RUTHLESS HOLD (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel) (7 page)

Fucking Eden believed that Griffin
was her father? And she had a picture of Griffin with a pregnant woman
…
a woman that was completely off
limits. A woman that - for all Trev and everyone else knew - never had a baby.

“
What
’
s going on, Trev?
”
one of the prospects asked.

Trev threw his hand out and grabbed
the guy by the shirt.
“
Don
’
t fuck this up. Keep her in
there. She can
’
t leave. She
claims Griffin is her father and she wants to talk to him.
”

“
But
she can
’
t talk
…”

Trev put a hand over the prospects
mouth.
“
Don
’
t fucking say a word. Both of
you. Don
’
t talk to her. Don
’
t look at her. She opens that
door, draw your weapons.
”

“
Yes,
sir,
”
the other prospect
said.

“
I
’
ll be back in a few,
”
Trev said.

He looked back at the door. He
could almost sense Eden standing at the door, listening.

Christ, if this was true, this poor
woman just walked into a fire and was about to turn it into hell. Inside
himself, Trev wondered if it wasn
’
t
easiest to just get one of the prospects to take her out and cover it all up.
Because the secret - if true - that Griffin had taken to his grave was still
alive and well inside Jenn. She was a few hours away and best left right there.

But this could be bigger than that.

Had Griffin sent Eden a letter
right before he was shot? Or did something else make that happen? Christ, why
the hell would Griffin want to bring someone into this life? Maybe he didn
’
t. Well, obviously he didn
’
t, right? He and Jenn had Eden and
then
…

Trev froze at the door to the
clubhouse. He tried to process it again.

Griffin and Jenn.

Then it started to come back to
him.

“
Fuck,
”
Trev whispered.

When Griffin was running outlaw.
When he gave up the patch and was with
The Lost Men
for a little while.
Trev remembered Griffin having something on the side. He wasn
’
t shy about his feeling of
disgust for the Frelen charter, but he also didn
’
t
hide his attempt to get into another charter.

“
Another
charter,
”
Trev whispered.

It was a lot for Trev to remember.
It was a time when he was still so goddamn young. Barely eighteen and running
with a wild outlaw crew. Looking up to a guy like Griffin, who was older,
wiser, who had been patched in to a real MC and then gave it up. It was almost
heroic.

He tore open the door and went into
the clubhouse.

Blaine stood there, holding his
son.
“
What
’
s happening, brother?
”

Trev looked at Miller.
“
You and me. We need to talk
right now.
”

“
Table?
”
Gaige asked.

“
Just
the three of us for now.
”

“
What
the fuck is that about?
”
Jace asked.

He side stepped toward Trev and
Trev wasn
’
t having it. He
grabbed Jace and tossed him right over the bar. The clubhouse erupted with
women screaming, babies crying, and men shouting. Jace jumped up and tried to
get over the bar. Two prospects grabbed him and Jace threw elbows, shattering
their noses like they were eggs.

“
Shit!
”
Nate yelled. He hurried to the
bar and grabbed Jace.
“
There
’
s family here, man. Calm down.
”

Trev pointed.
“
Everyone stand down. Miller,
Gaige, conference room.
”

Trev walked, not giving a damn who
was looking at him or why. This was far beyond his control right now. He opened
the door and went into the room. He walked to the table and grabbed his seat.
Miller and Gaige came into the room and shut the door.

“
What
the hell is going on?
”
Gaige asked.

“
It
’
s family out there,
”
Miller bellowed.
“
You don
’
t come in there like a raging fool.
”

“
Fuck
that,
”
Trev said.
“
Fuck this breakfast stuff.
”

Miller reached for his gun.

Trev grabbed Griffin
’
s seat and threw it across the
room.

Gaige put a hand to Miller
’
s shoulder.
“
Holy shit. Everyone calm down.
What the hell is happening?
”
He looked at Trev.
“
Who was
the woman with the gun?
”

“
She
says she
’
s Griffin
’
s daughter,
”
Trev said.

“
What?
”
Miller asked.
“
How the hell is that possible?
”

“
Well,
anything is possible,
”
Gaige said.
“
I
’
m sure Griffin pounded a lot of
pussy in his days.
”

“
No,
man, this isn
’
t like that,
”
Trev said.

“
How
the hell do you know it
’
s
remotely true?
”
Miller
asked.

“
He
wrote her a letter.
”

“
He
’
s fucking dead,
”
Miller growled.

“
Exactly.
But she had this
…”

Trev took the picture out of his
pocket and tossed it across the table. Miller
’
s
reaction was the same as Trev
’
s.
His jaw dropped and then turned, balling his fists up tight.

“
Is
that what I think?
”
Gaige
asked.

“
Yeah,
”
Trev said.
“
When he was running outlaw, I
guess.
”

“
No,
”
Miller said.
“
How old do you think she is?
”

“
I
don
’
t know,
”
Trev said.
“
I can
’
t be much older, right?
”

Then it hit Trev
…
I can
’
t be much older.

“
Fuck,
”
Gaige said.
“
So he was doing this while
patched in.
”

Miller nodded.
“
I heard some shit about
something
…
but I never gave
a fuck. It wasn
’
t my
business then. I was just a patched in member.
”
Miller turned and put his fists to the table.
“
The
President
’
s all met up and
it was right around the time the gun deals were starting to come to life.
”

“
She
was pregnant though?
”
Trev
asked.

“
Yeah.
Jenn was pregnant. We didn
’
t
see all that much though. It was kind of swept under the rug. I guess everyone
feared that baby would become a type of leverage in our deals.
”

“
She
gave the baby up?
”
Gaige
asked.

“
I
guess so.
”

“
Nobody
asked?
”
Trev asked.

Miller looked at Trev.
“
He wanted to transfer and it was
voted
nay
. He lost his mind and chose outlaw. He started to run all over
the country. The thing was, wherever Griffin went, things got easier, smoother.
Everyone wanted him back here. It took years of convincing to bring him back.
Shit, there was the notion of creating a small charter for him to run. He didn
’
t want that.
”

“
That
’
s when I met him first,
”
Trev said.
“
Shit. And he was working with
another charter then. Guns.
”

“
Was
that the real reason?
”
Gaige asked.

“
Fuck,
”
Miller said.
“
This picture is bad.
”

“
That
bitch is going to be worse,
”
Gaige said.

Trev tensed up.
“
Hey. Cut her some slack. It took
guts to show up with a gun.
”

Miller rubbed his chin.
“
Things with Ripper have always
been touch and go. This makes sense as to why. Shit. Maybe he knew Griffin was
hitting his old lady.
”

“
A
President
’
s old lady?
”
Gaige asked.
“
That
’
s serious.
”

“
What
can they do now? He
’
s dead.
”

Trev looked at the table.

Shit, Trev was probably playing
with toys on the bedroom floor when Griffin was fucking Ripper
’
s old lady. It just proved his
destiny as an outlaw even more.

One thing was for sure - the
easiest thing to do would be to kill Eden. Stop this shit from getting worse
than it already appeared.

There were just too many questions
to answer though.

“
There
’
s nothing against our laws,
”
Miller said.
“
It
’
s
an unspoken thing.
”

“
What
would you do?
”
Gaige asked.

“
I
’
d fucking gut someone if they
touched my old lady,
”
Miller said.

“
And
Griffin is dead. This shit just dropped on us. We haven
’
t talked to Ripper or the rest of the Daurian
charter in a while. Not since the last gun vote went bad. This will really set
him off.
”

Miller looked at Trev.
“
Where is she now?
”

“
Eden?
”

“
Eden?
”
Gaige asked.

“
That
’
s her fucking name, brother.
”

“
Oh,
you got the name, huh? You better calm yourself down.
”

Trev stepped to the side and opened
his arms.
“
Come calm me
down, VP.
”

“
Whoa,
”
Miller said.
“
Where the fuck is Eden right
now?
”

“
In
the apartment above the garage. I have two prospects at the door.
”

Miller nodded.
“
Okay. I want to talk to her.
Right now. Let
’
s move.
”

Trev rushed forward and shut the
door as Miller opened it.
“
Miller,
look at me. She got fucked up last night by some guys. Something with a
shooting at a tattoo shop. The guys knew us when they saw the letter and the
picture. She
’
s terrified.
She got the letter from Griffin right around the time he died. She doesn
’
t know
…”

“
You
didn
’
t tell her?
”
Gaige asked.

“
No,
”
Trev said.
“
I didn
’
t know what the hell to do.
”

Miller nodded again.
“
Well, then it
’
s time to deliver some
really bad fucking news, isn
’
t
it?
”

__

seven.

Eden rummaged her way through the
cabinets and found a glass and poured herself some water. This was not the
homecoming she had expected to have. She thought her father would have come
through the door and grabbed her. Lifted her up, hugged her, spun her around.
He would have welcomed her into the clubhouse, demand protection from the club,
and life would be good. Then she could see her mother -
her real mother
- and that
’
s when the world
would feel right again.

The door opened and Eden stood up
from the table.

Three men came through the door.

One was Trev. The other was about Trev
’
s height and build, Trev
’
s age, making him way too young
to be her father. The other guy was tall, wide, and had age to his face. But
his patch read
President
.

“
Miller,
”
she whispered.

“
She
knows your name,
”
Trev
said.

“
State
the fucking obvious some more,
”
Miller said. He pointed to Eden.
“
You
’
re Eden. You claim to be Griffin
’
s daughter?
”