Page 8 of Wrath

“What do ya wanna know?” We can’t avoid talking this out any longer.

“I wanna know what you and my sister spoke about in my office.” The man who I’ve always looked up to stares me down like he wants to hurt me.

“She doesn’t know what she wants. She’s confused, so I agreed to give her some space.” I cock my leg over my saddle and take the bars.

“Just like that?” Raze proves that he ain’t buying what I’m selling when he laughs.

“Just like that,” I confirm.

“Nah, you're crazy about her.” He points his finger and shakes his head.

“I am, and the way I see it, right now she’s here where she belongs and she ain’t married to him. ”

“Wrath, we need to talk about this. She can’t stay here, not after everythin’ that happ—” I cut him off by starting my engine, then revving my throttle I pull out the yard before he can try convincing me that I’m wrong.

“Wrath.” Sasquatch looks pleased to see me when I step into the warehouse, he’s real pale and the mask he’s got covering the bottom half of his face ain’t hiding how disturbed he is.

“How ya gettin’ on?” I ask the doc, as I move closer.

“Well, he’s a bit quiet, but I’m sure he’ll come out of himself as we get to know each other better.” She winks at Sasquatch across the table where she’s got the girl’s body cut open. He heaves when she lands a handful of sludge into the clear plastic bag he’s holding open for her.

“What’s that?” Sasquatch chokes.

“That’s our Jane Doe’s stomach contents, I can take these samples back to the lab and run some tests. It’ll determine if she was drugged.”

“Appreciated.” I nod my head as I pull my tee up over my mouth and nostrils to avoid the stench. Sasquatch carefully ziplocks the bag and places it on the table beside him, then throws me a look that tells me he ain’t impressed with how this is goin’ down.

“I’ll stitch her up, and then you can dispose of her.” I watch the way Quinn’s head tilts as she looks down at the young girl's face. “Do it somewhere pretty, she deserves that at least.” Her voice softens to a whisper, showing that I read her wrong earlier, she does have empathy, she just doesn’t like to show it.

“I can fix that,” I promise.

“Any of your people figure out who she is?” She glances over her shoulder at me.

“Not yet, Raze is gonna have the President from our Colorado charter’s old lady search through the recent local missing person reports.” I try to focus on Quinn and this situation, rather than the walls that feel like they’re moving in and crushing me.

“You good here, Sas?” I check when it starts getting too much. He still doesn't look happy but he nods back, so I waste no time and march the hell outta there. Once I’m outside I lean forward and rest my hands on my knees, taking in a huge gasp of fresh air.

“Fuck!” I punch the wall in frustration, and when I hit it again, the pain travels up my arm and distracts me from the one in my chest. It’s the kinda pain I can handle, so I hit that wall until my knuckles split open and blood drips onto the asphalt.

When I’m done, I turn around and let my back slip down the brickwork, hitting the ground with my ass and lighting myself a smoke.

Raze is right, Iamcrazy about her. How the fuck am I supposed to stick to that promise I made her, and stay away? I was so sure that after everything that happened she would hate me, but it wasn’t hate I saw in her pretty, blue eyes when we were in that office together. What I saw, was every hope I’ve held onto these past ten years staring me in the face.

I don’t know what her trigger was, but the fact she came back to me makes it hard not to cling to that hope tighter than ever.

I close my eyes and let the fact that she’s back at the club sink in, then feeling a little calmer, I pick myself up off the ground and head toward my bike.

I avoid going back to the club and ride straight back to my place. All the way there I have to try to think about who might have planted that girl's body on our beach, to distract myself from imagining how good it would have been to taste Eden’s lips again when we were in Raze's office.

But it doesn’t work. All my thoughts end up going straight back to her.

I check my cell once I get back to the houseboat and a message from Ruckus informs me that him, Vike, and Saul have gone to help Sasquatch dispose of the girl. I send him a thumbs up in reply, then another one goes to Hank after I read his message to say his assignment is complete. I run my split knuckles under the faucet and get the first aid kit out from the basin unit, smiling to myself when I think about Eden, hot-wiring a car in that pretty dress she was wearing yesterday so she could escape. That smile stays in place when I let myself remember how things used to be.

“Come on, don’t be scared, give me ya best shot.” I stand in front of her with my guard up and wait for her to strike.

“Aaron, I’m not gonna hit you in the face.” She giggles, dropping her fists and looking at me as if I’m crazy.

“Come on, I need to know that you're gonna be able to handle all those drunk college boys.” I feel that familiar sting in my chest when I think about her being so far away from here. Eden’s far too kind and far too pretty to stay single once she starts college.

---