9. Melody
MELODY
I’m eating breakfast with Emily, trying to forget that I’ve brought a gun into her house. “This is delicious.” I smile after a big swallow, chasing it down with a swig of orange juice.
Emily laughs. “They’re just eggs. Hey, Chloe! Food stays on your plate!”
Chloe’s little huff of indignation sounds way too adult for her five years. She picks her toast up off the table and dumps it back on her plate. “But then it gets the yellow stuff on it,” she whines.
Hero reaches over and puts the toast on the other side of her plate, away from the eggs. Seeing a guy like him do something so simple for his little girl makes me feel all squishy inside. Like I might want this some day.
It takes Chloe a few more minutes, and then she’s out of her seat and running to the living room where she was given permission to watch TV.
I met her son, Liam, too. A ball of energy shaped like a ten-year-old boy.
He sat down for about thirty seconds, inhaling his food before running out the door to play with a kid named Dante.
Wild Child wanders downstairs, yawning. He tugs playfully on Chloe’s hair before joining us in the kitchen and seamlessly taking over making his own eggs while Emily sits down to eat.
“Not to get into too many details with little ears around, but we’re going to want you to come by the clubhouse and answer a few questions about yesterday. ”
A piece of toast goes down wrong and I break into a massive coughing fit. “I—I don’t know anything about what happened to your friend.”
Hero cocks his head, eyes sharp. “Not saying you do. But Emily told us what happened at the hospital, and it’s possible you saw something without even knowing it. We think maybe they wanted to make sure you couldn’t talk. Unless you know something you aren’t sharing?”
Emily puts down her coffee and sends him a slightly annoyed look.
“Nobody’s saying you did anything wrong.
But I think it’s possible your subconscious remembers something you don’t.
I showed them the picture of the men who were at the hospital.
They were Devil’s Brigade members. Does that sound familiar at all? ”
They’ve been so nice to me, and I feel like a big lying fraud.
“I’ve never really been to any biker stuff before.
The only thing I didn’t mention was…” I don’t have to pretend to be embarrassed, my cheeks flush just fine on their own.
“I was um, with some guys that I think are members of your club when the shooting started.”
“What?” It’s Emily’s turn to choke on her coffee. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“We were… Oh, God. We were sort of fooling around near the bonfire when it happened. This—” I wave my hand in the direction of the sore spot on the back of my head. “And everything else happened after. It didn’t seem important.”
“Who?” Wild Child asks.
“Rebel, Mad Dog and Riptide.”
He stands up and moves to the living room with his phone.
“I hope you parted on good terms,” Emily says wryly. “Because I have a feeling I should make more coffee.”
It only takes a couple minutes before there’s a knock on the front door.
“I’ll get it,” Hero says, pushing out his chair and getting up. He opens up and then there are voices in the front hall.
Familiar voices greet him from the other room. Instant goosebumps.
“Yeah, she’s in here.”
I stand up, not quite knowing what to do with myself. I want to run over and see if they’re just as nice as I remember. I also want to slide under the table and hide.
Mad Dog is the first in the kitchen. “Fuck man, she really is here. Did you miss us that much?” His expression clouds over when he sees how scraped up I am. “What the hell happened?”
“Hi.” I wave awkwardly.
“Why didn’t you stay put where we told you?” Rebel doesn’t look amused.
Riptide is right behind him. His grin fades when he sees me, and there’s murder in his eyes. “Fuck, babe, who hurt you?”
The weight of all five of them watching me, like they actually care and want to help, is enough to make my eyes start to burn. I take a deep breath, willing away tears. “I wish I could tell you. It was dark and they hit me from behind. I think I heard voices, but…” I shrug.
Hero leans back in his chair with a frown. “I think we should go see if King or Eagle-eye is around. If someone has a vendetta against us and they saw her with you…”
“Then they might’ve targeted her to hurt us,” Mad Dog fills in.
I blink. “Who are King and Eagle-eye?”
“Eagle-eye’s club president,” Rebel supplies. “King’s our VP. I think they’ll want to hear your story as much as we do, and it’s better not to tell it twice.”
The idea of standing up in front of the Screaming Eagles president is terrifying enough, never mind while I’m trying to figure out what I can say that doesn’t betray Dad, but what choice do I have? “You guys’ll be with me, right?”
“Wild horses couldn’t keep us away,” Rebel says. He ghosts a touch over where I know there’s a bruise forming on the side of my neck.
“Eagle-eye’s tough, but you don’t have to look like you’re going to your funeral. He’s smart and fair, too. He’s also sort of my stepfather.” Emily laughs. “And King’s the other man you see in the photos around here. I’m his old lady.”
“But you have…” This place is confusing me more and more. It’s totally not what I expected an MC to be like.
She raises an eyebrow and looks at Rebel, Mad Dog, and Riptide before focusing back on me. “Do I really have to explain how it works?”
Wild Child laughs. “Get her over there before her head explodes.”
Their setup is even more impressive in daylight.
The warehouse looms like a giant that rules over the whole neighborhood.
A huge garage stretches out next to it, the doors wide open to reveal a motorcycle workshop big enough for a small army to use.
The club buildings are built on an industrial scale.
There are motorcycles everywhere. So many.
And bikers, of course. Some of them are wearing shirts or jackets, but most are shirtless, enjoying the hot weather, hanging out on the slices of lawn or working on their bikes in the garage.
There are quite a few houses, too, and Emily’s place isn’t the only one with signs of kids.
But over everything are signs that they’re prepared for danger.
There are stations mounted to the tops of several buildings that look straight out of a military base, and even though the outer wall is solid and topped with barbed wire, it shows signs of major repair in several places. I try not to gawk, but it’s hard.
The guys lead me up metal stairs and through the front doors of the warehouse.
There’s a short hallway, and then it opens into what used to be the main warehouse floor, but has been turned into a massive, open-plan room.
There’s a full bar and a lot of hangout space.
There are also pool tables, a big-screen TV, and just about everything else you might want.
The walls are black, but there’s a giant Screaming Eagles logo flanked by American flags painted on the far end.
The other end of the room has a massive table big enough for a medieval banquet, and a door into what I think might be a kitchen based on what I can see through the glass.
Beyond even that, on the far wall is a set of stairs up to a platform where there’s a door into a room with windows looking down over the whole space.
“That’s Eagle-eye’s office.” Riptide explains. “You ready?”
I draw a fortifying breath. “Not really, but do I have a choice?”
Mad Dog cups my face in his hands, careful not to put pressure on my bruises. He leans in and kisses me. I freeze for a second, before melting into it. His lips are warm, and the kiss is slow and comforting. It’s not asking for anything. It’s offering. “Ready now?” he asks when he breaks the kiss.
“You gonna knock or stand out there all day?” snaps a growly voice from inside.
I guess I’m ready.