Angel's Halo

by Terri Anne Browning

  He barely shoots me a glance before turning around to collect more. I grab his elbow, catching him by surprise and turning him around to face me. “Who’s the kid’s mom?” I demand.

  Colt frowns. “What kid?”

  My patience is slipping quickly. “Bash’s kid,” I grit out. “Who is her mom?”

  His eyes darken and his gaze moves from me to Cory, who shrinks back from whatever she sees there. Then those eyes, so identical to my own, back on me. “I don’t know. She isn’t from here. I think she was the daughter of the president in the Vegas club, Red Dragons.”

  “You think, or you know?”

  “Yeah, Rave. She was. But the bitch caught a bullet in a raid at the warehouse in Vegas, along with half the club—including her father. Kid had no one. Bash decided that he didn’t want his girl living in that world, so he took her and made house somewhere else … Look that’s all I know, okay?” He tosses the tray aside and grasped both my wrists, pulling me against him. “I didn’t even know that much until recently.”

  I lean into him for just a second, needing my brother’s strength as I try not to fall apart in front of a bar full of people that will never let me live that shame down. Taking a deep breath, I push away from Colt. “You should have told me,” I whisper and walk into the back room where I let the tears fall.

  Chapter 12

  Raven

  The first time Bash kissed me was the night I turned eighteen. My first kiss, my first anything.

  For weeks Bash had been picking me up from Uncle Jack’s on Saturdays and taking me home. We would watch movies, order pizza or whatever else we felt like eating, and just hung out. At first I loved it. Bash wasn’t off whoring around at the bar with whatever sheep happened to catch his eye. Instead he was with me and I had his full attention.

  Then I realized that my brothers were probably having him babysit me or some other shit. They hated for me to work on Saturdays when all the club whores were in attendance, and with Bash keeping an eye on me then they were free to do what needed doing—or who needed doing. Because he was the enforcer—the one that made sure that peace was kept within the Club, the one that took care of rule breakers—Bash wasn’t likely to break the number one rule.

  No one touches Raven Hannigan.

  I was starting to resent his presence on Saturday nights, really hated the fact that he kept the full length of the couch between us when we watched television. Despised the fact that he treated me like a kid when there were girls younger than I was hooking up with members of the club and even becoming ol’ ladies.

  Tonight was yet another Saturday night, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to be spending it at home watching action movies with Bash. If anything he wasn’t even on my mind as I put Uncle Jack’s books away and got my things ready to go. Today was my birthday and I was going to celebrate it how I wanted. With Flick, a few bottles of Jameson, and no brothers or enforcer or biker in any shape or form.

  Grabbing the keys to my new car, a brand new Dodge Challenger that my brothers had given me just that morning, I headed out. I called a goodbye to my uncle and was already running toward the back door. If I didn’t get of there soon, I knew Bash would show up and I would be forced to suffer through yet another Saturday night of wanting something that I knew I couldn’t have.

  “Whoa!” Uncle Jack called out, following me. He had grease on his hands and streaked across his still handsome face. Just because he owned the shop and connecting garage didn’t mean he got to sit behind a desk all day. He worked hard. “Not so fast, Raven.”

  Frowning, I turned to face him. “Did you need something else, Uncle Jack?”

  He pulled something from his jean pocket and offered it to me. “I promised Max I would give this to you on your eighteenth birthday. It was your mom’s.”

  As he opened his big hand, I saw a silver necklace with a medallion hanging from it. I didn’t remember my mother, not one thing about her. Pictures showed me that I looked startlingly like her, but I had no emotion for the woman when I saw those pictures. It was hard to love something you never had, hard to miss something you never wanted. My father and Jet had raised me with so much love that I never even wished for a mother. The few times I needed motherly advice—like my first period—Felicity’s mom helped me out.

  “What’s this?” I asked, taking the necklace.

  “Something your old man gave your mom when they first started dating.” Uncle Jack shrugged. “He said she wanted you to have it.”

  I nodded as I read the back of the medallion. Angel’s Halo was engraved within a diamond with a halo over the top of the diamond. On the back it said: Mad Max. A smile touched my lips as I traced a finger over my dad’s name. “Thanks, Uncle Jack.” I slipped the necklace over my head letting the medallion hang freely. “I didn’t even know you guys still had these things.”

  “Only the Originals have them. Take care of it, Raven. Your dad was one of the few good men I’ve ever known.”

  I gave him a hug, letting him squeeze me tight before stepping back. A kiss to his cheek, and then I was out the back door. I picked Felicity up, ready to hide out for the night. Twenty minutes later we were parked on top of the one hill in Creswell Springs. It overlooked the small town, and I felt like I was finally free of my brothers as I sat on the hood of my new car.

  Beside me, Felicity offered me a freshly opened bottle of Jameson. With her own bottle in hand, she sat back and we looked up at the star filled sky. “Happy birthday, Rave.”

  “Thanks. It doesn’t even feel like my birthday.” Other than giving me the car I was sitting on, my brothers had barely spoken to me all day. They normally told me happy birthday a million times, and there had always been a cake. Even a dinner.

  Not that I was complaining. I was more than happy that they had left me alone all day.

  I was just as happy that Bash hadn’t texted me to say “happy birthday.” Not even his usual devil horned smiley face that normally greeted me first thing every morning. I took a deep swallow of the Jameson and gritted my teeth, letting the burn of the whiskey wash away the hurt I was feeling. Yup, I was happy. Happy, dammit.

  I was miserable. Not one fucking text?

  “Let’s run away.”

  My head snapped around to look at my best friend. “What?”

  Felicity sighed, her blue gaze glued to the sky above us. “I want to run away. Let’s get out of this fucking town. Away from these dumbass bikers. They don’t need us anyway. You have a shitload of money saved up, and I have some too. We can just pack up and leave tonight.”

  The idea had some appeal, really it did. But the very thought of leaving Creswell Springs, of saying goodbye to my brothers, uncles, Bash … That made my heart ache, and I shook my head. “I can’t. They might not need me, but I … I need them, Flick.”

  She took a swallow of her own bottle of whiskey and remained quiet for a long while. Finally, when she spoke it was to agree with me. “I know. I need them too.”

  After that we were both quiet. That was one of the things I loved so much about Felicity. We didn’t have to talk or even look at each other to enjoy being together. Just having her sitting there beside me, getting shitfaced off of the whiskey that I’d taken from the stock room at Hannigan’s was enough proof that she loved me just as much as I loved her.

  Around nine my phone started buzzing with incoming texts and phone calls, one after the other. I knew it wasn’t any of my brothers because I vaguely told them what I had planned with Felicity without saying that I was going to stay out all night getting drunk. They didn’t seem to mind and didn’t question me about it other than to ask the first time.

  After the fifth time it went to voice mail and when my text message tone sounded for the tenth time, I was ready to turn it off. Where the FUCK are you?!? The text on my screen was from a number I had never seen before.

  Frowning, I went back through the other messages, unsure if I was reading them correctly or if I was drunk.

  I
wanted to wish you happy birthday. But I couldn’t do it from my phone. Was the first message from the unknown number.

  I have a present for you. Are you working tonight? Obviously this person knew me, but I still couldn’t figure out who he was—if he was actually a he. As for a present … Well just as the club members weren’t allowed to touch me, I was pretty sure they weren’t allowed to give me gifts either. No one ever had before.

  I’ve been on a run since yesterday. Where are you? My eyes widened. Yes, it had to be someone from the club. A few guys had gone on a run yesterday morning to LA, or so I heard.

  Abandoning the texts for the moment, I lifted the phone to my ear to listen to the voicemail messages. As soon as I heard the voice, I nearly dropped my phone. Swallowing hard, I tightened my hold on it and closed my eyes. “This is a burner phone, Raven. I have one for you too. Delete this message as soon as you listen to it. Then meet me at your house.” As soon as the message ended another one began. “Why aren’t you home? I drove by Jack’s but he was already gone for the night. Are you working at the bar? If you are, I’m coming in.”

  “Rave?” Felicity noticed how still I had become, my breathing labored. “You okay? You aren’t that drunk yet are you?”

  “Shh!” I held up my hand as another message began to play.

  “Raven! You aren’t at the bar either. What the fuck?” My eyes narrowed. “I want to fucking see you!” The revving of his hog greeted me before the message ended and another one began just as quickly. “Saturday is our night. I even rushed through a fucking run to get back here in time. I had six of my men staring at me like I had grown a second head when I told them they couldn’t stay for LA pussy. Now I’m here and you’re off playing hide-and-seek? Do you think I want to play games?”

  The last one had just come in and I was already shaking. A mixture of shock, anger, and biggest of all—need. “If you don’t call me in the next five minutes I’m going back to the bar and fucking the first bitch I see. You’re choice, Raven. Five. Minutes.”

  Anger won out against the shock and need, and I jumped off the hood of my car and swiped my finger over the number Bash had used to call me. It rang once and then his heavy breathing filled my ear. “Finally!”

  “You want to fuck someone else, then do it!” I screamed at him and hung up. Turning my phone off, I tossed it into the open window of the Challenger.

  “What the hell was that about?” Felicity demanded, sliding off the hood and putting the lid back on her half-full bottle of Jameson.

  Angry tears burned my eyes, and I kept my back to her so she wouldn’t see them. “Nothing. It was no one important.” But the night was ruined for me now, and I just wanted to go home and crawl into bed. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”

  “Okay. It’s your birthday. I’m cool with whatever you want to do.”

  I took her home before going home myself. What buzz I had earlier was long gone, replaced by a mixture of hurt and rage that left me shaking. When I pulled up in front of my house I wasn’t surprised to see the driveway completely empty. All of my brothers were at the bar either working or getting some ass.

  The house was dark and I didn’t bother to turn on lights as I went up to my room and slammed the door shut. I stumbled over a pair of boots on my way to the bed and fell face first across the mattress. Stupid bikers. Stupid fucking bikers!

  How was it that I had gone from slightly hurt that he hadn’t even texted me to shocked that he had called, not once but a handful of times, to needy because it sure as fuck had sounded like he was offering me something I had practically begged for two years ago, to so mad my head hurt in the span of only a few minutes? It was a wonder that my head hadn’t exploded after that assault of crazy emotions.

  Reaching out in the dark, I grabbed a pillow and covered my face with it before screaming out my frustration, punching the bed on either side of me. FUCKING BIKERS!

  I must have still been a little buzzed because I didn’t remember much after that. I closed my eyes and the next thing I knew someone had me pinned to my bed. Screaming my head off, a big hand clamped down over my mouth. “Hush. It’s me.” His deep voice rasped in my ear. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  A moment later his weight shifted off me and my lamp on the bedside table beside me snapped on filling the room with a soft glow of light. I sat up, scooting as far away from him as possible, my eyes full of all the anger still boiling in my blood. “Must have been a quick fuck. Guess she knew what she was doing.”

  Bash sat on the edge of my bed, his hands on his knees and his head bowed. Wide as my bedroom door shoulders slumped at my words. “I didn’t fuck someone else.”

  “Guess I called you back just in time then, huh?” I was still wearing my boots and I reached down to unlace them before kicking them off. “What was all of that about, anyway?”

  He stood and started pacing. “It was me trying to make a claim on the only thing I’ve ever wanted.”

  I stopped in the process of stripping my socks off. What did he just say? Was I drunk after all? Maybe I was still dreaming. Because it had sounded like …

  “What?” I demanded, needing to confirm that I heard him right.

  Bash stopped mid pace and turned to face me. “I have been going out of my fucking mind for weeks, Raven. Weeks! Every Saturday night I pick you up, drive you home on the back of my bike with your tight little body pressed against me. I sit through shit movie after shit movie. Eating pizza and popcorn. I didn’t touch you once. Not once, dammit! I should qualify for fucking sainthood. All so I could have just a few hours of alone time with you without someone going apeshit and tearing me apart.”

  Those silver-blue eyes were stormy, shooting lightning down at me. “And the whole time I’m counting down the days until I can touch you without feeling like I should be locked up. Ticking off the hours in my head until I can taste your lips without robbing the fucking cradle.”

  He pulled a phone from his pocket and tossed it on the bed. “That is yours. You don’t let anyone know you have it. You call my number and only my number, got it? In two weeks I’ll get you a new one.”

  It was a burner phone. The club used them often when they were on runs. It kept the cops off their trail and a whole load of other shit that I was sure I wasn’t supposed to know anything about. “Why?”

  Bash grimaced. “Because I want to spend a little time with it just being me and you. The second your brothers find out I will be buried and you will be locked in a room until I can get back to you. Until then, I want some us time. To let you figure out if I’m what you really want.”

  My eyes widened. “What I want? Don’t you mean what you want?” Because if it was for me to figure out if I really wanted him, then there was no need for that. I wanted him. For now. Forever. For as long as he wanted to be mine.

  “I know what I want, Raven. She’s lying on a bed glaring up at me right this minute. Making me wish to God that she was just a little less complicated so I could make her mine tomorrow.” He pulled a second burner phone from his pocket. “You need me, you call this number, you hear me?”

  “Yeah. I hear you.” I picked up the phone he had tossed to me and put it in the drawer beside my bed. My brothers wouldn’t come in my room to save their own lives, so there was no reason to hide it better.

  My heart was racing, shaking me to death, my brain going over everything he had just said to me. I glanced up at him from under my lashes to make sure he was still standing there, that I hadn’t just imagined the last few minutes. He was still standing there, still looking at me as if he was debating whether to eat me or leave me.

  It was hard to believe that he was offering me something I had always wanted. Well, mostly. But I understood his reasoning. I wanted some time with him before my brothers kicked his ass too. There was no doubt about it. If we crossed that line, if Bash touched me, then one or all of my brothers would have the right to punish him. That was just their code. Bash knew the rules better than anyon
e. He was the enforcer. Not even I could save him if we got caught.

  My heart ached at the thought. As much as I wanted him, I also wanted to push him away. Wanted him to leave and never look back so he would be safe from the depravity that my brothers would show once they got their hands on him. “Bash …”

  He was on the bed beside me before I could say another word. “Don’t. Don’t say it. I know what I want, Raven. I will deal with your brothers and the club when the time comes. Until then, just … Fuck. I’ve got to kiss you.”

  I saw firsthand how strong Bash was. There had been fights at the bar where he had taken three or four guys on at once, walking away with barely a scratch to show for it, while leaving the men bloody and broken on Hannigan’s floor for someone else to clean up. Yet, those deadly fingers were gentle as they cupped my jaw and lifted my head.

  His lips were firm but not rough as he brushed a kiss over my lips. That one brush of lips on lips was like being electrocuted. A soft whimper escaped me, causing my mouth to open enough for him to thrust inside. He tasted me, diving deep with his tongue until I was tasted him too. My fingers started to tremble as I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding on to him in case he decided he didn’t like kissing me after all. No way was I letting him go until I was ready.

  The kiss deepened. A growl came from somewhere deep in his chest, and I shivered at how animalistic it sounded. Oh, shit that was sexy!

  With that kiss my fate was sealed. I belonged to Bash, and in my heart he belonged to me.

  Chapter 13

  Bash

  My phone’s been annoying the hell out of me. I turn off my bike and get off. As I walk toward Hannigan’s, I pull the phone out and see it’s Colt. He’s been blowing up my phone with messages and is still doing it. I don’t bother to look or listen to them. Fuck, I’m here. Whatever he needs to say to me can be said face to face.