Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 52357 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 262(@200wpm)___ 209(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52357 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 262(@200wpm)___ 209(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
My mom is the one who gives me the nudge. She walks into the room, her hair braided tight. Her eyes take me in, my tight jeans, the faded tank top that used to be Benji’s, and the boots I’ve ridden in with my dad since I was sixteen and my mom bought them for me.
“You look like you’re about to throw up,” she says, deadpan.
“I’m nervous,” I admit, brushing imaginary lint off my jeans. “This ride—”
“Is the ride,” she finishes. “And you’ve earned it.”
I glance toward the portable crib in the corner where Benjamin’s sleeping. My son. My light.
She follows my gaze, then walks over and lifts him with ease. She kisses his temple, humming something soft.
“I’ll hold him,” she says.
“Mom—”
“You go, Dia. This isn’t just another ride. This is yours, baby girl. You leave everything that came before on the asphalt and you take in what’s ahead.”
She turns toward me, all strength and affection.
“You’re one of us. You’ve always been one of us. You were born for this, my sweet baby girl. But today? Today you feel it. I’ll stay with him so you don’t have to think. Just embrace this for yourself and your man.”
My eyes sting, but I nod.
Because she’s right.
I step outside and the smell of leather, gas, and coffee hits me in the best way.
The parking lot is buzzing. Bikes lined up like wild horses waiting to run. Patches gleaming in the rising sun. Some of these men I’ve known for years. Others I’ve only met a few times when the chapters get together. But they’re all here. For the ride. For our family to be one.
Toon stands near his bike, his cut hanging open, the sun catching the chain around his neck. He turns when he hears the door. He’s gained weight back, his muscle tone is back, and my God I can’t get enough of him. His hair has grown back. All of his labs look good. We are on the other side of cancer. And the future, it looks as good as the man in front of me.
And I swear, the look he gives me in return, could stop time.
Pride.
Need.
Love that burns steady.
“You sure you’re ready?” he asks when I reach him.
I laugh. “You sure you’re ready? Because this ride, ya know, it makes boys into men.” I joke.
He smirks. “I’ve been training for this since you told me I didn’t have the balls to love you.”
“You needed the push.”
He reaches out pulling me closer by a belt loop of my jeans. “Best thing that ever happened to me.”
He brushes a thumb over my cheek, his touch still soft even after everything we’ve shared.
Then someone clears their throat behind us.
We turn.
My dad. Talon “Tripp” Crews.
He looks different now.
Maybe it’s time, or maybe it’s knowing how close we came to losing each other. His eyes don’t miss a thing, but there’s something softer in the lines of his face.
He nods at me once. “Walk with me.”
I follow him a few steps away from the others, heart already beating harder.
“I figured you’d want to hear this from someone who knows what the road really means,” he says, voice low.
“Okay.”
He stares out at the tree line for a second. Then he says, “Years ago, before most of these young punks were even prospects, Roundman took Claudia on this ride. First time she went as his ol’ lady. She was nervous as hell. Thought she’d mess it up. Thought she wasn’t enough. You know what he told her?”
“What?”
“That this ride? The Tail of the Dragon? This is where brothers are forged. Where the road makes boys into men. And that the woman on the back of a Hellion’s bike isn’t just decoration. She’s sacred. She’s a treasure held up.”
I swallow hard.
“He told her,” Tripp continues, “that when she rode it, she wouldn’t just be his. She’d be ours. Because to ride that road means you’ve survived enough to belong to something bigger.”
He looks at me.
Long and true.
“And Dia? You’ve survived more than most.”
Tears spill down my cheeks. I don’t wipe them.
“I’ve never seen anyone take more heartbreak and turn it into something stronger,” he says. “You didn’t just survive Clutch’s death. You grew. You loved again. You found your place.”
I nod, barely breathing.
Then he glances past me. “As for you—”
Toon walks up quietly, like he knows the weight of what’s being said.
Tripp looks at him. His mouth twitches in that almost-smile he rarely gives.
“I’ll never be okay with someone taking my daughter,” he says.
Toon’s shoulders square.
“But,” Tripp goes on, “if I had to let it happen—if it had to be someone—it sure as hell couldn’t be a better man than you.”
Toon doesn’t speak. Just nods.
And Tripp reaches out, claps a hand to his shoulder, and says, “Ride safe, brother.”
Toon replies the only way we do in this life. “Always. Protect her with my life.”