Chapter 5
Cage – Age Twenty-Six
I gently bite my bottom lip as I sit on my bed in the motel room, and eye the light yellow walls as the woman standing in the street a few hours ago comes to mind. I swallow hard as my heart skips a beat.
Fuck.
I felt her eyes on me before I even passed her.
Even through the haze of my anger, her gaze pulled me back and when I locked eyes with hers—through my fucking shades—my body lit up like the fourth of July despite not even seeing the color.
Since then, I’ve felt nothing but fear, tangled with a craving for a line— I haven’t used in six months, not since my family forced me to ride nomad for a year.
I didn’t want to go at first, I wanted to self-destruct, and I tried, believe me, I fucking tried.
I shoved past Blaze, telling them all to fuck off with an intervention and grabbing Cotton.
I planned to get lost and forget what fucking day it was before I’d probably end up in a fist fight and then back in prison.
But before I could snort the cocaine she had spread over her tits, or even thrust into her ass…
Both Blaze and Crusher barged into the staff room and dragged me out.
After that, everything blurred together—the fuckers knocked me out before I could resist. When I woke up, my sister was sitting against my old bedroom door, a bedroom I hadn’t entered since Ang was killed.
With tears in her eyes, she begged me to go for a ride. I knew I couldn’t say no.
I wasn’t the only one self-destructing.
I sigh as I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees.
Six months, and I haven’t been home. I've kept in contact as my mother and sister wanted though not with them, but I do speak to the brothers daily. Trick keeps me up to date with the club and all the businesses, making sure I know about profits and losses—even if I don’t want to.
Everyone is reminding me I’ll take over as Pres when I return but I just—fuck. Doubt creeps in every time I think about returning.
The open road is bringing me the peace I never thought I would have. That just makes me feel even guiltier because I don’t deserve peace, not anymore.
My phone rings and I grunt as I grab it from my cut that still feels too fucking tight.
Can’t risk another MC thinking I’m an enemy and shooting me down now, can I?
I groan, seeing it’s Trick again. Fucker is persistent, but then again, he did marry Clark.
He’s running from his life. So he tries to control mine.
“Trick,” I answer after I let my phone ring a few times, debating just hanging up, but with my text earlier, I know I can’t.
“Was it just the one?” he asks instead of saying hey, and I grunt, “Yes,” as I sit up slightly, my back aching like a bitch.
My anger and frustration keep building. I haven’t had a line or even a spliff in six months, haven’t fucked anyone either and the tension boiled over when a Charger confronted me an hour outside of town—I didn’t think about the consequences. I just stabbed my knife into his neck.
Though in my defense, the fucker had been following me for the past four months after they finally caught up with me.
Their pathetic little group knows I’m supposed to be the next Pres. Obviously, they’re leader has been told I’m wearing my cut again by his minion. Now they’re running scared. They’re hoping to gun me down while I’m off being a lone fucking wolf.
They might just want to get rid of all bikers for all I know.
“He’d been following me for around four months,” I admit.
“Fuck,” he mutters, and I sigh.
“It’s fine, I clocked him instantly, and besides, he’s floating in the river right now, nothing will come back to the club,” I try to soothe, but he growls.
“That isn’t the fucking problem, and you know it. You’ve been inside five fucking times, I won’t be the VP if you are not by my side, Cage!” he snaps, and I sigh as I look towards the door for the hundredth time, the woman coming back to me.
I’ve never had this kind of reaction to a woman before—not even with Toya before she turned batshit crazy.
I thought there could be feelings for Loz, who sobbed when I said I was leaving town, but her tears only grated on me.
This woman, though—fuck. The need to find her scares me.
I’m not worthy of anyone, and for all I know, she could be a patch chaser.
But the way she looked at me, before shying away, was fucking cute and it’s an unexpected feeling I don’t know how to handle.
“No one knows I was in the vicinity. I kept riding instead of staying the night. I’m now in Rose Hill, and I’ve booked a motel for two nights before I keep riding. I might even stop by the Dark Angel’s MC, say hello before carrying on through,” I admit, and he grunts again.
Fuck he’s a moody fucker since marrying Clark, or more like forcing her to marry him, even though he doesn’t love her. I think he’d fall for her instantly if he allowed himself to get to know his wife more than our friend's little sister.
“Blade would be happy to see you, but while you’re in Rose Hill, call in at Rose Hill Tires, I’m sure Joel will be happy to see you,” he admits, and I hum as a knock echoes, and I frown.
“Look, someone is at my door. I’ll speak to you tomorrow, brother,” I say, and he snaps, “Ha, you called me brother!” and I groan before hanging up.
The fucker.
Shaking my head, I walk to the door and open it only to lock eyes with Joel's intense blue ones.
Speak of the devil, and he shall show I guess.
“Joel,” I nod, and he gives me a tight smile as I move to the side and allow him in.
I didn’t realize he knew I was in town.
“How are you doing, Cage?” he asks, and I raise a brow at his tone.
“Good, though I’m wondering what I did to piss you off when I haven’t even been in town for three hours yet,” I reply, then ask, “Have you spoken to my dad?”
Joel Taylor and my dad were best buds in high school, he was even talking about joining the club before he left for college, but everything changed when he met his wife.
She lived here, instead of asking her to move three hours away from her hometown, he decided to relocate and has managed to put in shares in his garage instead of returning home to become a brother and work at the club’s garage.
Dad mentioned he still speaks to Joel a lot, who apparently is having quite a bit of trouble with his youngest daughter.
“I spoke to him last week, he mentioned you may ride through town and pop by. I was going to wait to come see you, but…” His words trail off, and I tilt my head.
“But?” I prompt.
I’ve never had problems with Joel, especially when I know he’s been there for my folks and was like an uncle to me before everything happened with Angie. Right now, I think he has a problem with me. I just don’t know why.
“My daughter was, I want to say, entranced by you today,” he reluctantly admits, and I look at him in shock.
His daughter as in…
Whatever he reads on my face, he shakes his head and quickly reiterates, “Not my youngest, who seems to think she deserves the world, but my eldest.”
“I’ve never even seen your daughter, Joel,” I quickly state because I haven’t, even in the years him and dad were friends, his daughters never made the trip home with him.
That and he knows what I’ve been through, so he most likely doesn’t want me near his family, so of course, I’ll reassure him.
His next words shock me, and my stomach tightens.
“You locked eyes with her this afternoon, Cage,” he says softly, and I swallow hard.
Shit, the woman I felt an instant spark with.
He gives me a sad smile. “I’m guessing by your reaction you know who I mean?” he confirms, and I nod once before soothing, “I won’t go near her, I swear,” but even as I say the words, I instantly want to retract them.
Joel tilts his head as I fist my hands at my side, and he sighs.
“I saw the day your parents fell in love,” he mentions, “I saw the way your dad looked at your mother in fifth period English. I saw how his body tightened and how all he wanted to do was sit near her, how his eyes stayed trained on her,” he gives me a sad smile, “The look you are giving me right now, is a look of wanting to claim my daughter.”
I flinch then grunt, “With all due respect, I don’t know her, and I won’t go near her, I’m a fuck up.”
“You’re not a fuck up, Cage,” he denies and I open my mouth to call him out but he isn’t done, “You have grieved for nearly eight years, you have blamed yourself for something that is most definitely not your fault and I fuck. I cannot believe I’m saying this, but my daughter will probably bring you back, bring back that boy who laughed and enjoyed life. ”
I furrow my brows and ask, “Are you trying to set me up with your daughter, Joel?” with complete confusion because seriously, what the fuck?
He knows I’ve been inside, he knows I’ve done drugs.
He huffs, “Apparently so, because as much as she’ll bring that boy back out in you, you’ll bring her out of her shell and out of her focus on ballet.”
Ballet?
He must see the confusion on my face, so he explains, “Since she was three, Drew has been obsessed with ballet. Over the years, she’s progressed to the point where she has won competitions, and even now, she still does ballet shows but more to raise money for the underprivileged kids and teens.
She even works with them but outside of that, she has no life, no friends.
Her only boyfriend decided to screw her younger sister in high school, and I fucking hate that I’m saying this, but Drew doesn’t need a choir boy.
She needs someone like you, and I believe you need someone like her. ”
Drew… Fuck, her name makes my stomach tighten.
“Joel…” I say, but stop, not really knowing what to say.
I’m in town for two nights, that is fucking it, yet the thought of not seeing this woman, of not seeing Drew…
Joel sighs and as we lock eyes he says, “All I’m saying is, I’m not telling you to stay away from my daughter, heck, I can guarantee Elizabeth will try and get your attention at some point while you’re in town.
I’m just saying, Drew, she’s special and I know the look you both had, a look she has never had with someone before.
If you want to get to know her, don’t do it because you want a quick fuck.
Only speak to her if you know you will give in to what you really want, to claim her, and I won’t stand in your way. ”
Looking over me, he turns and walks to the door leaving me shell shocked but before he opens it he says, “It is real fucking good to see you, Cage, and even better knowing I’m not going home to say goodbye at your gravesite while trying to hold my best friend up,” we lock eyes, mine tearing and he rasps, “Drew’s Ballerinas, that is where she is every single day unless she has a show or a meeting with investors and she lives at the apartment above…
” Then demands, “Don’t hurt my daughter,” before he walks out and I swallow hard again.
Taking a shuddering breath, I grab my phone and bring up my dad’s number out of reflex before pressing it and putting the phone to my ear, needing him, needing his advice.
“Your mother is driving me crazy, please tell me you are coming home!” he answers after four rings, and I swallow hard.
“Dad,” I choke, my chest tightening, not able to comprehend the conversation with Joel. My body is pulling me towards the ballet studio I know now she stays at, a woman I haven’t even said one word to, and my fear spikes.
“Son? What is it?” he panics, and I whisper, “I need your advice.”
Do I leave now, continue on my route, and never return home?
Or do I confront this possessive feeling I’ve suddenly got and get to know a woman that could either turn out to be a patch chaser and risk my family, yet a fucking gain, or become my whole fucking universe. She would be a universe I don’t deserve after getting my little sister killed.