Free Raine Falling (Hells Saints Motorcycle Club) by Paula Marinaro

Darlin’ again. He knew that if she remembered after all this time, it meant that she had never forgotten. There wasn’t a day that went by that he hadn’t thought about Claire and her.
    The second go-to was anger because, on his watch, the bad had come around and found her. He wasn’t sure what the bad was, but Prosper knew that Raine had known some hard times. He also knew that she had always found her way around them. Whatever brought her to a place where she felt she needed safe haven must be bad. Really fucking bad.
    Prosper had kept a close watch on them for a very long time. Years. Last time he knew, Raine was in nursing school and Claire had been working at a bank. Things seemed good and Prosper was satisfied. Time had moved on for him and life happened as it does. Thinking the girls were in a good place, Prosper had eased up on those reins.
    Now after all these years it was with mixed feelings that he pushed through that door. She had her back to him. That was enough to stop him cold. That long, dark, silky hair that hung to the small of her back. Her slim body and those long legs. So much like her mom. His Maggie. The love of his life. Twenty years her being gone and still. Still the love of his life.
    Raine and her sister were all he had left of Maggie. He honestly thought that he’d never see them again. Now here his Little Darlin’ stood. Coming to him for help and counsel. Maybe even for a home. It took everything he had to call out her name. He had no idea what to expect when she turned around. Not knowing how he would handle it if he saw Maggie’s face in hers. Not knowing how he would handle it if, worse, he didn’t.
    Then she turned slightly to him. He could see her battered face, and it looked bad. Really bad. Dark fury clouded his vision. He looked to his boys to make sure this would be dealt with. Prosper looked back at Raine. At first glance only seeing the beating life had showered on her. Then looking past that and seeing his Little Darlin’.
    Just enough of her mother in her to mark her as Maggie’s daughter. She had the high, proud cheekbones, full mouth, and the beautiful tawny skin of a Lakota woman. That hair was all Maggie’s. The deep blue eyes that hid nothing and said volumes, those were Jack’s eyes. The long thin nose, that was Jack’s too. Prosper saw his old friend in her. She was her father’s daughter for sure.
    But the sad, “barely holding it together for the greater good” look, that was all Raine. It was a look he remembered seeing on her too often. When her mother was dying. When she was following that fool bastard of a father around for days hoping he would notice her. When he found her in that shit hole of a house, sitting on the floor trying to untangle her baby sister’s hair when she was no more than a baby herself.
    Prosper had never forgotten the look on her face when he and Pinky had taken Claire from the van and had tried to reason with an eight-year-old Raine. The sadness bleeding out of her. The anguish on her little face. That way she had of drawing into herself, arms holding tight against her waist and eyes pulled away. It had broken his heart, watching her retreat into a place where he couldn’t find her. He’d hoped never to see it again. Seeing it now on her made him want to kill.
    And once all the facts were in, someone was definitely going to die for this. That was for sure. But for now, he was going to take care of the closest thing he would ever have to a daughter.

CHAPTER 18
    D iego couldn’t fucking believe it when she walked into the MC. Could Not Fucking Believe It. He had just spent the day drinking and sexing her off his mind. He had spent the better part of two days clearing that shit up with his club. He was even feeling it enough to put up with Ellie hanging all over him. Yeah, he was golden.
    Then the door opened and Raine walked through it.
    Last person he ever fucking expected to see in this shit-hole den of thieves.
    Seeing Raine