Rogue (Rogue Angels MC #1)

Chapter 25

25

Rogue

Unholy’s appearance and Tito’s return rattled everyone. The talking and arguing just went on and on. And it was well past three AM before Tito stormed off again, cursing us all to hell and back. The rest of the members were ready to stop discussing it all for the night by that point.

But if I hoped to get some sleep after all that, I was disappointed. I was still wide awake when the sun finally made an appearance over the low rolling hills that I can see in the distance out my bedroom window. Melody’s goodbye was still echoing in my head. It sounded so serious. So final, almost like Angel saying goodbye on the morning of the day she died.

At least that’s how it began sounding in my mind after she died. When she said it, she meant nothing of the sort. And I’m hoping it’s the same with Melody.

Luckily, I didn’t have to dwell on that too long because with the dawn also came Manny’s call, informing me that they’re bringing in Clive for questioning.

“We don’t have the man power to shut down all his various strip clubs though,” he said. “But if you want to hit the ones we can’t, be my guest.”

Then he gave me a list of the ones they were going to and told me he’d deny us having this conversation if anyone ever asked him about it. That’s his standard warning to me on any job.

It’s not even midnight yet now, and we’ve already taken over five of the strip joints on our list. Two were deserted, one had a single guard who ran before we reached it and the last had a basement full of women who were luckily alive and not hurt too badly. I have teams sitting on all the clubs, waiting for the LAPD to come and seal them off.

“Odds are, we’ll be able to snatch up the properties for cheap once the cops are done with them,” Creed muses.

We’re in the War Room, him, Blade, Alice and me.

“Yeah, but only if we turn them into schools or something,” I say.

Creed rolls his eyes. “Schools don’t turn a profit. You know that.”

“Ever the business man,” I say. “But don’t you think we already own too many strip joints. I mean we’re supposed to be helping the women who find themselves working at places like that, aren’t we?”

“Yeah, but then what’s gonna pay for our fancy gadgets?” Creed asks.

We’ve had this conversation a bunch of times in the past. The way we leave it never sits well with me.

“How about we turn them into clinics?” I ask.

“You mean so we can give that doctor friend of yours something to do?” Creed asks. “You two seem to be getting serious.”

I lean back in my chair and smile up at the ceiling. “She’s definitely a keeper. And that’s all I’m gonna say about it.”

And she should be getting here any moment now. I left instructions with the prospect on the gate to call me as soon as she shows up. And if she doesn’t come soon, I’m gonna go over to the hospital to see what’s keeping her.

“What I want to know is why those fierce bodyguards of Clive’s were nowhere to be seen today,” Blade says, bringing the conversation back to the stuff we should be discussing.

“I’m thinking they decided to cut their losses with his operation,” I say. “Leaving behind a house full of corpses was the first indication of that.”

“Yeah, they had to know something like that would light a fire even under LAPD’s asses,” Alice adds.

“I don’t think we have to worry about them anymore,” I say. “Good thing too, because Skye still hasn’t found anything on them.”

“I wouldn’t want us to write them off too soon,” Blade says. “They could still come gunning for revenge.”

“And if they do, we’ll be ready,” I say and stand up.

“I’m gonna go find my doctor lady friend now and call it a night,” I add. “And tomorrow we can dust off some of our old cases and get moving on a new job that we’ve neglected for too long.”

“Which job is that then?” Alice asks.

“All of them,” I say. “We’ve neglected all of them.”

I’m sure they all have more to say. More warnings to utter. More fear mongering to spread.

But my mind’s made up.

Playing it safe from a comfortable distance is not why we exist. We exist to prevent monsters like Clive from doing more than the absolute, bare minimum of damage.

The devil wind is blowing as I ride to pick up Melody from the ER. But even though it will always make my skin prickle and itch, and turn my thoughts crazy, it’s bearable tonight.

The waiting room of the ER is packed and the guard overseeing the circus won’t hear of me just asking the triage nurse a quick question. He makes me wait in line just like everyone else. I send Melody a series of texts letting her know I’m waiting for her out front, but they all go unanswered. Just like the one I sent before coming here.

That goodbye of hers is echoing real loud in my head by the time I reach the beyond-tired looking blonde nurse on the other side of the plexiglass wall. I’m out of patience and convinced that establishing a series of clinics in the poorer areas of town are in the MC’s very near future, Creed’s capitalistic tendencies be damned.

“Is Melody still around?” I ask her.

She blinks a couple of times like she didn’t understand. “Dr. Lockhart? She around?”

“It’s her day off today,” the nurse finally says. “What did you need?”

Not this news.

Melody’s goodbye echoing in my head from last night is suddenly louder than all the noise the patients waiting to be seen are making. Including the noise made by the guy who managed to rip one of the plastic bench seats off and is not slamming it against the plexiglass to my left, because apparently he’s been waiting to be seen since last night.

“Do you know where she’s staying?” I ask the nurse, who’s busy calling over more security guards.

“Listen, if she didn’t tell you then I can’t either, OK?” she says, sounding apologetic, but annoyed at the same time.

“When’s she coming in?” I ask.

“The answer’s the same,” she says and stands up.

A moment later she’s yelling at the guy banging on the wall to stop while the lone security guard tries to take him down. He gets hit in the side of the head with the chair for his trouble and goes down like a sack of potatoes. I’d help, but the other security guards have reached him and I don’t trust myself not to get carried away in a fight right now.

Melody lied to me.

She meant her goodbye.

It makes no sense but it’s not something I can fool myself into ignoring anymore.

A part of me wants to wait right here until she shows up to work again. But the part of me that’s never looked for a relationship is louder. Not by much. But loud enough to get me out to my bike and on my way back to the clubhouse.

Tomorrow I’m getting answers.

Tonight, I better leave before I do anything too stupid.

Even Angel never could get my blood boiling the way Melody does. And that’s saying something.

If she thinks she’s walking out of my life with just a single goodbye and no explanation, she has another thing coming.

Hell, she has another thing coming if she thinks she’s walking out of my life, period.