“I’ll be happy when you leave,” Kane hissed.
Noel’s face went blank, and Kane watched without blinking. He could feel Jeremy behind him, ready to spring into action if this went the wrong way. Kane narrowed his eyes at his brother and shook his head slightly. This wasn’t Jeremy’s fight, and Kane would protect him if he did anything stupid.
Again.
“When did you become such a surly little shit?” Noel asked.
Laughing without joy as he licked his lips, Kane unfurled his hand on Noel’s shoulder and brought his lips close to his ear. “Around the time you raped my girl,” Kane whispered. “And if you think that you’re getting your fucking hands on that baby, you—”
“Whoa! Wait!”
Backing away, Noel waved his hands in the air in a motion of surrender, but Kane kept his eyes wide, still not trusting anything that Noel might do or say.
“You think? Kid, be real.”
Noel smiled at a slim nurse with wavy blonde hair passing by. As he watched her leave, Kane grabbed Noel by his shoulder and forced his face back to his.
“Then why are you here?” Kane demanded. “What the fuck do you want, man?”
Noel stuffed his hands into his pockets and shuffled his feet.
“I guess I’m kind of here to thank you, kid.”
“For what?” Kane asked.
“Look,” locking his fingers behind his head, Noel took a deep, contented breath and said, “the last thing I need is your little lady trying to tie me down. I ain’t got the time to be trapped by some faithless bitch.”
The desire to kill him grew strong, but before Kane could make a move Jeremy’s charged forward, ready to attack. It took Kane all of a second to hold his brother back, and Noel laughed at the pair of them.
“I’m just saying that you done me a solid, kid,” Noel said. “Let the little shit be your problem.”
Noel started to turn way, and as Kane held Jeremy’s heaving body under his hands, he wondered if it could just be that easy. Noel would head out and leave them in peace. For the first time in as long as he could remember, Kane dreamed that he could just leave the club and live with her. However, as the glass doors were closing, he looked back, smirked, and said, “Just don’t let it get in the way of the bottom line, Kane. We still got work to do.”
As Noel lumbered away, Jeremy broke free from Kane’s grasp. He started to charge after Noel, but Kane wrestled him back and kept him from any dumb moves.
“Leave it alone, Jem,” Kane said. “I’ll—”
“You’ll what, Kane?” Jeremy asked. “Just go back?” Jeremy’s head fell to his chest, and he sighed before he spoke. “Kane, you have a son now.”
“Thanks to you, right.”
The brothers’ eyes met, and Kane knew that he shouldn’t have said it. It made him sound like an ungrateful ass, and Kane didn’t want that. In this moment, he owed Jeremy everything, and he stayed silent as Jeremy said softly, “Kane, you have to get away from this. From him. Because she’s going to need you now. More than ever.”
Jeremy made sense, but he still didn’t get it. This was not a day job that he could just stop showing up to and hope for the best. The tattoo was one thing, but there had been a night when Kane’s palm was sliced open, and his blood mingled with that of Ben and Waldo.
And Noel.
He couldn’t just leave. There was no way to make Jeremy understand that. As he struggled for the words, Jeremy shook his head and pulled away. “Jem?” Kane asked. “Where are you going?”
Jeremy’s shoulders fell, and he kept his back to Kane. “Home,” he said. “To my family.”
Not wanting to let him go just like that, Kane tried to find the right words but failed. He simply rushed forward and took Jeremy in his arms. His brother was stiff in his embrace, but Kane could do nothing but hold him tighter. If not for him…
“Jem, I… ”
As Kane struggled with his words, Jeremy’s arm dragged up his back. His hold was light, but it was something, and Kane leaned into it.
“Just find a way out, Kane,” Jeremy whispered. Pulling back, Jeremy weakly punched his brother’s arm. “Don’t mess this up,” he said. “I’d hate to think that I brought this kid into the world just so you could leave him.”
Kane didn’t move, didn’t speak, as Jeremy disappeared into the night. He had a point—not all the facts, but still…
Moving back to Angeline’s room, Kane thought of how he could follow Jeremy’s orders. It would take time. Angeline had to get that. It would still take some explaining; he’d have to hang with the crew for a little while longer. But in time…
“Is everything okay?” Angeline asked.
He saw Angeline holding the little guy close. Her hands stroked his head, and Brent stood up straighter when Kane reentered the room. “How about that, Kane?” Brent asked. “Because if my little girl’s going to have any more trouble—”
“Dad, don’t.” Taking his hand, Angeline nodded up at him.
“I don’t think that you’re—”
“I am,” Angeline said. “Can you…. can you just give us a minute? Please?”
Reluctantly, Brent pressed his cane into the ground and walked away from the bed. He shot Kane a warning glance and said that he needed a cup of coffee before he disappeared.
“Come here,” she said. “Just be with us.”
Kane fell to her side and wrapped her in his arms. The baby rested between them, and as she rested her head to his cheek, she asked him if it was Noel.
“Yeah,” he said, not wanting to lie to her. “But I’m going to handle it.”
“How, Kane?”
He didn’t have a firm answer. Not yet. But a plan was starting to form. All he had to do was keep his nose clean and his head low. After a while, Noel wouldn’t need or want him anymore. And then they would get away. Kane would get a real job; he would provide and protect.
“If you… just give me a chance,” he said. “I’ll make this right for us.”
She seemed to ponder his statement carefully, and Kane wondered if she would call all bets off right then and there. Angeline had played at patient when it was just the two of them, but now the kid was here. Would she want him gone, grab her father, and just take off on her own? Without him?
“Angel, I—”
“Shhh.” Kissing him lightly, she nodded her head and lowered her eyes. As she brushed her hands across his stubbled cheeks, Angeline kissed him again, gently, making him look at her in her eyes. “I believe you. You’ve always looked out for me.”
As she relaxed into his arms, Kane kissed her hair and caressed her back. Peering down at the baby, Kane was sure that he could make it work. Not just because he wanted to. Now he had to. For them. It wouldn’t be easy, but it would happen.
“Kane?” Angeline said. “There’s just one problem.”
“I’ll fix it,” he promised. “Just tell me what I need to—”
“Our son needs a name.”
“Okay,” he started. “A name. I like Jack.”
Scrunching her face, Angeline asked him why.
“Good strong name,” Kane said. “What more do we need?”
“No. It has to count for something. Mean something. And… and your brother…”
Another Jem. Jeremy might like that; Ellen wouldn’t if… when they had a son of their own. And part of Kane’s plan was keeping Jeremy in his life once he fled the club.
“I don’t think—”
“But he might not be here without Jeremy,” Angeline protested. “I… I want to thank him properly.”
Searching for a compromise, Kane’s mind whirled, and just when he was about to come up empty, he hit the sweet spot and stroked Angeline’s face. “Jem’s middle name is Theodore,” Kane said.
Angeline tilted her head to the side. “Theodore?” she asked.
“An old uncle of ours are something. But maybe it’ll fit. What do you think?”
She considered the question carefull
y, and Kane held her arm as she tickled the baby’s belly. When he appeared to laugh, Angeline’s face melted into a soft smile right before she turned her eyes to Kane.
“Theodore doesn’t really do it for me,” she said. “But… but if it’s just Theo?”
Looking back to the baby, Kane felt that it was right, and he nodded his approval as he took his new family into his arms and said, “Then, Theo it is.”
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
“So here’s the plan.”
Once Angeline and the baby were safe in the nursery and her friend, Terri, had come by with what was left over from her own baby shower, Kane started to feel like everything was coming together. He would not defy Noel. That would prove far too risky. Better to just sit quietly until he was no longer of any value. When that moment came, he would lift Angeline and little Theo up and start over.
In his mind, it seemed so easy. Even in the confines of the clubhouse, Kane had to fight from smiling. One day, Noel would forget that he had ever found him and lazily ask where he was at. By that time, Kane and his new family would be long gone. However, Kane also toyed with the notion that he might slip back one day and slash the smirk from Noel’s smug face. He quickly assessed the notion as stupid. He wouldn’t risk that. Would he?
“Okay,” Noel continued. “Sluts are one thing. They bring in a nice bit of green.”
“And then some, right?” Ben said, causing Kane to laugh with the others. Sure they were whores, like maybe some of them were asking for it, but it still wasn’t right.
As he smiled at Noel, Kane stifled the urge to rip his limbs from his body and just leave him to bleed out. Still better than what he really deserved. When Kane thought of Theo just starting to sit up, his eyes shifting to green—just like Angeline had promised—he kept his rage in place and kept waiting this out. He reminded himself that it was just like the joint. Only no bars. He had to remember there was a light at the end of the fucking…
“No doubt,” Noel said. “But there’s a better racket to be got.” He stared hard at Kane and folded his arms across his chest. “Pain pills, boys.” Kane felt as if he was falling through a hole in the world as Noel marched towards him. When he stood before him, Noel extended his finger and flicked Kane’s nose. “And the K Man here has the hookup,” Noel promised. “Once his old lady is back to work, she’s gonna funnel all kinds of green our way.”
No!
Trying to keep cool even as his blood boiled, Kane left his chair and stared Noel down. He wondered how he could have ever thought that this man was his friend. Better to have gulped down rancid food than to have ever climbed onto his bike.
“You will leave her alone,” Kane threatened. “If you ever touch—”
Noel cut him off with a sharp laugh, and Kane’s skin crawled as Noel’s fingers met his back.
“Kid, I’ve had her cunny. And she’s got the prize to show for it!”
Everyone clapped. And Kane felt like a barrage of sharp nails had landed within his body, ready to draw fresh blood if he made the wrong move. Jeremy said that he had to get out; his brother was right.
His brother was not here.
“I’ll kill you if you touch her again!”
Kane forced Noel to the floor, an unbroken tape shattering around them on impact. When the filmy strands released, Kane started to wind them around Noel’s throat, and he fought off Waldo and Ben as they tried to drag him back.
He was not budging.
“You even think about putting your fucking hands on her, and I’ll—”
“Talk to her boss, kid,” Noel said. “She’s down.”
As he pushed away from him, Kane fell to the floor. Hoisting his body up on his elbows, he still wanted to rip Noel apart but what Noel had just said made him stop, keep still. Somehow he found his voice again. “You’re lying,” Kane challenged. “She would never—”
“Bitch wants to turn a buck just like us,” Noel said. “And when your little lady’s up to it, bet she’ll point us down the right path.”
Even if Angeline could, even if she did in moments of desperation, Kane would not send her back down that road. He had to hide her.
And Theo.
“This is not happening,” Kane swore. “She’s out. I’m… so am I.”
Noel appeared to let the words sink into his brain, and just when Kane thought that he was free, Noel laughed loudly and gripped Kane’s arms.
“Her boss is in,” Noel swore. “And I, for one, am looking forward to seeing our girl giving the junkies their fix.”
In Noel’s eyes, Angeline was a slave, caught in a trap that she had yet to know existed. Noel would pimp her out and force her hands to pass the pills.
“I won’t let you,” Kane swore. “She’s not—”
“But she will.”
Noel grinded Kane into the wall, and Kane thought of nothing but fighting back. His knuckles met Noel’s face, and as soon as he fell to the ground, Kane spit in his face.
“You so fucking sure?” Kane cried.
Waldo and Ben were at his side, and they held him back as Noel found his way back to his feet.
“I’m pretty damn sure that you want to keep my kid close,” Noel said, grabbing Kane’s face and forced his fingers into his skin. “So you are going to fall in line…or else.”
He didn’t’ finish the threat, but as Kane shrugged away from Waldo and Ben, he knew. Jeremy was right. He should have lifted Angeline and Theo into his arms and ran on the night of his birth. That chance was gone. However, there was still time. He only had to get back to her. Climbing onto his bike, Kane thought of how it felt to hold Theo.
And Angeline.
“You can’t run, kid,” Noel screamed. “We’re coming for the girl! Maybe she’ll be smart about it. But if not…”
Kane knew that Noel would hurt her again. Hurt the baby. Now there was no more time, and he had to hide them before it was too late.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
Angeline held Theo close and gave him her breast. As the baby suckled her flesh, Angeline cradled her baby closer and kissed his soft head. Drinking in his sweet scent, she had to smile at the thought of Kane pressing Theo to his shoulder and walking him around their room, trying to get the little one to fall asleep. Kane’s face never showed one trace of exasperation, but sometimes he would look to Angeline with confusion in his eyes, as if he was thinking, “You think he’d be beat by now. Is this…like…normal?”
She would smile and slowly nod her head, assure him that it was par for the course and that there was nothing to worry about. Of course, Angeline couldn’t help but worry though.
In Kane’s presence, she kept up a brave face and told him that they’d be out before they knew it. He was talking Colorado; he liked the idea of living near the mountains and teaching Theo to climb when he was ready. She would always remind him that that was a long way off, but he promised her that they’d have all the time in the world—very soon.
All that hit her now was a sharp pain in her heart, as she glanced out the window and saw the sky growing darker. He was late, later than he said he would be. That had happened before, too; but, he always came back assuring her that Noel was leaning on him less and less, and Angeline always asked if they could get away. Her father was on board with the idea. Like Kane, he wanted his family far away from the Blood Brothers.
His response was always the same, “Not yet, Angel. Soon though. I swear.”
She clung to the idea of fleeing, but every time he left, as every minute ticked by without his return, she wondered if something had changed, if Noel was squashing their plans before they were off the ground.
And sometimes she thought the darkest thought of all.
Should she just take the baby and run away without him?
It was the last thing that she wanted to do, and when her heart’s memory ached at the lonely years without him, Angeline nearly kicked herself for even entertaining the notion. Life without him was more misery than not and how could she ev
en consider denying her body the feel of his arms around her?
However, this wasn’t just about her body and her heart anymore.
Theo slipped away from her breast, and she patted his tiny back as her eyes drifted back to the window. Kane was her love, but Theo was her life. If push came to shove, she knew which one she would sacrifice—even as the idea of leaving him pierced her soul like a jagged blade that would inflict the sharpest pain.
The sound of his bike finally coming up the drive brought her fears to rest. As she settled Theo in his crib, Angeline kissed her fingers and laid her touch on his rosy cheeks.
HANDS OFF MY BRIDE Page 39
