Page 8 of Infected By Virus

She recoiled at the vehemence in his voice. It was a new side to him; she wasn’t sure she liked. Rae chalked it up to him being overprotective as he tended to be, especially where Darrin was concerned. He’d had a front-row seat to her heartbreak, so she supposed he had a right to be angry about it too.

“Thanks again, Barker. You’re going to make some lady very happy one day.”

“Just not you, huh?”

His look when he spoke was a little unsettling. He finally dropped her hand and turned his attention back toward the game on the screen.

With that, she headed to the Royal Bastards clubhouse.

Harmon had told her that Darrin worked at a place called Royal Guard. Her plan had been to meet him there in the middle of the day in hopes that he’d not lose his temper at his place of employment. It was also a little bit for her.

The thought of being surrounded by bikers on their turf didn’t seem ideal. Even less ideal was if she ambushed him at home. He was easy to track down, he still lived at the same place.

Harmon had become a little, no, a lot obsessed with bikers since that TV series, while Rae didn’t know diddly squat about MCs or their culture. Even with her limited knowledge, facing Darrin elsewhere sounded a far sight better than walking into a clubhouse full of bikers.

“Well, at least the clubhouse was attached to a business. Maybe they could keep it civil for the sake of customers, if there were any.”

She had been doing that since she left Harmon’s, talking to herself. Rae couldn’t even count how many times she was a gnat fart away from making a U-turn and just mailing the info to Darrin and have the lawyers settle things.

She pulled in front of the salvage yard office and killed the engine. “Well, there’s nothing now but to just do it.”

She grabbed the folder from the passenger seat with a sigh. In her mind, she brought the image of Darrin and Celeste to the fore as she opened the door, finally exiting the car after sitting there for God knew how long.

Getting out of the car was only half the battle. On frozen legs, she stood beside her car, just staring at the building but not really seeing it.

“I can’t do this,” she mumbled and reached for the door handle with every intention of fleeing like the coward she was.

Harmon’s voice echoed in her head.

“You did nothing wrong; you did what was best for your own sanity at the time, and as soon as he understands that it’ll go smooth as silk. Someone told me repeatedly over the years, after her heart break had dulled a bit that is, that Darrin’s a good man who happened to do a bad thing once, and she was right.”

At the time, Rae rolled her eyes at having her words tossed back into her face, but now she was thankful for it. “Plus, he deserves to know his own child.”

“He’s a good man who did a bad thing, he deserves to know his child.” She took a step, not really watching where she was going, but repeating that phrase. “He’s a good man who did a bad thing, he deserves to know his child.” Before she knew it, she was at the door marked OFFICE.

“It’s okay,” she muttered to herself as she reached for the handle. The words offered a strange sense of comfort as it was what Dean said to Sam when it was time to let him go.

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