Page 76 of Beast

My pulse quickens as Annika’s expression darkens. She keeps her gaze firmly on the older woman. “You really want to start this fight with the Knights?”

“We don’t want you here. With your drug dealing and loose women hanging about.”

Loose women?

Annika chuckles. But her smile vanishes just as quickly, and she doesn’t look away as she says, “Come on, Belle. Let’s go to The Emporium instead. They have better cupcakes anyway. The ones from here are little tasteless.”

The woman tries not to look offended but fails and closes the door on us.

I follow Annika down Main Street as she takes note of each store with an anti-biker sticker on their window, and every time we see one, I feel a jab in my heart.

Annika does her best to remain poker-faced. But I can feel the emotion radiating off her. The town has turned against the club and she’s feeling every bit of it.

“How is this even happening right now?” I ask.

“Boney has been at it for months. Telling everyone he’s going to clean up St. Boniface by running the Knights out of town. Every chance he gets, he’s running his mouth off about it. At every building he opens. Every school appearance. Every public event. At first his complaints fell on deaf ears, but then he started to talk about the green space he plans for the land the clubhouse sits on. He’s sold the town on Sunday cookouts in the brand new park and strolls in the botanical gardens he’s going to build. And let’s not forget how he’s dangling a giant swimming area and kids playground in front of the moms and dads.”

“But in order for all of that to happen, the Knights have to leave first,” I say.

I can’t believe I never noticed this happening. Although, local politics were hardly an interest of mine.

Annika nods. “And they’re slowly freezing us out.”

“Because he’s bribing them.”

“With that stupid green space. But it’s a lie. I don’t think for a second it’s true. Boney is a slimy ass.”

We reach the end of the street and stop, both of us looking at the rows of stores with the anti-biker sticker in the window.

“What do we do now?” I ask.

Annika thinks for a moment, probably weighing up if she wants to start something with any of the store owners. But then she blows out a deep, shaky breath. “We go buy cupcakes.”

We cross the road to The Emporium and step inside the massive department store, which feels unusually quiet.

Annika disappears to the back of the store where the cupcakes are kept, while I wander around the store and try to figure out why I feel such an overwhelming sense of injustice over what just happened.

I’m still trying to figure out how I fit into the bigger picture. I mean, these people are a part of the problem for me. Their leader kept me prisoner in a room for two days. Is forcing me to marry him. And they’re all complicit.

I should be cheering on the people trying to run them out of town.

Yet, I can’t help but feel like I am a part of them. I belong with them. Which is insane. But from the moment I arrived in the clubhouse, it’s felt sofamiliar.

Annika appears with the box of cupcakes.

“Don’t they look great,” she says, opening the box so I can see. “Rina is going to love them.”

She’s right. They look good. Six to-die-for cupcakes with thick icing and sprinkles.

And now I want to eat my weight in cupcakes.

The doorbell chimes, and Annika stiffens beside me.

When I look up, my breath gets stuck in my throat and my heartbeat pounds like a drum in my ears, because standing in the doorway is Gaston.

I exhale roughly and start to shake, because the way he looks at me takes me back to that night and reminds me I’m in danger.

His black eyes burn with lust and deviance as they roll up and down the length of me.

---