“Get the hell off of—”
Fighting Waldo, Kane thought of Angeline again. He had left her all alone. Sure, her dad was there. But what would he do? Bash their brains in with his cane? Watch lamely as Angeline was brought back to Noel? The thought of him hurting her again brought Kane to his feet, and he was nearly out the door when a familiar voice hit the air.
“Boys, chill!”
All eyes turned to Noel stepping through the tape.
His eyes dug into Kane’s soul, and Kane quaked in his boots as Noel moved closer. When they were toe-to-toe, Noel’s face was like steel, his hand like lead, as he grabbed Kane’s shoulder. “What?” Noel challenged. “You knocked her up, right? What?” Noel leaned in for the kill and hissed into Kane’s eyes. “Or is there something else going on?”
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Kane looked around the room. Waldo helped Ben to his feet, and they joined Noel, one on each side. Family meeting? Absolutely. All they had to do was clench their fists and make like his father. That’s all that family was to him. Or Jeremy sneering when he tried to explain about Angeline.
Angel…
She was his family. The baby was his family. He was a fool to think that he could keep both worlds running, and he started to turn towards the door.
“Bring him to the back.”
Waldo and Ben obeyed Noel’s order, and Kane was dragged through reams of forgotten tape. Flung just beyond Noel’s desk, he sucked the air through his teeth, still chattering, but he willed them to stop and managed to stand. Staring the guys down, he could only think of the lie, hoping it would last a little longer.
“Kane? Why do you make us do this?” Noel asked.
Noel started to reach into his pocket. This was it. Noel probably had a gun, and he would blow Kane away without a second or a first thought. Kane pictured his brains splattering against the wall, hitting the streams of tape. He had survived the joint only to die at the hands of his crew. His family. Angeline had been right to ask him to leave, but now it was too late. But he couldn’t just lie down and die. His bike was right out front. He was free. And Angeline…
“You won’t—”
“Won’t what, Kane?”
Noel revealed his hand, and Kane saw an untouched cigar in his hands. As it came to rest between his fingers, Kane didn’t know what to do with it, but he took the strange gift and shuddered when Noel slapped his hand to his back.
“I—”
“Won’t share the good news?” Noel said. “If your girl is about to keep your name alive, ain’t that something to celebrate?”
Did Noel not really know? He had to know something, but if the truth was still their secret, then Kane had to play along and just party.
“I… yes.”
Gripping the cigar, Kane asked for a light. Noel obliged, and as the butt flamed, Kane took a drag. Avoiding Noel’s eyes, he looked back to Waldo and Ben and shot them a smile through a puff of smoke.
“Let’s have another drink!” Kane said. “Maybe more than one.” Waldo was game, but Ben seemed to hesitate as he rubbed the back of his injured neck. Needing to keep the scene going and hating the fact that he had hurt his friend, Kane stepped forward and tousled Ben’s dreads. “Just caught me off guard,” Kane said. “It’s all good.”
Ben wasn’t buying it, so Kane grabbed his arms. Their eyes locked, and even as Kane still wondered how they all knew, he swallowed hard and forced a smile.
“Sorry, guy,” he said. “But… but it’s my girl. And… and our baby.”
Ben snorted and turned back to the party. Through the tape, Kane watched him drink and take another hit. He seemed fine after the toke. Waldo seemed even better as he drank with the party, and the music started to pound as the girls broke into their moves. Lap dances would soon require more, and Kane saw the redhead with sunken cheeks lowering Ben’s fly. She took him into her mouth, and Ben’s pain evaporated when she sucked his dark cock. Looking over the girl’s pale shoulder’s, Ben’s eyes remained cold, and he buried his head in her auburn locks.
“Don’t blame Ben.”
Noel touched Kane’s arm and turned him back to the office. His eyes were sad, maybe even sorry, and Kane forgot his need to get out.
“Boys just wanted to give you a good time. Before… well…”
Kane was not too far gone that he could not hit the silence and charge towards Noel.
“Well, what?”
Whenever he was alone with him, Kane thought of Angeline. She had been lied to, betrayed, violated under the force of Noel’s false words. He should kill him now, the consequences be damned. A glass rested on the desk. All he had to do was smash it and bring the sharp edge to Noel’s throat. Then, he could run, find Angeline, and—
“Kid, doesn’t every guy want to have his name go on?”
Kane stopped short of shredding him. In his mind and in Noel’s mind, the baby was Kane’s. Their plan had worked. However, Kane had nearly ruined everything. He had to make it right—quick.
“Sure,” Kane started. “But it’s kind of a—”
“Big deal, right?” Noel said. “Let’s talk it out, kid.”
As Kane smoked his cigar, Noel lit a joint and blew the smoke into Kane’s face.
“She’s stopped working,” Noel said, his words more sure than Kane might have liked.
“What do you…?”
“We still keep an eye on her,” Noel said. “Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“But you… you forced her—”
“Come on, kid,” Noel said. “Can you really blame me? Girl’s hot. Who could resist her?”
Kane’s mind immediately raced, causing him to think, “You. You should have.”
“But if you two are okay now,” Noel said, reaching into the desk drawer and bringing forth something better than beer. Slamming a bottle of scotch on the desk, he poured into dusty glasses without ice and offered Kane a sip.
“Come on,” Noel said. “You know you want to.”
Noel drank fast and poured out another. However, Kane held the same lukewarm glass in his hands as the party meant for him, without him, roared in the other room. He heard Ben come to life as he sang and danced with the girls. Ben had always stuck by him. Kane thought back to the time when they had to make a run for it after boosting an electronics store, moving into the night, struggling to carry their treasure until they reached the van with Waldo waiting. Stuffing the contraband into the back, Kane and Ben moved to the front. Waldo’s gut pushed Kane closer to the door, and just when he feared it might explode and send him to the street, Ben brought the van to a stop and smiled.
“We did good,” Ben had said. “Don’t fuck it up.”
Kane had done as much when they returned, ready to sell. If he remembered it right, Noel was angry when he saw that they hadn’t come back with more, but Ben calmed Noel’s impending rage and said that it was a fine haul. Noel seemed barely convinced, but he had relented and told the boys to bring the merchandise inside.
When Noel smiled, it was all good.
Maybe it was still good now.
“So… you looking forward to it?” Noel asked.
He was. He really was. Kane thought of Angeline in bed. He always wanted to stroke her below the sheets. However, it would be different when she had the baby in her arms. Kane would hold them both. He would be a father—a better father than he had growing up.
“Sure,” Kane said, trying to keep it light.
Noel seized the chance, as he took hold of Kane. “She’s gonna pop any second. And… and, kid,” Noel craned closer, focused his entire stare into Kane’s eyes, and said, “I think there’s something that you’re not telling me.”
Kane tried to look away, hoping to see Angeline again, but there was nothing but streams of tape. Kane heard the boys partying, and he wondered what they would do if they knew how Noel had hurt his Angel.
“There is something—”
“There’s everything!”
Losing himself
again, Kane forced Noel to the ground. His fingers curled into fists as he started to batter his one-time mentor’s smug face. Noel absorbed blow after blow, but Kane kept hitting. He had no right to touch her. Even if he was on the inside, Angeline was always his. Just the thought of him taking her released a new stream of rage.
Kane slammed his fist into Noel’s jaw as a stray figure passed through the tape. Kane wanted nothing more than to finish the job. He should have done this right after his release, as soon as he learned the truth.
“K Man?”
Ben was at his back. Kane growled into Ben’s face. However, when he saw the friend who he had tried to hurt, Kane remembered all the ways in which Ben had stayed loyal. Everything that Noel wasn’t, and Kane forgot him as he gripped Ben’s arms.
“Guy,” Ben started. “Someone’s trying to call you or something.”
Ben had Kane’s discarded coat in is hands. Seizing it quickly, Kane saw a series of missed calls. Most of them were from Angeline, but then his eyes came to rest on another number and a single text message.
Kane. Please.
It was Jeremy’s number, but these were still Angeline’s words, and Kane started back to his bike. As he ran, he tried to reach Angeline and Jeremy, but now his calls were going unanswered. Something was wrong. Like really wrong.
“Where the fuck to you think you’re going?” Noel asked. He reached for his arm, but Kane brushed him off and mounted his chopper. Before he could push the pedal, Noel tightened his grip as his lips curled into a smirk. “She didn’t put up a fight,” Noel said. “Not saying that wouldn’t have been nice. She do you like that, kid?”
Noel followed his question with a harsh laugh, and Kane thought of how Angeline must have felt if he laughed like that when he made her believe that he was lost to her. However, he was not lost. And he had to get back to—
“Don’t waste your time,” Noel said. “She’s weak. And even it if is my baby, it’s—”
“Shut the fuck up!”
Kane struck Noel, the jagged edges of his torn nails slicing into his skin. Noel knew too much, and he felt the danger growing as he raced away from the clubhouse. He could only think that he’d deal with Noel later. For now, he just had to get back to Angel.
She had to be alright. If she wasn’t…
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
She had just put the finishing touch on the nursery, a yellow valance covered with brown monkeys. Stepping away from the window, Angeline dimmed the lights and basked in the moonlight pouring through the window. As she massaged her belly, her eyes drifted towards the lonely rocking chair. Soon, very soon, she would sit there and cradle her baby, their baby, feel the soft sweet breath on her cheek as tiny lips suckled at her breasts, and she would smile. She pictured Kane standing at her side as she bobbed back and forth in the chair. Would he know what to make of the tiny life in her arms? She believed that he would, but she’d probably have to remind him to support the head in his burly palm and…
Angeline’s fantasy came to a grinding halt as a sharp pain rushed through her body. Holding herself close, she sucked in a deep breath and pressed her hand to the wall. The ache came and went in the space of a single second, and she tried to convince herself that the little guy or girl was doing nothing more than giving her a swift kick. Maybe the baby sensed that the room was ready and wanted the grand tour right now.
“Soon, sweetie,” she promised as she patted her belly. “I—”
The pain came back, stopping her speech, and Angeline fell into the wall. Just breathing was harder, and as she ran her hand across her face, a sheen of sweat and tears dotted her fingers.
Screaming out in agony, Angeline slipped to her knees. Struggling to wrestle her phone from her pocket, she gripped it with trembling hands. Logic dictated that she should call for an ambulance, but as the pain flared through her veins, her heart wanted Kane. She needed to feel his arms around her. He had to be here for this.
Angeline dialed once and felt the ring back vibrating against her cheek. When he didn’t pick up, she didn’t leave a message. Ending the call and dialing again, she prayed that he would see her number flashing across his screen. Whatever he was up to would wait, had to wait when he saw that she was calling.
Two tries. Three. Still no answer.
“Come on, Kane,” she muttered under her wracked breath. “Where the hell are you?”
“Angie?”
Brent appeared in the doorway, his cane in his shaking hand. At first glance, he seemed annoyed at having been roused from a deep sleep, but as soon as he saw his daughter, crumpled and sweating on the ground, he moved fast and tried to reach her.
“Angie!”
His legs gave out, and at the sight of him falling, Angeline forgot her own agony. “Dad!” she cried. Angeline was barely off the ground when she stumbled. Desperate to protect her baby, she wrapped her flailing hands around her belly, and when she hit the floor again, she lost her phone and watched with fearful eyes as it slid to the other side of the room. “No,” she whispered. “Oh no.”
Turning to her back, Angeline tried to breathe through the cramps wracking her body. As the room started to spin, she felt her father crawling on his elbows to reach her. “I’m here, Angie!” he said. “I’m right here.”
The feel of the father’s hand on her shoulder brought her some comfort, and Angeline tried to focus on his scared smiled as he rubbed her arm. Brent obviously wanted this to be like the time she had fallen off her bike and skinned her knee on the pavement just beyond their house. A little iodine, a few thousand band aids, and his little girl was as good as new.
But this…
Screaming at the top of her aching lungs, Angeline cowered into her father’s quivering embrace. Brent tried to hold her through it, but it wasn’t enough. And if Kane wasn’t coming…?
“Get… get the phone, Dad,” Angeline panted. “I don’t… I can’t…”
“Okay, okay,” Brent said.
He paused for all of a second to kiss her brow, and he tried to stand, supporting his weight with the arm of the rocking chair. It swayed out from under his hold before he was up, and then Brent collapsed to the other side of the room. The sound of him grunting and groaning brought her some peace—at least he was okay. However, as a wave of warm water cascaded down her thighs, she knew that the baby was coming.
Even though her father was in the same room, she was without help. Closing her eyes, she prayed for the sound of Kane’s bike coming up the drive. Seeing her like this would drain the color from his face, but he would follow her instructions and call for an ambulance. She could hold out until the flashing lights and the blaring sirens replaced the moonlight, and everything would be alright.
”Kane,” she muttered. “Come now. Please…”
Brent was struggling back to her side, and Angeline weakly waved towards her lost phone. However, her father did not follow her lead. Gathering her in his shaking arms, he peered down at her with tears in his eyes, and Angeline bit down on her lip as her head lolled from side-to-side on the floor.
“Just call,” she murmured. “Please help me, Dad. Please.” A new charge rushed down her limbs, and she writhed under her father’s hold.
“Angie! Don’t leave me. Don’t…”
Gazing up at him, Angeline thought of her mother. Her father had already lost one woman that he loved. Could he stand another loss? She knew that there was no way.
Straining towards him, Angeline tried to hold his face, and she nodded weakly. The memory of her mother as they had seen her last—cold and caked in makeup inside a coffin bordered by the overwhelming scent of flowers that only gave her father an excuse to explain his tears in front of his friends—worked its way to the forefront of her mind. She would get through this and show him that he didn’t have to suffer another loss. She…
“Oh God!”
As soon as Angeline sat up in his arms, her head was back on the floor. Her will was growing weaker as the baby held court. It was
coming like a freight train, and she was suddenly afraid of the perfectly set room, far from sterile. Where were the gowned men and women with gloved hands? Where was Kane?
She shrieked again, and Brent held her tight. With fluttering eyes, she looked over her shoulder. A small light that wasn’t the moon peeked through the window.
“Kane?”
There was a soft knock on the door. Kane wouldn’t knock. He didn’t have to. So who was here? Was it a stranger? Was it Noel? Ready to swoop in and steal the child that would never be his? Angeline wanted whoever it was to just go. She would figure out the next step when—
Her cries reached the rafters, and she shuddered in Brent’s embrace as she heard the door open. A voice moved up the stairs, and Angeline’s heart lightened when she recognized the sound.
HANDS OFF MY BRIDE Page 37
