Destroy For Her - R.B. Hilliard Page 0,2

God-forsaken place. Not one damn thing. If she could, she would strip the clothes from her body and travel naked. That’s how much she hated him.

Rosa helped her dress while Luca kept watch. On the way out the door, she paused long enough to twist the gaudy rings from her finger and toss them onto the floor. Good riddance.

“Momma!” Petal called from the bottom of the stairs.

“Watch her arm,” Rosa cautioned as her sweet girl bounded up to meet her.

Petal’s arms circled Sage’s waist and they made their way down the stairs together. At the bottom, Petal pulled back to say something and gasped when she saw Sage’s face. “What happened?”

“Nothing, baby. I’m fine,” Sage lied.

Petal, with her light-brown hair and petite frame, was the spitting image of Sage. The only difference was that instead of Sage’s blue eyes, hers were brown like her father’s.

“Rosa says we’re going on a venture,” Petal excitedly announced.

“Adventure,” Rosa corrected, handing Sage a small bag. At her questioning look, Rosa whispered, “Sandwiches, snacks, a few waters, and some pain relievers.”

“Thanks, Rosa.”

“Alon has a delivery to make in Matamoros,” Luca cut in. Alon was Rosa’s husband. He was in charge of the grounds. He also made deliveries for Carlos. What he delivered, Sage could only guess. “You’ll cross the border there. A man named Martin will meet you on the other side. He’ll drive you to Corpus Christi. Steele and his men can retrieve you from there.” He paused for a moment as if to weigh his words, then added, “You’ll need the club’s protection.”

Sage got it. Carlos would lose it when he found her gone. He would come after her. She hated pulling the club into this mess, but what other choice did she have? She had to get Petal to safety. “Thank you both. I don’t know why you’re risking so much for us, but I want you to know that we appreciate it. I won’t ever forget what you’ve done.”

Rosa stepped forward and gave her a delicate hug. “Be safe, mija.” Luca’s eyes softened and he gave her a nod. She hugged him anyway.

Alon was waiting in the front drive. His truck reminded her of an old-fashioned milk truck from the ’60s. After thanking them both one more time, they crawled into the back. When they were settled among the boxes, Alon handed them a blanket and motioned for them to cover themselves.

They stopped twice for gas along the way but didn’t dare use the restroom for fear of being discovered. Instead, Alon parked in secluded areas where they could trek into the woods. Sage didn’t care. She was just happy to be out of that place. Poor Petal kept offering her food and pain pills. She refused both for fear that the food would make her sick and the pills would make her loopy.

The long journey left her with time to reflect. She drifted through thoughts of Alex—of his dark as night hair, his sky-blue eyes, his dimples when he smiled, and the love he held for her daughter. She thought of the love she not so secretly harbored for him—a love that caused her to make the biggest mistake of her life. Over the past five months, she’d had plenty of time to dwell on her life and the mistakes she’d made. There were so many, too many to count. Her thoughts shifted to the club, to Gibbs and all the time they’d shared with their makeshift family . . . how she’d taken it all for granted. If only she’d known.

Sage’s family moved to Austin when she was fifteen. By then, she was already a wild child. High school was one big party, so much so, that she barely graduated. Instead of going to college, she moved in with some friends and started working at a bar called Spur’s. Spur’s was owned by a local motorcycle club called Steele Raiders. That’s where she met Gibson Andrews. The club called him Gibby. Sage thought Gibby sounded like something someone would name their vibrator and called him Gibbs. Gibbs was a beer-drinking, loud-mouthed good old boy who was always in search of a party. He was a cowboy more than a biker, and just her kind of guy. After two years of dating, he finally put a ring on her finger, and she officially became his Ol’ lady.

But with the good times came the bad—the bad being that she wanted to settle and start a family and Gibbs did not. He