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Shadow:Satan's Fury: Memphis Chapter(15)

By:L. Wilder


I lifted my hand in a slight wave and said, "Hey."

"Let me introduce you to everyone." She walked over to a young boy who was about seven or so with blond hair, blue eyes, and a smile that was filled with innocence. "This is Grady. You'll be sharing a room with him, but don't worry, there's plenty of space for you both."

I nodded and replied, "Nice to meet you, Grady."

"The twins are Brooklyn and Brea. It might take you a little while to tell them apart, but I'm sure you'll figure it out." She was right. The two brown-headed girls were dressed in the same blue-striped shirt and denim shorts with their hair pulled back using the same colored ribbon. Their facial features were nearly identical, but I noticed one of the girls had freckles on the bridge of her nose. My focus was still on the twins when Mrs. Ridley turned to the oldest of the children and said, "And finally, we have Michele."                       
       
           



       

At thirteen years old, Michele was the oldest of all the children in the house, and she was quite beautiful with long dark-brown hair and crystal blue eyes. She gave me a half-smile as she straightened her back and said, "Hi, Mason."

There was something odd about the way she looked at me that made me think she was trying to warn me of something, but I had no idea what it could be. Shaking it off as my imagination, I replied, "Hi, Michele."

We spent the next half hour trying to muddle through all the small talk, and once Mrs. Haliburton felt like I was ready, she slipped out, leaving me alone with the Ridleys. It didn't take me long to figure out that there was something very different about my new family. Even though there were five children in their home, the house was eerily quiet. The kids stayed locked away in their rooms, spending their entire day in complete and utter silence. With each moment that passed, I became more and more curious about their odd behavior. Hoping for answers, I walked over to Michele's room to ask her what was going on. She was sitting at her desk, working on her homework, and didn't even look up when I walked into the room. "You can't be in here, Mason. Go back to your room."

"But-"

She turned and with an intense expression, she warned, "No buts. It's getting late. You need to be in bed. Besides, if they find you in here, we're both gonna get it. Now, do what I said and go back to your room."

"Gonna get it? What are you talking about?" I pushed.

"I hate to break it to you, kid, but you didn't just move in with the Brady Bunch."

Just as the words came out of her mouth, her blue eyes widened with fear as she listened to the sounds of his footsteps creeping down the hall. "What's wrong?"

"He's coming," Michele whispered to me with warning in her voice. "You've gotta get out of here. Now!"

I was just about to turn to leave when Cal appeared in the doorway. As soon as he saw me, his face twisted into an angry scowl and I could smell the alcohol on his breath as he barked, "What the hell are you doing in here?"

"He was just asking me about school," Michele lied.

"You really expect me to believe that?" he growled. "I know why he's in here. He's hoping to get himself a piece, and that shit isn't gonna happen!"

He reared back and slammed the back of his hand across my cheek. When I stumbled back, he reached for my throat, squeezing tightly as he slammed me against the wall. "Cal, don't! He didn't know any better!"

"Well, he's about to learn how things work around here!" He pounded his fist into my side, nearly breaking several of my ribs, and I fell to the floor. His foot came crashing into my side as he shouted, "You'll do as you're told, boy, or you'll pay the fucking consequences."

After several more firm kicks, he reached down and grabbed a fist full of my hair, dragging me over to Michele's closet. He opened the door and tossed me inside. He slammed the door, and I was left cowering on the floor like a wounded animal. I was completely stunned. My parents rarely ever spanked me, and they certainly never hit me like my new foster father had just done. I didn't know what to think, and as I sat there wiping the tears from my eyes and the blood from my mouth, I heard the sounds of whimpering coming through the door. It was clear that he was hurting her and even though I was desperate to help her, I could only sit there and listen. Eventually, the room grew quiet, and I heard him stumble out of the room. I sat there for hours waiting for someone to let me out of the closet, but it wasn't until the following morning when Mrs. Ridley finally came.

The door flew open and she towered over me with a cold, angry scowl as she snarled, "Get up! You're late!"

The dream ended there. I wasn't forced to remember the events that followed, but those memories clung to me like a wet blanket as I lay there staring at the ceiling. Eventually, I rolled over and managed to go back to sleep, if you could call it that, but after a couple of hours tossing and turning, I woke up to the sun blaring through the window. I lay there for another half hour then pulled myself out of bed and got dressed. I was eager to see if there had been any word from Murphy and Blaze, so I went to find Riggs. When he wasn't in his room, I headed to the kitchen and found Cyrus, T-Bone, and Gunner sitting at the table eating breakfast. I made a cup of coffee then sat down next to Gunner. He looked up at me and asked, "How's it going, brother?"

"It's going. You seen Riggs?"

After months of healing from an almost fatal gunshot wound, it was good to see that he was finally getting back to his old self, even if that meant he was back to running his mouth. Gunner's mouth twisted into a mischievous smirk as he announced, "Yeah. He left about a half hour ago with a couple of prospects. Said he was going to install a security system for a friend of yours."                       
       
           



       

"Riggs talks too fucking much," I growled, stopping him midsentence.

Just as he was about to respond, Jasmine, one of the club girls, came over and asked, "Hey, Shadow. You want me to fix you a plate?"

"No, I'm good," I grumbled.

She spun around and headed back to the stove as Cyrus turned to me and said, "Riggs said your friend owns the bookstore on Broad Street. She any relation to Hallie?"

While I knew there was more behind the story, I repeated what Alex had told me. "Hallie was her grandmother."

"Hmm ... Don't guess I ever knew she had a granddaughter, but I remember a few years back when this girl-"

Before he could finish his sentence, our burners all chimed at once. We reached into our pockets to pull them out, and I looked down at the screen and saw that the message was from Gus. Blaze and Murphy had tracked down Jasper at his warehouse, but there was a hitch-he wasn't there alone. There were armed guards surrounding the building, and it was up to us to help them get Jasper out of there. As soon as we finished reading our orders, T-Bone stood up and said, "Looks like it's party time, boys."

We all stood up and rushed towards the parking lot. When we got outside, Moose, Vet, and Mack were already on their bikes. T-Bone went over and joined them, and once Gunner and I got in his SUV, the guys followed us towards Jasper's warehouse. While we were all ready to get our hands on Jasper, I was feeling especially eager. I knew it was just a matter of putting the pieces of the puzzle together, and then we'd finally find out who was fucking with the club. The day of reckoning was near, and I looked forward to executing our revenge.





Alex





For as long as I could remember, I'd always had this unexplainable feeling that something was out there waiting for me that I had been missing in my life-something life altering-but it was just out of my reach. Over the past few weeks that feeling had grown stronger, making me feel restless and on edge. As I lay in bed and thought back over my night with Shadow, I realized that when I was with him, that restlessness just wasn't there; I felt whole and at peace-like I could truly be myself. Yet, as much as I liked that feeling, it terrified me, mainly because it could never last. Shadow had no idea who I really was. He knew nothing about my past and what I'd run away from, and even if I wanted to tell him, I couldn't. The risk was just too high. Besides, it wasn't like he would understand. How could he? There were times when I didn't even understand it myself.

For the past eight years I had been Alex Carpenter, the bookstore owner whose past wasn't lined with deceit and heartbreak, but it was all just a farce. She was just a fictional character I portrayed so I could escape the darkness I'd left behind. It wasn't difficult to play the part. Hell, I'd been pretending my entire life. It was something I'd learned from the person I loved most in the world, my mother. She'd gotten so good at acting that, not only did she have me convinced, she'd convinced herself. Like me, she wanted desperately to believe that the stories she told me about my father were true, but unfortunately, they weren't. In actuality, my father wasn't a typical business man. He worked long hours, attended late night meetings, and flew all over the world; but doing so wasn't simply a means to provide for his family-not even close. The truth was, my father was one of the most infamous drug traders in California, and his so-called business was filled with secrets, lies, and illegal activity that he kept hidden from everyone around him, including my mother and me.