Page 88 of Angel

Steel led Veronica to a vacant apartment. There was a single mattress on the floor with a pillow and blanket. On the wall was a mounted television behind a protection case. The window had been removed and boarded up. In the bathroom, the door had been removed as had the shower curtain. A single roll of toilet paper and hand soap were all that was on the counter.

Steel walked to the center of the room and turned. Veronica stepped into the room but stopped after only a couple of feet. Angel, Cage, and the others crowded around the doorframe like eavesdropping children.

Veronica looked around. After nearly ten minutes and still Steel said nothing, she cleared her throat. “What is this?” she asked fearfully.

“You can thank your son for this,” Steel told her plainly. “If it was up to me, you’d be dead already. Your actions endangered my son, my niece, and my nephew—your son.”

Veronica chin jutted out. “I was protecting my son. It’s not my fault that cripple girl and that fag?—”

“Watch it,” Steel snapped darkly.

Veronica snapped her mouth shut mid-sentence. She looked around the apartment. “Why am I here? You have no right to keep me or hold me against my will.”

“Probably not,” Steel told her with a nod. “But you had no right to kidnap my son either. Call this justice with a bit of vengeance.” Steel gestured all around him. “Welcome to your new home.”

Veronica’s jaw dropped. “You can’t expect me to live here?—”

“Expect? No.” Steel shook his head. “Honestly, I could care less if you do. However, if you wish to keep breathing, then this is your only option. If you walk out that door,” he pointed to where Angel and the others were gathered, “you die. Slowly and painfully. If you wish to live, then welcome home.”

He started to walk past her. “Wait!” she cried out. “What is this? How long do you expect me to stay here?”

Steel whirled on her. “You put your son through hell because of his sexuality. You had him beaten, recite Bible verses, and who knows what else. You had him drugged and kidnapped. And yet, the only reason you are still alive, Veronica Banks, is because of your son. Your gay son pled for leniency on your behalf. He has more heart, more goodness, more forgiveness in his doomed soul than any of us,” Steel gestured between himself, Veronica, and the others at the door, “will ever possess. You can think about that while you live out the rest of your pitiful existence in this room. Know that you will never see sunshine, never breathe fresh air, never see the stars again. Your life has been reduced to these four walls.”

Steel pointed to the door. “That door isn’t even going to remain locked. You are not our prisoner. You are here because it is your only way to live. The second you step through that doorway, you die. On behalf of my gay son, I dare you to doubt me.”

He walked away from her. Veronica stared after him, horrified to the point of speechlessness.

Angel and the others were backing away to let Steel leave when Steel suddenly snapped his fingers and turned back around. “I almost forgot.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a remote control. “We wanted to give you some entertainment so my brother, Keys, purchased you a subscription to a very popular gay porn site.” Steel turned on the television with a press of a button on the remote. The masculine tones of men groaning and grunting filled the room. “I hear it has some amazing reviews. I hope you have a good life, Veronica Banks.”

With that, Steel left the room.

Biting her lip to keep the smile off of her face, Angel reached into the room and closed the door. The lockable doorknob had been removed and had been replaced with a simple, passage door handle.

Cage leaned over Angel and whispered in her ear, “Wanna go for a ride?”

She nodded automatically. They called out to Bree and Aaron to let them know they’d be back later and then headed out into the dusky evening. Angel climbed onto his hog. He handed Angel her helmet and put his on too. He threw his leg over the seat behind her, pressing himself as close to her back as he could.

His hands cupped her boobs from behind. Angel rolled her eyes and moved them down to her waist. She turned the hog on and then drove them out of the driveway.

They passed others on their way out, including Ivy. She seemed to be sticking around and had stated no plans about leaving.

Scar, to everyone’s surprise, had still been in the clubhouse when they had returned from putting Veronica in her new bedroom. Steel and Bulldog took him into Steel’s office, but no one knew what was said between the three—or rather two—of them.

All Bulldog would say was that Scar would be sticking around.

Angel drove them lazily through town. They passed by the diner and waved to Kelly through the glass windows. Patrick was closing up her tattoo studio, having stayed late to do a Jacob’s ladder piercing on some poor soul.

The evening breeze felt nice, cooling after the long September day. Winter would be coming all too soon.

Aaron had his first football game in two days. While he didn’t know that his mom was in the clubhouse, Cage did inform him that she was still alive. After speaking with Steel, Cage explained that he did not want her suspected death on Aaron’s conscience.

Bree was doing well. She’d made a friend in school named Courtney. Angel had met her mom, Aubrey, during school pickup and the woman seemed nice. Maybe Bree wasn’t the only one who could make friends outside of the club.

As they stopped at the overlook where they’d released the paper lanterns in honor of their lost baby, the sun set the rest of the way along the horizon. Angel was sitting sidesaddle on the hog between Cage’s legs, leaning back against his chest.

“Are you going to tell me now?” he inquired.

“Hm,” she moaned. “Tell you what?”

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