Angel's Halo: Avenged

by Terri Anne Browning

  She struggled, kicking at me until I grasped her right heel and started massaging. “Ugh,” she groaned. “I hate you so much, but if you stop, I’m going to stab you with your own knife.”

  Grinning, I pressed my thumb deeper into her arch, making her moan with pleasure. “Right there, baby?” I asked, lowering my voice the way that always made her shiver.

  Goose bumps rose up on her legs, and I watched as she pressed her thighs together, her ass squirming on the mattress. I kept massaging, releasing all the tension in her foot before reaching for the other one and showing it the same attention.

  Those little moans coming from her, however, were driving me up the wall. Her calf pressed into my throbbing cock, so there was no way she could miss just how hard I was for her. Lifting the pillow off her eyes, she shot me a dirty glare and pulled her foot free. With her other foot, she kicked me off the bed.

  “Don’t you have shit to do? Your MC is probably looking for you.”

  I grabbed her foot back, squeezing her toes with just enough pressure to make her inhale deeply, her lashes lowering in agonized pleasure. “They can wait a little longer. I’m busy taking care of my girl right now.”

  Her exhale was exasperated, and she jerked her feet back before using them both to kick me off the bed again. “Go deal with your MC, Colt. I want to sleep,” she grumbled, burying herself under her pillow and the blanket once again.

  Sighing heavily, I leaned over and kissed the back of her exposed neck. “Fine. But when I get back, we’re going to talk, Kelli.”

  “Hmph,” she garbled into the pillow, flipping me off as I grabbed my cut and headed for the door.

  Out in the main room of the clubhouse, a few of the brothers were sitting with some of the ol’ ladies. Seeing me, Butch jumped up. “Been looking for you,” he muttered.

  Frowning, I glanced around, not sure he was talking to me. Butch didn’t talk much to anyone, period, so I was surprised as hell that he was doing so with me now. I followed him from the main room and outside to the front of the compound. As the chilly air hit my face, I grimaced and waited for Butch to cut to the chase.

  “Jos is here,” he informed me.

  My brows lifted as I glanced around, expecting his daughter to pop up out of nowhere. “Really? When did she get in?”

  “Yesterday.” He ran his fingers over the stubble of his shaved head. “She’s got a kid with her.”

  “Shit,” I muttered, knowing exactly where this was going. “I swear to fucking God, Butch. I didn’t touch her. I told you that the last time she was here. The kid isn’t mine.”

  He gave me a look that told me to shut my mouth, and I clenched my jaw, complying for the moment. “I didn’t ask if the kid was yours, Colt. Any idiot with two eyes can see perfectly who that baby’s daddy is.”

  “And? Who’s the fuck is it?”

  “Matt’s.”

  That surprised me so much, it made me laugh. “Yeah. Okay.”

  “He’s either Matt’s or Bash’s,” Butch argued. “And we both know Bash would never do that to Raven.”

  “Fuck,” I groaned, knowing where this was going. If the kid looked like either of them, then one or the other was the father. The idea of Tanner possibly being the baby daddy briefly flitted through my head, but I quickly squashed the idea. Tanner Reid hadn’t ever fucked around with anyone under the age of forty, period. He liked them older, and the dirtier their appetite, the better. The last time Jos came for a visit, she’d been barely legal. Definitely not Tanner’s type. “Why are you telling me this?”

  “Because he’s gotta make this right.”

  “How exactly is he supposed to make this right, Butch? Matt is with Rory. He loves that girl. You want him to break up with her to play happy family with your daughter?” I shook my head at him in disbelief. “If she wanted to be with him, she should have told him he was a father when she found out she was knocked up.” His face turned purple, but I didn’t feel any sympathy for him. “Jos made her bed, now she has to sleep in it. Matt can be a father without shacking up with the mother.”

  “What the hell are you two talking about?” a voice I wasn’t expecting to hear demanded in an emotionally shaky voice. Rory came around the side of the clubhouse, a basket of laundry in her arms and a stricken look on her face. “Did you just say that Matt is a…a father?”

  I shot Butch a withering look, but he was only glaring at Rory, as if she were the cause of all this shit. “Fuck right, he is!” Butch snapped at her. “And he should be stepping up and making an honest woman of my Joslyn.”

  “Butch, back off,” I warned, stepping closer to him.

  The thing about Butch was that he didn’t discriminate when it came to putting his hands on someone. He didn’t care if they were male or female; he would throw a punch if someone pissed him off. And right then, I knew he was too close to the edge. With Uncle Chaz’s death, Butch’s emotions were too out of control. His father had been his rock and they had been pretty close, but grieving wasn’t a reason to put hands on any female, ever.

  And if Butch touched Rory, there wasn’t a person on the planet who could save him from Matt.

  Tears filled Rory’s eyes, but she was doing a good job holding them at bay. “I don’t believe you! Matt would have told me if he had a baby.”

  “Unless he didn’t know.” I tried to keep my voice soft, calming. But before my eyes, her tears were turning into a liquid inferno.

  “He would have told me!” she screamed in Butch’s face. “You don’t know shit, old man. If he was a father, he would have told me.”

  “What the fuck is going on?” Matt’s voice boomed as he came out of the clubhouse. He took one look at Butch and Rory, and I could practically feel death’s breath as it came for Butch.

  But my attention wasn’t on them. My eyes were drawn to the girl who had a baby on her hip as several people poured out of the clubhouse to see what all the shouting was about. That dark hair, those damn blue eyes, and that fucking face that could have been a replica of Matt.

  Shit.

  I hoped it wasn’t true, but there was no denying that the boy Joslyn Barker was holding was a Reid. He looked a lot like Max, except for a few small differences that reminded me of his mother.

  I wouldn’t call Jos a slut, but she had gotten around during her last few trips home to see her dad and grandfather. At one point, I’d been tempted to see how sweet her forbidden fruits tasted, but Kelli had come into my life and captured my complete attention.

  “What the fuck are you going to do about my grandson?” Butch demanded.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Matt growled, taking a menacing step toward him. “And why the fuck were you in my girl’s face? You got a problem, come to me, but you stay the fuck away from Rory!”

  “Oh my God,” Rory whispered, taking a good look at Joslyn’s son. Two fat tears fell from her eyes, and she took several shaky steps back from the two men. “It’s true.”

  “Baby, what?” The distress in her voice had Matt rotating around with a frown, then he groaned at the hurt that was shining out of her eyes. “Fuck, Jos,” he snapped, turning to the other girl. “Tell your goddamn dad the truth and get it over with.”

  Quinn pushed through the crowd that was forming. Sensing the dangerous vibes coming off both Matt and Butch, and seeming to realize instantly what was the cause, she calmly took the kid from Joslyn. “Hi there, cutie,” she murmured in her soft tone. “Let’s go find Raider. I’m sure he will be all for causing some trouble with you.”

  Joslyn looked like she wanted to follow after Quinn, but when she would have walked away, Matt grabbed her elbow and whirled her around. “Tell him. Now. Or I will.”

  She swallowed nervously, wiping her palms on her jeans. “Reid isn’t Matt’s son, Dad—”

  “I’m calling bullshit, girl.” Her father cut in. “If he’s not Matt’s, then he’s Bash’s. And I’m telling you right now, I don’t beli
eve that for a minute.”

  “He’s not Bash’s either, Dad!” she huffed exasperatedly. “He’s Tanner’s.”

  “What?” Butch and at least five other people asked at the same time.

  “So, he’s not your son?” Rory demanded of Matt, her voice a mixture of relief and anger.

  He exhaled long and hard. “No, Rory. He’s my nephew, not my son.”

  “When were you planning on telling me all of this?” she exploded. “Don’t you think you should have told me that you have a mini version of yourself walking around, so I didn’t jump to these conclusions to being with?”

  “No, because I expected you to trust me,” he gritted out, but he was watching her warily.

  “How do I know you didn’t sleep with half the fucking state while I was gone? You admitted to sleeping with Steph, and I know you weren’t exactly a monk while we were apart. So why shouldn’t I wonder if that was your kid when he looks just like you!”

  While Rory was cutting into Matt, Butch was coming down hard on Joslyn as we all stood there watching. “You should have told me you were pregnant when you found out. You should have fucking told Tanner. Now that boy is gone, never having gotten the chance to meet his own son. I’m ashamed of you, girl. Keeping Reid from his father was real shitty of you.”

  “I didn’t know!” she cried, tears pouring down her cheeks. “I had no idea Tanner died. No one bothered to tell me.”

  “Why does that matter?” Butch asked her with a scathing look. “How old is Reid? Close to two years old now? You had years to tell Tanner about his kid.”

  “I know,” she muttered, sounding like a sullen teenager. “I know, Dad, and I’m sorry.”

  “I’m not the one you should be apologizing to, Jos. Both Reid and Tanner deserved better.” He turned to Rory, his eyes bitter but regretful. “I’m sorry for what I said.”

  “Yeah, whatever. I don’t really give a fuck right now.” Shooting Matt a reproachful glare, she picked up the laundry basket she’d dropped on the ground and walked around the group of people still standing there watching the free show.

  I’d left Kelli in our room to deal with this shit?

  Fuck it all.

  Fed up with every one of them, I headed back inside and straight to our room. As I shut and locked the door behind me, I noticed Kelli was sound asleep and snoring lightly.

  My body was sore from sleeping on the hard floor all night, and I groaned as I sank onto the bed beside her. Kicking off my boots, I tossed my cut onto the chair across the room and curled my body around Kelli’s from behind.

  She released a soft breath as I pressed my lips to her bare shoulder and unconsciously cuddled back against me. Grinning, I closed my eyes and let sleep take me.

  Chapter 11

  Matt

  I watched as Rory stomped into the clubhouse, gritting my teeth as she shot me a look over her shoulder that told me I shouldn’t follow her. She was pissed at me, and I could see that all this shit had stirred up her jealousy and hurt over the whole Steph thing.

  Jos hadn’t helped any, not telling anyone about Reid and Tanner, and letting everyone assume what I had first thought when I saw her with the kid. Fuck, back then, my head was so twisted over losing Rory, I’d done a lot of things I wasn’t proud of with fuck knew how many chicks. I even had to stop and ask if Reid was mine because I couldn’t remember if Jos was one of those girls I’d used to try to help me forget for a little while.

  Knowing he was Tanner’s, however, kind of eased something in my chest about losing my brother. His son meant a part of him lived on.

  Jos hadn’t bothered explaining who her baby’s daddy was, but I’d been too busy with shit to think about what the outcome to her remaining quiet could be. I should have seen this coming, though. Butch wasn’t one to sit back and let anyone disrespect his daughter. But he should have confronted me, not Rory, and I was going to deal with his ass as soon as everything else calmed down.

  I started to follow after Rory, to hell with her not wanting to be around me right now.

  “Matt!” Bash called out, stopping me before I could reach the clubhouse door. “We need to go, cousin.”

  My shoulders stiffened, and I glared at the door, debating for a second whether to follow after my girl or go with Bash and the others. Rory needed some time to cool off before we talked. She could wait. But following Bash wasn’t just business. This was personal, and I needed to be there.

  Growling a curse under my breath, I walked over to where Bash and Jet were standing near Raven’s SUV. There were bullet holes in the side and the tire had been replaced, but it would look more inconspicuous driving it to where we were going than the three of us on our motorcycles. After the shootout with Fontana and his men two days before, the local cops were watching us closely. Every move we made had to be undertaken with the utmost care.

  Bash climbed behind the wheel, and Jet took shotgun. As I folded my long legs into the back, I flipped a switch, turning off what I’d been feeling about Rory just moments before. I couldn’t do this if I was thinking about her. Couldn’t allow so much as a stray thought about her to fill my head as I prepared myself for what needed to be done.

  Bash drove out of town then took a series of backroads for nearly an hour before we came to the old shack. Dutch’s old van was parked in front, the back doors open with him sitting there smoking.

  Dutch was a nomad who was all too happy to help bury a body. The fucker got thrills from watching someone make someone else bleed. Everyone walked a little cautiously around him, unsure if he would stab them in the back with the nasty-ass machete he kept strapped to his lower leg at all times.

  As we climbed out of the SUV, Dutch threw his smoke on the ground and stepped on it to put it out. Crushing it under his boot, he waited for us to reach him. I could feel his eyes watching me behind his dark aviators.

  “Knew you would be the one,” he said with a grin. His teeth were stained yellow with a tinge of brown, his face pocked from all the drugs he used to do when he was younger. I couldn’t remember how old Dutch was, but he wasn’t a spring chicken by any means.

  “Fuck yeah, it’s gonna be me,” I told him with a twisted grin of my own. “You didn’t kill him yet, did you? I’m going to be pissed if you did.”

  He snorted. “Where’s the fun in that? Death is too good for that sonofabitch. He can’t take out my brothers and not feel pain for a good long while.”

  “What kind of shape is he in?” Bash asked, his eyes on the shack.

  “He’s breathing.”

  “That doesn’t tell me shit,” Bash griped.

  “He’s alive. Awake last time I checked on him. He’s pissed hisself a few times. Wouldn’t surprise me if he ain’t shit himself too.” He lit another smoke. “Been crying like the little bitch he is.”

  “Figures. How much we owe you for the rundown?”

  Dutch shook his head. “Just let me in on the fun, and we’ll call it even.”

  Bash shot me a look, leaving the decision up to me. After a small hesitation, I nodded. I could let the man get a few minutes in before I took over. It was either that or pay the ten-grand bounty Dutch normally charged. Ten G’s wasn’t anything compared to the price we put on Fontana, but why pay money we didn’t have to?

  “Let’s get to it, then,” Jet muttered, leading the way into the shack.

  The place couldn’t be considered a cabin. It was basically just four walls on a dirt foundation. There was no running water, no electricity, and no windows. The only way in was through a narrow door, and the only light came from the oil lanterns hanging around the boxed room.

  The only furniture in the place was a single sturdy chair that Boomer was currently tied to. The smell of human piss filled the room. His chin was against his chest, blood dripping from a gash on his head. The ropes around his wrists were so tight his skin was torn, and blood dripped down his fingers, saturating the dirt. As tightly as his legs were t
ied to the chair’s legs, there was no way he was getting free anytime soon.

  As we walked closer, he lifted his head and I saw one of his eyes was swollen shut, but tears leaked from it. I moved up beside him and punched him in the same eye so hard the chair fell over.

  “Welcome to the party, motherfucker,” I snarled, kicking him in the stomach.

  “Let’s get some answers out of him before you bust any more ribs,” Jet advised, bending to right Boomer’s chair with him in it.

  Answers. I had plenty of questions that needed those. But fuck, my fists ached to make Boomer bleed.

  Chapter 12

  Kelli

  The heat coming from the large body behind me felt deliciously soothing. As sleep began to fade from my mind, I snuggled back into it, savoring the peace it was giving me.

  But as reality began to set in, I jerked upright. Colt muttered something in his sleep, his arm moving to my waist as he pillowed his head on my lap. Damn it, when had he come back to bed? After he left earlier, I figured I wouldn’t see him again for the rest of the day.

  That he came back, probably almost immediately, made something unthaw in my heart a little, but I quickly squashed that shit dead. I wasn’t going to let my walls down again just because he came back to bed and cuddled with me. Fuck knew why he did it, and I didn’t trust him enough to think he did it for me. No doubt there just hadn’t been anything for him to do, and he came back to catch up on sleep.

  Untangling him from around me, I stuffed a pillow under his head and headed into the bathroom. After taking care of business, I showered but avoided getting my hair wet. Once I was dry and dressed, I went in search of Raven. Today, I had stuff to do, promises to keep, and then I could leave here without a single moment of guilt to slow me down.

  A text to Raven let me know where she was, and I walked down the hall a little farther and knocked on her bedroom door. Seconds later, the door opened, and she stood there with Max on her hip. The miniature version of Bash gave me a scathing look and wiggled free of his mother’s hold.