White Lies (Blood Brothers MC Book 1) (4 page)

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?”

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.”