Outlaw (9 page)

“Answer me, Angel.”

“No. He wasn’t a cop,” she whispered, shaking her
head. “He was talking about how if he gets this done, gives them this, would
they drop the charges of what they had on him. He was-”

“A rat?” he coached.

“I guess that’s what you’d call him.”

“Give them what? Did he say?”

She nodded. “Something about blowing up some guy’s
car. And how once you patch them over, they can get all of you.”

“Shit,” he whispered. “This guy, you saw him?”

She nodded.

“Well enough to ID him?”

“If you take me with you.”

He cocked his head, and his eyes narrowed, wondering
what her game was. “You’re not making this bullshit up just to get me to take
you up there, are you?
Because I’m tellin’ you, babe.
I know I promised you I’d get you your retribution. But I never promised you’d
get to witness it.”

“No. I swear. I’m not making it up, Cole.”

He studied her face, wondering how much he should
trust her. Wondering at her motivation for this. “Why are you telling me this?
Why the hell would you do that?”

“Because…because I don’t want to see you go to
prison. I owe you that much. For what you did for me. For what you’re going to
do for me.”

Cole sat down in the chair. He leaned his elbows on
his knees, and stared at the floor, taking in all that she had told him.
Finally, he looked over at her, shaking his head, a pissed off expression on
his face. “Christ. This changes everything.”

Angel sat up, still clutching the sheet, and scooted
back against the headboard. “What…what do you mean?”

He stood up, and walked out, slamming the door
behind him, the frosted glass rattling in the silent room.

Angel stared at the closed door, and wondered if
their deal had just gone out the window.

*****

Cole walked downstairs, and straight over to the
bar. “Mack, we need to talk,” he said to an older man sitting at the bar,
sipping on a drink.

“What about?”

“In private.”

Mack looked up from his drink, and watched over his
shoulder as Cole turned, and headed to the chapel. He set his glass down
slowly, stood up, and followed him. Closing the door, he walked around the
table.

Mack, being president, sat at the head of the table.
Cole sat next to him.

“How’s that fine piece of ass you brought back with
you?” Mack rocked back in the leather executive chair.

Cole looked at him. “This involves her.”

“
I
’m
all
ears, brother
.”

“I told you what happened up there. How I ended up
with her.” Cole had told him the story, leaving out only the part about her
father being a cop.

Mack nodded, lighting a cigar.

“She just told me something. Something she saw, and
heard when she was up there.”

That got his attention. “What? She
overhear
some club business?”

“No.” Cole shook his head. “Nothin’ like that. She
heard something that can help us.”

“Help us? What are you getting at?”

“We’ve got us a rat up there. Gonna set us all up.”

The leather chair creaked as Mack leaned forward.
“Fuck! Are you sure?”

Cole nodded. “Pretty damn sure.” He explained to
Mack what Angel had seen, and heard. “Gotta be the Fat Tony hit that this guy
was talking about. I’m
gonna
need to bring her back up
there to ID the guy. Find out everything he’s given up. Before we kill him.”

Mack nodded, and jabbed the table with his finger.
“This needs to be quick. We don’t know what else the feds have or when they’re
going to hit us with it.”

“I know. We need to move now. And the patch over?”

“No way. Not if this is true. That ain’t gonna
happen.”

Cole nodded his agreement.

“Call a meeting. Get everyone in here. Goddamn it!”

Cole nodded his agreement, and got up, and headed
toward the door.

“Cole!” Mack stopped him.

He paused, and looked back. “Yeah?”

“This girl. Where you goin’ with that?”

Cole shook his head. “I don’t know.”

He walked out.

*****

Angle heard a tap on the door, and stopped her
pacing. She’d been in this room for hours, waiting for Cole to return. She
stared at the door. Cole wouldn’t knock. She walked over, and timidly opened
the door. A pretty girl with long dark hair was standing there with a tray in
her hands.

“Cole asked me to bring you something to eat,” she
said.

Angel stepped back, and allowed her in. The girl set
the tray down on the bedside table, and turned, taking in Angel, her eyes
skating over her. Then she smiled, and introduced herself. “I’m Crystal.”

Angel nodded her head. “Hi, I’m Angel.”

“That’s a pretty name,” She looked at Angel’s face,
noticing for the first time the bruising along her jaw and the cut on her lip.
Her smile faded, and she asked softly, “What happened to you?”

Angel reached up to touch her face, and looked away.

“My God. Your arms!” Crystal reached out, and
touched the bruising on Angel’s wrist.

“I’m okay,” Angel replied softly.

Crystal looked into her eyes. “I know Cole couldn’t
have done this to you.”

Angel shook her head. “No. He didn’t. He helped me.
He took me away from the man that did this.”

“Now that I believe. Cole would never beat a woman.
It just isn’t in him.”

“Have you known him long?” Angel asked.

Crystal shrugged. “I’ve been around for a couple of
years.”

Angel nodded, not sure what else to talk about.

“Cole asked me if I could find some more clothes for
you. I wasn’t sure what size you wore, but now that I see you’re about the same
size as me, I’ll go get some things for you.”

“Thanks. That would be great. I’ve been wearing
these same clothes for a few days now.”

“Anything else you need?”

“Some makeup would be nice,” Angel said, touching
her bruised face.

“Sure thing, hon. Well, I’ll be back.” Crystal
turned to leave.

“Hey, Crystal?” Angel stopped her.

“Yes?” She paused in the doorway.

“Do you know where Cole is?”

“Um, there was some big meeting, and then Cole took
off with a couple of the guys. I think he said he’d be back soon.”

Angel nodded. “Thanks.”

About half an hour later, Crystal returned with a
couple of pairs of jeans and some shirts. She set them on the bed, and then
turned, and handed a small makeup bag to Angel. “I grabbed together a little of
everything.”

“Thank you. It’s very kind of you. I appreciate it.”

“No problem, hon.” Crystal’s smile faded from her
face as she looked at Angel. “You okay? It looks like you’ve been crying.”

Angel smiled. “Does it?”

“Anything wrong?”

“Nothing. I’ll be fine.”

“Cole didn’t make you cry did he?”

“No. No, Cole has been very kind to me,” Angel
assured her.

“He’s a good guy, Angel. Really.” Crystal looked
down at the unmade bed. “You’re very lucky to be with him. Every girl around
wants to be with him.”

“And has every girl around ‘been’ with him?”

“Oh, no. I didn’t mean that. I meant…they all wish.”

Angel nodded.

“I’m sorry. Maybe I’m out of line,” Crystal said,
moving toward the door, and wondering if Cole would be pissed if he knew she’d
been talking about him.

“Crystal? Wait. I’m sorry if I said the wrong thing.
It’s just…this biker thing, what I mean to say is, this lifestyle, well…” she
broke off, and smiled. “I’m a little over my head here.”

Crystal stopped, and looked back. She looked Angel
up and down. “You’re sure not like the usual women that Cole…I mean, that hang
around here.”

“Is that a complement?”

“Oh, yeah. Big time.” Crystal laughed.

“Thank you.”

She nodded, winked at Angel, and turned to leave.
She stopped in the doorway, and turned back. “Hey, why don’t you come
downstairs with me? There’s fresh coffee, and you can’t just sit in this room
all day, you’ll go stir crazy. I know I would.”

“Alright.” Angel followed Crystal downstairs. The
place was deserted, except for a couple guys playing pool.

Crystal led her over to the bar. She picked up a
mug, and poured Angel a cup of coffee. “You take anything in it, doll?”

“Black is fine. Thanks.”

Crystal picked up a bottle from a glass shelf in
front of the mirror on the wall behind the bar. She turned to Angel, holding it
up, and grinned. “How ‘bout a shot of Bailey’s?”

Angel grinned back, and climbed onto a barstool.
“Now that sounds good.”

Crystal set the coffee down in front of Angel, and
tipped the bottle up, pouring a generous shot into her mug turning the black
coffee a lovely café au lait color.

Angel took a sip. “God, that’s good.”

Crystal did the same with her own mug. “Breakfast of
champions.”

“Oh, no, no,
that
would be the one, the only, Bloody Mary.” Angel grinned.

Crystal laughed. “I’ll have to take your word for
it. I hate to admit it, but I’ve never actually had one.”

Angel about spit her coffee out. “You’ve never had a
Bloody Mary? Oh, honey, you’re missin’ out. There’s nothing better than a primo
Bloody Mary. And I do make a mean one, if I do say so myself.”

“Well, then, you’ll just have to make me one, but
I’m pretty sure we don’t have any tomato juice.”

“Oh, we need more than that. Olives, Worcestershire
sauce, garlic powder, pepper, Bloody Mary mix, and of course Celery stalks,
gotta have those.” Angel cocked her head to the side. “Got a grocery store near
here?”

“Great minds think alike.” Crystal smiled, and held
her keys up. “I’ll drive.”

They walked outside, and Crystal walked up to the
driver’s side of an older black Corvette. Although it was older, probably late
seventies or early eighties, Angel noticed it appeared to be in mint condition.
It looked like it had recently had a wash. There wasn’t a speck of dirt on it,
and the chrome rims gleamed.

They climbed in.

“Wow. Sweet ride,” Angel exclaimed as she sank her
butt down in the passenger seat.

“This is my baby. It’s the only good thing that came
out of a four year relationship I had with my last ol’ man.” She depressed the
clutch, and turned the ignition, and it roared to life. She slid the gearshift
into first gear, and pulled out.

“He bought it for you?”

Crystal pulled off the lot, shifting quickly through
second and third gears. “My man had, shall we say, a strong sexual appetite.
Two, three times a day, most everyday, with a few blow jobs thrown in between.
I kept him happy.” She looked over at Angel, and grinned. “So, lets just say I
earned it.”

Angel laughed. “Damn, girl. I won’t argue that.”

Crystal laughed back, and they headed off to the
store for Bloody Mary manna.

*****

About mid-afternoon, Cole came back to the room. He
walked in carrying a leather jacket and helmet.

“Hey, baby,” he said, tossing them down on the bed.

Angel sat crossed legged in the center of the bed
flipping through a hotrod magazine she’d found. Her eyes fell on the items.
“What’s that?”

“You’re getting your wish.”

She looked up at him quizzically.

“You’re coming with us,” he clarified.

“Us?”

“The club is riding up there.”

“When?” she asked, laying the magazine aside.

“Now. We should have enough daylight to make it up
there before dark. The ride won’t be as cold as the other night. You probably
won’t need the jacket, but I’d rather you have it, just in case.”

Angel got up off the bed.

Cole’s eyes slid down her body, taking in the fact
that she was dressed in different clothing. She had on low-cut, faded jeans,
and a skimpy top that clung to her curves, and showed a couple of inches of her
flat stomach. “I see Crystal’s been here.”

She noticed his eyes travel over her, and felt
self conscious
. Tugging on the hem of the shirt, she
admitted, “It’s a little short.”

His eyes skidded past her to the tall glass sitting
on the nightstand. It held some kind of red juice, of which only about a half
inch remained. He stepped over, and picked it up, sniffing the contents.