Page 41 of Echoes of Temptation

Laughing, I roll my eyes and respond.

“You can have a pinch. Give the rest to your wife.”

Chapter Sixteen

King

“By the way,” Viper says. “We’re heading to visit Bitsy’s family tomorrow. I guess her cousin, Michael, and his family are going to come back with us for a few weeks.”

“Why’s that?” I ask.

“He has to have an extensive scan on his spine to make sure the tumor he had isn’t growing back,” Viper explains. “His Neuro-oncologist transferred to Harborbrook General last year and he doesn’t want his tests done by any other doctor.”

“Understandable,” I say, checking the time. “I’m going to head out and get Madeline.”

“Bitsy says they’re getting ready,” Viper tells me. “I’ll be right behind you. Venom is out getting everything we need for tonight’s barbeque so I’m going to go ahead and bring Sophie and Knox back to the clubhouse. Is Maddy still coming?”

“Yeah,” I say. “I’m going to take her out for lunch and then we’ll be right over.”

Straddling my bike, I feel happier and more at peace than I have in months. I’ve kept my distance and let Madeline live her life. But I ultimately decided to try one last time. If she told me this time around that she was better off without me in her life, I would have walked away.

The way her eyes lit up when she first saw me yesterday calmed my wild heart. She looked genuinely happy to see me. Letting her go after she threw herself into my arms was hard. I wanted to toss her sexy ass over my shoulder and lock her away inside my house.

I’m sure my sister was hearing my thoughts loud and clear and that’s why she gripped my shoulder with her claws.

When I pull up to Madeline’s apartment building, I park right where four of the most precious people to me are standing.

“Viper is on his way,” I tell the group. “He’s going to take you three back to the clubhouse.”

“We need to go to Knox’s first,” Bitsy says. “We need to get some of the side dishes we prepared earlier.”

“Are you guys still staying with Knox?” Madeline asks, her eyes wide.

“No, but we spend a good portion of our time over there these days,” Sophie says. “I’m home each night, but Venom knows very well where my mind stands with him when it comes to you. I love him, but my heart is so upset that he didn’t try and protect the person asking for help.”

“Same as Viper and the rest of the club,” Bitsy adds. “We always knew you were innocent even with the evidence pointing you right to the crime. We just knew that it wasn’t you.”

“Even after spending hours trying to prove that the dang video was a fake and finding nothing, we knew. And we expected the others to as well. You may have fully forgiven them, Maddy, but we haven’t.”

“That’s so silly,” Madeline says. “They’re your family.”

“Maybe so,” Bitsy says. “But I grew up with men who dedicated their lives to protecting those in need. Sophie runs a shelter for scared and abused women as well as the homeless. As women, we expected more from the men in our lives.”

“What if one day, when my daughters are grown, they go to someone for protection and they pull that same crap?” Sophie says.

“What if I was guilty?” I ask them. “What if that had turned out to be me and your family was right?”

“Then the three of us would’ve had to reevaluate our judge of characters,” Bitsy says. “Besides, between my parents, Viper’s parents, and King’s parents, the club got the lecture to end all lectures.”

“I feel so bad,” Madeline says.

“You have nothing to feel bad about, Maddy. Hey baby, did you have fun?”

Viper pulls Bitsy into his arms and kisses her head before turning his attention to my woman.

“We all knew something was off with that video,” he tells her. “We had spent a week with you and while that doesn’t seem like a ton of time, we got to know your character. Even after we pushed you away, our guts were screaming that you were innocent. King had Knox search endlessly for ways to prove that video wrong. We should have followed our instincts. If we had, those vile women wouldn’t have had the opportunity to grab you. What you went through is entirely on our shoulders.”

“Honestly, I just want to leave it in the past,” Madeline tells us. “I’m just ready to live my life again and to find happiness.”