Angel Unseen: An Unseen MC Novel

by J Bree

  Every time I ask Tomi for opinions on shit he tells me as long as I’m happy he’s happy which is sweet but not at all helpful.

  So I open the door to find Trink and Keely standing there with big casserole dishes full of food. I stare at them both like an idiot.

  “Did Tomi not call? Course he fucking didn’t. We’re here for family dinner,” Trink says, pushing me gently out of the way and bouncing her way into the kitchen.

  Keely smiles a little softer at me, tilting her head and shrugging like there’s nothing she can do about her unruly children. Fully grown adult children who she raised better than this, I’m sure.

  “It’s fine! It’s totally okay, I was just—oh.”

  The words die in my throat as I look past her to see Tomi out on the front lawn with the rest of his family lifting a giant wooden table from a trailer. King, Hawk, and Hellion are already drinking while their sons do all the heavy lifting, the sounds of their joking and laughter ringing through the quiet streets.

  No one would dare come out to complain when it’s the bikers.

  “They’re going to take the table around back, Tomi said you have a porch out there big enough for us all,” Keely says, stepping in and kissing my cheek like this is all very normal and not completely fucking insane.

  What the hell is happening here?

  “I’ve already cooked all the meats, we just need to do salads. Reece has the drinks already, don’t you worry about a thing.”

  I glance over at Keely and find her still giving me that same smile. I’m just standing around like a dumbass. “I could’ve… come to you guys. No need to bring everything to me.”

  Trink snorts from where she’s raiding my fridge for cheese. “The table is a housewarming present from Mom and Dad, so you get delivery and the pleasure of the lot of us for dinner. Mom’s being nosy, Tomi has been all secretive and she’s getting fucking twitchy about it.”

  Keely shoots her a look and says, “I didn’t want you feeling overwhelmed at our place again. Besides, Tomi said he wanted Rue here in the morning to help out with the cladding. I hope you don’t mind, Tomi said it would be okay?”

  Now I feel like an asshole so I rush to say, “No, it’s—I mean, thank you. That’s very kind of you and the table is lovely.”

  Trink snorts at me and shoos me into the bathroom to clean up for dinner. When I walk back out they’re all ferrying the dishes out to the porch and I find myself in the kitchen with Speck, alive and only a little worse for wear.

  I try not to cry.

  He grins at me and gives me a look before I dart in close to give him a hug. “Fuck, I’m glad you’re alive.”

  He scoffs at me. “I’m harder to kill than that, give me some credit!”

  Keely walks in to see us hugging and before I can get too awkward about it she smiles at me like I’ve done something right… so I scurry away to find Tomi, ignoring Speck laughing his ass off at me.

  The table is round, thank God, because there's no freaking way I'd be okay with sitting at the head and being the center of attention.

  It's bad enough they all keep trying to talk to me.

  It takes me three times as long as normal to get my shit together and fill my plate up with food. The roast meats smell freaking amazing, the kind of homestyle I haven't had since my dad died, and there's every type of vegetable you could think of on this table.

  "How are your classes going, Angel?" Keely asks, and I try not to choke on my potatoes.

  "They're good. I'm in my final year so it's a lot harder, takes a lot longer to study and do the classwork.”

  "Doubled her course load too so she should be busy," Tomi says, nudging my leg under the table. I don't know what exactly he's trying to tell me because I'm too busy sweating under his dad's keen gaze. Fuck, his uncles both look like they're trying to look through my skin and into my brain from the other side of the table.

  Trink sighs and pokes at her own plate. "You just had to be a fucking genius, didn't ya? Couldn't be a dumbass like Reece and I."

  Speck scoffs and flicks a pea at her. "Speak for yourself! I’ve got more fucking brains than you and Rue put together.”

  Rue picks up his knife a little threateningly and Keely starts scowling at them all. By some miracle, that settles them all down.

  Hawk shuts their shit out and says to me, “What are you gonna do after college?”

  I shrug. “Accounting and specializing in taxes. I enjoy a challenge."

  Rue chuckles under his breath. "You mean like how you spent one night on The Boulevard's books and managed to fucking save our asses? That didn't seem like it challenged you. Tomi had been trying for fucking weeks and it took you, what, an hour?”

  Hawk’s eyebrows draw together. "What happened?"

  Keely gets up and starts handing out more beers, kissing cheeks as she passes them out and when she gets to me she does the same. Just throws me for a loop by including me in her little family.

  “Mav was doing a shitty job with the books. Skimming from the top," Rue says, taking his beer from Keely and lifting his chin for the cheek kiss obediently. Even he accepts her fussing.

  It's kind of adorable.

  Hawk shoots me a look and I rush to clarify, "I'm not sure it was skimming on purpose or if he's just really bad at bookkeeping but yeah... if you got audited you'd have been in trouble. Tax evasion levels of trouble and my professors have all been talking about how cash industries are being targeted this year so it's only a matter of time. Very messy."

  Hawk's eyes finally shift away from me and I take a breath. Jesus, his scrutiny is terrifying. "Guess we have a new accountant then."

  Uh.

  What?

  "I'm not certified yet. I can't do it until I'm finished."

  King shrugs. "That's only six months away, right? Perfect timing, ready for you to lodge our taxes. You can keep the books until then."

  I swallow roughly, ready to try to talk my way out of it but Tomi jumps in for me. "She has classes, she's focusing on that. If she has time she can do them but class first."

  That's not quite what I was hoping for in my rescue but I'll take it. Rue groans and says, "The garage needs the books looked at too. Diesel can barely fucking read, let alone sort taxes. We were using Vic but he's... not available anymore."

  Everyone shares a look and I decide not to ask about him.

  "Not available on account of a bullet in the brain," Trink whispers at me, and Tomi reaches behind me to smack the back of her head.

  "Shut your fucking mouth, dumbass. Who's been telling you shit, anyway?"

  Right.

  She was just trying to scare me then. I get back to my plate and keep my mouth shut. I'm still feeling all sorts of... off. They're all treating me too well. I'm sitting here and waiting for there to be some change in them, something to happen and suddenly it's a bullet in my brain.

  "Diego was yakking it up about the whole thing. Talking about how the club is losing credibility over killing our own members. I told him he was a fucking dumbass and then Law had to take a swing at him. I fucking hate the asshole."

  Law.

  Why aren't the twins here? Tomi nudges my beer at me and says, "Harbin's in town still. They're deciding if they're staying in Coldstone or going home to Mounts Bay."

  Right. I keep my face blank. Like, super fucking blank because Rue starts eyeballing me like I'm the most fucking interesting thing on the planet. Joke’s on him though.

  The Devil is terrifying and I'm certain he'd know if I gave anything away.

  "Did you meet Poe's sister?" King asks, and I mentally cuss him out. Of course he'd ask.

  "I did. She's nice."

  He stares at me. "Nice? Thorn acts like she's a fucking nightmare waiting to swoop in and lay siege on my club."

  I take a sip of my beer and try not to freak out. "She was very nice to me. She loves her sister, would do anything for her. Everyone was nice."

  Tomi's arm turns to stone where it's draped over the
back of my chair. "Who the fuck else did you meet?"

  Fuck. "Her sister and the boyfriend."

  Trink makes this little squealing noise. "Holy shit, you met Morrison too, didn’t you? Poe said her sister knows him too."

  I giggle. "Yeah, I did. He was really nice too."

  Speck cackles and I look over to find Tomi looking pissed.

  "He was nice! I mean… all of them were nice.”

  I think that if it were only Rue here he’d be asking me a lot more questions but as it is he quit that line of interrogation so I guess not all of his family knows about his soft spot for Poe.

  The rest of dinner passes a little easier. Tomi and Speck field a lot of the questions that get thrown my way, probably because I’m sweating so much.

  Keely packs all of the leftovers into a plastic container and pops it into my fridge. I try to stop her but she waves me off. "You've got classes all week, this should keep you going for a few days. I'll drop some more off just as soon as you need."

  I blush. "I'm fine. I mean, I'll totally live on ramen and energy drinks for the next few months but that's not anything out of the ordinary."

  She laughs at me and slings an arm around my shoulders, pulling me in tight for a hug. "Tomi will be on the phone to me in a heartbeat to come fill your fridge up. He eats like a freaking bear, you'll be spending half your life down at the grocery store for him."

  Oh.

  Right.

  I guess he’s already told me he’s not going anywhere so that must mean that he’s… moving in? I just kind of stand there and let her hug me while I'm just struck fucking dumb over it.

  "You broke her again, Mom. You need to ease up a little, she's all scared and shit." Trink cackles and finishes up wiping the dishes. I try to help her put them away and she shoos me off into the living room. I'm so freaking pissed the carpet isn’t done in my room when Keely starts poking around.

  “It’s coming along so well! Poe was telling me about how much you guys have gotten done, she was excited to come help you paint. You should be so proud, Angel. Really proud of all you've done."

  Tears well in my eyes and I clear my throat to try and shift them. "Thanks. It was... it was hard but worth it."

  She nods and pulls me into another hug. "You call me if you need anything, you hear? If you're busy with classes or you need someone to talk to, you call me and I'll be around here in a snap. You've been taking on too much by yourself, you can lean on us a little while you get your feet under you.”

  I nod and clear my throat again, grateful when she lets me go and nudges me into the living room. "I think Trink is planning on parking her ass on your couch for the rest of the night, Speck too. Rue will drink with Tomi and the others until I drag Hawk home. Get yourself settled in, the Callaghans have made themselves at home.

  She's right and they really do park their asses.

  Eventually Keely drags the older men home but Speck messes around on my TV until he finds some action flick to watch and the beers just keep flowing. Trink ends up with her head in Rue's lap, whining about some guy she hates in her classes while he listens stoically. He's so gruff and grumpy usually, it's strange to see him just relaxing back and hanging out with his family.

  Tomi locks everything up, checking the front and back yards before he settles on the couch with me, dragging me into his side and passing a fresh beer to Rue.

  It's so comfortable, I fall asleep there without even meaning to.

  I wake up in my own bed to the sound of pained groaning.

  I find Tomi on his back, passed out and snoring next to me, and the door to the bedroom open. Trink is standing in the kitchen rummaging through my cupboards like a crazed woman.

  I creep out of the bed and over to her.

  “I should never drink with these assholes. I have school in an hour and my head is fucking thumping."

  I smile and grab the aspirin. "I'll cook you some breakfast. A greasy breakfast will soak some of the alcohol up. Grab a shower while I get it sorted."

  She turns her bleary eyes to me. "I fucking love you."

  I shrug and push her gently to the bathroom. I get everything started on the stove top and I'm getting my goddamn stupid fucking oven lit when Tomi slinks up behind me, cupping my ass through the yoga pants I threw on to cover up.

  "As good as the view is, get outta the way and let me do it. Have you got classes this morning? We'll go get a new one."

  I've already looked up how much they are and I have to be careful with my budget, I still have to redo the bathroom, the carpet, and get a fence put up.

  I move aside and shrug. "I've got classes in an hour. It's fine, I just gotta learn how to do it as fast as you do."

  He lights it in no time and stumbles outside to pee because Trink's still hogging the bathroom. I bite my lip at the thought of old Mrs. Farley getting an eyeful of him.

  The old bitch'll have a heart attack.

  Rue stumbles through to the kitchen, eyeing the piles of bacon like a caveman and mumbles, "You need a fucking fence."

  Then disappears outside to take a piss as well.

  Gross.

  Speck is still snoring when we all finally sit down to eat. I ask about waking him but Rue shakes his head. "More bacon for me, the little fuck can eat back at the clubhouse. Trink, pass me a beer. I need the hair of the dog."

  It's all so freakin domestic.

  This is what being a Callaghan means.

  The problem is that I relax.

  Now I have a life and a man and everything I didn’t even know that I needed I relax into it and I forget that I wasn’t just keeping secrets.

  I was running from them.

  I spend the day at the library studying and attending lectures. Tomi checks in constantly like he said he would but I’m feeling better today. My ribs aren’t hurting at all and my lip has finally sealed over so with a little makeup you can’t see a thing.

  Poe and Trink both message me about coming over to help pick out tiles so I know I have to stop in at the grocery store. It’s shocking to me how much food they all go through but I’m so thrilled at having them all around me that I can’t really complain. I stop in at the store down the block from the Mugshots bar.

  My saving grace.

  I grab a cart so I can make a proper shopping trip out of it. I know all of the shit that Tomi likes and now I have a deep freezer I can get to filling it up with shit for him. Otherwise, I really will be in here every other day.

  Everyone in the store is polite to me, all smiles and kind words as I pass and I just enjoy the hell out of living in this town.

  As I walk to the back of the store I glance out of the window and I see the car.

  My breath dies in my chest, my heart stutters to a stop, my skin begins to crawl.

  I know whose car that is, that car is etched into my fucking soul for all of eternity but it should not be in Coldstone. No, it should be far away from me, all the way in Maryland where my monsters are supposed to stay.

  Paul has found me.

  I dart out of the grocery store leaving my cart behind and I fumble around in my bag for my keys. I need to get to the clubhouse right now. I need to get on the road and call Tomi.

  A hand clamps over my wrist, squeezing it until I feel a snap, the pain like blinding light through my skull. “Jazmin, there you are.”

  A year ago, I would have frozen.

  Fuck, six months ago I would have burst into tears and slid back into the mindset of that little terrified girl I once was. Alone and scared and utterly fucking helpless.

  I’m not her anymore.

  My keys are already in my hand so it’s easy enough to lift the pepper spray and aim it at his smirking face, pressing the trigger on it and unloading the can of liquid fire into his face.

  He snarls at me and his hand tightens on my wrist even more but I jerk myself away from him, ignoring the pain as best I can. He taught me how to do that.

  Then I run. I fucking run so hard my lungs try to
jump out of my chest. He’s faster than I am and pissed the hell off but I know where I’m going, I know exactly where I’ll be safe just the second one of the Unseen see me.

  I just have to make it to the bar at the end of the road. One of the guys there will recognize me and I’ll call Tomi. Fuck, or maybe he’ll be there. Or any of the Callaghans. Someone.

  Anyone.

  I veer down the back alley because I know it’ll slow him down to have to turn without anticipating it and when I get to the back door I find a biker there. His badge says Diesel but I really don’t care who I’m running into, only that he’ll help me.

  His lip curls at me, I’m not expecting that at all, and snaps,“Girl, I know exactly how old you are. There’s no way I’m letting you in here.”

  My voice is shrill and panicked even to my own ears. “Please. Please, I need to speak to Tomi now.”

  The heavy footsteps behind me catch Diesel’s attention and I throw all caution to the wind. I just fucking blurt out, “That man is my rapist and if Tomi finds out you didn’t help me right now, he’ll kill you with his bare hands. I know it.”

  Deisel has his phone out and pressed to his ear the second the word rapist comes out of my mouth, shoving me inside the building and blocking the doorway with his body.

  “It’s me. Get your ass to Mugshots right the fuck now. Your woman was chased down here on foot by some cop cunt trying to touch her.”

  I stumble into the back room of the bar, disoriented and staggering but now there’s a biker and a wall between me and Paul so I can lose my shit.

  I really do lose my fucking shit.

  I scream and kick the first guy who approaches me, the adrenaline of the chase still riding me, and so they all just leave me be after that. I stand there shaking in the hallway until Speck comes to find me.

  “Angel, do you want to come sit down? Lemme get you a drink, girlie.”

  I can’t move. I can’t move or think beyond the terror pumping through my blood. Speck doesn’t try to touch me or comfort me, he just stands there for a minute and then pulls out his phone. He taps on it and then carefully holds it up to my ear.