Chapter 1
Leslee
“Angel?”
“Yeah, Dad?” I call from the back of his woodshop, and let out a sigh, wishing I was further along with the carving.
“You wanna go for a ride?”
“Have I ever said no?” I retort to his question, then wait a second to mouth the words I know he’s going to say next.
“Clean up the work bench and put my tools away.” His orders come out, almost on cue.
Exhaling, I blow away the shavings on the piece in front of me and examine it for any flaws before I start to gather his tools.
I swear, Dad loves these things as much as he loves Xander and me. Smiling to myself, I know with absolute certainty, that he loves Mom even more, and that’s the most important thing.
He’s waiting on his bike when I walk out of the converted barn; my jacket and helmet are dangling from one of his large hands, saving me a trip inside the house. I pair my phone with the helmet but wait until we’re on the road before I say anything.
“What’s in the saddlebags?”
“Some things for your mom and me. I got us the cabin for the weekend and just want to set it up before I surprise her. You don’t mind looking after Xander, do you?”
“Gemma’s home this weekend, we’re going to hang out at some point, so who do you prefer I pawn him off on?” I ask Dad, knowing that won’t be a problem since we live within minutes of half his brothers.
“He’s not a puppy, Le-Lee.” Dad sighs through the speaker, and I smile at his use of my childhood nickname. “Check and see if he has plans, then go from there. I heard Gemma’s doing well at school.”
“She loves it,” I admit, wondering for the millionth time if I’ve made the right decision. “Pre-med really suits her.”
Dad just grunts and I smile, almost able to read his mind.
I wasn’t quite the overachiever my mom was when it came to homeschooling, but I finished high school last year and have spent the time since then building cabinets and furniture alongside Dad, plus Shade and his son, Danny.
While Mom’s been after me to at least take a few business classes, I looked into the schools in the surrounding area and eventually had a sit down with Amy, one of the Ol’ Ladies. She has a real estate business and this summer, will take me on as an intern while I get my certification.
Even if I turn out to be a disaster at selling, I hope that Mom will let me take over the day-to-day operations for the portfolio her Gram left us. It encompasses a pretty good size chunk of the town’s commercial real estate. I know that I’ll have to prove myself, but it’s not like I don’t know the buildings and property involved already, so that’s a plus.
Mom and Dad still exchange worried looks over my obsession with checking the mail every day. But we came to a silent agreement several years ago, I don’t ask them if they’ve heard anything about Joe and they stopped pushing me to go to dances or on dates with any of the local guys who’ve asked me out.
“Angel?” Dad’s voice brings me back to the present and I realize I’ve nearly missed my favorite part of the trip.
“Sorry, what?”
“Are we stopping for a cone now or on the way home?” There’s a little mart up this way and ever since I can remember, we’ve stopped for a swirl every time we’ve come up to the cabin that the MC owns.
“Why not both?”
“That’s my girl!” Dad crows and I smile, tightening my arms around his stomach.
We get our cones, both relative to our size, and stand at the small counter that faces out toward the gas pumps. While I’ve been on much longer rides over the years, it always feels good to stretch my legs.
Like the man beside me, I know there will come a day when we won’t have time for these moments anymore and I want to squeeze in as many of our traditions as I can.
“Is Mom disappointed in me?” I feel a bit cowardly, keeping my sunglasses on when I ask the question that’s been weighing on me.
“Never,” he answers without hesitation. “Worried about you? Yes. But she’s excited about your interest in real estate. I hope you’ll consider my business a fallback option if you don’t like it though.”
“I still want to work with you,” I assure him, and he nods, knowing I’m sincere. Just like he also knows, life has a way of taking its own course.
“My sweet angel,” Dad murmurs, looking out of the window with a tight smile on his face. “You have so many options in this world, and I want you to understand, all I really expect us to be, is a place to land if you need it. I don’t want you thinking this one small town, is all there is in life.”
I open my mouth, ready to tell him that I know exactly what I want. That I always have, but just then he looks at his cone in distaste and tosses it in the trash.
“Come on, I expect we’ll have some cleaning up to do,” he says, walking to the door and holding it open for me.
Dad has never let ice cream go to waste before, which tells me how conflicted he is about my choices. I instinctively know that my reassurances won’t mean as much as my actions, so I keep my mouth shut.
The next time I look up is when he stops at the entrance to the driveway. I’m about to question him when I see a beat-up SUV parked near the house. Considering that the Northern Grizzlies own this property, they keep a strict calendar about who uses it when—so there’s no way Dad didn’t check before we headed up here.
“Stay near the trees,” Dad instructs me, handing me his helmet after he parks his bike and pulls his gun out of one of the saddlebags. I know that tone of voice well enough to immediately follow his instructions. Looking over my shoulder, I see him chambering a round and start to feel nauseous. “Stay there until I say otherwise.”
I nod in agreement and watch him approach the house from the side of the driveway. After looking into the front windows, he circles around to the back of the house and my heart feels like it’ll beat out of my chest, especially when I hear a man yelling.
Taking a step forward, I catch some movement from the opposite side of the house that Dad had walked around. Crouching down, I crawl forward for a better look, only slightly relieved when I see Dad has some guy by the scruff of his neck, half-pushing and half-dragging him forward.
Next, the front door is yanked open and a woman starts screeching. She’s only partially dressed and just as soon as she starts to run at them, she stops up short, nearly tripping over her own feet.
“Gunner! Stop it! Damn it, let him go or I’m calling the cops!” she yells and that’s when I get a good look at her face.
It’s Trinity and she’s in nothing but a dirty white wife beater that barely covers her ass. Which I can tell from where I am, is bare.
What the hell that bitch is doing here is anyone’s guess, but she’s been on my shit-list for years. The difference is, now I’m old enough to do something about it.
“Shut the fuck up, the both of you!” Dad bellows over their squawking and when he throws the man in the general direction of the SUV, I vaguely recognize him as one of the older prospects.
There’s immediate silence.
“Is there anyone else inside the house?” Dad asks and the guy immediately says it’s just the two of them.
“We’re staying here so if you have a problem with that you can just talk to Royce,” Trinity interjects and I almost burst out laughing—the man she’s with visibly swallows and holds up his hands, looking between her crazy ass and my dad.
“I’m sorry, Gunner. I didn’t think anyone was using it and since she’s not allowed at the clubhouse... I’m really sorry, we just wanted to party a little, you know?” The guy sounds like he’s about to cry and the contemptuous glare Trinity gives him clearly says she’s lost interest in him.
“I’d much rather party with you, Gunner,” she purrs, walking down the steps and tilting her head in what she must think is a sexy manner.
“If you touch me, Trinity, I will break every bone in your hand. Do you understand me? And I suspect, Royce would hold you down while I do it.”
This is the man that the others whisper about. I’ve seen hints of him at different times in my life, but right now, there’s no trace of the big teddy-bear who spoils the hell out of Mom and me.
And I love him even more for it.
“Mungo, right?” Dad confirms the prospect’s name before continuing. “Since you do realize that she’s been banned from the clubhouse, you must know it doesn’t end there. Trinity is not permitted on MC property, and this is MC property. You aren’t even patched, so your rights to use the place are exactly zero.”
“She told me…”
“I don’t give a shit. Now I’m going to follow you inside, you’re going to get her clothes and yours, then you’re off the property.”
Trinity turns to head inside, but my dad’s voice stops her. “Sit your ass on that bench and do not fucking move.”
“What! No, I have personal items inside,” she responds, and in a second of stupidity tries to rush inside, shutting the door behind her.
At least she tried to. Like everything else about my dad, his feet are huge and one of them easily blocks the door. Trinity abandons her attempt to hold it shut and the door swings back open.
“I don’t want any trouble from you.” Dad gives Mungo a warning look before he continues in after her.
Me? I’ve been coming to this cabin since I was a baby, so keeping to the foliage I know I can stay out of sight while I circle around to the back of it. Standing next to the supports for the upstairs deck, I pause trying to figure out what I was expecting, and that’s when I nearly get hit by a falling object.
A duffle bag was tossed out of the upstairs window, hitting the ground near my feet and I immediately reach for it. If she doesn’t want Dad to have it, that’s a good enough reason for me to take it.
Looking around, I quickly stuff it behind the air conditioning unit before I step back under the deck.
Next, Trinity exits through the sliding door above me and runs to the stairs yelling, “Okay, I’m sorry! I’ll leave. I’ll leave.”
Glancing around, there are some garden tools under the deck and I grab a rake. When I turn back, she’s frantically looking for her bag and I swing the handle of the rake close to her as I emerge from the darkness.
“I thought you were leaving?” I taunt her, looking up and down at her emaciated figure. I used to envy her curves and looks, but the jean skirt she pulled on looks too big on her and the daylight seems to highlight the circles under her eyes.
She squints her eyes as the sun hits her face and I can see she’s trying to place me, but it’s been a few years since she’s seen me and I’m no longer the mousey little girl I had been.
As she studies me, I assess how the years have treated her. The short answer is, not kind. If you just cast a quick glance at Trinity, she hasn’t changed much since I was a kid, but if you stop to study her, it’s glaringly obvious that the road she’s been on has been particularly rough.
“You!” She practically snarls when she puts together who I am. “Did you steal my bag?”
“Time to leave, skank,” I reply, trying to shoo her away without hitting her, no matter how much I’m tempted to knock her upside the head.
“Come on, Trinity. We’ve got to fucking leave,” Mungo pleads with her as he comes around the side of the cabin.
“No! Not without…” her words are cut off as he quickly bends over and places her in a fireman’s carry.
I’m sure her screams can be heard by anyone inhabiting the surrounding properties, but he isn’t stopping for anything. Dad has exited through the same door Trinity used and we follow them around the cabin. I can’t help my smirk as I watch Mungo shove her in their vehicle.
“I thought I told you to stay put?” Dad’s voice is once again calm as he places a hand on my shoulder when Mungo drives away.
“Once she ran inside, I knew she’d pop out of the backdoor,” I explain before turning back to the AC unit. “Let’s go see what she was trying to hide.”
Dad looks momentarily confused until I pull the bag out from where I had tossed it. The side of the nylon catches on something, loudly shredding the length of it.
“Oh, shit,” I say, after my brain catches up to what I’m looking at.
“Oh, shit,” Dad repeats when our eyes meet.
He immediately fishes out his phone and hits a button. “Get Jasper for me.” He pinches the bridge of his nose, covering the bottom of the phone, looking at me again. “The cabin is trashed. Go lock yourself in the downstairs bathroom, as long as you don’t see any needles or powder in there. This time you stay there until I get you.”
Nodding, I take one more look at the plastic-wrapped bricks of some grimy white substance and head inside, promising myself to do exactly what he asked of me.
Locked in the bathroom, I sit there regretting my actions. Or rather, my inaction. I should have pretended to trip and impaled that heinous bitch while no one was looking. Dad would have called the guys in, gotten rid of the body in a woodchipper, and I wouldn’t be sitting here staring blindly at ten-year-old wallpaper.
When I hear the sounds of Dad walking around the place in a final sweep, I stand up and wait for him to give me the ‘all clear’.
“Come on, Le-Lee,” he says after I’ve opened the door for him. “Why don’t you go hang out in the second bedroom, that looks untouched. We have to wait for Jasper and the others to get here.”
“Why don’t you let me start cleaning the place up?” I ask, getting the feeling that this is going to take a while.
“Because the thought of you getting jabbed by a needle…” his voice trails off as he looks around.
“There have to be gloves around here somewhere,” I suggest. “I don’t want to just sit around and do nothing.”
“I’ll check for some in the shed, but if I tell you to hide, you do it immediately,” Dad instructs me, the look he’s giving me sets off warning bells and it finally occurs to me how much danger we’re in.