She lowered her hand. “My mom told me that I was born with a birthmark that looked like a star.”
“Really? That’s weird. That sounds so familiar. Don’t know why. That dejavu shit sure is crazy. Where is the birthmark?”
She pointed to the scar on her shoulder. “It was another reason my mom had given for Gracie burning me. Besides being jealous that I was taking up too much of her sister’s time, she was also mad because she wanted a star.” Angel grew quiet. I’d brought up the scar in the kitchen, and her aunt had insisted that her mom and grandfather had burned her shoulder. She sighed darkly. “My mom was so fucking nuts, I’m surprised I lived past my fourth birthday.” The distinct rumble of Harleys sounded in the distance. The lights were heading our direction. “Damn that Jericho. He’s such a traitor lately.” She jumped down from the rock. “Help me find my panties. Unless you want my grandfather to find them first.”
I slid down. “Shit, I don’t need that. What do you think he’s going to do to me now that I screwed up your arranged marriage?” The words had left my mouth before I had a chance to stop the stupidity.
Her bottom lip dropped open. “What are you talking about?”
I paused for a second, but it was too late to back track. “Tonight was a set up. Your grandfather and the president of that other club had made plans for you to marry the guy’s son. It’s part of his scheme to merge the two clubs.”
She stared at me as I handed her the panties. The bikes were closing in on us. A cloud of dust drifted overhead. She struggled to pull the panties over her boots. I hadn’t noticed the stream of tears on her cheeks until she straightened.
“Why are you so upset?” I asked. “I’m sure tonight put an end to those plans. Besides, I was never going to let it happen.”
Her bottom lip trembled. Seeing her cry made my chest tighten. She wasn’t upset with Dreygon. She was pissed at me.
“How long?” her wavering voice was nearly drowned out by the clamor of the bikes.
I looked at her unsure how to answer.
She slammed her hands against my chest. “How long did you know?” she sobbed. “Why would you keep that from me?”
The bikes formed a vibrating circle of steel around us. The headlights skewered us like spotlights on a stage. “Let’s go home,” Dreygon’s demand came through a glowing curtain of powder. “Angel, you get on with Cash. That boy has been between your legs enough for one night.” They were words that normally would have made her cringe, but it wasn’t about her despicable grandfather right now. It was about me. I’d kept a secret from her, and I’d just lost her trust.
“I’m sorry, Angel.”
She wiped clumsily at her tears and wandered through the haze to Cash’s bike. I climbed onto mine, knowing full well I was in for some major shit from Dreygon once we got back to the compound. I didn’t care. No amount of beating or whipping or whatever other sick form of punishment he could drum up was going to feel as bad as having Angel disappointed in me. And I hadn’t even worried about keeping this from her. I hadn’t expected it to be such a problem. I could only imagine her reaction once she discovered what else I’d been keeping from her. I’d been delusional to think she wouldn’t be all that upset.
Chapter 5
Angel
My life had been a tedious flurry of people disappointing me. Growing up there had been so many occasions when my mom or grandfather had let me down, like a birthday completely forgotten, or acting crude in front of a school friend, or even pulling me from school early to be dragged along on a drug run, that I’d found it was easier just to expect it. Disappointment was part of my life and I’d accepted it, but having Luke keep something major from me made my whole body ache with it. I’d grown to trust him and having the one person who mattered most fail me felt truly awful. But the rotten feel of it was quickly muted by the ominous expression on my grandfather’s face as we parked the bikes. His mouth was pulled tightly, smoothing the lines around it and his earrings, always an almost theatrical inconsistency, glittered in the ivory light of the garage.
Everyone had turned off their engines, but the metal walls still reverberated with the clamor of the bikes. I climbed off of Cash’s motorcycle and took off my helmet. Luke was the last one to park. I hated the flat look on his face as he pulled down the bandana, the same bandana that we’d used for much more erotic purposes just minutes before. Now I regretted reacting so harshly. I was blaming him when I should have been pissed at my irrational grandfather.
Grandpa walked over and picked up a crow bar from his tool shelf and smacked it against his palm. My stomach tightened and I felt sick. Gunner and Jericho stood a distance away. Cash reached out and grabbed my arm before I could run to Luke. He shook his head to warn me to stay put. I struggled to get out of his grasp. I swung my free hand at his face, but he caught it and pulled me toward him.
“It’s all right¸ Angel. Just relax.” Cash had never given me any reason to mistrust him. He’d always been one of the more decent men in the club. He actually had a conscience, or at least he seemed to, but I had no idea what his motives were this time.
I swallowed back the bitter taste that rose in my throat. My grandfather strutted casually over to Luke, still beating his palm with the steel bar. Luke seemed to be bracing himself for whatever the old man was about to throw at him.
The frigid air inside the shed was deadly quiet and yet somehow filled with frenetic energy. The rows of bikes looked like a herd of massive black and chrome animals fast asleep. I shivered from the cold and the horror of what was about to happen.
“Well, Reno, you had quite a night.” My grandfather’s deep voice echoed off the walls. The crow bar rested in his hand now, and his taut, angry shoulders had loosened some. “Thought you might have it in you. Wasn’t completely sure, but you proved it tonight.”
Luke’s gray eyes skewered him as he seemed to be puzzling out his words. “You crazy old man, you set this whole thing up to test my loyalty to the club?”
My grandfather nodded. “One of my best plans yet. Not that I hadn’t promised Angel over to Johnny in exchange for some club membership. I had. But I’d always figured he wasn’t good enough for her. The man I hand Angel over to is going to have to prove that he can protect her.”
I yanked my arm free from Cash’s hand and walked over to my grandfather. “Grandpa, how could you? You’re treating me like a piece of cattle.”
“Everything I do is for your own good,” he answered. It was his form letter response for everything. “Even this set up tonight was for your own good.”
“You were going to just pass me off to Johnny? And you actually believed I would just go along with it like some mindless fool?”
Grandpa looked at me. “Why are you making such a fuss? The right man won, didn’t he?”
“You don’t get to play games with my life. Come on, Reno.”
We turned toward the door and then a horrible thud echoed through the shed. Luke dropped to his knees and curled down into a ball. His arm was pressed against his back.
My insidious grandfather held the crow bar tightly in his fist. He stared down at Luke. “Don’t ever call me crazy old man.” He threw the bar aside and it clanged against the metal wall.
I leaned down to help Luke to his feet. His face was white. He was hunched over in agony and looked close to puking.
“You are a crazy old man, and I fucking hate you!” I screamed.
I braced for the pain as he lifted his hand to slap me, but Luke’s arm shot up and grabbed hold of my grandfather’s arm. Once again that strange mingling of rage and admiration crossed my grandfather’s face.
Luke straightened. He gritted his teeth against the pain and spoke through a clenched jaw. “She’s been under your protection all these years— now she’s under mine.”
Grandpa looked at him long and hard. Then he grinned and nodded. “Get some sleep, Son. We’ve got guns to move in the morning.”
Chapter 6
Lu
ke
An abrupt knock startled me and I opened my eyes in the dark room. I’d slept for only a few short spurts of time. The night had been long especially since it had ended with Angel giving me only a light kiss on the mouth and going off to her own cabin. She’d given the excuse that the wild night and the wine had given her a headache, but I knew she was still upset with me.
No light crept through the crusty windows. The sun hadn’t risen yet, and cold night air filled the dingy room. There was no clock, and even after being awake most of the night¸ I had no idea what time it was. My head throbbed from the lump on its side. My back ached from Dreygon’s violent effort to save his pride, and my stomach was empty.
I opened the door. Jericho was on the porch. He tossed a sweatshirt at me.
“Thanks,” I said.
“We’re meeting at the gate in ten minutes.”
“Great. Will they be serving donuts and coffee?”
He smiled. “Should only take a few hours. Gracie will have breakfast going by the time we get back.”
“Good to hear.” I rubbed the knot on my head. “Long fucking night.”
“Yeah.” He looked at me. “If I had to lose her, I’m glad it was to someone like you.”
“Thanks, man,” I said, more than slightly surprised by his admission. “Sometimes I look for words to describe how I feel about her, and there aren’t any. They don’t exist. There’s nothing strong enough.”
“Yeah, Evie has that effect on people. Once she’s wrapped herself around your heart, there’s no letting go.” This was a guy who had to fight girls off, but he made no effort to hide his heartbreak. I felt bad for him. I couldn’t even imagine losing a girl like Angel.
Jericho left and I went in to wash up. The crow bar had done a number on my back and pulling a sweatshirt on over my head was torturous. Angel had been so disappointed in me, she hadn’t even offered an aspirin. I hated leaving the compound on whatever fucked up mission Dreygon had planned for us with her being pissed at me. Since I was going to be armed in the back of a truck hauling illegal guns, it seemed there was a distinct possibility that I might not make it back.
The brisk predawn air smacked me as I stepped outside, clearing my weary head and making everything hurt more. I had no idea what I was heading into or how much threat there would be to this shipment of wares, but I now had a front seat ticket to Dreygon’s illicit business affairs. Outlaw clubs were few and far apart. Most bike clubs formed from a sense of brotherhood, camaraderie amongst people who enjoyed the open, exhilarating life of riding. But the one percenters, as they were sometimes called, who thrived on being bad, were some of the most dangerous people around. And they were tough to stop. They stuck together like a brotherhood, and they had a network of connections that kept them in business, no matter what the business.
I glanced back at Angel’s cabin. It was dark. A large, gray box truck was parked inside the compound gates. I hadn’t seen it come in. Gunner peered out of the driver’s window. Dreygon was nowhere in sight, most likely still asleep in his cabin pretending as if none of this was happening. The loyalty of his crew amazed me. Even Gunner, who obviously despised the man, was sitting willing and ready in the seat of the truck ready to do Dreygon’s bidding.
Jericho stepped around the side of the truck. He had a gun in his hand. “You’ll be in back. There’s no real danger right now. The fun starts once we pick up the goods.”
I smiled at the notion of submachine guns being goods. He handed me the weapon. “How will I keep watch from the back of a box truck?”
“We’ll be switching this truck out when we get there. The other truck has some small windows to keep an eye on things.” Something had caught his eye behind me. I turned around.
She always looked way too innocent and too beautiful to be part of this world. She looked almost lost and a little lonely with her hands tucked in the pockets of her jeans and the hood of her sweatshirt pulled up over her head.
“Hold this.” I handed the gun back to Jericho and headed toward her. She crossed her arms against the cold. We were surrounded by cold night air but the space between us heated instantly. Her disillusioned blue gaze went straight through my chest.
“I’m sorry, Angel. I should have told you.”
She stared down at the ground, and I waited for her to say something. Her arms uncrossed and she wrapped them around my neck. “Don’t do it again, Reno.” My arms went around her and I held her tightly. She was so solid and real in my arms, as if she was meant to be in them. Gunner smacked the side of the truck door to summon me.
Angel was still in my arms. “Be careful,” she said, and then she pressed her mouth to my ear. “Take me away from this place, Luke.” She dropped her arms and headed toward her cabin without looking back.
Dragging my gaze away from her was always impossible. I watched her disappear inside.
“Let’s move,” Gunner said sharply.
I walked back to the truck. Jericho handed me the gun, and I climbed into the back. He looked in at me. “Guess you’ve never done anything like this before.”
“Yeah,” I answered weakly. Unfortunately, I had. And the irony of it all was that that incident had landed me here at the compound. And now I was climbing back into a box truck, ready to transport illegal cargo. It was a little like walking circles when you’re lost.
Jericho shut the door and in the clammy darkness of the box, my mind went straight to Dex and how I’d gotten here in the first place.
Chapter 7
Luke
One month earlier
Dex glanced out the tinted window of the truck. “I’m just glad we’re traveling over land instead of underwater.” He looked over at me. I was always amazed at how relaxed he could be when were heading into a sea of shit. We’d taken painstaking steps to make sure everything was in place. Pulse, the snitch who’d decided to give up damming information in exchange for protection, had hooked us up with the underground courier service that provided trucks and drivers for the transport of illegal goods. The guy who ran the operation didn’t much care who his drivers were as long as they were willing to face possible death for a nice chunk of pay. His drivers never had knowledge of what they were hauling or who they were transporting for. It was a ‘the less you know the better’ kind of job. As long as you had some courage and could drive a truck, you were in. Dex and I had gone undercover as men who’d done this kind of work before. But unlike most drivers, we knew plenty. We were moving a boat load, or a nacro-submarine load, of cocaine to a warehouse owned by Troy Griffin, the president of the Bent from Hell MC.
“I mean have you seen pictures of those narco-submarines?” Dex continued with his philosophizing. They look like something I might have built in the backyard out of my dad’s spare car parts.” He shook his head. “You’d have to pay me a lot more than they’re paying us to get me to travel from Columbia to Mexico in one of those snap together submarines.”
“You do realize that you’re not actually going to get paid as a courier, right? Especially because this job is not going to end successfully.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He drummed a beat on the dashboard. He was amped up. Dex loved stepping into risky situations. He thrived on danger, and even though everything had been carefully planned, this could go a million different ways. Only one of those ways had a happy ending, the one where we make a successful bust and Dex and I walk out with our lives.
We were nearing the abandoned Christmas tree farm where the meet up was to take place. “Who’s playing the dumb, loud mother fucker role today?” Dex asked.
I glanced over at him. “You always do the part justice, you take it.”
He clapped his hands once. “Awesome.”
“And stop acting like a kid on his way to Disneyland. When you’re this pumped up you make mistakes.”
“Right.” He made a pathetic attempt at relaxing.
I glanced over at him. “Now you look like a kid who’s wearing the itchy wool sweater his aunt k
nitted for him.”
He leaned back on the seat. “Hey, remember that time your dad took us to Disneyland?” he asked.
“Sure do. You puked on my churro.”
“I’d never been to an amusement park. I wasn’t used to those wild rides.”
I smiled over at him. “We were in the Small World ride.”
“Yeah, that boat action was too much. Another reason I’m glad we’re in a truck and not one of those submarines. Shit, they probably use that fucking white school glue to hold those things together.”
“Actually, from what I’ve read, those things are pretty sophisticated. Otherwise the cartels would be losing a lot of money at the bottom of the sea.” Acres of dead and dying pine trees appeared on each side of the road. Dex grew quiet now. The weight of things usually hit him once we had a visual confirmation that something was really going down.
He looked out at the rows of trees. “Why do you think the owners abandoned this place?”
“Probably over farmed. My grandfather used to move crops around and leave fields barren to keep the soil good. Trees take a long time to grow, so you wouldn’t have that luxury.”
“Is Gage still planting stuff now that Pops is gone? Shit, I used to love hanging out up there.”
“I think he still does some farming, but he’s always up in the mountains logging. He doesn’t have much time.” The casual conversation had helped relax Dex. We were both feeling the weight of this, but we always had each others’ backs. I wouldn’t have done this without Dex at my side, and I was sure he felt the same.
A dilapidated farmhouse came into view. There were two trucks parked in front of it. Three sketchy looking guys, including two wearing Bent for Hell cuts, met us. I didn’t recognize anyone but then the club membership had grown a lot in the last five years.
“Do your brothers know what you’re up to?” Dex’s tone had thickened. The adrenaline was still pumping, but it was manifesting itself in a different way. My partner could transform from light hearted clown to fiercely dangerous in the blink of an eye.