White Lies (Blood Brothers MC Book 1) (12 page)

“You know what he did for us… for me, Dad,” Angeline started. “He sacrificed everything. How can you be so—?”

She stopped when Brent gripped his cane tighter. For a second, she wondered if he would use it on Kane, on his bike. But to her surprise, he simply limped closer to Kane.

“Thing is,” Brent continued, “I’ve gotten used to her company. Night after night.”

Brent sadly glanced back at his daughter.

“But I guess… no.”

He took Angeline’s shoulders and softly kissed her cheek.

“Her sentence is over, too.”

Angeline relaxed at the realization that he was not about to give their savior a hard time and stretched to tips of her toes to hug him, to whisper into his ear.

“You were never a prison, Dad,” she said. “And I don’t even know why he’s here.”

Brent pushed back with a laugh.

“I do,” he said. Extending his hand, Kane took it slowly. After a single shake, he looked at the bike.

“Just be careful,” Brent said. “Both of you.”

They stood in silence as Brent limped back to the house. Once the door was closed, Angeline was hesitant to face him. What lies had Noel spun now? Would he hate her for coming between them? Still, this might be another chance to explain.

“Kane, I—”

“No.”

That word felt like a death sentence.

“Not here,” he said. “Let’s take a ride.”

She recalled the first time on the back of his
chopper
, trembling as he hoisted her to the back. It was the night when he had brought her into his world, and she wanted to ride the air again, feel the wind in her face.

And hold him.

“You remember what to do?” Kane asked.

Easy as riding a bike…

Wrapping her arms around him, she felt the motor pulsing around her thighs and held on tighter as he sped off into the night for parts unknown.

As they rode, Angeline dared to rest her head against his back. He wouldn’t be here if he didn’t believe her. Had Noel failed? She had to hope for that. If he would just give her the proper chance, she could make Kane believe everything.

As the bike stopped, Angeline lifted her eyes. Trees swayed, and her heart swelled with new hope. Could he be after a new beginning? He had already done more for her than she had any right to ask.

Could they really turn back time?

“Here,” he said. “Let me…”

Angeline sank into his strong arms and pressed her palms to his broad chest. When they were together, Kane had pulsed around her and groaned into her neck. She liked that. Liked the feel of him satisfied against, around her flesh. They didn’t need words when he lingered inside her and stroked her sides. It was a scene just for them, and Angeline felt it coming back.

Then he broke character.

“We should really talk,” Kane said.

He eased her away from him and held her at arm’s length. It was the last place that she wanted to be, but she swallowed and resolved to meet him on this new playing field.

“If that’s what you want.”

“It’s what has to happen.”

Taking her hand, Kane led her to a soft place below one of the many trees, and they sat. Her nails traced the surface of his palm, and she every curve of his flesh filled her mind. It was like he had never left, but it wasn’t supposed to be like this. Their reunion had seemed destined to be a promise of everything that they would finally share.

This felt like her last chance to touch him. Fearing that she would remain trapped in memories, images and feelings that would intensify by way of their distance, Angeline gripped his hand tighter and held her breath.

“What do want to talk about?” she asked, her voice knowing and sad.

“You were at the clubhouse today?” he asked.

Again, she couldn’t lie.

“I… I was looking for—”

“And you saw Noel?”

She wished that she hadn’t, wished that she had never met him. Kane could have kept her safe if…

If she hadn’t bent the rules for her father. Everything came back to her.

So here they were, time fixed in the present, no way of going back.

That was her fault, too.

“He… he didn’t hurt you again?” Kane asked. “Did he?”

Impossible as it was, Angeline silently prayed that that he had heard, that he believed her side of the story.

“No,” she said, losing herself in his dark eyes. “Not again.”

Kane grimaced and turned his bruised face away from hers.

“But he did,” Kane said. “He…”

When he couldn’t finish his thought, Angeline felt the agony in his touch and lost his eyes as they clenched shut .Even with his hand in hers, she felt like this was losing him. And vile as Noel was, Kane needed something to hold onto.

“I… didn’t say no,” Angeline said. “I couldn’t even speak. So if you have to be angry, you can be that with me.”

Kane peered into her eyes, his face morphing into a mask of torment, and she waited for the blast. Here was where he would leave her. He believed Noel’s version. Why would he believe in her? She had meant nothing but lost years and hard time.

“Should I be angry with you?” he asked.

Angeline wanted to tell him no, that her heart had always had been and was still his. But Noel might have made him believe otherwise, and she ducked her head.

“Never. But...”

She was back in the place where Noel ran his hands over her body. Nothing that she had liked or even wanted, but it had happened. And Kane had a right to be furious with her for the supposed betrayal.

“But I should have known that you wouldn’t leave me,” she said. “I shouldn’t have been so weak.”

Kane cocked his head and touched her chin.

“You?” he asked. “Weak?”

She wasn’t. She had been tricked. It wasn’t her fault. Not Kane’s fault either. Angeline started to remember everything that she had known when he was with her, presented her, protected her. She wasn’t weak; she had been lied to. Both of them betrayed.

“No,” she said. “But it still happened.”

She couldn’t lie to him.

Angeline bowed her head and awaited his inevitable departure. She had confessed, and this would be the end. Five long years leading to the goodbye.

“But it’s not what you wanted, right?” he asked.

Hope bloomed in her chest, and Angeline found his eyes again. Soft. Kind of sweet. Unable to speak, she only shook her head as he released her hand.

Then he pulled her into his arms.

“Kane—”

“Shhh.”

His hands studied her face, seeming to memorize each curve, every pore, and Angeline tuned her eyes back to his.

“I saw it,” Kane said. “He can force a girl to do anything.”

Angeline was nearly back in the space of being complicit, and she started to turn away. She had barely made a move when Kane pressed her close and breathed into her eyes.

“I won’t force you,” he said.

As Kane’s lips beckoned, Angeline tried to ask him if this was real.

And then he stilled her with the force of his kiss.

Kane tasted different. Sad. She had done that. But as their tongues entwined, she basked in the familiar feel of his arms and drew him deeper into her embrace.

“I want that,” she said.

Sighing into her hair, Kane reached under her blouse. His hands found her breasts, tense, and she followed his lead, brought his hands closer to her body.

“I want you, Kane. Only you.”

He kissed her again as he pressed her into the grass. The blades mingled with her hair as he eased the blouse away from her sides. Not a rip. Never a rip. This was him, and as her bra fell away, she waited for him to lean forward and bathe her breasts.

It was a short wait.

“Angel…”

As he suckled her breasts, Angeline tensed as his tongue started and stopped around her nipples. He stayed like that until his tongue found her lips again.

The she sighed.

“Just let me come home,” Kane said.

This was what she had wanted to hear, what she had needed. A single chance to get him back. But her unintentional sin might still be more than he could stand. She—

“My sweet Angel.”

Angeline breathed hard. She had no hope of speaking when his arms surrounded her quivering body. She was lifted off the ground to the place when she was on top of him. Looking down, she brushed her hand across his face as he kissed her neck.

“I missed you, Kane,” she said. “I missed you so—”

Before she knew what was happening, Kane pressed her back into the grass.

“Not as much as I missed you,” he said.

As he brought his mouth to hers, Angeline’s doubts fell away, and she stretched closer.

To taste him again.

“Kane, I—”

She started to tell him all the ways in which she had been lonely, desperate to explain her betrayal away. But he stopped her speech with a new kiss, his head twirling just below her tight throat.

“Look into my eyes.”

She found his gaze and waited. In silence, Kane traced the outline of her face. As his finger fell to her mouth, Angeline parted her lips and ran her tongue around his flesh. Somehow his sigh lifted her from the ground. Grabbing his face, she desperately kissed his mouth, his cheeks, and he winced when her eager lips crashed into one of his many bruises.

“Oh!” she cried. “I’m sorry. I—”

“Stop,” Kane ordered. “I don’t want you like that.”

She sank back to the grass as he pulled off his shirt. His muscles rippled in the moonlight, and she saw his crew’s insignia curling down his left arm. But there was something new. His right shoulder bore some crazy cursive, and she gasped as she reached for the new ink.

“When did you—”

“In the joint,” he whispered. “It’s for you. You like?”

Now Angeline’s eyes brimmed with tears. He had served her time. A lesser man might have grown bitter, his heart filling with hate as the days slipped into months and then years. But Kane came out the other side with her name, with
Angel
branded on his skin.

Just as he was still on her heart.

As she slowly nodded, Angeline felt his hands running up her legs. He gripped her thighs, and she happily writhed around his touch. All the time apart seemed to fall away as he kneaded her tender flesh. She found his hand and held him closer to her body. Kane drifted back to her mouth, kissed her hard, and she sighed as his touch moved between her legs.