Read Online Simple Ride (Hellions Ride Book 6) by Chelsea Camaron - Free Book Online

I see construction in my
future.
    “ Boomer,” she
whispers.
    “ Yeah, Pami?” I turn,
looking over my shoulder at her.
    “ I don’t want to sleep
alone. I need to know I’m not alone.”
    Without hesitating, I make my way over
to her. I toss the pillow back in its spot and climb in. I then
pull her to me like I have so many times before. She fits against
me as if it’s second nature, and for this moment, all is right with
the world.
    Almost.
    I do believe that children who have a
mom with as much heart as Pamela should be with her, not away from
her. There are kids out there with mothers who don’t care, and they
are stuck with them, like it or not. Then you have Pamela’s
situation that feels almost helpless.
    How is it that the bitches seem to
have all the luck, while the good women get held down?
    She sighs against me. “I messed up,
Boomer. I messed it all up for my kids.”
    “ No, Pami, you did the best
you could for them.”
    “ Do you believe in
angels?”
    “ I’d like to think that my
momma can see the man she raised. I’d like to think she is watching
over me.”
    “ I had a daughter, Boomer.”
She pauses, holding back emotions. “Cannon was their little sister.
He hit me one too many times in the stomach that night, and I hit
my head and blacked out. When I came to, the contractions were too
close together. I didn’t make it in time to stop them. I didn’t buy
my baby girl enough time.”
    I stroke her hair as her pain fills my
chest. The loss, the guilt, the sadness, I feel it all. I know the
emotions all too well.
    “ Boomer, no matter what
happens, I gave my boys time. I failed their sister, but I bought
them time away from him.”
    “ Quit talking like he’s
gonna get you. I’m not gonna let that happen, Pamela. Believe
that.”
    “ You ever wish you could
turn back the hands of time? Even though you got something good in
the end, you ever wish you could go back?”
    I continue to stroke her hair and try
not to let the moisture soaking my T-shirt kill me. Although I want
to take away her pain, I learned a long time ago that no one can do
that. People can come along and ease the ache, but no one can take
it away.
    I murmur without actually answering.
Do I wish I could go back? With every breath I take. I wish I could
go back and switch places with my now dead brother-in-arms. He had
so much to live for. Me, I had a mom in the grave and no family
left to worry for. I had friends, sure, but they could move on.
Skid, however, had a wife and a baby on the way.
    “ My boys are the best thing
that ever happened to me. As much as I love them, I love them
enough to let them go. If I could turn back time, I never would
have been with him. I never would have met Dennis Williams. I know
that would mean I wouldn’t have my boys, and the thought of that …”
She pauses in an attempt to control her emotions. “It kills me, but
Boomer, if I could turn back time, I would because this isn’t the
life I ever wanted to give them.”
    The nagging question I shouldn’t ask
pops out. “Why stay for as long as you did?”
    She moves, and I tighten my grip
around her. I don’t want her to run. I want to get to the real
Pamela, the one who is vulnerable, the one who is beautiful, the
one who is the strongest woman I have ever known.
    “ I was young, dumb, and
once upon a time, I was in love, or so I thought.”
    “ You don’t believe
anymore?” I ask after hearing her defeated tone.
    “ I believe people aren’t
always who you think they are. I believe that the sum of one plus
one isn’t always two.”
    “ What does that
mean?”
    “ Boomer, if you meet
someone and have a connection, you build on that connection,
right?”
    I nod my head but don’t
speak.
    “ You let your walls down,
but you also dream. You allow yourself to dream of a future. Then,
somewhere along the way, the fantasy is nowhere near the reality.
The person you thought you knew is long gone, and in their place is
a stranger