt orse shit and handled it fine” He givesup The security gig for Sway Another meet with—”