Chapter Six

Savannah

VALOR TELLING ME what they've found on Conrad doesn't really surprise me. I knew I was getting a horrible vibe from him from the second I first saw him in the coffee shop. Then with the way he acted through the messages we exchanged and then on the date, I'm honestly not surprised at all. Conrad is a fucking dick and I hope the guys take him the fuck out because that's the only way he's gonna stop. However, knowing he's the governor's son means they can't just take him out like they would anyone else. If they do, they'll all end up in prison and the club will be destroyed. Slim and the rest of the men will do everything they can to protect the club, family, and my sisters and I. The reality of the situation is that the girls and I really have no choice but to go to Pine View with Valor. He's right—Conrad won't know where we are and he won't be able to find me if I don't use my bank card or the few credit cards I have. I can talk to Vault about doing the books for the club like I've been doing here and earn money that way. If I still need money to take care of the girls after doing that, I can talk to him about working at one of the businesses to earn a paycheck.

Getting dressed in a pair of leggings and one of the tee-shirts I stole from Valor, I quickly brush my hair and throw it up in a messy bun. Leaving the room I've been staying in, I make my way out to find the girls and Valor in the kitchen preparing dinner. From the smells filling the house, I know we're having chicken, mashed potatoes, and some kind of vegetable. Valor always makes sure we have a proper meal for dinner. And the chicken he makes is some of the best I've ever tasted before in my life. I'm not sure what he coats it in, but it's so tender and juicy. Every bite is better than the last and I've missed his cooking more than I thought I would. It's something I've enjoyed experiencing since he came when Ava called him to come help.

I stand back and watch them for a few minutes. Valor is giving all three girls his full attention as he continues teaching them to cook. The smiles lighting up their faces is something that's been missing for the last few years. Ava is the most animated as she talks about the last competition she had for cheerleading. I've missed my sisters being so free and open like they are around Valor. Finally, I make myself known as I step in the kitchen and wrap my arm around Miracle's shoulder. She's almost as tall as I am these days. Ava is the same height as me and Chloe is slightly taller. I have a feeling I'll be the shortest out of the four of us and I'm okay with that.

"Dinner smells amazing," I say, keeping my eyes off of Valor as he flips the chicken before putting the pan back in the oven. "Why don't you girls come sit at the table with me for a minute? We gotta talk about something before dinner is done cooking."

All three of my sisters make their way over to the table and I take the seat Valor used to sit in at the head of the table. They look at me and wait for me to start speaking. Taking a deep breath, I look at my sisters before opening my mouth to say a word.

"The guys found something out about the man who hurt me. He's not a good guy at all. In fact, he's worse than any of us had a clue about. I'm not going to go into details about him because I really don't know anything. I have the information that's been brought to me and it's time to make a decision," I start out by saying as the girls sit up straighter in their chairs and don't look away from me as fear fills their eyes and Miracle's lower lip trembles. "We need to leave Benton Falls. It's time for us to move on. But, I'm not gonna make this decision on my own. You all have lives here and plans you've made. Ava, you've got your sports that you're already doing and I know Chloe wants to do some as soon as she gets in high school. So, you need to tell me what you want to do."

"Is the man gonna come after you again, Vanna?" Ava asks me, her voice softer than normal as I look over at her to find her twisting her hands together.

"I can't tell you he won't, Ava. More than likely he will. There's evidence of how bad he truly is and I don't want to bring up memories that are better left buried since we've all already worked through them with the help of counseling," I answer her the best I can without coming right out and saying he might be behind the group our mother sold us to when we were younger.

"You mean when we were forced in the back of that truck?" Miracle asks, the first tear sliding down her face and dripping onto the table in front of her.

"Yes," I whisper, guilt filling me as I look between my sisters.

"Where would we go?" Chloe asks, removing her hands from the top of the table and setting them in her lap so I won't see her picking at her nails like she does when she's upset or scared. It's something we've been working on.

"Valor wants us to go to Pine View with him. The club is there and they can protect us. I can work for the club so the bad man won't know where I've gone. You'll be enrolled in school and can continue your sports and everything you're doing now," I say, looking at Ava more than the other two because she does the most out of the girls right now.

"Okay. When do we leave?" Ava asks, no hesitation on her part as she looks at our younger sisters who nod in agreement with her.

"Are you sure this is what you wanna do?" I question them, needing to hear from all of them and not just Ava.

"Yeah. I don't want to stay here if something else is gonna happen to you, Vanna. I was so scared when we came home to find you passed out on the floor. If we have to move with Valor to keep safe, then we'll go. There's no reason to stay here and be at risk," Chloe says, lowering her eyes to the table as she remembers a little over a week ago and coming home to find me beaten and bloody.

"I agree, Vanna. We all love you so much and know Valor can protect us. We'll do whatever to stay safe and make sure you don't have to worry all day long. None of us want the bad man to get near you again. I don't mind moving to Pine View," Miracle adds in, her soft voice breaking with her emotions.

"Okay. Valor, I need a day to make arrangements. I've gotta go to the school to get their records and all that shit. We can leave in two days if that works for you," I tell him, turning to look at him pulling the chicken out of the oven and cutting into it to make sure it's cooked all the way.

"That works. It's gonna take us a bit to pack up the house and get everythin' ready to move. I'll talk to Slim and Vault about an escort. I've got Chrome and Court with me, but I think we need more guys just to be on the safe side. Hopefully the club here can spare some guys to ride with us halfway to Pine View. Then, more guys from my club can meet us and take over," Valor says, moving around the kitchen and finishing up dinner while the girls and I were talking.

"Okay. I want you three to start packing after dinner. I'll have one of the guys go out to get us boxes and tape while we're eating. Don't leave anything behind because I don't know if we'll be back here and we want to make sure Slim and the club can use the house if they need to," I inform the girls as I get up to grab plates, cups, and silverware so I can set the table.

All three girls get up and help me so I'm not straining my body as much. In no time we have the table set and Valor sets out dinner. He takes his seat and I make my way over to the opposite end of the table from him. Seamlessly we've fallen into our old routines and I'm not sure how to feel about that. It's all I can think about as the girls dominate the conversation and continue filling Valor in on their lives and everything they've been doing. Then they switch to talking about the new school they'll be starting and everything else they can think of. Before heading to their rooms to start packing, all three girls take care of dinner and rinse the dishes off before putting them in the dishwasher. When they disappear into their rooms after grabbing some boxes and tape, I take some and move to pack up my room. We'll work our way from the second floor down to the first.

I'm in my bedroom and it's late as hell. I should be in bed instead of finishing packing everything. It's taking me longer than I thought because of the attack Conrad launched on me. It affects every single aspect of my life right now and I can't wait until I heal completely. My back is to the door when I hear a light tapping on the door frame. Turning around, I see Valor standing there in nothing more than a pair of pajama pants. His chest and tattoos are on full display, making my mouth water like every other time I've seen him this way.

"What's up?" I ask, trying not to let him know how much I'm hurting right now.

"You're in pain, Love. You need to take a break and get some rest. I can keep workin' in here if you want," he states, walking in closer to me as I try to stand from the bed where I was sitting to clean out the nightstand I've had since we moved in here.

"I'm okay. You can help if you want," I say, so many things going through my mind about what I want to say right now since we're alone.

Valor nods his head as he makes his way closer to me and grabs a box to put together. He patiently waits for me to say what's on my mind as he works on emptying out my dresser. I hate putting clothes in boxes, something he knows, but I've given the girls the laundry baskets we have to use. I have no choice in the matter as he packs everything in the box.

"Valor, what happened that day with the house bunny? The one I told you about when she was soaking wet," I finally ask him, pain filling my voice to let him know how much he hurt me with that one moment of time.

"Why are you askin' about it now? You've had years to talk to me about this and haven't ever asked about it," he questions me, the look in his eyes filled with questions about why I'm choosing now to ask this question instead of leaving it alone like I have for so long.

"Well, the girl rubbed it in my face for months that she was fucking you right before you left to move to Pine View. When I was at the clubhouse yesterday, she finally told me that you didn't fuck her. Not that day or any other one either. So, if I didn't see what I thought I did, I'd like to know what was going on. You don't owe me any kind of explanation and if you don't wanna tell me, then don't. I was just curious," I say, my voice almost a whisper as he moves to sit closer to me on the floor.

"I have nothin' to hide, Love. She came up to me after I got done workin' on my bike. That's why I didn't have my cut or tee-shirt on. I was sweatin' my ass off and took them off in the barn where I was workin'. She had rushed outside because she was doin' laundry and somethin' happened with the washers she was usin'. They flooded the laundry room and that's not a joke at all. There were four washers goin' at the same time and each one sprung a leak. She couldn't get the water shut off and didn't know what to do," he tells me, looking me in the eyes so I can see the truth of his words as he fights with himself to grab my hands. It's in the way he fidgets and keeps clasping his own hands together. "So, I went in to get the water shut off so I could figure out what the hell was goin' on with the washers. It turns out that the lines had ruptured. We don't know why, but it wasn't anythin' someone caused. Slim thinks they simply got worn out and ruptured. We should've had them replaced before then considerin' it hadn't been done before then."

"I heard about that. Shy was pissed because all new washers had to be bought when the lines ruptured. If they had hooked the old ones back up, Slim told her they would've caught on fire from the damage done to them," I tell him, remembering how pissed Shy was for weeks about that shit. We all wanted to laugh, but one look from her and it didn't happen. No one wants Shy pissed off at them. "I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions and thinking the worst when I saw you. I guess my nerves were raw after finding those letters to Kasey and knowing that even though I had been falling in love with you, you could never give me your heart because it belonged to someone else already."

"Pine View isn't that far from Cedar Bay. I know you realize the Wild Kings boys went there and started a club. They've finished the job Vault started. Well, I spent time with Kasey when she was havin' problems with Anthony. It made me realize somethin' very important," Valor says, not taking his eyes off of me as tears fill mine with the thought of him and Kasey being together. "I was never in love with Kasey. I was in love with the idea of bein' with a girl who already understood what club life is about. And I know how sweet and lovin' she is. At that point, Anthony was still nothin' more than a dumb fuck and he was destroyin' her life with how he was treatin' her. I wanted to save her from the heartache he was bringin' to her. Instead, I realized the one I love is you. Why do you think I call you Love?"

"You don't love me, Valor. We've spent a lot of time together and you helped me with the girls. If anything, you love the girls and the feeling you get when you spend time with them. We're not a replacement for your family and I won't have them realizing that's what you're doing," I state, knowing the Valor doesn't love me and it shatters my heart all over again because I want him to love me so much and it will never happen.

"That's not what this is, Savannah. Every single day I spent with you, you worked your way past all the defenses I put in place and never realized that's what I'd done. The girls are nothin' but a bonus. You're the one I want and one day I'll make you see that's the truth. If I didn't want you, I wouldn't have jumped on my bike the second Ava called me to tell me how she found you. I would've called Slim here and made sure you got the help you needed and then checked in to make sure you were okay. I love the girls with everythin' I am, but they're not who makes me want to be a better man. You are. For the last few years, I've dreamed of you, thought of you when I was at work, and wondered how you were doin'.

"The entire trip here, I couldn't focus on what the fuck I was doin' because my mind was so consumed with all the possible injuries you had. I've never been so fuckin' scared in my life, Love. Savannah, my life is nothin' without you in it. I've missed you so fuckin' much over the years and I couldn't bring myself to reach out to you because I didn't want to hear that you'd moved on and were happy. It would've fuckin' killed me. So, I stayed in Pine View and made sure that you got to find your happily ever after. Now, I know that you're meant to be with me. You're mine, Savannah and I'm gonna prove it to every fuckin' day," he says, leaning forward and pressing his soft, full lips against my forehead as I close my eyes from the close proximity of him to me after so long.

Yeah, he's taken care of me and helped me any way he could since showing up at the house. This is different. Valor's not taking care of me or anything like that. He's kissing me because he wants to. I'm so fucking confused and don't know what to think or do now.

"Actions mean more than words, Valor. You know that more than anyone else," I whisper, opening my eyes to look at him where he's crouched down in front of me.

"I know they do. And I'll show you with my actions that you're the one I want. The girls and you are my family and it's not because I'm tryin' to replace the family I've lost. I haven't lost anythin', Love. Our mom died when we were little and it's been Dad, Vault, and me for most of my life. I've had the club surroundin' us and that's all I've ever needed. Dad might no longer be here, but it doesn't mean I'm tryin' to replace what I had with him and my brother. No one will ever replace him and I know that as much as you do. I want to create a family with you and the girls. To support and love you for the rest of my days and add children to our family," he states, standing up and moving back to the dresser he was packing into boxes.

For the next few hours, Valor and I work in silence. Every time I finish a box, Valor tapes it up and stacks it in the corner of my room. He's definitely done more work here than I have. By the time we're done with my bedroom, I'm hurting, exhausted, and in need of a shower. Valor helps me back to the room downstairs and leaves me to shower alone. He knows I'm not ready for anything with him right now and won't push me. Valor will never push anyone to do something they don't want to do because it's just how he is. It's one of the many reasons I fell in love with him to begin with.