Redemption Road

by Katie Ashley

  After shaking his head, Deacon gave me a quick hug. “You be careful, okay?”

  I nodded. “I’m a lot stronger than I look.”

  “Trust me, I know that.”

  I got halfway across the room and stopped. Whirling around, I said, “I don’t have a car.” It was the one part of the plan I had overlooked.

  Boone came over and handed a set of keys to me. “It’s the Mustang outside.”

  My brows shot up in surprise. “Are you sure?”

  He nodded. “It’ll get you to Rev faster.”

  I gave him a quick hug before racing out the door. After cranking up the car, I roared out of the roadhouse parking lot. Of course, I had no idea if I should go right or left. All I knew was Mendoza would phone with instructions.

  With just a minute to spare before my ten minutes were up, the phone rang. With a shaky hand, I reached for it. “Hello?”

  “Go to the old rock quarry off Route 19. Come around to the back of the barn.”

  “But I don’t know—” I started to protest.

  “You’ll figure it out.” Mendoza hung up.

  “Son of a bitch!” I shouted. Pulling the car off to the side of the road, I Googled a rock quarry. Amazingly enough, the route pulled up. It was only fifteen minutes away, but it was in the other direction than I had come out of the roadhouse. After turning around, I gunned the engine. Even though they were tracking my phone, I wasn’t taking any chances with the ATF. I dialed Agent Hollis’s number that I had programmed in my phone earlier. “I’m supposed to meet him at a barn beside the old rock quarry on Route 19.”

  “We are only a few minutes from the location. When you arrive, stall for a few moments in the car before you go in. We do not want too much time to elapse before you go in the barn and before we come in.”

  “Okay. I can do that.”

  “I know you can. We have every confidence in you, Annabel,” Agent Hollis said.

  I wished that his words made me feel better, but sadly, they didn’t. While I might’ve looked calm and collected on the outside, I was a fucking basket case on the inside. I had stared down death once before, so I wasn’t afraid of being killed. More than anything, I didn’t want to lose Rev.

  Veering off the road onto Route 19 caused my stomach to churn. Rolling down the window, I threw up the contents of my stomach. With a nervous laugh, I thought about how Boone would regret loaning me his car when it came back with puke down the front door.

  When I saw the barn, my heart started beating so hard it felt like a cannon’s blast inside the car. I eased around the back of the building, craning my neck to see if anyone was around. Just one car was parked there, and I knew it had to belong to Mendoza.

  Once I turned the engine off, I tried to collect myself. My arms and legs trembled uncontrollably with nerves. But then I focused on the image of Rev’s face and it gave me the strength I needed. Opening the car door, I slowly got to my feet. I took small steps from the car, taking as much time as I could.

  When I got to the back door, it opened before I reached for it. The next thing I knew I was being grabbed and dragged inside. Then I was thrown to the ground. “So glad you could come,” Mendoza greeted me.

  I started to glare up at him, but then something to my left drew my attention. Rev was strung up to one of the lower hanging barn beams. His arms were jerked at a painful angle over his head, but the worst thing was the burns on his chest. “Rev!” I cried as I started to scramble to my feet.

  But then I felt the familiar bite of a belt slamming across my back. I couldn’t hold back the scream that tore from my lips. Grabbing me by the hair, Mendoza jerked me to my feet. With a cold glare, he asked, “You didn’t think you could just waltz in here without being punished, did you?”

  Another crack of the belt had me shrieking. “You wanna beat someone, you beat me, you cocksucker!” Rev shouted.

  “You don’t get to call the shots.” He licked his lips as he drew me closer to him. “Right now I think I’ll make her scream for another reason.”

  Mendoza grabbed one of my breasts, kneading it harshly. At my whimper of pain, a cruel smirk curved on his lips. “That’s nothing compared to what I’m going to do to you, Roja.”

  At that moment the barn door burst open and four agents came crashing through it. “Freeze! Drop your weapon. Now!” an agent shouted. After recognizing his voice, I knew it was Agent Hollis.

  “You lying cunt!” Mendoza spat before lunging at me so hard that we both fell to the ground. He started punching and kicking me until he was wrestled off me by one of the agents.

  “Are you okay?” Agent Hollis asked.

  My sides and stomach screamed in agony where Mendoza had kicked me. When I tried to sit up, I couldn’t. I seemed to be working overtime to catch my breath. But the sound of Rev screaming my name had me struggling to my feet with some help from Agent Hollis.

  After I wiped the blood off my busted lip, I nodded. At that point, I didn’t care about the pain. All I could think about was Rev. As I limped over to him, I met his haunted gaze. “Oh, Rev,” I murmured. Turning back to Agent Hollis, I said, “Get him down. Now!”

  As he worked to cut the rope that held Rev in place, I brought my hands to Rev’s face. “I’m so, so sorry, my love,” I murmured.

  “Not your fault,” he gasped. He tried to lean closer to me, but he couldn’t reach. I leaned in and brought my lips to his. “Thank God you’re okay.”

  With a smile, I said, “I feel the same way about you.”

  Agent Hollis eased the rope so that Rev’s arms could come slowly down at his side. I started working at getting his hands free of the rope. Suddenly, one of the agents shouted in alarm. When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw Mendoza push out of one of the agents’ reach and grab the agent’s extra gun from his chest holster.

  Mendoza then whirled around toward me and Rev and pointed the gun. As the blast went off, Rev shoved me out of the way. After I fell to the ground, I glanced back to see Rev’s body contort in pain as blood spewed out of a wound in his stomach. “No, no, NO!” I screamed.

  Rev collapsed on the ground at the same moment the agents tackled Mendoza. I crawled over to Rev, cradling his head in my lap. He stared up at me, his eyes glassy.

  “Been gut-shot,” he gasped. “Not good.”

  “Don’t say that!”

  “I love you, Annabel.”

  I shook my head. “Don’t you dare act like you’re saying good-bye. You’re going to marry me, remember? We’re a team—you and me against the world.” Tears streamed down my cheeks and fell onto his face.

  One of the agents dropped down beside us and started working on compressing Rev’s wound. “Ambulance is on the way,” he said to me.

  “You hear that, Rev? The ambulance is coming, so you have to hold on until it gets here.”

  With a weak smile, he reached up to cup my cheek. “My beautiful Annabel Lee.” Then he closed his eyes.

  “Rev, stay with me. Please . . . please stay with me.” I buried my face against his, unable to stop the sobs that overtook me.

  TWENTY-SIX

  REV

  A pulsing white light filled with peaceful energy enveloped me from head to toe. As I gazed around, I realized the light was filling me up and healing me. I no longer felt any pain from the gunshot wound. I brought my hands up to pat around on my gut. No blood. No wound.

  “What the . . .” I muttered.

  In the distance, a figure began walking toward me. As it got closer, I blinked several times to make sure I was seeing clearly. When I still saw the person in front of me, I decided I must be hallucinating because it simply couldn’t be possible. “Pop?” I questioned.

  Preacher Man smiled at me. “Hello, son.”

  “What are you . . .? What am I . . .?” I questioned lamely.

  “I’m here to tell you that it isn’t your time, and you have to go back.”

  I frowned in confusion as everything floated along in this trippy consciousn
ess. “Are you trying to say this is heaven?” I swallowed hard. “Like I’m dead or something?”

  “Maybe it is or maybe you’re just hallucinating this from a temporary lack of oxygen,” Preacher Man suggested with a sly smile. He reached out and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Just know I’m proud of you, son. Regardless of what happened to you, it never broke you; it only made you stronger.” He squeezed my arm. “You’re the man I wish I could have been.”

  Although breaking down was the most unmanly thing I could do, I let the tears flow freely. “Thank you, Pop.”

  “No—thank you, son.”

  As he faded away, a jolt of electricity rocketed through my body, sucking me out of the white light and slamming me back onto a stretcher in the back of an ambulance. A paramedic held the crash cart paddles in his hands and I heard him say, “He’s back. We have sinus rhythm.”

  I gulped in the oxygen from the mask on my face, trying to still my out-of-control heart rate. I started to bring my hand to my gut to see if my wound was real again, but the other paramedic grabbed my arm. “Easy there.”

  Once he released me, I moved my hand up to my face. At the feel of moisture on my cheeks, the world grew dark around me again.

  When I came to, I was in a bed at the hospital. Blinking my eyes, I took in my surroundings. Machines beeped on and off, but I was grateful to find I just had an oxygen mask, rather than a breathing tube. It felt like there was some sort of cool sheeting on my back—it must’ve been something to deal with my burns. They must’ve been giving me some good drugs because I wasn’t in any pain.

  As I looked around the room again, I saw that one entire wall was covered with balloons, flowers, and cards. Jesus, how long had I been out of it? Turning my head, I saw something that made my heartbeat speed up on the monitor. Annabel slept in one of the uncomfortable chairs next to my bed. Her disheveled hair and the dark circles under her eyes told me she hadn’t left my side. Not that there was any doubt about my feelings for her, but her true devotion made me fall in love with her all over again.

  I eased the mask off my face. “Annabel?” I croaked.

  At the sound of my voice, she shot upright and almost fell out of the chair. “Rev! Rev, you’re awake!” she cried as she dove for the bedside. She bent over to bestow kisses on my cheeks and then my lips. Just when I could barely catch my breath, she pulled away, tears flowing. “I love you. I love you so, so much.”

  Smiling up at her, I replied, “I love you, too.”

  She pushed my hair back from my face. “I thought I had lost you. You came so close to dying.”

  An uneasy feeling prickled over my skin. “I did?”

  Annabel nodded. “They said you crashed in the ambulance on the way here. You went into emergency surgery as soon as you got here. The doctor said you were lucky to be alive.”

  Slowly, I began to remember the bright light and seeing Preacher Man. I didn’t like thinking how close I had come to leaving Annabel and my brothers and Mama Beth.

  “It wasn’t my time,” I murmured.

  “What?”

  Realizing I had said Preacher Man’s words, I shook my head. “It’s nothing.”

  “Deacon and Bishop have taken turns staying the nights with me.”

  “Nights?”

  “You’ve been unconscious for five days. Well, most of them you were kept in a medically induced coma to let your burns heal.”

  “Holy shit.”

  Annabel laughed. “The doctor said you would come around when you were ready. Of course, that didn’t mean that your mother and I didn’t worry to death about when that might be. But thankfully, there’s no lasting internal damage. You might have some scarring from your burns.”

  My mind went back to Mendoza and his sadistic use of a blowtorch. Then a sobering thought hit me. “What happened with Mendoza after he shot me?”

  “The ATF took him in. I’ve been assured he won’t get out of prison.”

  “He won’t,” I said adamantly.

  Annabel’s expression became unreadable at my words and tone. Gazing down at the blanket, she hesitated before asking, “Does that mean you’ll have him taken care of in prison?”

  I reached forward to grab her hand. “He won’t be coming out alive, you can rest assured of that. But before it’s done, he’ll suffer.”

  A tremor ran through Annabel’s body. “I suppose the thought of you having him tortured should disgust me, but it doesn’t. I think of what he did to me and then what he did to you. . . He deserves everything he gets.”

  Squeezing her hand, I said, “That’s an old lady talking right there.” She shook her head, but then smiled in spite of herself. As I stared into her eyes, I thought of what she had gone through to save me. “You were so strong and so brave. I’m so very proud of you, Annabel. Proud and honored to call you my future wife.”

  Tears once again shimmered in her eyes. “It was my love for you that gave me the strength.” She bent down again to kiss me. I brought my hand up to tangle through the strands of her long auburn hair. When she pulled away, she smiled. “I’d better call your mother and Deacon. They’ll want to see you.”

  “They can wait. Why don’t you lie down with me for a while? I want to feel you close to me.”

  She narrowed her green eyes at me. “Nathaniel Malloy, I certainly hope you’re not trying to get fresh with me just a few minutes after regaining consciousness. I’m sure the doctor will be in here any moment.”

  I laughed. “No, Annabel Percy, I merely want to hold the woman I love close to me since there was a brief moment when I didn’t think I would ever get the chance again.”

  Annabel’s expression softened. “We have to be careful, though.”

  Sliding my body over in the bed caused more pain than I had anticipated. At my sharp intake of breath, Annabel started to move away from the bed. “Oh no, you don’t,” I muttered through gritted teeth.

  Gently, she eased up onto the mattress and stayed practically hanging off the edge to ensure that she didn’t hurt me. I took her hand in mine and brought it to my cheek, enjoying the softness of her skin and the warmth of her touch.

  Somehow two broken people had found their other half that completed them and made them whole. The worst of circumstances had brought us together, but some of the greatest loves in the world were born of tragedy.

  As I kissed her palm, I thanked God that I had gotten a second chance to love and be loved by this woman—this Annabel Lee.

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  ANNABEL

  Sunlight streamed through the heavily tree-lined woods, warming even the shadowy parts. With the hem of my dress clutched in my hand, I carefully made my way through the uneven terrain. I dodged tree limbs and shrubs that might nick my dress. After all, I didn’t want to do anything to ruin my appearance, considering it was my wedding day.

  I’m sure it seemed a little unorthodox to be tromping through the woods on the most important day of my life, but at the same time, there was no other way to reach the wedding venue. Rev’s near death at Mendoza’s hands illustrated to us both how precarious life can be, and made it seem a little ridiculous to wait to get married.

  So a month to the day after Rev had come home from the hospital, we were becoming man and wife. Because we were on a tight schedule, most of the venues were booked up. In the end, the most obvious choice was right before our eyes . . . or at least a mile into the woods. Our ceremony would take place on the banks of tohi a-ma.

  When I stumbled over an exposed tree root, Deacon’s arm shot out to catch me. “Easy there, sister. I don’t want you face-planting before we can get you to the altar,” he said, his voice laced with amusement. Behind us, Bishop snickered.

  “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind,” I replied with a smile.

  Deacon and Bishop were not only escorting me to the service; they were also giving me away. Although my father had come through for me when I needed him, he would have never consented to me being married anywhere but in a chu
rch, outfitted in a twenty-thousand-dollar Vera Wang dress, with tons of reporters following the ceremony, making him look like father of the year. I didn’t want anything to ruin my day, so I planned on calling my parents from my honeymoon to tell them I had eloped.

  When we reached the clearing, the gentle strumming of a guitar floated back to me. As the woods melted into the green grass, the pathway was strewn with rose petals. I couldn’t help smiling because it wasn’t a detail I had asked for. The beautiful soul of my hard-core biker fiancé had added that romantic touch.

  As if he could read my thoughts, Bishop muttered, “What a pussy.”

  I elbowed him in the ribs. “You could learn a little something from your older brother,” I countered.

  He wrinkled his nose in disgust. “No fucking thank you. Hell, Rev’s always been a sensitive fucker, but since he fell for you, it’s like he’s grown a vagina.”

  When Deacon snickered, I shot him a death glare before turning back to Bishop. “Let me set you straight on one thing. There is nothing unmanly about Rev, especially not in the bedroom. And you can’t have a vagina when you’re that well-endowed.” At Bishop’s openmouthed, wide-eyed look, I said, “Just in case you’re not sure what ‘well-endowed’ means, it means your brother has a giant dick and knows how to use it.”

  I bit back a laugh at how I’d shocked the hell out of both of my future brothers-in-law. With a wink at them, I said, “That last comment was to show you that I’m not too uptown to be a biker’s old lady.”

  Both Deacon and Bishop hooted and snorted with laughter. I couldn’t hide my surprise when Bishop reached over and kissed my cheek. “I don’t ever have any doubts about you being a good old lady, Annabel.”

  I smiled at him. “Thank you, Bishop.”

  Once we rounded the bend of the clearing, I could see all my wedding guests—my new family—standing on the banks of the glittering water. Outfitted in a frilly pink dress, Willow was our impromptu flower girl. She stood next to Alexandra, who held baby Wyatt in her arms. Mama Beth was beside her, keeping a watchful eye on her grandchildren. Kim and her five children were in attendance, including her eighteen-year-old daughter, Cassie. Our newest miracle had come in the form of the beautiful, intelligent girl. She wanted to be Rev’s and my surrogate in exchange for help with paying the tuition to college that her family couldn’t afford. It had seemed almost too good to be true, but after lengthy discussions with Cassie and Kim, we came to see how serious she was about it. So after we enjoyed a few years together as just man and wife, we would take the next step to becoming a family.