Seasons of Change (21 page)

There’s a low rumble of laughter from the men behind him. I catch a look between Ryan and his father and a slow smile starts to spread across the older man’s face. It’s a smile that holds no warmth and it makes me want to turn around and run for the hills, but I stand firm, not letting him see how much he’s intimidating me.

“Well you may have something that could be of interest to us,” he says slowly. “Or at least to one of us,” he adds, looking pointedly over at Ryan.

My skin crawls as I realize what he’s saying, and I actually feel physically sick. I hear Jake shouting above the hoots of laughter from the Bleeding Angels.

“That is never going to happen!” Jake bellows. “If you so much as
touch
Aimee, I will end you.” He’s barely containing the anger in his voice. Ryan makes a move to get off his bike, but his father holds up his hand and he stops dead in his tracks.

“It’s the best deal you’re going to get, Winters. I would really think about it before you let lover boy here ruin it for you,” Scar suggests.

“Like Jake said, that’s never going to happen, Travis. Your creepy little son can keep his hands and his eyes to himself,” I say, holding my head high, and I can’t help but feel a little triumphant when I hear some of the Bleeding Angels laughing and Ryan’s face turns red either with anger or embarrassment— perhaps a little bit of both.

“So what are you offering me, sugar? Let’s just get down to it—this little dance has been going on for long enough and I’m getting a little tired. What do you have that you think I might want?” Scar asks, sounding like I’m boring him.

“Money,” I reply instantly. “I have money.”

“No Aimee, don’t do this,” Jake tells me as he spins around, closing the distance between us. “That’s your ticket out of here,” he whispers to me forcefully, his stare intense. “Don't do it. Not for me.”

“It’s not up to you, Jake,” I tell him, shaking my head. “And like I said, I’m not going anywhere without you. I’ll do whatever I have to for you, whatever it takes,” I say, lifting my hand up to touch his stubbly cheek.

“We have money already,” Scar replies dismissively, but there’s something in his eyes that tells me he’s not as disinterested as he’s trying to seem.

“But you guys are running a little low, am I right?” I ask, playing the only card I have left. “The businesses in Painted Rock aren’t making as much, are they? So your cut is getting less and less.” I say, sounding like I know more than I do, thinking back to the night at the diner when Blondie and Baldy refused to believe that we were short on their monthly fee.

“Y’all could do with a little bit of a float, something to keep you all living in the style you’ve become accustomed to,” I joke. “I’m guessing the smack you’re getting isn’t free.”

I raise my voice to make sure all the bikers can hear me, and there’s a low murmur that rumbles through them as it becomes clear that I’ve hit on something that speaks to them: their addiction.

“We do alright,” Scar says, his voice sounding suddenly less certain after hearing the reaction of his crew to my offer.

“Maybe.” I shrug. “Maybe not,” I say, folding my arms to keep them from seeing how my hands are trembling.

The silence stretches out between us and a silent communication seems to pass between Scar and his son before eventually he asks, “How much you got?”

“Enough to keep you all high and dry, if you take my meaning, for the next month,” I say, hoping that I’m right about that.

Scar nods slowly, looking at his crew behind him and he seems to make a decision. “Let me see it,” he says, holding out his hand.

“Not until you agree to leave Jake alone,” I reply, wondering why Scar would think I’m stupid enough to hand over the cash before we’ve even agreed the terms. He’s not known for being the most honorable of men after all.

“You’re not really in the best position to negotiate here, Winters,” Scar reminds me, looking around at the men facing us and I have to admit that he’s not wrong.

“Aimee, don’t,” Jake’s voice is low in my ear but I just look up at him and smile with a confidence that I don’t really feel.

I walk behind me, back towards the house where I’d dropped the bag of cash on the front lawn. I pick it up, feeling the weight of it, and take a deep breath before I turn around and start walking towards Scar.

“Don’t give it to me,” he says suddenly and I look at him in confusion. “Give it to Ryan,” he clarifies nodding towards his son, who grins like a Cheshire cat. I steel myself for the exchange.

Ryan hops off of his bike and approaches me. Before I get too close to him, I hold up the bag for him to take. He looks at me with that leering expression of his and the thin nightdress I’m wearing feels even thinner, standing in front of him. Our hands touch as I hand over the bag and I have to stop myself from physical recoiling at the sensation.

“That’s a good girl,” Ryan says to me, his voice low, and I try to keep my expression blank while I can feel my skin crawling. He looks through the bag, delving into it, and after a short while he looks over towards his father and nods once.

“Alright, looks like you have a deal, little girl,” Scar says, and I can feel all the tension I had been holding inside of me suddenly float away as his words reach me. I can’t believe that we’ve won; that he’s letting Jake go. “We’ll take the money,” Scar continues. “Congratulations. You’ve bought your friend another month,” he says looking between Jake and me like the cat who got the cream.

“What? No!” I shout. I’ve just been tricked.

“No?” Scar asks. “You saying you want to keep the money and for us to take Jake?”

“No,” I say miserably, realizing that I’ve been backed into a corner and that I’m clearly not as smart as I thought.

“You give us enough to keep us happy for a month; you get another month with lover boy over there. Sounds fair to me,” Scar says, spreading his hands out in front of him like he can’t do any better than that.

Ryan is still only a few paces away from me and he closes the distance fast, catching me off guard, his face so close to mine I can smell the rancidness of his breath as he talks. “Be seeing you, Aimee,” he says before he plants a swift kiss on my lips and I’m too surprised to pull back in time. I jerk back and scrub the back of my hand over my lips and spit onto the floor, and there’s a chuckle from some of the boys on their bikes closest to me. Ryan takes a step forward and looks at me with violent intent.

“Stand down, Ryan.” Scar calls out, stopping his son in his tracks, and I use the opportunity to turn around and run back to Jake. He catches me in his firm hold, crushing me to him as if he’s afraid that I might fly away. “Pleasure doing business with you, Aimee.” Scar inclines his head in a poor imitation of a bow. “See you soon Jake,” he adds, his voice full of promise and he cranks the engine of his bike, wheeling around and speeding off onto the road.

The rest of the crew follows suit, and Ryan is the last person on his bike. He looks over at Jake and, for a split second, I wonder if he’s going to disobey his father. But he thinks better of it and guns his engine, speeding away from us without looking back.

I’m in shock as I come to terms with the events that have just played out and I turn around, checking that my mom is doing alright. She’s on the patch of lawn where I’d left her, knees hugged tight to her chest, looking blankly out into the space where the Bleeding Angels have driven off, leaving a trail of dust behind.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” Jake’s voice is harsh, but I can tell he’s still reeling from the emotions of what’s just happened in the same way that I am.

I turn around to look at him, holding onto his shoulders and looking up into his handsome face—at the man that I am hopelessly in love with. “I couldn’t have done anything else,” I tell him. “I can’t lose you.” I lay my head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat in time with mine. “I
won’t
lose you,” I tell him, and I feel his hold around me tighten, pulling me closer to him so that we create one shadow in the early light of dawn.

“You won’t.” He plants a soft kiss on my hair. “I’m not going anywhere,” he assures me, but we both know that’s something that he can’t promise.

We stand like that, Jake and I holding onto each other as tightly as we can, my mother holding onto herself like she’s worried she may break apart at any moment. The silence is only broken by the sound of birds waking up early and the wind in the trees, and all of a sudden there are sirens heading towards us, coming to put out the fire, coming far too late.

The next day, as I pick through the wreckage of the place that was my home, I realize that what I’m doing is pointless.
I’m not going to find anything that we can ever use again. I’m not going to find anything of my dad’s that still has his smell on it, to help me get through the days when things just get too hard.

I’m not going to find the memory box that I’ve been keeping since I was a kid, filled with notes from friends, birthday and Christmas cards from my parents, friendship bracelets that Suzie and I exchanged. All of that was gone now, just like whatever was left between us. Nothing like that could have withstood the heat of the flames, just like our friendship.

I don’t know if I will ever be able to forgive her for the part that she played in all this. In the back of my mind I know that it wasn’t her fault—that she was just doing what she needed to feed the addiction that had taken over her life. But I’m not sure if I’m a good enough person to see past what she’s done. I’d like to think that one day I will be, but only time will tell.

Mom is being looked after by Sally at the Summers’ house, and it seems like she’s slowly coming back to us. It’s baby steps, but we’re making progress all the time. Jonah has taken it upon himself to be her personal doctor, and the sweetness that he treats her with is enough to make even the hardest of hearts sing. I don’t know if she’ll ever be the person that she was before, or even anything close to that, but I have to hope.

Sally had called it a miracle that my mother had started to find her way out of the darkness. I had thought that miracles didn’t happen in places like Painted Rock, but I suppose I was wrong. I smile as I think about Jake and I suppose what we’ve found together in each other is another little miracle, a bit like a flower growing out of the dusty desert. Something beautiful and fragile and all our own.

I wander over the broken and sometimes still-smoldering house, and as I make my peace with what happened here and decide to move on without looking back, as I turn to head back to the body shop where I know Jake will be waiting for me, something catches my eye. I squat down, ignoring the soot that flies up, coating my legs in black powder.

I delve into the remnants of what could have been my bedroom and lift out the object that had grabbed my attention. The photo is curled a little in the heat and there are some soot marks over it, but it’s still easy to see what it is. It’s the photo of Jake’s birthday that I’d found, and as I look at it again I see Sally in heated conversation with Travis, the man that has ruined this town.

Without thinking twice, I fold the photo and stick it into my back pocket. I may not know what it means right now, but I feel like the key to the Bleeding Angels’ desperation for Jake is there. I just have to figure out what it is. It’ll take some time, but I’m going to get to the bottom of it.

There are too many secrets and too many lies in this town. If things are ever going to change in Painted Rock, we’re going to have to start bringing some of them to light. Jake and I will do it together, just like we’ve done everything.

I walk back towards the body shop, my head held higher than it’s been in a long while. We only have a month’s grace before the Angels come for Jake again, but a lot can happen in a month and I’m going to make damn sure that there are some changes. They’re not going to take him, not as long as I have anything to do with it. They’re not going to take him from me. I won’t let them.

Read on for a sneak peek at the breath-taking sequel:
Hearts of Winter

Available soon