Shadow (A Bad Boy Romance): The Hoods MC

by West, Heather

  It took her a moment to return my embrace. She held herself stiff, and it made the embrace awkward. When she stepped back, she said, “Allie—“

  “It’s Sky, remember?” I corrected, flashing her a wide smile and hoping to get her to calm down some. With a wave of my arm, I gestured to the bar. “Want something to drink?”

  I nodded at the few guys who were in the room, and I murmured to some as they cleared out. Sam the Slayer patted me on the back before he left. He was a good guy. All of them were. Their lives, I was beginning to remember, all had some connection to someone who had been molested, just like Shadow’s had been. It was a terrible thing to bond over, but they were still damned fine guys.

  Marie’s eyes flashed darkly, and she scowled. “You’re getting awfully chummy with everyone here, I see.”

  “What’s the harm in that? I do live here.” Boy was I glad I never did get around to calling her when I’d decided to leave Shadow a second time. She never would’ve let me come back to him. My older sister was overly protective, although to be fair, she had every reason to hate my being with Shadow. I’d opened my mouth to her too much before, even if I hadn’t given her all the details about him at the time.

  “Why?” she asked bluntly, tapping her heel on the tiled floor.

  I sighed and refrained from rubbing my temple. Already I could feel a headache coming on. I definitely needed a drink for this conversation.

  As if she understood my telepathic wish, or maybe just because she needed one too, Marie helped herself behind the bar. She poured herself some straight whiskey then poured me some as well.

  Oh, boy. Straight to the big guns.

  She downed hers in three gulps and poured herself some more.

  I pulled out a barstool, sat down, and sipped mine. My sister might have a taste for whiskey, but I didn’t, or at least I hadn’t acquired one yet. It tasted bitter, but the burn on the way down wasn’t too unpleasant.

  “Are you crazy?” Marie asked.

  Oh boy. I took a much bigger swallow this time. It burned too much, and I started to cough.

  As soon as I recovered, she asked, “Are you fucking crazy?”

  “No.” Crap, what had she heard?

  “I know Shadow got shot at.”

  My eyes widened. How had she heard that? Hell, she was well connected! Not that it was her business, and her saying shot at meant she didn’t realize he had actually been shot and hit twice.

  Before I could respond, she added, “Shadow is a dangerous man.”

  “A little danger makes life more fun,” I said jokingly. “A walk on the wild side and all that.”

  “Really? Allie—“

  “Sky.” I scowled. If I had thought about telling her my memory had pretty much returned, I was reconsidering it. She was being a bitch deliberately.

  “I know you hit your head bad and the whole amnesia thing—“

  Damn it, I really didn’t like where this was going. It had train wreck written all over it.

  “But you can’t seriously think that being with him is a good thing. You have to have more sense than that.”

  “You have to have more sense than to tell me not to do something,” I said coolly. “You know that always has the opposite effect on me.”

  She blinked a few times. Swirling the meager amount of whiskey still left in her glass, she said, “You are a smart girl. You’re gorgeous. You have your whole life ahead of you—“

  “Yes, and it’s my life. I’ll decide what I’ll do with it and who I spend my time with.” I pushed away from the counter but didn’t get up. “If you just came here to dictate how I should live my life—“

  “Sky, honey…” Her voice had completely changed. There had been an edge to it earlier. Now that was gone, replaced with far too much sugar. “I just want what’s best for you.”

  “And you’re a better judge of that than I am?” I demanded, hands on hips. “Poor, stupid, college dropout Allie is now playing at life as poor, stupid, needy Sky. And poor, stupid, needy Sky can’t tell her head from her ass. And she sure can’t make any kind of decisions for herself. She’s too dumb for that. She can’t even realize how messed up her boyfriend is. She just sees him as a hot piece of biker ass.”

  “That’s exactly my point. Shadow is dangerous. He’s not good for you, and I don’t see how you can’t see that.” Marie yanked on her hair. “But you aren’t stupid, Sky. Not at all. You’re too smart for him. You’re too smart to be with him. He’s a lost cause.”

  Now she had crossed the line. “That’s messed up Marie. He’s not a lost cause. Sure, he’s fucked up. And you know what? So am I. I am every bit as fucked up as he is. The two of us understand that quality in each other.”

  Her jaw dropped. “Sky, you are not—“

  “I am too. And what’s more, we need each other. It’s the only way either of us will find redemption. You have to agree, sis, that I deserve redemption, right?”

  “Redemption for what, Sky?” she asked quietly.

  I didn’t dignify that with a response.

  Very deliberately, Marie drained the rest of her drink and grabbed her purse. Then she stormed out, her footsteps echoing loudly, each one pounding into me as if stabbing me in the chest.

  I didn’t want to fight with her, but she didn’t understand me like Shadow did. I wasn’t the same girl I had been. She acted as if I was with Shadow just because of his Wonder Cock and that wasn’t the case. Or maybe she thought I was too afraid to start over on my own. That wasn’t the case either. I was right where I wanted to be.

  I was where I belonged.

  And I did need redemption. Every one of those pedophiles Shadow had killed while we were together was on me as much as it was on him. Only I could save him and bring him back to life. It was only I he had let into his life to see the darkness there. I knew that deep down, he wanted me to save him. That was why he had told me about his past in the first place. He wasn’t strong enough to get past the terrors of his past by himself. No one would be. He’d suffered through too much.

  I would be the one to bring him back to the light, whether my sister wanted me to or not. My redemption and his were tethered together, just like our hearts were. He was mine, and I was his.

  I’m sorry you don’t understand, Marie. I really am, but you might as well leave town and go home to your husband. I’m not leaving Shadow. Not this time.

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Shadow

  The other half of the bed was cold when I stirred. Sky wasn’t here. I stretched, glad to find that I hardly had any pain left. I’d used only minimal pain medication throughout my recovery. I wasn’t about to let myself slip into bad habits again. Drugs and I were through.

  Although we hadn’t talked about it, I knew Sky still wanted me to stop killing pedos. As much as I wanted to do everything she asked of me, I couldn’t give it up. Not yet anyway. That fucker Frank Greene was still out there, and he had dared to hurt her. Even she couldn’t blame me for wanting to nail his ass and be the one to bury him six feet under.

  Just the thought of not offing pedos made me want to break out into a nervous sweat. It was the only thing I had found that helped to keep the demons at bay. Whenever I wasn’t working on a mission to hunt one down, nightmares plagued me. I became withdrawn and prone to violence. Anger, rage, fury… I couldn’t feel anything else. I couldn’t bear to let Sky see that part of me, so how I could stop? There was no other way to end the madness. Drugs had dulled it, but even that hadn’t been enough.

  I stretched some more. All right, I was sore, but not from where I had healed. We were going at it more than rabbits did. I just couldn’t keep my hands off of her, and she couldn’t keep her hands off of me either. Just thinking about her full tits, flat stomach, and perfect ass had me hard again.

  Where was she? I tugged on jeans and threw on my shirt. It was wrinkled, but I didn’t care. Sky had seen me at my worst. She wouldn’t care about a few wrinkles. Actually, she’d probably rather
I went without a shirt at all, but the boys wouldn’t appreciate that, and they’d been on us enough as it was about how “friendly” we were being.

  I couldn’t believe how everything had turned out up until this point. I mean, Sky had left me. It was only because she cared so much for me that she dragged my father to find me when I had gone off to take down Greene by myself. If she hadn’t bothered to see if my bike was still at the clubhouse… If she hadn’t cared so much about me to even check… If she hadn’t the heart to track me down… I would’ve died.

  Now, we were back together and stronger than ever, and I would never do anything that might jeopardize us. She meant everything to me. She was the only bright spot in my life. I needed her more than I needed air.

  I opened the door and walked down the stairs. Sam the Slayer was outside my office door, and a part of me shifted suddenly as if my world had tilted on its axis. I had been pushing off the inevitable, trying to stay happy with Sky, to give my body time to heal and recover fully, but now it was time.

  Frank Greene had to go down before his trail became impossible to find.

  “Gather everyone for a meeting,” I demanded.

  Sam the Slayer grinned. “‘Bout time, man, ‘bout time. Oh, and…” He tilted his head toward the bar. “Your girl’s that away.”

  I smirked. Was I that obvious? Of course I was. “Thanks.”

  I headed to the bar. Sky was sitting on a stool, holding a glass in both hands. She glanced over as I approached, and the look of anger on her beautiful features melted away as she smiled at me.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked before giving her a long kiss to ensure that smile would remain on her lips.

  “Marie stopped by.”

  “Oh.” Her bitch of a sister. Actually, I shouldn’t be so bitter toward Marie. After all, if I were in her shoes, I sure as hell wouldn’t want my younger sister to be with a guy like me.

  “But she’s gone now.” She placed her glass down.

  I picked it up and sniffed it. “Whiskey?”

  “Marie’s drink of choice.” Sky smiled wryly. “She can be tough as nails and more stubborn than a mule but her intentions are good.”

  “She wants what is best for you.” I rubbed her arms. “So do I.”

  “I’ll always love her. No matter what.” She shrugged.

  Will you always love me? I wanted to ask. Instead, I cleared my throat. “There’s a clubhouse meeting I need to go to.”

  Her eyebrow rose. “Am I invited?”

  “You’ll want to know what we discuss, yes.”

  “Will I care for the topic of discussion?” she asked.

  “I think so.” She had to want Greene dead after what he had done to her.

  She nodded and took my hand. I quickly drank the last swallow of her whiskey and led her into the meeting room.

  We were the last two to arrive, and Eyebrow got up to close the door behind us. I waited for him to take his seat and for Sky to take the one at the far end of the table directly across from me to start. My palms touched the table as I leaned down. I was too amped up to sit down for this meeting.

  “Brothers…” I glanced at each of them in turn and lastly winked at Sky.

  She gave me a tiny grin back. Was she upset with how things had gone down with her sister? Or did she have misgivings about my line of work still?

  Either way, I was going after him. With or without her approval.

  “My number one task is to hunt down and kill that damned pedo, Frank Greene. His friend landed me in the hospital, and I paid him back for that already, but Greene himself went after Sky in retaliation and that cannot be ignored.” I slammed a fist onto the table.

  The guys roared their approval. A few even clapped.

  Sky remained motionless, expressionless.

  “Have any of you been able to locate him?” I held my breath. I shouldn’t have needed to ask them to keep tabs on him, but things had been more than a little crazy with me being in the hospital.

  “There’s been a few places we’ve spotted him, but he’s a slippery one,” Ratched said.

  “Whenever we get close, he knows it. Like he has ESP or something.” Eyebrow shook his head.

  “At least he’s sticking around the city, but who knows how much longer he’ll stay here. If the cops sniff him out…” Ratched grimaced.

  “We can’t allow that to happen,” I snarled.

  “And it won’t.” Ratched drummed his fingers on the table. The sound grated on my nerves.

  “He’s using cash only, I assume,” I said. He was too smart to leave a paper trail.

  “Yep,” Eyebrow said. “And we can’t figure out where he’s staying either. Hasn’t been back around his house, though, and he doesn’t have any other relatives in the state.”

  “And will be harder to find him as time goes on.” Ratched rubbed his chin. “If he decides to fly the coop…”

  “There’s only one thing we can do. We’re going to have to lure him out,” Sam the Slayer threw out there.

  “Lure him out.” I liked the sound of that. Simple, direct, and easy to put a bullet through his brain. I rubbed my hands together. “Excellent idea. Any suggestions on how we do that?”

  Silence fell. One idea did come to mind, but I dismissed it.

  Until Sam the Slayer vocalized it. “He went after Sky once for revenge already. He’ll go after her again. I’m sure he will. We can use her to trap him.”

  I straightened and rubbed my forehead. How could I even be considering this?

  “She’s never left the clubhouse without at least one of us with her,” Eyebrow added. “If she were to go by herself…”

  Several of the other boys chimed in, all agreeing with the plan. It was solid. Yes, it was scary as fuck, but there wasn’t another option.

  I nodded, the movement crisp and precise. “Let’s do it. When I have a date picked out, I’ll let you all know. Dismissed.”

  The guys all left quickly until only Sky and I remained in the room. The last one to leave, Ratched, shut the door behind him.

  She just stared at me, unblinking. She hadn’t said a word the entire meeting.

  “What are you thinking?” I walked around the table and sat beside her. I held out my hand.

  Her gaze lowered to it, but she didn’t take it. After a long moment, she said, “I can’t believe you agreed to that.”

  “Do you see another way? Because I’m more than willing to listen to suggestions.”

  Sky sighed. “I haven’t thought of anything.”

  “Well then?” I reached for her hand.

  She pulled back away from me. “I need more time to think of something.”

  “Time is one thing we don’t have.”

  “The past few days have been so wonderful,” she pleaded. “Can’t this wait?”

  “Do you want him to leave the city alive? Do you want to live your life never going anywhere without a bodyguard? Always looking over your shoulder, wondering if he’ll be coming back for you? What kind of a life is that?” I had to get her to see reason.

  “I just…”

  “You’re scared. I understand that.” Now I refused to not take her hand. My thumb rubbed her knuckles. “You think I don’t know about your nightmares?”

  Her eyes brimmed with tears that she blinked away.

  “You have to trust me. This is part of you being mine—that you do what I say and in return, I’ll protect you. I’ll always protect you.”

  She had started to smile, but now she was frowning. At least she didn’t look like she was going to cry anymore. “How can this dangerous plan be a part of protecting me?”

  I stood. I hated that she didn’t trust me. I hated that she might even think that I didn’t have her best interests at heart. My mouth opened, but no words came out.

  “I…” A few tears streaked down her face.

  “Sky.” My heart broke to see her so upset. “You have survived so much. Life has knocked you down so many times, but you kee
p on getting back up. You deserve your second and third chances at life. You deserve to be able to live your life the way you want to, without having to worry about someone wanting to take it from you.”

  “Someone wants to hurt me because of you,” she murmured.

  I sat back down, stunned. Was she blaming me for Greene attacking her? I never thought that would ever happen, that he would go after her. I knew the asshole was a sick fuck, but still, that was low. Beyond low.