Chapter 7

Rage

Three Weeks Later

W aking up at the crack of dawn with morning wood is no way to start the day. I roll out of bed and get into the shower because I have church in an hour. I’ve been so wrapped up in the situation with Priscilla and Mia that I haven’t been hanging around the clubhouse as much as I normally do.

The thing is, I can’t concentrate on work, club activities, or visiting friends, because all I think about is Priscilla and what it would be like to have her in my bed again. Having her this close is torture. My hand slides down to grasp my cock as I remember how much she enjoyed sucking my it. I would hold her hair back out of her face. She looked like she was lost in her own little world and God knows no one had ever been that generous with me before. Being with her was everything I always dreamed that love could be.

I fell hard and fast for her, which was why getting that Dear John letter from her threw me a curveball. I try and shove that from my mind as my hand works faster, remembering how her lips felt as they wrapped around my shaft. We were so good together, she loved riding my thick cock like nobody’s business.

An image of her face, head thrown back in ecstasy as she rode me flashed through my mind. I groan as I shoot my load against the shower wall.

The moment I come I feel like an asshole. Stroking one off to my houseguest seems all kinds of wrong, especially after all she’s been through. I wash myself off and hose down the shower wall. I’m still breathing hard, and it feels like my brain went from zero to sixty in ten seconds flat. Luckily, Priscilla has gone to a medical appointment today, so I don’t have to face her at the breakfast table. Right now I don’t think I could look her square in the face without being eaten up by guilt.

I grab a cup of java when I fill up my motorcycle on the way to the clubhouse and drink it down in a couple of gulps before getting back on my bike.

I walk into church while everyone is still milling about. Ven rushes up to me. “Is everything okay? I haven’t heard from you in a while.”

“Yeah, I’m fine and dandy. The phone works both ways. You do know that, don’t you?”

When he frowns, I decide to tease him a little. “I’ve seen your mom six times this month. She says to send you her regards, since she doesn’t see much of you anymore.”

“Damnit, Rage. You know Amy’s pregnant, we have birthing classes twice a week,” He spits out.

I slap his chest with the back of my hand. “I’m only jerking your chain, Meli knows why you’ve not been around much. You need to get a damn grip before you pick on the wrong dude, and they beat your freaking ass.”

Suddenly, all his anger diminishes, replaced by amusement. “Did you just say freaking instead of fucking.”

Fucking hell. “I sure did. I’ve got a kid living with me that mimics every damn thing I say.”

“So,” he says in a knowing manner, “You’ve been trying to clean up your language. How interesting. And Priscilla and Mia are still living at your place. Best be careful, the last woman I let move into my place ended up becoming my wife.”

I drop down into the nearest seat. “I’m not getting married to her. It’s not like that.”

He smirks down at me before claiming the seat beside me. “Yeah, that’s the kind of stupid shit I told myself right before I fell hard and fast for Amy.”

“I’m not you. You’re a dumbass who fell for the first woman you saved. I’m a paramedic who saves women morning, noon, and night. I don’t need to wife one of them up to feel like a hero.”

“Do you actually believe the garbage coming out of your mouth because I sure as hell don’t,” my friend says with a shit-eating grin on his face.

My lips press into a firm line as I consider his words. I let out a sigh, “No, I don’t believe my own words right now.”

“What’s going on, brother. Talk to me?” Venom is my best friend. Talking to him about my problems should not be this hard. I finally force it out. “Priscilla is the one from my past that broke my heart.”

“Holy shit. Are you serious about her?”

Folding my arms over my chest, I answer, “No. Yes. Maybe. Hell, I don’t know. All I know is that I want to keep her at my house and make sure nothing bad happens to her.”

“What? I thought you originally said she was staying with you until she got on her feet.”

“That was the original plan. It’s coming up on six weeks since her injury. She’s at the doc’s this morning and she’s healing up fine. She was about to go to college back when I knew her. For some reason she dropped out, I told her that she should get back into that.”

“But that would mean that she would end up staying with you for what? Four years or more?”

I nod.

“You really like her, don’t you?”

Something about the solemn tone of his voice gets to me. “Yeah, I never stopped liking her. That’s always been the problem for me. Now that she has a kid, I’m more protective than ever.”

“What are you gonna do, brother?”

I shake my head, resenting the headache that’s building there. “I don’t know. She told me she’s only accepting my help for her daughter’s sake. She’s shown no interest in getting back with me.”

“Damn, Rage. Her husband’s been dead for less than two months. Cut the woman some slack.”

Shooting him an exasperated look, I tell it to him straight. “I’ve been stroking myself off like a demon, sometimes two or three times a night. I’m seriously fucked. I can’t let her go before she’s ready, but having her close and not being able to touch her is a living hell. I feel like the creepiest motherfucker going jerking off to thoughts of her when she’s in my house.”

“I feel you on that one, bro. You need to blow off some steam with one of the club girls before you fucking explode.”

I reply stubbornly, “These are the kinds of problems that club whores and booze can’t fix.”

“You’re letting this get to you, brother. That’s a bad move. She’s going to live rent free in your head forever now.”

Before I can answer that she’s already been doing that for the last eleven years, Siege drops the gavel and calls the meeting to order. Ever since we found Ven’s old lady and her mother, things have been pretty quiet for our club. In my opinion, that’s always the time to stay sharp, because things inevitably pop off.

We talked about old business, which was the huge amount of money we raised for the women’s shelter. And then new business. After busting the meth lab out at the Grayson farm, the Grave Diggers MC have started encroaching on our territory again. It almost feels like we ran off the bigger criminals and the smaller ones saw that as an opportunity of sorts. It seems as though we can’t win for losing, but I know all the way down to my bones that we’ll never stop fighting to protect our community.

Siege sets up brothers to monitor the roads in and out of town. Of course, he wants Ven’s drones in the air as well.

The last thing on our agenda is voting on patching one of our prospects into the club. The brother’s name is Wyatt, and he used to be a Texas Ranger. Wyatt is a hard-working and dedicated prospect. He’s older than our usual prospects, being in his late thirties, I guess that gives him a different outlook on life—dude knows what he wants and ain’t messing about. I’ve seen him around, worked with him and he’s extra cautious about protecting the old ladies when the brothers are on a mission. I’d trust him with my girls.

Fuck. My girls?

I do a double take, shocked that I so easily think of them as mine after a mere six weeks of them being in my life.

Wyatt gets up and talks about what the brotherhood means to him and why he wants to join the Savage Legion MC. I gotta admit that it sounds like he’s got his head screwed on tight, so when it comes time to vote, I say yay, as do all the other brothers present, and Tex is patched in.

By the time Siege calls an end to the meeting, it’s midmorning. I’m about to sit down and talk to Ven when my phone rings. It’s Priscilla, so I quickly answer it. She doesn’t usually call when I’m at work or at the clubhouse so I know it must be something important.

“What’s up, Prissy. Is everything okay?”

There’s a short silence, and she finally says weakly, “Can you come home. I’m not sure what to do about this.”

I start walking towards the door with Ven on my heels. “Talk to me, Prissy. What happened?”

“I found a headless animal on your front porch welcome mat.”

I stop walking. “Mister Boots likes to leave gifts. It’s his way of saying he likes us and is a bit worried about our lack of hunting skills. He usually just brings birds. What did he kill this time?”

She stammers, “It’s not Boots, It’s a rabbit, two actually, a large one and a baby one. It’s in a box wrapped in newspaper with no lid.”

I curse long and hard under my breath before telling her, “Don’t fucking touch it. I’m on my way.”

When I end the call and take off running for my bike, Ven follows, yelling, “What the fuck happened?”

“Priscilla found a cardboard box with two headless rabbits, looks like a mommy and baby. Someone is fucking with her, or me. Either way, I’m gonna make them wish they were never born.”

Ven jumps on his bike and follows me.

***

It takes us about twenty minutes to get to my place at top speed on the backroads. I come to a skidding stop in front of my house and see the cardboard box still on my welcome mat and Priscilla sitting on my porch swing with Boots in her lap. He’s acting weirdly protective, glaring at the box. I don’t know what’s going through his cat head, but he’s clearly picking up on the tension.

Ven and I take the box to my shed and glove up before inspecting the gruesome contents. I lift out the smaller one. I’m no good at figuring out rabbit ages, but it’s clearly a baby. Ven takes out the larger rabbit and looks it over. “I’m guessing it’s the mother. She has teats. What about yours?”

I look more closely at mine. “Mine isn’t a newborn but she’s not fully grown either.”

“You sure it’s a female,” he asks in a serious tone.

“Of fucking course, I’m sure. It doesn’t have balls.”

“What do you think this means?”

I put the smaller one back down beside the box, thinking I need to get the box dusted for prints or something. Ven lays his down on the table beside mine. “I’m pissed. Mia could have been the one to find this instead of Priscilla.”

I begin pacing. “We need to get the club involved. Maybe Tex can dust it for prints, and we can get one of our contacts at the PD to run them? I’m gonna try my fucking best to get a security system installed as soon as humanly possible.”

“You alert Siege and start calling security firms. I’ll call Tex to get his ass out here,” Ven says.

We work on our individual tasks. I decide to walk outside and check on Priscilla. I’m still on the phone with Siege when I sit beside her on the porch swing.

Glancing at Priscilla, I ask, “How you holding up?”

“Was it what it looked like?”

I decide to tell her the truth, “Yeah. On my way home, I was thinking it was a toss-up as to who it was meant for, you or me. I think we can safely say it was meant for you, it was a mother rabbit and her baby.”

She begins to tear up. “Why would anyone send me something like that? I don’t understand.”

“It’s a message, or a threat. Since there wasn’t a note, we don’t know what they want. Do you have any ideas on who could have sent this?”

She shakes her head despondently. “No, my family moved to the East Coast several years ago and I’m not in contact with them. My dad works for a construction company as a material handling specialist. I can imagine them being upset that their money stopped. But they wouldn’t be mad at me because Conrad got himself killed.”

“How about Conrad’s family?” I ask her. My gut tells me they had something to do with it.

She pales, “His father never cared for me. Conrad wanted me and his parents made my parents a deal they couldn’t refuse.”

I sigh and ask the question I’d been hoping to avoid. “I got the letter you sent me, saying we weren’t right for each other and that you wanted to finish your education and then marry someone who would give you kind of life your parents had. Did you really see no red flags with Conrad and his family?”

Her head snaps up, hard and fast. Suddenly, her eyes are laser focused on me. “I never sent you a letter and if I did it would have never said that kind of rubbish. I loved you with everything I had in me.”

“Then why did you leave me and marry Conrad?” I ask bluntly.

She looks almost sick to her stomach as she explains, “My parents told me you were dead, that you died in a motorcycle accident.”

“What?” I exclaim.

She bit her lip and looks at me, her eyes filled with tears, “They told me you were dead, and—”

“And you believed them without proof? That doesn’t sound like the Prissy girl I knew.”

“Of course I didn’t believe them! I threw a fit, called them liars and told them I was going to look for you. They told me that they could prove it. They took me to a cemetery and showed me your headstone. It had your name carved right on the front, along with all the information they normally put on headstones. I broke down, didn’t want to leave, they dragged me away and I just kind of emotionally shut down.”

She seems brokenhearted as she continues, “They kept pressuring me to let Conrad console me, but I didn’t want him not after—” she breaks off. “I wanted you, and knowing I’d never see you again tore me apart. I couldn’t stop crying, I wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t sleep. My parents told me that this wasn’t healthy and couldn’t continue and that I had to marry Conrad. I felt trapped and defeated, so I did what they said because it was the only way I could give myself and… it was the only way I could have a life. I didn’t know Conrad’s family was giving them a kickback for getting me to agree. I thought they loved me and wanted what was best for me. Except they were only looking out for themselves.”

I’m shaking my head in disbelief. “I’m sorry you had to go thought all that. Your parents were pieces of shit but creative ones to come up with a solution like that. What cemetery was it? I want to see my fucking grave with my own eyes.”

“It was the one over on Strayer Avenue. I haven’t been back there since that last time, it was too heartbreaking. I don’t understand why they did that, how they could choose money before their own daughter? How could they let me believe you were dead?”

“Because they’re assholes. Why didn’t you tell me this?”

She’s shaking as she looks at the ground and then into my eyes, “I tried, after my accident I was still in shock. Then realizing you were still alive. I tried to talk about the past, but you said we didn’t need to go there. You must have hated me if you thought I sent that note.”

“I’ll not deny I was angry and bitter about it for a long time. I don’t know if I ever got over it, but when you came into my life again, I decided to let the past stay in the past.”

Her eyes are glistening with tears, “And you believed my note. You thought I’d do something as awful as that?”

“When you stopped answering my calls, I went to your house asking to talk to you. They said you didn’t want to see me, that you got into an Ivy League college. It made you realize that we were nothing alike and you needed a better life than what you’d have with trash like me.”

Her hand comes out rest on my chest. She’s tearing up and shaking her head, but I push the rest of the story out. “They said I wasn’t wealthy or educated and you deserved a man who could take good care of you. They made me doubt myself and that you could truly love someone like me.”

“I hate that they did that to you,” she says quietly.

“Deep down inside I was insecure and knew what they were saying was probably right, but I still wanted to hear it from you. So I went back a few days later, demanding to speak to you. Your parents said you’d already gone but had left a letter for me. I can still remember how my hand shook when I reached out to take that letter from your dad. I rode off to a spot down by the lake to read it in private. It said we weren’t right for each other and although I would always have a place in your heart, you needed to live the life you were meant to live.”

She immediately speaks up, “The life I was meant to live was with you, Rage. Until…” her words trail off.

“It’s too bad that ship sailed long ago, Prissy girl,” I respond sadly.

“I’m sorry, Rage, sorry for it all.”

I glance away, crushed by the weight of this new information we’re sharing back and forth. Getting a hold of myself, I suggest, “Let’s go look for my grave. I want to see the lengths your greedy parents went through to separate us. We’ll take my truck.”

“Okay,” she says. Her voice is small, and it looks like she’s deep in thought.

Ven walks up. “Tex is on his way.”

“So is Siege and the other club officers. I have something important to do. Can you wait for them and let them in the shed?”

“Of course. You going to look at security systems?”

“No, believe it or not, I’m going to visit my own fucking grave and look at my headstone.”

Shock registers on his face. “What the everloving fuck?”

“I’ll tell you all about it when we get back,” I assure him.

Priscilla was healed enough to climb in and out of my truck now, so we both hopped in, and I headed for the cemetery she told me about. Although, I had long been looking forward to her being able to ride on the back of my bike, right now that was the furthest thing from my mind.

Our conversation put me right back there eleven years ago as her parents berated me and told me I was nothing, obviously clearly not good enough for their only daughter. The old feelings of helpless rage and humiliation rise in my mind,

On the way we talk about what poor soul was buried in that space and what they’d done with his headstone. Once we pull into the cemetery, Priscilla leads me straight to the grave.

I look around and realize that my grave is by far the nicest one in the general vicinity. Priscilla immediately drops to her knees and meticulously begins picking leaves off the slab. I reach out and grab her hand. “It’s not me, Prissy. I’m right here.”

She throws her arms around my neck and sobs. I gaze over her shoulder at the headstone. It was my correct name, date of birth, and the date of death was when she disappeared from my life. After getting the fabricated note, I joined the military and left this small, sleepy town behind. When I came back, I avoided every place we’d ever gone together and made a point of not checking up on her once I heard she’d moved on and married some rich bastard. I hadn’t wanted to know his name or anything about him.

Everything about this situation is heartbreaking. Eventually, I see a caretaker in the distance. I ease Priscilla out of my arms and wave him over. I introduce myself to the old man and ask, “Can you tell me anything about his headstone?”

“I know about everyone buried her for the last fifty years. This was strange request. The gentleman was cremated, and his urn is buried here. It’s called an internment of ashes.”

“No, he’s not. I’m Raymond Anderson.” Pulling out my wallet, I show him my driver’s license.

“Maybe this man was simply someone with the same name.”

“It’s not, though. Can you verify that an urn is buried here?”

He removes a small handheld device from his belt. “This is a ground penetrating scanning device. We use them to make sure caskets and urns don’t shift following flooding. Sometimes the water table rises and will move them slightly.”

We watch as he moves it slowly over the entire grave. Then we watch him do it again. “There doesn’t seem to be anything here.”

I just decide to lie to him. “I was in a motorcycle accident at this time and was in a coma for weeks. I think my parents were preparing for my last resting place. Fortunately, I woke up and didn’t need it.”

The older man asks suspiciously, “Why does it have a date of death carved into the stone.”

“Look, I don’t know but this is my headstone, and I don’t want it out in the open confusing people.”

“I can’t let you just take it,” he insists stubbornly.

“My parents passed, so technically it belongs to me,” I lie some more. When he doesn’t immediately agree, I suggest, “How about if I pay you for it and give you my contact information in case anyone complains?”

I quickly open my wallet and count out five hundred-dollar bills and hand them to him. Without giving him time to object, I give the headstone several hard jerks to dislodge it. It takes all my strength to drag it over to my truck and wrestle it into the back of my truck bed. This one is relatively thin I realize, like they cheap-skated out on it because it was just a prop.

We immediately get into the truck and leave. We’re both a little shell-shocked as we drive home. I roll the information Priscilla gave me around in my head. The woman I loved, literally thought I was dead. She grieved for me and never forgot me. I clearly meant as much to her as she meant to me. It was this warped situation her parents created that separated us. All it took for me was a fake letter. For my Priscilla it took death. I let that sink in for a minute. That meant that regardless of her parents pressuring her into marry another man, some small part of her heart stayed loyal to me.

Glancing over at her, I see tears streaming down her face. I want her. She deserves another chance. I deserve one too. If can get her to want me back, I won’t let anything in this world separate us again. I’ll even take her daughter to raise. I actually like Mia. Maybe I’m not father material but I’m willing to step up my game and learn.

***

When we get to my house, the place is crawling with club brothers. I turn to Priscilla. “Do you mind if Meli picks Mia up from school and keeps her for a bit this evening. I don’t think she should be around this whole mess. Not until we have a better idea what it’s all about.”

“I agree,” she replies. “Do you think we’re putting too much on Meli though?”

I shake my head, “Meli loves Mia, I sometimes think she gets a bit lonely living out there behind the restaurant. Once Ven and Amy’s new home is ready and they move in, it won’t be so bad, but in the meantime, she likes the company.”

We get out and I walk Priscilla up to her room to rest. Once she’s comfortable, I quietly shut her door on my way out and call Meli. After explaining what went on here today, she agrees to pick Mia up from school and keep her for however long we need. I ask that she hangs onto her overnight because I want a security system put in before she comes back to my house to stay.

With that taken care of I head outside to talk to Siege. Tex and Rigs are there, looking grim as well. They have their contact from the Las Salinas PD bagging up the entire box with both carcasses for their crime lab to work on. He takes my statement and heads out. I regret not having security cameras set up, but when I inherited this place from Gerald it was the last thing on my mind.

Siege, Rigs, Rider, Tex, and Ven approach me. Siege says, “Tell us everything you know. We need all the details if we’re going to piece together what happened here and why.”

I motion them over to my truck to see the thing that caused Priscilla to abandon all hope of being with me. All my club brothers crowd around as I start at the beginning and tell them everything I know. At the end of my long, convoluted story, they’re all about as shocked and dumbfounded as I am.

“Damn,” Ven says. “That was cold-hearted, vicious shit her parents pulled. I can’t believe they’d do something like that to their own daughter. And she raised a kid with that man. It’s a damn tragic story if you ask me.”

“I second that statement,” Rigs chimes in.

Others murmur their agreement as they gaze down at my creepy new trophy.

Siege speaks up. “We need to station brothers here until Rage can get a security system installed.”

Tex adds, “I can get a couple of prospects and cover tonight.”

“Thanks, Tex. I should be able to get the security system installed tomorrow even if I have to do it myself.”

Turing to Siege I say, “Mia is staying with Ven’s mom. I don’t know how comfortable I feel with them not having someone there overnight.”

Ven jumps in, “I’ll take a couple of brothers and cover her house. My mom can handle herself, but better to be safe than sorry.”

Rigs adds, “And I’ll hook up with our police contact over the next few days and alert everyone when we get feedback from the crime lab. Headless rabbits are a seriously fucked up message to send.”

Zen offers, “I’ll keep looking into both families. See if she has any friends, enemies, or people that she’s had a throw down with before and I’ll check on them as well.”

Siege wraps things up, “As always, we just keep looking for clues until it leads us to the person doing this. This is some seriously sick shit that we can’t look the other way on.”

I speak up, “My gut tells me it’s her dead husband’s father. He’s been a serious asshole to her over the years. And Priscilla mentioned that Conrad had an older brother. Maybe he’s pissed about his brother’s death and is looking for someone to blame?”