Baller: A Bad Boy Romance (29 page)

CHAPTER THREE

“Jem!”

With the car stalled under his knees, Jeremy paused. Kane had survived the showers and the fights in the yard. But Angeline was always okay. That thought kept him going.

So why wasn’t she…?

“Jem?”  he asked again.

No answer.

Something horrible had to have happened to her. No other reason for her absence. Had she sold more pills without his protection? Angeline was no fool. But in the glaring light of her father’s injury, maybe she threw caution to the wind and made like a dealer looking for new marks. In Kane’s world, it was skinny boys and skinnier girls in search of a quick fix. Kane never dabbled in the stuff, but he could point them in the right direction. Angeline was different. She just needed a fast buck to help her dad.

And maybe she had had made the worst call.

“Kane,” Jeremy started. “You need to hear this and—“

But Kane didn’t as he kept talking.

“Where is she?” Kane demanded.

Kane’s mind filled with all the ways in which she might be hurt. Best case scenario, she was languishing in some cell. He had money, funds that he had sent Jeremy’s way in the wake of his incarceration. Jeremy only had to give the word, and Kane would bail her out. But what if she had fallen in with the wrong crowd? His own crew would never dare, but there were other clubs that might use her. And if a nurse with access fell into their hands, Angeline would be lost to herself as well as him.

Jeremy stayed silent, and Kane pressed him.

“No,” Kane said as his pulse quickened. “Just don’t tell me…”

He couldn’t stand the idea of her caught, trapped. Kane pictured her torn apart if she failed to make her quota. And there was no way that she ever could. He,
she
had been caught by accident. The doctor she worked for was already being eyed for fingering his patients under a local anesthetic. The man was serving his own time, and Angeline should be in the clear. But what if there was no letting it go? What if it was known that she was able to find drugs and bring them to the street? Kane was locked up, and even as his club and Jeremy promised to look after her, they could only do so much.

“Jem….”

Kane saw her tied down to a bed, only released to go to work and fill the coffers. His sentence was proof that she could make that happen, but maybe it got out of control. She might be hurt, scared, and now he needed nothing more than to save he all over again.

“Why do you care?” Jeremy asked. “She never came to see you. Not once. And—”

Grabbing his brother by the collar, Kane shoved Jeremy’s shoulder into the horn. A sharp blare filled the car. Jeremy winced, but Kane heard nothing as his fingers grinded against his brother’s throat.

“Because I told her to keep away!” Kane bellowed over the roar. “And you said you’d keep tabs on her! So what the fuck—?”

“Oh believe me,” Jeremy said. “I did. And she’s just fine!”

Pushing his brother away, Jeremy ran his hand over her neck.

“So how about you just let it go, Kane,” he said. “You served your time… her time. Don’t you know a second chance when you see it?”

Kane formed a fist and stopped just short of clipping his brother’s jaw. As his chest heaved, he remembered the
lessons
they received at the hands of their father. A head slap when they were late coming home from school, a mangled wrist when they broke a glass, a punch to the gut just because. But brother or not, Jeremy had no right to smear her.

“So you did check in on her,” Kane said as he fought to calm his breath and unclenched his trembling fists. Had to be a simple misunderstanding. Jeremy blamed her for Kane’s sentence and never got that she was desperate. Kane had to save her; there was no other choice. In time, he would let the past go.

They all would.

“Jem?”

Jeremy nodded and wrapped his hands around the wheel.

“I keep my promises,” Jeremy said. “So yeah. I’ve been looking in…”

He sighed heavily before looking at his brother.

“You really want the truth, Kane?”

He wanted Angeline more, but he’d take word of her, even Jeremy’s, if it meant that she was alright.

“I want to know everything,” Kane said. “Five years… Christ.”

It suddenly felt like way too long. Too much time without her, without knowing where she was and what she was doing. Kane wanted to be the one keeping tabs on her. Dealing her drugs made her safe, but Kane needed her with him to be sure.  A knot formed in his throat at the thought that he had made the wrong call.

“Let’s take a walk,” Jeremy muttered.

He exited the car, and Kane followed. Jeremy’s shoulder slumped as he walked like a man who had just done the hardest time.

Like he knows the first thing…

“Jem, just tell me. Whatever it is, man, you have to have it wrong.” Kane said. “Angeline… my Angel is true.”

Laughing, Jeremy stopped where he stood, shaking his head.

“Sometimes I don’t get you, Kane.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Jeremy shrank under his brother’s gaze.

“I… I don’t know,” Jeremy said. “Just that… well…”

Kane waited as Jeremy lifted his eyes. Long ago were the days when Kane had placed himself between Jeremy and their father’s fists. Jeremy would scream for it stop, but Kane took it all on. And there was gratitude in his brother’s eyes. Respect.

Now there was only pity.

“Tough guy, right?” Jeremy said. “Ruling the whole world just beyond the Golden Gate. No one’s going to take you down.”

Both boys made choices. Their mother used to say that Kane turned to the dark while Jeremy reached for the light. She would never ask her oldest son, the outlaw biker, back to her table. But the CPA was fine.

She’d have been better off if she’d given Kane another look.

“Damn straight,” Kane said. “The guys know I’m coming back.”

“Even Noel,” Jeremy asked as he narrowed his eyes.

Kane groaned.

“Like you know the first fucking thing.”

And he didn’t.

Noel White was as standup as they came. Kane remembered the break, the time when he finally ran and never looked back. Night after night, he scrounged for scraps in dumpsters. Picking though band aids and coffee grounds, Kane tried hard not to puke when he nibbled on hard bagels or a moldy piece of cheese. But it didn’t kill him; it made him stronger.

And that’s how Noel had found him.

***

“Hey, Kid. You like that shit?”

Noel White first appeared with a smirk. Wiping the dirt from his mouth as he swallowed around a rancid hamburger, Kane stepped towards him, drawn to the bike, intrigued by the scar etched across his cold face.

“I gotta eat,” Kane said.

Noel lit a cigarette and stayed silent through his first drag.

“I hear that,” Noel finally said. “But I asked if you liked it?”

Kane tried to answer as his found meal hit Noel’s shoes in a masticated heap. He was right; it was shit, and Kane didn’t know how much longer he could eat it and survive.

“So no?” Noel asked.

Kane nodded through his tears and became his father. Smacking his face for the show of weakness, he started to back away when Noel seized his arm. Kane’s first instinct was to run.

“Get off me!” Kane cried. “Get the hell—”

“Whoa! Easy, Kid.”

Noel dragged him closer, and Kane stopped fighting. At the mercy of the older boy, Kane closed his eyes and prepared for a beating. At least he knew he could take it; he’d had a lifetime’s worth of practice.

“What the hell?” Noel demanded. “You just giving up?”

This was his father’s game. Taunt him to the point where he thought he might stand a chance, then move in for the kill.

“Just get it over with,” Kane said, resigned to his fate.

Noel lit up and gave Kane a chance to run. But he was too sick, too sad to make a move. Hopefully it would be quick. Maybe he could limp towards a back alley and sleep it off. But what would happen tomorrow?

“Okay. Here.”

Reaching into his pocket, Noel pulled out a limp burrito. It was cold and soggy, but it also wasn’t covered in rat hairs. It looked like the best of meals, and Kane started towards him.

Then Noel took it back.

“If I give this to you,” Noel started, “Will you do one thing for me?”

He had to be a freak. Food for slavery that might take any form. Kane shuddered at the thought. But he was so hungry.

“Yeah,” he said. “I will.”

Noel handed him the burrito. Grabbing it quickly, Kane gobbled it down in two quick bites. He savored the meat and the cheese on his tongue, but as the unexpected meal settled in his stomach, Kane was back to fearing the consequences.

“So what do I have to do for it?” Kane asked.

Stamping his cigarette to the pavement, Noel mounted his bike with a smile.

“Hop on, Kid. Let’s get you a real rack tonight.”

***

“He’s a good guy, Jem,” Kane said. “He’s my brother and—”

Jeremy’s laugher had to come from a jealous place, but Kane’s words were true. Noel brought him to the club, gave him the promised bed, and saw that he never had to eat dirt again. That was loyalty. Something that Jeremy in his fancy house with his snooty wife would never understand and—

“Then why is he screwing your so-called Angel?”

CHAPTER FOUR

It was supposed to be Kane’s hands, stay his hands, always and only his hands. As Angeline lay awake, she remembered how he touched her. To look at Kane, no one ever would have believed it. With his grizzled face and his muscled arms, Kane looked every inch the clichéd predator. But Angeline knew him better. There were tender parts of him that he kept hidden. Sometimes he even smiled shyly when he started to undress her. In those moments, if fell to Angeline to be bold.

***

“Come on,” she asked. “Don’t you want me?”

Kane’s head fell to her shoulders as her gathered her into his arms. She sighed at the feel of his embrace but forced his eyes to hers.

“I do,” he said.

“Then kiss me already.”

Their lips met softly, slowly, and Angeline drank in the feel of his mouth on hers. As Angeline pursued him, Kane sighed, his warm breath pouring down her neck. As she guided him to the bed, Kane’s kiss intensified, and she wrapped her arms around his tight waist. He felt like stone under her hands, but Angeline knew when and how he would melt.

“You love this,” he said.

“I do.”

“And you want more…”

She had wanted more form the start. Other girls might have shrieked and scampered because he was a
bad boy
. But Angeline didn’t mind. There were other sides to his stubbled face.

But that was nothing compared to the feel of him inside her. No woman could ever touch that and think of running.

“So why are we talking?” Kane said as he took charge.

Angeline made a show of lying back on the bed. She would pretend that he had total control. In some ways, he did. But she only had to part her legs, and his plunge filled her with other ideas.

“Why are we?” she asked.

Kane turned her to back and pressed inside her. She liked it better the other way around, when she could stay in his eyes. But this worked. His cock told her everything that she needed to know. Pulsing in her mound, she smiled and felt a surge of victory flooding through her veins. Now he couldn’t resist her, and she liked that. She wanted him to remember even after her body writhed and screamed and came to rest in his arms.

***

Maybe she shouldn’t have wanted it so much. Knowing her had only made things worse for him. For both of them.

***

“Hello, Nurse.”

It was Noel. Kane had always assured her that he was a good guy. Noel had literally saved him from the gutter and set him on a new track. It was a dangerous path, but at least he didn’t have to walk it alone.

“Noel,” she said. “Hi, what’s up?”

It was supposed to be Jeremy. That’s what Kane had said. He would be the one to truly check in and see that she wanted for nothing during his incarceration. And she had seen him. Peering through car windows, trailing her on her way back and forth from work. But he never spoke a single word to her face.

“Can I come in, Angeline?”

Noel had also made a point of looking in on her. Really looking in. It was always late at night, when her father tried to dream his injury away. Noel would phone and tell Angeline that Kane was holding up. When he said that, she smiled, grateful for the news. But she couldn’t help but miss the sight of him, the sound of his voice.

But at least he was alright. That was everything.

“Sure,” she said. “Please.”

Like a nervous child, Noel twirled his hands before his chest as Angeline reached for a glass.

“You want some water, or…”

She stopped when she saw a darkness pour over his eyes. He had something to tell her. Something that she didn’t want to hear. But Kane had to still be alright. Anything else would…

“Noel?” she asked, clutching the glass in her hands.

Noel sighed as he sat in her father’s chair.

“Honey, it’s not good.”

She gripped the glass tighter as her entire body tensed.

“What is it?” she asked.

Noel sadly shook his head.

“Shouldn’t have happened to a guy like him,” Noel said. “Prime time. Landing a girl like you. It’s just not—”

Angeline lost the glass. It crashed to the floor in an explosion of shards, and Noel winced as they shot close to his feet.

“Angel!”

No one but Kane called her that. Was allowed to call her that. Stepping across the glass, she rushed towards him with trembling fists.

“Where is he?” she demanded as she lashed out at him. “I want to see him. I—”

“No you don’t,” Noel said. “Not like that.”

Not like what? Was he dead? Because he had gone to the mat for her? Angeline’s entire body wilted around the possibility.

“No…”

She should have gone to the prison. Seen him one last time. Even behind bars, he would still breathe, smile, reach for her. Now she could only see him in the space of a courtroom, led away in handcuffs. How she wished that her last picture him was not the image of him being taken away.

“He’s dead,” Angeline croaked. “Oh my god.”

Noel rose from his chair and pulled her closer.

“Angeline, there was a fight.”

A fight? Okay. That was nothing. Kane could battle through anything. So why was Noel…?

“Real messy,” he continued. “Seems like someone got the jump on him and….”

And?

“And what?” Angeline demanded. “Is he alive? Where—?”

“Just listen to me.”

She bristled under Noel’s touch but was suddenly too weak to fight back as he lowered her to the chair. Noel took her hands in his and spoke softly.

“Kane was knocked out cold,” Noel said. “They say… Well…”

Blinking back his own tears, Noel sighed.

“Noel?” she pleaded. “Please just tell me.”

He took a deep breath before her continued.

“It’s like this,” he said. “Kane ain’t waking up. Ever. So… I guess it’s like he’s dead.”

And so was Angeline.

Pulling away from Noel, she tried to stand but only fell to the floor. She buried her face in the linoleum and screamed. She had only heard the word
dead
. Like her mother. Like too many patients to count. But this was him. Kane had sworn that a few short years would seem like nothing when he returned to her side.

But now…

“Don’t cry, Angel,” Noel said. “He wouldn’t want that.”

Noel picked her up and turned her to eyes to his.

“Would he?”

Somehow she nodded and let Noel lead her to her room. Sitting her on the edge of the bed, he knelt at her feet and took her hands.

“I know,” Noel said. “I miss him, too.”

Angeline went numb. She barely registered his arms surrounding her, and she didn’t fight when he pressed her into the bed.

“I know,” he repeated. “But I can help you.”

Help came through his hands as he started undressing her lifeless form. Lifeless like Kane. As Noel’s lips started to lay claim her flesh, Angeline thought she saw Kane lingering in the corner, and she tried to escape the feel of Noel’s hold.

“Shhh,” Noel said. “Let’s help each other.”

His hand started to find its way up her skirt, and as he grazed her mound, Angeline pulled back.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she said. “I don’t want—”

“Me neither,” he said. “But I don’t… I can’t be alone tonight.”

“I—“

“Hey. Kane would want me to take care of you, Angel.”

She started to thrash away from him.

“Don’t call me that!” she cried. “I’m only his—”

“I know,” Noel said. “Sorry.”

He laid a light kiss on her cheek before shyly backing away.

“I’m just trying to take care of you,” Noel said. “Like he would have wanted.”

Kane had always told her that Noel was the best of his crew, the one that had saved him. Knowing that this had to be hitting him just as hard, she brought her hands to his face.

“I know,” she whispered. “I know that he loved you, too.”

Noel nodded and took her into his arms. His hold was sweet and kind, but Angeline’s mind went to Kane. They were nearly at the end of five long years apart, and she was ready for Kane to come back. He would need her arms, and Angeline was offering.

But Kane wasn’t coming home

“I did, Angeline,” Noel said. “I do.”

She was lifeless, as Noel tried to offer comfort. As he entered her, Angeline rested around the feel of his pursuit.

“And I like you, too,” Noel said. “So sweet, Angel.”

Gritting her teeth, she fought past the need to blast him for taking the pet name into his mouth. If he was coming back, Kane would never have allowed it.

“I’ll help you,” Noel purred.

Kane was lost. She did this to him. Kane would have better off having never known her. But without him, she let Noel take her. As he tore off her blouse, Angeline flinched. Noel brought his hand to her face and whispered into her ear.

“Kane would have wanted me to look after his Angel,” Noel said.

But Angeline only wanted to die, to join him, yet she was too weak to protest the feel of Noel pushing inside her. On the instant of impact, she knew that this was not Kane. This was rough and even angry, yet Angeline laid still and took it. So what if it hurt? No one would ever be as sweet as the love that she had lost.

So she let Noel comfort her.

***

Tossing towards the empty pillow, Angeline turned to her side. Stroking the air, she pictured Kane, strong and free at her side.

Never again. And even though she was dazed, lying with Noel was still a betrayal.

“I’m… I’m sorry,” she whispered into the pillow. “I…”

Clutching it close, as if it really was Kane, she sobbed into the soft down and prayed that somehow she might see him again.