Chapter Sixteen Annabel #2
I finished the song in a flourish. Strong applause stung my ears, sending a flush to my cheeks of both embarrassment and pride.
When I dared to look over my shoulder at Bishop, I found him grinning like a Chesire cat. “Damn, Uptown Girl. I’m sure as hell glad I didn’t put money on that. You would have owned my ass.”
I laughed at his summation. “Once again, I think I have to do a song just for you.”
Sweeping a hand to his chest, Bishop replied, “I’m touched.”
Although I would have loved to have known how to play Uptown Girl, I had to settle for another Billy Joel classic with Piano Man. When he recognized the tune, Bishop clapped his hands in appreciation. “I need to get my lighter!” he shouted over the music.
As I laughed, I couldn’t help feeling more alive than I had in a long, long time. It was something about my converging worlds. If I was honest with myself, I probably felt more alive among Rev and his brothers than I ever had back in my old world.
“Annabel.”
At the sound of that voice, my fingers froze on the keys. No. This couldn’t be happening. Before panic could set in, I whirled around on the bench. At the sight of him, my chest clenched in agony.
“F-father?”
He forced a smile to his face—one that didn’t reach his eyes. “You look well,” he said, as if he was surprised to find me in one piece or not covered in tattoos and piercings.
“I am well. Thank you.” I fought the urge to add, I’ve told you as much on the phone. But I didn’t.
His hands fidgeted with his gold cufflinks. “Your mother is outside in the car. She wanted to wait to make sure you were all right before she came in.”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes at that statement. Of course she had refused to come inside. She probably thought she would get some disease simply from being around some of the Raiders.
It was then I knew I had to ask the question that was weighing heavily on my mind. “How did you find out where I was?”
My father didn’t answer. Instead, he glanced behind me at Rev.
I pinched my eyes shut as the sudden horrible realization crashed down on me.
It couldn’t be true. Rev wouldn’t do that.
He respected my feelings on the subject of my parents.
More than anything, he knew how much that would hurt me, how it would ruin every perfect thing between us.
Slowly, I turned around to face him. His ashen expression told me everything before he said, “I did. I called him.”
As his betrayal washed over me, I literally staggered back, my legs bumping into the piano bench. When Rev reached out to steady me, I slapped his hands away. “Don’t you dare touch me!” I hissed.
“Annabel, please.”
My mind spun with questions. What had Rev been thinking calling my parents?
How could he possibly not know how much I didn’t want to return to Virginia and my parents?
After our time together, was it possible I had completely misjudged who he was?
After taking several deep breaths and letting the initial shakes run through me, I regained my composure.
There was no way in hell I would break down in front of all these people, nor would I go off on Rev in front of his brothers.
Although I felt he had disrespected me in the worst way, I wouldn’t do the same to him.
Instead, I walked on trembling legs over to my father. “I’ll go get my things and meet you at the car.”
Relief flooded his face. I’m sure in his mind he had prepared himself for some kind of showdown where he had to resort to taking me kicking and screaming back to Virginia. But after what Rev had done, there was nothing left for me here and certainly no reason to stay now.
As I started for the backdoor, Alexandra came to my side. “Would you like some help?” she asked softly.
“No. I can get it myself.” When I looked over at her, there were tears in her eyes.
“I don’t mind.”
I shook my head. Instead, I reached over and hugged her. “Take care of yourself and the little man.”
She sniffled. “I will.” She pulled back to stare intently at me. “I don’t care what Rev did or how you feel about him. You do not have to go back with them. You would always have a home here.”
Her words touched me deeply because I knew they were sincere. Regardless of what Deacon or Rev might say, she would insist on having me stay. It was the truest example of a female friendship I had ever experienced. “I wish I could. But I can’t.”
After gently placing a hand on her belly, I kissed Alexandra’s cheek and walked out the door.
The tremors that ricocheted through my body made it difficult to walk.
I stumbled several times. I hadn’t made it halfway down the street before Rev chased me down.
“Would you just stop for one minute to let me explain?”
“There’s nothing to say. You went behind my back when you explicitly knew I didn’t want my parents to know my location.
How the hell can that possibly have a reasonable explanation?
” I didn’t wait for his reply. Instead, I stomped up the front stairs and then growled in frustration when I had to wait on Rev with the key.
“I didn’t call them to come and get you.
I just thought they had a right to know where you were.
I thought they might come down for a visit or something.
I didn’t think it was good for you to be away from them.
It never crossed my mind that they were going to come down here right after I talked to them last night. ”
I froze. “What did you say?”
He jerked a hand through his hair. “I said I called them last night.”
I momentarily fought to breathe. I didn’t know how things could get worse, but I was learning otherwise. “Last night after we kissed?”
Rev stared down at the rug. “I guess.”
Streaks of red hot anger momentarily blurred my vision. “You fucking coward! You got so freaked out by kissing me that instead of acknowledging your potential feelings for me, you decided to get rid of me.”
Gone was the hardcore biker and my tough as nails rescuer. In his place was a broken man. When he still didn’t look up, I placed my hands on his chest and shoved him with all my might. “Dammit, at least have the nerve to look me in the face!” I demanded.
When he finally looked up, his eyes were haunted. “I thought it was for the best.”
“No, you only thought of what was best for you. I mean, God forbid you actually admit that you have feelings for me.”
“That’s not true.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh please, Rev, like you could actually acknowledge the crazy, broken sex slave as your old lady. What would your brothers say?”
His expression darkened. “I don’t give a damn what they might have to say. That’s not what this is about.”
“Then please enlighten me. Because I find it extremely ironic that after being with you for a month, you just happen to call my parents on the night we kissed.”
“What I did last night was not fair to you with all you’ve been through.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re still recovering. I should’ve never made a move on you.”
After snatching a pair of my shoes up out of the floor, I spat, “In case you missed it, I was the one who made a move on you.”
Rev exhaled an agonized sigh. “Because you’re confused and mixed up. For Christ’s sake, Annabel, a month ago you were imprisoned and enslaved by a fucking maniac. You don’t get over that shit so quickly. You’ve been through too much to know what you really want.”
Anger and hurt flickered and flashed through me like lightning slicing across a troubled sky. Although I’d been raised to always temper my emotions, I couldn’t hold myself back. With all the strength I had within me, I threw one of the shoes at him.
Rev ducked just before it narrowly missed his head. Closing the gap between us, I demanded, “How dare you tell me what I feel? I’m not crazy when it comes to how I feel about you!”
“I never said you were crazy,” Rev argued softly.
“You’re implying it, which is just as bad.”
“I didn’t want to do anything to hurt you.”
“Too. Fucking. Late,” I spat before I rushed past him and slammed the bedroom door.
Hot tears streaked down my cheeks as I went to the closet and grabbed the small suitcase Rev had bought me on the way home from Texas.
As I threw my clothes and toiletries inside, I expected Rev to come into the bedroom and continue our argument.
But he didn’t.
It was like he had raised the white flag of defeat when it came to us. He wasn’t going to fight. He was going to do what he thought was the honorable thing and just let me go.
Once I finished packing, I threw open the bedroom door to find Rev standing in front of me. His mouth opened, but then he quickly closed it. When he reached for my suitcase, I jerked it away from him. “Please, Annabel. You’re still recuperating from surgery. You shouldn’t be carrying that.”
Angrily, I slammed it down at his feet. “Fine then. Since you seem to still have concern for my physical state, you take it. I want to say goodbye to Poe.”
Without another word to him, I turned and fled to the back porch.
At the sound of the back door opening, Poe was already standing up and waiting for me in his pen.
I stepped off the porch steps and walked around to him.
It was amazing how much he had grown since he had moved from the crate to an old dog run that had belonged to one of Rev’s MC brothers.
“Hey, sweet boy,” I said, as I unlocked the latch on his pen.
He came out tentatively like he always did, cautiously surveying his surroundings.
Tears filled my eyes as I stroked his head.
I could never regret my time here with Rev because it meant saving Poe’s life.
He had given me a focus and shown me once again there was nothing else on earth I wanted to be more than a veterinarian.
I kissed the top of his nose. “Be a good boy. You’ll be leaving soon. You’ll be big and strong enough to go back to the woods. I know you’re going to do just fine.”
I think I was saying the words more for me than for Poe. In a way, I had just had my own release back into the wild. More than anything, I needed reassurance that everything was going to be all right.
At the sound of Rev approaching behind me, I asked, “You remember what to do for him when it’s time to release him?”
“Yes, I do,” he murmured.
“Good.”
“Annabel, don’t leave like this,” Rev pleaded, his voice thick with anguish.
“You ask me not to leave like this, yet you haven’t once told me to stay.
” I glanced over my shoulder at him. “Considering all of that, how else would you presume I left? You’ve told me I don’t know what I feel, but more than anything, you’ve made me feel that my feelings for you are based on some sort of reverse Stockholm Syndrome.
” I shook my head. “I just wish you could see what’s truly in my heart. ”
With a resigned sigh, I eased Poe back into his pen.
As much as I hated to leave him, I knew without a doubt Rev would take good care of him, even after he was released into the wild.
I rose up on my feet and breezed past Rev to the porch steps.
After making one last sweep inside the house for anything of mine, I went out the front door and out onto the porch.
As I started down Rev’s front steps, I saw my parents’ limousine had pulled around to the cul de sac. I started walking to the car, but a small voice behind me caused me to stop.
When I turned around, Willow stared up at me with her big, brown eyes. “Belle, are you leaving?”
Fighting back the tears, I nodded. “I wish I could stay longer, but I really have to go back home now.”
Willow’s lips turned down in a pout. “But I’m going to miss you so much. Will you come to visit?”
Although I knew the answer to her question was no, it broke my heart to disappoint her. “Maybe one day.” I bent down to her level. “Will you help Uncle Rev with Poe? It won’t be much longer before he’s ready to be released.”
“Yes, I will. I promise.”
I pulled her into my arms. “Be a good girl for your mommy and daddy. I know you’re going to be a wonderful sister to your brother.”
“I will.”
I kissed the top of Willow’s head and then slowly pulled away.
Beth stood behind us, a stricken look on her face.
I don’t know if it was because of Willow or because of the weight of the emotions, but neither of us spoke.
Instead, our eyes conveyed everything we needed to say.
Beth wanted me to know that Rev was struggling with his feelings.
But the tears in my eyes let her know he had made his intentions clear.
He wasn’t fighting for me…for us. So there was nothing left but to go.
She put her arms around me and hugged me tight. I clung to her, realizing how close I had grown to her in the last month. She was the mother I wished I had—the kind where if fairy tales were true, I would have wished for. But this was real life.
In fairytales, this would be the moment Rev swooped to my side and told me everything I wanted to hear. He would hoist me into his arms and carry me back into the house where we would live happily ever after.
But this was real life. And I had already learned how much real life could hurt you.
When I pulled away from Beth, I let the sobs overtake me as I power walked over to the waiting limousine.
I slid inside without looking back for him.
At the sight of my tear-streaked face and chest heaving with sobs, my mother recoiled back into her seat.
“Annabel, honestly,” she chided. I knew she was at a loss to how I could be so bereft at leaving such people.
She would never understand that within the small walls of Rev’s house and among the salt of the earth people who were his family, I had learned how to truly live for the first time.