HANDS OFF MY BRIDE

by Claire St. Rose

  Someone offered Kane a beer; Angeline was quick to ask for one of her own, and the boys cheered when she chugged with the rest of them. In many ways, this was the most refreshing date she had ever found herself on. No laborious small talk, no one asking her what she did or what she might do. And Kane had been right; these guys weren’t all bad, and when she bested Ben at a game of pool, her conquest seemed complete.

  “Nice,” Ben said to Kane. “Girl is alright.”

  And she felt that, all the way. Sure there was the man with a scar, the man she would learn was Noel, lurking in a corner until she was on her third bottle, but when Kane ushered her to his side, she smiled widely and took his hand like a man.

  “So I hear you’ve looked after Kane for a long time,” Angeline said, wrapped in Kane’s arms and cuddling close to his chest.

  “That’s right,” Noel said, his voice think, his eyes wary.

  “Well,” Angeline started, the buzz enveloping her brain, “Thanks for keeping him intact for me.”

  The boys whooped and whistled, and Noel stepped forward. Avoiding Angeline’s eyes, he stared hard at Kane.

  “You gonna let her talk about you like that, kid?” Noel asked with a trace of menace in his voice. The room fell silent, everyone waiting for what Kane would stay. Angeline started to speak when Kane pulled her closer.

  “She was talking to you, man,” Kane said.

  On cue, Angeline pressed closer to him. Taking him in her arms, she kissed him deeply in the presence of his friends, and the silence was broken by cheering hollers. As their lips parted, she narrowed her eyes at Noel and winked.

  “And that was for him,” Angeline said.

  Noel was slow to smile, but he finally slapped Kane’s back, as his eyes lingered on Angeline’s face.

  “Best keep an eye on this one, boy,” Noel said.

  “No doubt,” Kane answered.

  Noel lit a cigarette and walked way without another word. Something about him brought a slight turn to her stomach, but like Kane said. She had him here, and that was everything.

  ***

  Now she only had Terri. Looking at her wide belly, Angeline wondered if bringing a pregnant woman to this place was the best of ideas. She could go into labor at any moment, and they were miles from a hospital. Add to that, she couldn’t really be sure if the boys wanted her back. After all, she was why Kane was taken away from the fold. But it had been his choice; he must have told them that. Growing bold, she moved to Ben and smiled.

  “Long time no see,” Angeline said.

  Ben seemed uneasy, like he didn’t know what to make of her presence. But if Kane was alive, he would tell her, and she would find him.

  “Hey, Angeline,” Ben said. “What brings you to these parts?”

  He sounded strange, like her being there was right and wrong in the space of the same second. If Kane was dead, what real reason had she come to back? If he was alive, what had taken her so long?

  “I—”

  A figure appeared through streams of tape. For a moment, Angeline hoped, thought that it was Kane, and even as her mind filled with questions as to what the hell had happened, she moved forward to touch him.

  “You,” she said as the man came into focus.

  Not Kane. Only Noel.

  Seeing him again, Angeline bit down on her lip as hate filled her heart. Terri crept closer to her side and took hold of her arm.

  “Is that him?” Terri asked.

  “Yes,” Angeline said. Maybe she should cry, run away, but he wasn’t getting off that easily.

  Noel White pushed his hands into his pockets. His teeth were yellow, his breath reeking, and Angeline winced. But she wasn’t letting him off without a fight. The fight that she should have put up in the first place.

  “What’s the deal?” Noel asked. “Coming back for seconds? Angel?”

  Raising her hand, she slapped him. Noel drew back as he clutched his cheek, and her eyes burned at the sight of him. Terri would never play a cruel trick on her, but Noel would. He did. As the man regained his footing, the whispers of the other boys hitting her back, Angeline took a deep breath.

  “Noel, tell me where he is.”

  He smirked as Angeline moved closer.

  “I asked you a question, you son of a bitch,” she said.

  Noel touched her chin. Angeline’s body braced under the feel of his fingers, but she held her ground as his hand moved down her neck.

  Try it again, and I’ll bite your face off.

  “What about me?” Noel asked. “You loved my hands.”

  Noel smirked as he touched her. Touched her like only Kane should. Moving past his fingers, she focused on his eyes. They were leering and dark, and but she would not let him hurt her again. Ever.

  “Where is Kane?” she demanded.

  Noel laughed and starred to spin the story in another direction.

  “Around and about,” he said. “But he thought you’d moved on and—”

  “Where did he get that idea?” Angeline spat.

  “Truth hurts,” Noel said.

  Just like that, Angeline saw nothing but red.

  And she plowed forward.

  “What truth?” Angeline screamed as she pounded her small fists into his chest. “Did you tell him how you raped me? You had no fucking right—”

  Noel captured both of her hands in his, and she yelped when he pulled her closer.

  “So you say,” he said. “Ain’t what it was, and now he sees you for what you really are. A lost cause that should stay gone.”

  Angeline kept struggling, kicking, scratching, clawing. Kane’s boys made no move to help. Glancing at Ben, she saw him and the others unsure of what to do. It was like they didn’t know if they should defy their leader if Kane’s claim to her was in doubt, and as she fought against him, Angeline had to admit to herself that she needed help.

  She suddenly had it.

  “Let her go!”

  Terri’s voice was nothing compared to her wide belly pushing between them. The blow that Noel was ready to land around Angeline’s jaw came to a quick stop when Terri fell into his line of sight.

  “Who the fuck are—?”

  Terri stepped forward and stood toe to toe with Noel. To Angeline’s horror, he raised his fist to strike.

  “Don’t!” Angeline cried. “What’s the matter with—?”

  Her scream stopped as Terri flicked her wrist in the air. Angeline paused as Terri gripped Noel’s arm. The man’s cry rang through the one-time factory, but no one, not Waldo or Ben or any of the men that Kane believed in, were about to stand in the way as Terri’s other hand hovered over Noel’s falling face.

  “I’m about to drop a kid in your hands if you don’t come clean!” Terri said.

  Noel looked from Terri’s belly to Angeline and back again. Staring hard at the unborn child, Noel shot Angeline a nervous stare. She stood tall and thought of how Kane, suddenly more alive in the space of Noel’s eyes than ever, would react when he learned what his supposed friend had done.

  “Okay,” he said, wincing at the sight of Terri’s swollen stomach. Noel backed off and wound his fingers around his neck. He shot Angeline a smirk as he looked back to her friend.

  “Guess you never speak up for yourself,” Noel said. “Have to let everyone else do your dirty work.”

  Angeline raised her hand to hit him, but Terri banged her fist to the table and glared into Noel’s eyes. He turned his gaze back to Angeline and smiled.

  “What the fuck does it matter now?” Noel asked with a leer.

  Now Angeline brought her hand down on the table. Waldo and Ben and the others still hung back as she spoke

  “It matters because I want to see him. Where is he?”

  Noel was too slow, cruelly deliberate as he scribbled something on a scrap of paper. Something in his action chilled Angeline’s heart. He seemed so sure that things would go down the way he wanted. But he didn’t know what she and Kane were to each other.

 
And he never would.

  As she started to take the paper, Angeline paused before Noel and watched his lips curl into a smirk, and his hand clamped down on her wrist.

  “Let me—”

  “Let me tell you something.”

  Noel pulled her closer to his chest. He pressed his hands about her hips and leaned into her ear.

  “He’s not going to want anymore,” Noel whispered. “I set your guy straight.”

  Swatting him back, Angeline rushed away from him.

  “No,” Angeline said. “He’s going to hate you for what you did to me.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “So he hates my cooking, too.”

  Kane looked up with a groan as he spooned stew into his mouth. Sipping it down, he saw Jeremy playing around his bowl without lifting his fork. Still stirring, he saw the matching ring tapping the table. One glance up, and Kane saw Ellen.

  To hear Jeremy tell it, he had spotted her across the quad, and he instantly knew that she was supposed to be his wife. So he courted her, fought past her objections. When Jeremy finally summoned the strength to propose, Ellen told Jeremy that was just waiting for him to get around to it, and he was quick to slip the ring around her finger. When he heard the story, true love at first sight seemed silly.

  It still did.

  “You okay, Kane?”

  He felt Jeremy’s hand on his am, and Kane scoffed.

  “Never better,” Kane lied. Quickly draining his cup, he asked Ellen for a second helping. Taking the empty dish from his hands, Ellen dished out a second bowl.

  “Here,” Ellen said.

  Giving him what he wanted, Kane grudgingly thanked her and started to stir the plate. In the haze of the stew, he took note of Ellen’s frustration, and he heard the muted rage in her voice.

  “You didn’t say I’d have to cook for him,” Ellen muttered.

  “And I didn’t ask you to,” Kane answered. “But I’m here. I’m eating. What more do you women want?

  Ellen started to protest, but then tears began to fill her eyes.

  “Excuse me,” she said.

  When she was gone, Kane felt a little bad. But just a little. Ellen didn’t like him. Of that she made no secret. But she was Jeremy’s woman, and he could at least try to be play nice.

  “Jem, I—”

  “I’ll handle it,” Jeremy said.

  Jeremy left the table. Leaning around his seat, Kane saw his brother trying to comfort his wife. Ellen was like steel as Jeremy wrapped his arm around her waist, and she was slow to follow the path of his touch, but then she rested her head to his shoulder and smiled into her eyes. Untying her apron, Jeremy reached under her skirt. As he touched her, Ellen moaned and brought her arms around his neck. She kissed his mouth.

  It made him jealous. Angry. It made him remember.

  Stepping to his brother’s porch, Kane took a deep breath of night air. It was cool as fresh as it travelled down his throat. And he was brought back to another windy night.

  ***

  “So?” he asked. “Let’s have it.”

  Dropping her off at her door, Angeline swayed and giggled. Kane held her tight and brushed the wind swept hair from her flushed face.

  “It was kind of cool,” she said, quickly kissing his cheek.

  “Just kind of?” he asked. “What the hell is that?”

  She leaned into him, and his arms surrounded her waist. Sometimes he wished that she could just give him a straight answer. But a part of him liked her like this, liked the challenge. He would always win. Always.

  But her fight was fun.

  “That’s me saying that this is better,” she said.

  Kissing him slowly, softly, Kane withered slightly under her hold. He didn’t want to, but she was more than he had ever had.

  And he would fight like hell to keep her at his side.

  ***

  Kane looked into the night and remembered how she felt. Her breasts, her legs, being inside her. She was supposed to stay is. Maybe she was bound to grow lonely; she could be insatiable when the mood struck her.

  But Noel? Unforgivable.

  Finishing his beer, Kane started back inside, ready to bypass his brother’s happiness and head to the guest room that was his to use for as long he needed it. And he needed it now. The idea of sleeping at the clubhouse, just the thought that Angeline would creep through the shadows and he might find her beside Noel’s bed, filled him with fury.

  He was nearly through the door when a pair of headlights raced up the road.

  On instinct, Kane readied for battle and reached into his sock. Pulling out his knife, he nearly called out for Jeremy but suddenly though better of it. Leave it to his brother, and cops would be called before he had a chance to handle this. Whatever it was.

  “Let’s see who this is,” Kane muttered to himself.

  The headlights dimmed, and Kane poised his knife. Rival gang? Another prisoner seeking revenge? Or maybe this was Noel making sure that he could have Angeline all to himself.

  Kane would fight any threat. And if had to hide the bodies before Jeremy could see, and truly become a fugitive, so be it.

  “Who’s there?” Kane asked as he neared the car.

  The motor stopped whirring, and he waited. Narrowing his eyes, he saw two heads under the windshield, small and slight. As the passenger’s door opened, a pretty lady started to step into view, and Kane gripped his knife tighter. This had to be a trap. If he was tempted, if he stepped closer, a horde would burst on the scene and hustle him into a van. Kane could feel the blows raining down over his body, and he tensed at the thought of darkness. He’d have enough of that on the inside.

  “I said who’s—?”

  Lurching forward, Kane was ready to slice into anyone and anything when a beam of moonlight hit the woman.

  “Wait! Whoa!”

  Kane reeled back as he saw the truth of his supposed attacker. A pregnant lady? Like, really pregnant? Who the hell would send her on what might be a suicide mission?

  “You want to cool it with that?” the woman demanded.

  Falling back, Kane concealed his knife and threw up his hands.

  “What the hell do you want?” Kane asked.

  The woman and her expanded belly stepped forward. She paused just before him and sent a quick glance back to her car. Kane followed her eyes and knew that someone else was there. This could be a trick, something meant to make him complacent until the real danger reared its head.

  “What is—?”

  The woman cut him off with a swift slap to his jaw, and Kane reached for his stinging face.

  “What was that?”

  “That’s for believing everything that you’re told,” the woman said. “What kind of fool are you?”

  Was she the old lady of the ruddy, red-headed prisoner from the yard, the one that laid into him for showing off his new tattoo and swearing that no man would ever be so lucky? The guy had pounced. Kane was barely able to block his blows as he tore his shirt by the sleeves and revealed the name of his woman, one that could never be questioned. Now, even as Kane had heard the rumor that the other man’s girl had run off with a neighbor at the first chance, Kane was trapped in the memory.

  “You Brenda?” Kane asked.

  The woman cocked her head to one side and then the other, her eyes becoming steel slits before she spoke.

  “Who the fuck is Brenda?” the woman demanded.

  Backing away from woman’s cold glare, Kane knew that he had got something wrong.

  Not Brenda. Someone else. Noel might still have…

  “What about Angeline?”

  Kane’s heart stopped around her question. Around the name.

  “What are you…? What the hell are you talking about?”

  The pregnant lady started to lay into him with every insult she could call to mind. But Kane tuned her out. His eyes moved back to the car, and he focused on the figure in the driver’s seat.

  No. No it couldn’t be.

&nb
sp; “And you have no idea what she’s been through!”

  The pregnant lady kept screaming, but Kane pulled away and forgot her.

  Inching towards the car, he stopped when he heard the click of a door opening. Lean limbs hit the grass, and there she was, not looking a day older. But she was thinner, far more tired than he had remembered, and Kane stepped closer to be sure.