Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Allora
I recognize my dad’s Harley-Davidson motorcycle the moment we pull up to the Shadow Security headquarters.
It’s teal blue with black flames on the body and my mother’s name embroidered on the leather seat.
I also see Pete’s cherry-red bike and Metal’s blue one.
Metal—his legal name is Arthur Conway but no one has ever called him Arthur, not even when we were kids—is one of the only guys in the club I can stand.
We’re the same age and went to school together starting in middle school.
His nickname was Metal because he likes heavy metal music and refuses to listen to anything else. It stuck when he joined the club.
If I was smart, I would have dated him instead of Pete, but we’re all dumbasses when we’re teenagers. I’m positive he wouldn’t have become a prospect if we’d been together because he wanted out as much as I did. He just didn’t have anywhere else to go as another kid in the foster system.
At least now he has some semblance of a family with the club.
Elliott grabs my bags and we go inside.
“Hey, Allora!” Luna smiles from behind the reception desk and I grin at her purple hair. The last time I saw her it was red.
“Great hair,” I tell her.
She makes a face. “Thanks! But my hairdresser told me it’s all going to break off if I keep changing the color.”
“Well, I know a great deep conditioner,” I say, moving to the desk and grabbing a business card. I turn it over and write down the name. “Once a week, without fail. Your hair will thank you. It’s pricey but worth every penny.”
Her eyes widen. “Thanks, I’ll give it a try!”
“Mornin’, darlin’.” Pete comes across the lobby with a smile.
It’s a shame he’s so good-looking because he really is an asshole. Even at seventeen I knew he wasn’t the guy for me, but he’s never stopped trying. One of a million reasons I avoid the club.
“Hey.” I glance up with a polite smile.
“Face is healing,” he says, nodding. “You’re looking good.”
“Thanks.” I start to move away but he takes my arm.
“You, uh, think we could talk?”
I arch my brows. “About what?”
He glances over at Luna and then pulls me farther away, so she can’t hear.
“You know. About us.”
I sigh. “There is no us, Pete. It’s been nearly ten years.”
He shrugs with his signature sheepish grin. “Can you blame a guy for not wanting to lose the best thing he ever had?”
“I repeat—it’s been a decade. Besides, you have a different bunny in your bed every night.”
His eyes narrow. “That’s just sex. And it’s not like your bed has been empty all these years.”
“I was simply pointing out that you’re not pining for me.”
“A man has needs.”
“And you should absolutely take care of those needs. Just not with me.”
“Come on, darlin’. We were good together.”
“We were teenagers. We didn’t know anything.”
“We knew enough. And I took good care of you. No one messed with you when you were with me.”
“No outsiders messed with me,” I correct mildly. “But your brothers would have access, right? You guys share your women.”
“Not our old ladies. And I wouldn’t do that to you—your dad would kill me.”
It doesn’t escape me that he’s worried about my father’s response, instead of saying he wouldn’t want to share me. Because he would. A lot of the guys do. It’s all consensual, their old ladies don’t seem to mind, but that’s not and never will be okay with me.
Landon would never share the woman in his life.
I don’t know why I think that but I feel it deep in my soul. He might not be the kind of man looking for a relationship, but he would protect any woman he was involved with. Kind of like he’s protecting me.
We’re not in a relationship, but I can see the type of man he is.
Kind. Caring. Thoughtful.
Everything Pete isn’t.
Luckily, Luna must sense my irritation with the conversation and she calls out to me.
“Allora, did you say you wanted vanilla or hazelnut cappuccino?”
“Hazelnut,” I reply with a relieved smile.
She nods. “You want to come with me? I can teach you to use the machine, that way you can make your own.”
“Thanks.” I hurry after her, leaving Pete standing there.
Rude, I know, but he can be like a dog with a bone when he has a burr up his butt.
“What was that about?” Luna asks as we walk down the hall to a kitchen that’s still under construction but somewhat operational.
“He still thinks I’m going to get back together with him,” I mutter. “I mean, it’s been a decade. Well, June will be a decade. We broke up at the end of senior year, right before graduation. He didn’t want me to go away to college—I went anyway. And never looked back.”
“Good for you. And don’t worry, once Grim gets here, he won’t let him bother you.”
I smile.
Because she’s right.
Her brows inch up.
“Anything you want to tell me?”
My face burns. “Er, no. Of course not. It’s strictly professional between us.”
She wiggles her eyebrows. “But he’s hot as fuck, right?”
My face must be bright red but I’d have to be dead not to notice how handsome Landon is. “Well, yeah, but—”
“Relax. I won’t tell a soul.”
“There’s nothing to tell!” I’m still blushing furiously but Luna just laughs.
“Whatever you say.” She pushes a few buttons on a very fancy coffee machine, and I watch the steamy concoction pour into the cup. I don’t need another cup of coffee but I’ll take it if that’s the price to get away from Pete.
We make small talk as she makes a second cup and she tells me about how Daniil asked her to do her job from the reception desk for now, since we’ve had more visitors lately than anticipated and he hasn’t had time to hire anyone else.
Since she’s social and extroverted anyway, she doesn’t mind.
Listening to her talk about her work at Shadow Security is a nice distraction too.
We walk back toward the front desk and I spy Landon walking in. Our eyes lock the moment he sees me. I’m not sure what’s lurking in his expression but it makes me smile.
“Keep lying to yourself,” Luna murmurs under her breath as she sits down.
“Hey.” I ignore her last comment and approach Landon gingerly. “How was the drive?”
“No problems. I didn’t see a tail.”
“Have they given up?”
He shrugs. “Either that or they’re waiting for the right time. Busy day during the week, lots of traffic, people coming and going at my apartment complex…not a smart move to attack under those conditions.”
I sigh. “Well, a girl can hope.”
“Come on, they’re waiting for us.”
We walk into the conference room together and I catch my father’s eye. He gets up and comes over to hug me.
“How’re you doin’, honey?” he asks.
“I’m okay.”
He stares at me for a beat, like he’s looking for evidence that I’m lying. He seems to decide I’m okay because we all sit down and Dad immediately starts talking.
“Here’s what we know,” he says. “This ring has been operating under the radar for about six years. That’s the first time a missing person report was filed that fits the profile.
Young, pretty homeless girl. She was going to community college and was sleeping in her car.
Some of the regulars from the Adams Street homeless community reported her missing.
Cops didn’t take it seriously. But she was a pretty girl.
” He opens a file and passes around a picture.
Jesus.
I blanche when it gets to me because she looks so much like me it’s eerie. Same honey-blond hair, same blue eyes. Her nose is a little more upturned than mine, her lips not as full, but the resemblance is fascinating.
“Is this their type?” I ask quietly.
“Actually, it’s not,” Daniil interjects. “They seem to run the gamut. And the scary thing is, it’s almost a pattern. One blond, one brunette, one redhead. And based only on missing persons reports that fit the profile, since we have no other way to track them, you were the second blond in a row.”
“She was probably just easy pickings,” Pete says, scowling. “Out late at night by herself, on a dark street, it’s just asking—”
“I swear to God, Pete.” I glare at him. “Are you going to say something about the knee-length shorts I was wearing too? Should I have been wearing a muumuu? Or should I just stay home, barefoot and pregnant?’
“Okay, don’t be that way,” he says, shaking his head. “I was just pointing out—”
“You were trying to victim shame,” I snap. “Fuck that and fuck you.”
“Check your tone,” he snaps back, eyes gleaming as he leans forward.
“You check your tone!” I cross my arms over my chest, glaring. “I’m not some club bunny. You don’t get to talk to me like that.”
“Allora.” Dad’s voice is quiet but firm.
“I will not be spoken to like a second-class citizen,” I tell him. “And Mom would never let anyone talk to her that way either.” Mentioning my mother always works.
Dad has the grace to flush, but he doesn’t back down because… well, because he’s Silver, President of the Renegade Demons and two of his men are in the room.
“You know it’s our way,” is all he says.
“But I’m not part of your world. Either respect that, and me, or leave me alone.” I stand up and walk out. Childish maybe, but I’m running on fumes emotionally.
I don’t normally give up this easily when Dad and I argue but this feels personal.
I was wearing khaki shorts and a black short-sleeve top, with cute black flats.
My outfit was in no way revealing. Not that a revealing outfit is a reason to attack someone, but the idea that I was somehow responsible pisses me off. And my father never fucking defends me.
“You okay?” Luna looks up, narrowing her eyes.
“My father’s an ass,” I mutter, blinking back tears.
“I’m sorry.”
I huff out a breath and try to regain some semblance of control. I usually have no problem fighting back but it seems as though I may have left some of my fighting instinct with my captors.
And that pisses me off all over again.
“Why does he never take my side?” I ask, even though it’s rhetorical.
“Allora.”
Dad’s voice.
“What?” I snap without turning around.
“I’m…sorry.”
I can’t remember the last time he apologized for anything and it takes some of the wind out of my sails.
“You know how the boys can be.”
But not all of it.
I whirl. “Why can’t you tell them that’s not acceptable with me? I’m not an old lady. I’m not even part of the club. I’m your daughter, and I didn’t deserve what happened to me!” Tears slide down my cheeks, and my fists clench at my sides as I turn to face him.
“It’s just that Tex is still in love with you,” he says gently, using Pete’s road name.
“It’s been ten fucking years!” I cry, throwing up my hands. “We were teenagers. I don’t even think about him anymore.”
“I’m just trying to explain. He was crazed when he found out you were…assaulted. He worries about you. And the whole club is pissed that I’m letting these outsiders protect you. I’m on your side, Allora. I’m doing my best.”
That’s the problem.
He is trying.
It’s just that our worlds are so far apart, I don’t know how to reconcile them.
“He can’t talk to me that way,” I say finally. “Victim shaming isn’t okay. Not under any circumstances.”
“I’ll talk to him,” he says. “I just can’t do it in front of outsiders.”
I huff out a breath. “Fine.”
“Don’t cry, okay? Let’s try to find these fuckers so we can put this behind us.”
“Dad?”
“Yeah?” He cocks his head.
“I’m never going to love Pete.”
He gives me a soft smile, one that he used to reserve for my mom. “I know that, darlin’.”