Page 12 of DOG Part 2
“I’m going to take you somewhere where no one can find you.”
“Kane, that’s what you said before.”
“I know.” My chest ached with the unbearable truth. I had failed to protect her twice already, and I wasn’t going to fail again. “There’s a place that the Rugged Angels don’t even know about. Only my closest friend knows, and he would never give you away.”
“What place?”
“My adoptive parents’ house. Right in Tucson.”
“Oh,” she said in a small voice as she fell back against her seat. “I don’t think we should separate.”
“You’re only saying that because you don’t want to.”
“Can you blame me?”
“No,” I smiled at her, feeling warm and good for the first time since I’d heard the first snap of a branch outside of the ranch house. “It has to be done, Kim.”
She didn’t respond, just stared straight ahead at the disappearing road.
When we got to my parents’ the living room light was on. They lived in a neighborhood so typical it could have been straight out of a TV show from the fifties. White, two story house with a wraparound porch at the end of a cul-de-sac, it had the American dream written all over it.
Dogs barked and an airplane went by overhead. Other than that, there was nothing.
The only person who knew about my parents was Deuce, and he didn’t even know exactly where they lived or what their last name was. There was no safer place to leave Kim than with them.
Mom and Dad knew about my biker lifestyle. They didn’t support it, but they didn’t actually abhor it either. ‘A phase’ Mom had told Dad one night when I was over for dinner and they’d thought I hadn’t heard them. ‘It’s his way of grieving’ Dad had said to Mom.
I didn’t care what they thought. Or maybe I did. I loved them, but it had been over six months since I’d stopped by for a visit, and my absence hadn’t come without its reasons. In the biker world, I could hide. People knew about my past life in the army, but they didn’t know about much else, and I liked it that way.
With Mom and Dad it was different. Back home I was an open book.
When Mom opened the door she looked just the same as she had the last time I’d been there. Same old blonde bob. Same button up blouse. Her surprise at seeing me was obvious. “Kane!” she cried, looking from me to Kim then back to me.
“Hi Mom.”
She smiled, and some of the tension left my shoulders. She may have been surprised, but at least she didn’t seem angry to have me show up without a notice on her doorstep after over half a year away.
“This is my friend Kim.”
“Kim,” my mom said warmly. “Nice to meet you. I’m Adele. Come right in. We just had dinner, but I can fix you two something up if you like.”
“Oh, I’m fine, thank you,” Kim said politely.
Shame burned in me as we followed Mom through the foyer and into the kitchen. I’d been gone for months, and hadn’t even emailed her in weeks, and yet she was welcoming me and my guest in like it had only been a day since we had seen each other.
Dad was sitting at the table reading a paper. The second he looked up he chuckled.
“Well, look who it is,” he said, looking me up and down. “Long time no see.”
“Sorry about that,” I replied, figuring there was no reason to beat around the bush.
“It’s all right,” he said slowly, still surveying every inch of me. “Who’s your pretty friend?”
“This is Kim. Kim, this is my father, David.”
“Hello,” Kim murmured.
“Have a seat,” my mom said, pushing around us to get to the fridge. “I’ll get you some tea.”
