Rain Shadow(20)

“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.