Page 16 of Eagle

“Sonofabitch!” he swore as he took off running directly toward me.

I lost precious seconds, frozen in fear. And then self-preservation took over and I dropped my grocery bags, spun around, and took off running for the front door. The look on Eagle’s face was frightening, and I knew that I had to get inside the house with the door closed and locked before he got to Ron. My heart was racing when I grabbed the screen door, jerked it open, and then curled my hand around the doorknob. Eagle’s sneer was the last thing I saw when I slammed the door in his face and locked it.

I backed up, breathing as if I’d just run a marathon, before the front door was kicked in and Eagle stormed inside.

What the hell?! “You can’t do that!”

“Just did,” he snarled, his eyes falling past me and onto my brother, who had yet to move from where he was sitting at the kitchen table. Ron was in shock or too afraid to move when he saw the huge, pissed off biker crash into the room.

Unsure of what to do, I stepped in front of Eagle and slammed my hands against his massive chest as if I could stop him. “Eagle, stop!”

His angry eyes dropped to mine. “Move!” he growled. Despite his gritty tone and the anger rolling off him, he dropped his hands on my shoulders and easily moved me out of the way.

Ron finally jumped to his feet when he realized what was happening, but Eagle was upon him before he could so much as take a step. He slammed my brother up against the wall so hard that the cheap picture hanging there fell to the floor.

“You fucking piece of shit!” Eagle grated into Ron’s face, holding him immobile with a muscular arm across his upper body.

“Be-Leona was dr-driving!” Ron stammered almost immediately.

“What?” My jaw dropped with disbelief, and I met the glaring eyes Eagle turned on me. I shook my head, hurt that my brother would lie about something like that. “Ronald Jeffry Bracewell!” I hissed, using his full name, and sounding like our mother.

Eagle must have concluded that Ron was lying because he turned his attention back to my trembling brother.

“It-it was a-an accident!”

“So that made it okay to leave my brother on the side of the road? You could have killed him!”

“Leona wa-was th-there!”

Eagle pressed against him harder, cutting off his air supply. “Even worse, asshole. Leaving your girlfriend behind to take care of your mess. How did you know we wouldn’t take it out on her?”

It didn’t seem important at the moment to tell Eagle that I was Ron’s sister and older than my sniveling brother. I watched Ron’s face turning red and was afraid that he wasn’t getting enough air. Surely Eagle wasn’t going to kill him?

I stepped forward, the movement drawing Eagle’s sharp glare. “Don’t!”

Even though I wanted to hurt Ron myself, I pleaded, “Don’t hurt him, please.”

“I-I’m sor-ry!”

Eagle snapped his head back around to face Ron. “Not good enough! You’re gonna pay for the damage you caused.” He fisted a handful of Ron’s shirt and jerked him away from the wall. “About fifty thousand should about cover the cost of a new bike, the hospital bills, and pain and suffering.”

What?! My eyes almost bugged out. My brother didn’t have that kind of money. He spent everything he made. On what, I didn’t know.

“I-I don’t ha-have that kind o-of money!”

Eagle snorted. “Then I guess I’ll just have to take you to the clubhouse, and we’ll figure out another way you can pay us back.” It came out as a threat.

I stepped in front of them, causing Eagle to halt abruptly or run me over. “I’ll pay it!”

I heard my brother gasp, but I avoided his eyes. I could well imagine his startled reaction. He didn’t know that I had money. That I’d won a lottery that had paid out a million dollars. I hadn’t told anyone, except for my lawyer and my financial planner. I hadn’t wanted to be put into a position of saying no to anyone who found out that I was suddenly rich and thought they could hit me up for a loan. I didn’t mind sharing my good fortune, but I wanted to control when and where I did it. Like when I’d paid off our parents’ house last month.

“Fuck, no,” Eagle growled. “It’s his mess. He’s responsible.” He stepped around me. “Come on.” Eagle began to drag Ron toward the front door.

I could see Ron trying to pull away, but my brother was scrawny and no match for Eagle. The expression on his pale face was full of fear. I had to do something. I quickly got in front of them again and I wasn’t going to move until I knew what they were going to do to Ron. “Why does he have to go to the clubhouse? Can’t you just call Wolfe?”

“Leo.” I could tell by Eagle’s tone that I was annoying him. His eyes captured mine, and something in them, maybe the tears that I refused to shed, must have gotten through to him just how frightened I was for my brother, because he released a heavy breath and said, “We’re not going to kill him, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

I squared my shoulders. “I’m going, too,” I said stubbornly.

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