Cambria Chapter 12
Every time I caught sight of my engagement ring, I was stunned to see it.
The knowledge that Shadow had asked, and I said yes, was incredible to me.
And if it had been anyone other than him, I would never have agreed.
Nor would I be able to say in all honesty that I loved someone that fast. But I knew without a doubt he was the only man for me, and I wanted to be his partner, wife, old lady, and lover for the rest of our lives.
Shadow hadn’t flinched at any of the things I told him about Garen.
After our post-engagement lovemaking session, I asked him if he was worried about having children with me.
I’d been apprehensive since I found out what a monster Garen was that his madness would appear in future generations.
Shadow assured me that he didn’t see that as an issue.
My sharing prompted him to share his family history with me. That conversation replayed in my mind.
“I want to tell you about my family. It’s only fair you know about mine. I don’t have anything as terrible as you do, but it’s not without its own trauma,” was the way he started. We were snuggled together in bed.
“I’d like to know about your family, Shaine. And no matter what trauma there is, I’m here for you.”
He groaned. “God, how lucky am I? Christ. Okay, let me start by saying I had a pretty normal childhood. It wasn’t terrible, and I wasn’t abused.
My parents weren’t the most demonstrative people, but many of that generation weren’t.
I’m the youngest of three boys. Sebastian is the oldest. He’s five years older than me.
My brother Stephen is a year younger than Sebastian.
I was the oops baby. My parents thought they were done having kids when they never got pregnant for over three years after having Stephen.
Then one day, bam, Mom was told she was pregnant with me.
“My older brothers picked on me, but it wasn’t different from what I saw other kids with older siblings put up with.
Or at least I didn’t think it was. As I got older, they wanted me around less and less.
Again, I rationalized that it was because their friends were older and wouldn’t want to hang out with me, and I couldn’t do the things they did, even though I wanted to.
“When I was fourteen, both my brothers were away at college. I was the only one home with Dad and Mom, except on holidays and part of the summer break. Despite how they liked to exclude me, I worshipped my brothers. I wanted to hang with them when they were home, and I emulated them.
“Anyway, it was a stormy fall night. I’d gone to stay the night with my best friend, Giancarlo.
We had plans to play video games until we dropped and to gorge on junk food.
Giancarlo’s parents were rather lenient.
They always made me feel welcome and accepted.
If it wasn’t a school night the next day, they let us stay up as late as we wanted.
“It was three o’clock in the morning when we were all awakened by the ringing of the house phone.
We passed out around two o’clock. Giancarlo’s dad answered it.
We heard a lot of muttering after an exclamation of disbelief.
We crept down the hallway to eavesdrop, but he was muttering too softly to hear what he said.
When Mr. Conti got off the call, we asked who was on the phone.
He told us to go back to bed. We did, but sat up whispering about what the call could’ve been about. A half hour later, we found out.
“A police car pulled up to the house. Mr. Conti was up and in the living room, clearly waiting for the visit. He let in two police officers. I was called to join them. That’s when I was told that my parents had been killed in our home.”
My gasp caused him to pause and rub his hand up and down my arm, as if to soothe me rather than himself. Shadow kept going.
“From what they suspected, which later was found to be accurate, my parents were killed in a home invasion.
It was discovered that the thieves had taken money, jewelry, and small, easily carried valuables.
There were signs of a struggle, so Dad likely tried to fight them off.
It was a neighbor, getting off work from the night shift, who had stopped for a drink afterward, who saw that our front door was standing open.
He went to the door and hollered in. When there was no answer, he called the cops.
“The police knew where to find me due to the same neighbor. Everyone seemed to know everything we did in my neighborhood. As you can guess, I was horrified. Then, the police officers moved on to figuring out who would call my older brothers. One of them would have to give consent for the cops to question me. We had no close family. Giancarlo’s family offered to let me stay with them until Stephen and Sebastian got back to town.
“By the time my brothers returned, things took off from there. Leads were followed, and eventually, three weeks later, a tip led to the identification of the two men responsible. They were arrested and later convicted. I was right. Dad had fought with them when one put his hands on Mom. I heard later that they were both convicted and got life sentences. I wish I’d been there to see their trials. ”
“What do you mean you wish you were there?” I asked.
“I wasn’t there when they went to court.”
“Your brothers wouldn’t allow you to go?”
“No, it wasn’t that. See, once the men responsible were caught, my brothers had to make decisions, and they wanted to get back to school as soon as possible.
The house and our possessions had to be sold.
The estate lawyer would settle that sort of thing.
Mr. and Mrs. Conti were great, but they couldn’t afford to take me in. ”
“So your brothers sold the house and then moved you to where they went to school. I bet that was hard to see your family home go.”
“Cambria, I didn’t move anywhere with my brothers.
Seb sat me down and explained that they were just starting their lives and they couldn’t be expected to take on an underage brother, even if it was for only a few more years.
They informed me that no extended family was willing or able to take me in, and since the Contis couldn’t, not without some financial help, they were having me remanded to the state. I was to go into foster care.”
“What the fuck!? They did that?” I shouted. I’d come to my knees in bed. Shadow caught my hands and brought me back down next to him.
“Shh, let me finish. Yeah, they did that, and I was hurt, confused, and pissed. But I knew there was no goddamn way I was going into foster care. The night before the social worker was scheduled to pick me up, I ran away. And to ensure they didn’t pick me up and send me anyway, I hitchhiked to a town thirty miles away.
I’m originally from the tiny town of Ivey.
“It was brutal learning to live on the streets. Finding food and shelter and protecting yourself from predators was stressful. I’d been living on the streets for close to six months when, on a cold winter night, my life changed.
I was trying to find shelter. I couldn’t sleep at the homeless shelters because they’d know I was underage, and I’d be turned over to child protective services and end up in foster care. It was bitterly cold.
“I was hanging outside a diner, hoping to find some scraps to eat in the back or some money from the people entering and leaving. I was shivering in the thin jacket I wore. My shoes had holes, and so did my jeans. I hadn’t eaten in two days.
The next thing I knew, this big, scary biker came up to me.
He had a boy with him who looked to be the age of my brothers.
I tried to run, but the biker stopped me.
“At first, I refused to answer their questions.
All I did was ask them to let me leave. However, they kept trying, and before I knew it, I was persuaded to go with them.
I was wary and kept wondering if I was about to be sold, raped, or killed.
Where they took me was their home. I was given food, a warm place to sleep, a hot shower, and clothes.
All they asked in return was that I not steal from them.
“Slowly, as time passed, and they continued to let me stay, I came to realize they were good people. Those men were Rage and Wrath. The rest of the club welcomed me, and when they discovered I had a knack for computers, they helped me learn more about them. I was required to attend high school and graduate. That was non-negotiable with the Pagans. I had chores and responsibilities, but I enjoyed it, and eventually, as you can see, I became a Pagan.”
When he finished, there was so much I wanted to ask, but the burning question I had to ask, I blurted out.
“Tell me you’ve seen your brothers and told them off and that they feel like shit for what they did.”
He chuckled. “As a matter of fact, yes, I have. You should’ve seen their faces when they found out I was alive, a biker with a club family, making good money, and had a house of my own.
The two of them have been married and divorced.
Their kids have nothing to do with them.
They don’t own homes and are drowning in debt. I got the better deal.”
He went on to tell me a bit more about them, but it was the previous stuff that resonated with me.
I believed that our pasts had made us into the resilient people we are today and would help us protect not only ourselves but also those we care about.
As the week passed, I put my spare time to use, working on the same task that Shadow and the other hackers were pursuing—tracing the elusive person or persons who had exposed my secret.