Free Raw: Devil's Fighters MC by Evelyn Glass

suddenly remembering. “How come you haven’t followed in your dad’s path?”
     
    Alyssa shrugged. “Animals are more grateful than people.”
     
    Bennie chuckled. “You got me there,” he said, toasting her with the mug. He drained the last of his coffee and stood. “Well, this has been lovely, but I’ve got to go now. I’ve got people to kill.”
     
    Alyssa stared at him in shock, and he gave her an evil smirk.
     
    “Relax, girlie, I’m kidding. I’ve got no killings scheduled for today.”
     
    Alyssa took a deep breath. She stood and walked him to the front porch.
     
    “Remember what I said, girlie,” Bennie said as he put his rider’s helmet back on.
     
    “Remember what I said,” Alyssa retorted before she could stop herself.
     
    “I will,” he said. “I just hope you won’t change your mind.”
     
    “I won’t.”
     
    They stared at each other for a moment, and then Bennie nodded again.
     
    “I’ll see you,” he said.
     
    “Fuck, I hope not,” Alyssa muttered under her breath, as he kicked off his Harley and disappeared down the street.
     
    As soon as the motorcycle was out of sight, Alyssa’s knees buckled. She grabbed on to the railings of the porch with both hands, knuckles turning white. She allowed the tremors and the fear to take her over for a while, knowing that she had to ride it out if she wanted to have any hopes of appearing normal to the people she would have to see that day.
     
    After the wave passed, she sat back down on the swing and tried to gather her thoughts and her emotions. For a fleeting moment, she wondered if she should have to tell Xavier about what had just happened, but she reconsidered quickly. There was no need for him to know. In fact, she strongly suspected that telling him would only put him in serious danger.
     
    It scared her that Bennie would “care” so much about Xavier’s choices. She wondered what role the man she had once (still?) loved had acquired within the club over the years to be considered so important by the president himself. Just how deep had Xavier been sucked in? And would he be stuck forever?
     
    The thought saddened Alyssa deeply. It broke her heart to know that Xavier may very well never have a future. Aside from Alyssa’s own broken heart, she always wanted a life for him—whether that life would be with her was almost irrelevant. Xavier may have changed, but she had seen in him the same sharp mind and quick wit that she had fallen for so long ago. The smart boy she had known had turned into a brilliant man, she could feel it. She hated for his potential to go to waste.
     
    Alyssa thought of the violence then. She thought of all that Xavier must have seen over the past eight years, and she shuddered to try and imagine the details. She wondered if some of that violence had been delivered by Xavier’s own hands, and as much as she hated to think about it, she knew that it must have been so. One didn’t become a valuable member of a motorcycle gang by delivering flowers.
     
    Alyssa felt sick. Everything about the situation sickened her. She was sickened by her parents’ death. She was sickened by the Devil’s Fighters. She was sickened by Benedict Lenday. As much as she hated to admit it, she was sickened by Xavier. She was sickened by his cowardice, his refusal to leave. She was sickened by whatever it was that he must have done, the deeds he must have committed.
     
    She briefly considered calling Anna, but then she decided it would not be a good idea. What would she say to her, anyway?
     
    Alyssa sighed. She really couldn’t wait to be out of Pinebrook.
     

CHAPTER NINE
     
    When Xavier showed up at her house again that very same night, Alyssa almost didn’t want to believe it. And when she realized that he wasn’t alone, she almost shut the door in his face. In fact, she would have done just that if he hadn’t stuck his foot between the door and the jamb, effectively preventing her from shutting him and