Angel's Halo: Atonement (Angel's Halo MC Book 5)

by Terri Anne Browning

  “Good.” Tanner nodded. “So, what are we doing here, then?”

  “I told you, you’ll see.”

  He grumbled something low under his breath that I didn’t hear. I was too busy watching for the person I was waiting for to care.

  A few more minutes passed, most of them filled with my brother huffing every few seconds because he was bored, or hungry, or whatever else he could think of to annoy me. He was worse than a kid, unable to sit still for more than a few minutes at a time. He had no patience, which was one of the reasons he got himself into so much damn trouble.

  “Can we get some dinner when you’re done losing your mind?”

  I scrubbed a hand over my face, reminding myself that he was my brother. I loved him. I couldn’t kill him.

  No matter how badly I wanted to.

  Out of the corner of my eye, something caught my attention, and I made myself take it easy, despite the adrenaline now pouring through my veins. Moving slowly, I turned my head, watching the girl who was now walking out of the mayor’s office and heading toward my truck. Watching the way her hair bounced with each step she took in her girlie as hell heels. The way the sun shined off her honey-kissed skin. How her dimples popped out when she saw my truck and smiled that secret smile that made my dick rock-hard.

  Every cell in my body was suddenly on alert, and all I could think about was how soft her skin was going to feel when I touched her.

  “The fuck?” Tanner breathed beside me. “Is that …?”

  “Yup.” I opened my door and climbed out as she rounded the front of the truck. “Hey, girl.”

  Her bright green eyes lit up, her face turning radiant as she threw herself against me. My truck was tall enough that if anyone happened to look out of the mayor’s office right then, they wouldn’t be able to see us together. Not that I figured they would be looking. Once she was out of sight, she was usually out of mind when it came to the people in that fucking place.

  She brought her arms around me, combing her fingers through the back of my hair, making me shiver at her soft touch. “Hi,” she breathed, her lips close to mine, teasing me with the taste of something lemony and sweet. “Miss me?”

  “More than you fucking know.” I lowered my head, brushing my lips over her cheek when what I really wanted to do was kiss that ripe mouth of hers. If I let myself do that, though, I would just be begging for trouble. Mostly because I wouldn’t want to let her go when the time came for me to have to. “Can I take you home?”

  “I wish. But I have an evening class in thirty minutes, and if I’m late, the professor will call my dad.” She lowered her lashes, biting into her naturally pouty bottom lip. The fucking little tease. She knew what that did to me. How hard my dick got for her when her teeth sunk deep into that perfect lip. “Will you call me later?”

  I cupped her neck, tilting her chin up and making her give me her eyes. Those eyes had been the first thing to capture my attention … once I had stopped drooling over her body. “You still got minutes on that new burner I gave you?”

  “I have plenty for now. But I might need more next time.”

  “Okay, babe, I’ll get it for you.” I lowered my head more, rubbing my nose up and down her graceful neck. “Fuck, you smell so good.”

  She was the one shivering now. Then, way too soon, she was pulling back. “I have to go,” she whispered, regret and reluctance dimming her eyes.

  “Be safe,” I whispered back. “Text me and let me know you got there.”

  She nodded. “I promise.” She turned to go, but my fingers caught her hand, pulling her back before she could get more than a few steps away.

  I tucked her head against my chest, breathing in the floral scent of her shampoo.

  “Matt.”

  I closed my eye, mentally yelling at myself to let her go. Fucking shit, I felt like that was all I had ever done with this girl. “Just five more seconds.”

  She wrapped her arms around my waist, holding on tight, giving me those five seconds.

  All too soon, they were over, and she started to turn away again. Then her head snapped around, her eyes darkening. “Please be careful, Matt. I overheard my father talking to the DA. Something is going on. I think …” She swallowed hard and shook her head. “Daddy said they were getting close to making an arrest.”

  “I’ll be okay, babe,” I told her with a wink that had some of the worry leaving her gorgeous face. “Don’t sweat over me, girl. Your pops can’t touch me.”

  She tried to smile, but there was too much pain in them, too many memories. “Yes, he can. All he has to do is use me.”

  I didn’t acknowledge that for truth, even though we both knew it was. “Go, Rory. I’ll call you before you go to bed tonight.”

  I stood there, watching until she crossed the street and climbed into her BMW M2. It was a new car, baby blue, and perfect for the mayor’s daughter. It wasn’t what she wanted to be driving around in, though. No, she wanted to be on my bike, just as much as I did, just as much as I craved her there.

  Only once she had her seatbelt on and had pulled into traffic, giving me one last wave, did I finally get back into my truck.

  My brother’s face was clenched in hard lines. “So, she’s back.”

  I nodded. “She’s been back for about three weeks or so now.” The only reason I hadn’t told my brother was because he had been gone. If I hadn’t broken my hand, I would have been gone, too. I never thought I would be glad I broke the damn thing, but when I looked at it from that point of view, I had to admit it was kind of a blessing. If I hadn’t been in Creswell Springs when she had first gotten home, it was hard to tell what might have happened.

  “Have you lost your fucking mind?”

  “We both know I lost it when she left three years ago.”

  Three years. That was how long it had been since Aurora’s dad had caught her with me. The mayor’s only daughter didn’t belong with a low life with the last name Reid, or so that fucking bastard had told us that night.

  Three years. It was how long it had been since she had been sent away to some boarding school to finish out her last year of high school, and then to who knew where.

  Three fucking years. I had felt like I had lost everything when she had left, but there had been nothing I had been able to do about it. She had been too young, and I had been too fucked up to think clearly.

  Now she was back, all grown up, and I wasn’t about to let her get taken away from me again.

  I would kill anyone who tried to fuck me over this time around. Rory was mine. She knew it. I knew it.

  In the end, I would make sure the fucking world knew it, too.

  Chapter 23

  Raider

  People didn’t like hospitals, but I hated them. Every time I had been at one, it was to get bad news. The death of my mother when Raven was still just a baby. Then my father dying. Death shrouded the place in gloom. The last time I had been in one, it was because of Gracie, and for a few days, it had felt like we were going to lose her, too.

  This time, I was there with Quinn. She hadn’t stopped crying since the call with Colt. When my brother had arrived, he hadn’t wasted time getting her away from me and bringing her to the emergency room. I had followed behind them in Kelli’s car after stealing the keys. She had still been screaming at me as I had burnt rubber, chasing after my brother.

  I didn’t understand anything that was going on. From what I could see, Quinn had just needed a few cuts stitched up. It was nothing that my sister or Dr. Robertson couldn’t have taken care of over at our house. Instead, Colt had rushed Quinn to the ER.

  Without me.

  I had arrived just in time to see two nurses and a doctor hurry Quinn into the back. When I had gone after them, Colt had stopped me at the examining room door, asking me to give her some privacy.

  Everything inside of me had screamed to stay with her, but something on my brother’s face had stopped me. And with her still sobbing, I had stepped back. I hadn’t gon
e further than that, though.

  I had stood there while the nurses came and went, yet the doctor had remained. Every time the door would open, Quinn would still be crying. Every time I looked inside, it was to find her holding Colt’s hand, his face just as grave as the nurses who would return with one thing or another each time.

  She had been in there for about half an hour now, and I was quickly losing my fucking mind. I should have been in there with her, should have been the one holding her hand. Quinn was mine, yet it was my brother who was taking care of her.

  Scrubbing my hands over my face, I leaned back against the wall, mentally praying. For what, I had no idea. All I knew was that I wanted her to be okay. She had to be okay. I couldn’t have accepted anything else.

  Fuck, I had only recently realized what that female really meant to me. I couldn’t lose her now. I refused to lose her.

  Another five minutes passed. My sister appeared as if out of thin air, walking toward me with a closed expression on her face. “Any news?”

  I shook my head. “If there is, no one has told me.”

  She leaned back against the wall beside me, wrapping her arms around her middle as she looked across the hall at the closed examining room door. “I’m sure she’s fine. Quinn’s tough.”

  “I’m starting to realize that.” I twisted my neck from side to side, trying to ease some of the strain in it. “Everything okay at home? The kids okay?”

  “Willa and Flick took them to the clubhouse. Gracie is helping organize everyone for lockdown.” She grimaced. “The only way I got to come here is because Bash is out in the waiting room.”

  “I figured as much.” No way was my brother-in-law going to let his wife run around without someone watching out for her.

  The examining door opened, and the two nurses and the doctor came out. The noises coming from Quinn were driving me crazy. Whatever they had been doing to her in there hadn’t calmed her down at all. If anything, she was crying even harder now.

  I couldn’t stand it any longer. I didn’t care if my brother didn’t like it or not, I couldn’t just stand there when she was crying like that.

  Pushing away from the wall, I went into the room before the door had even closed behind the doctor. Raven followed me, though I didn’t pay attention to anything she did as I hurried to the little bed where my girl was lying.

  Quinn was covering her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably from how hard she was sobbing. Each sound that left her was like a stab straight to my heart. All I wanted to do was comfort her, to make whatever was wrong better. Fuck, I would have gladly taken on whatever was hurting her.

  Colt’s jaw was locked when he looked at me, but he didn’t start yelling for me to leave. He moved away from Quinn’s side, walking toward me and Raven. Taking our sister’s arm, he headed for the door. “I’ll let you two have some privacy,” he muttered in a quiet voice. “If she needs me, just yell.”

  I hadn’t expected this to be that easy, but I wasn’t about to complain.

  I took his place at the head of the bed. Then I touched her shoulder carefully, giving it a gentle squeeze as I lowered my head and pressed my lips to her hair.

  She lifted one of her hands to cover mine, gripping and holding on for dear life. Watching her like this had a lump filling my throat, and my eyes began to burn. I couldn’t remember the last time I had cried, but right then, being so helpless to help her brought tears to my eyes.

  “Sweetheart?” My voice was gravely sounding from the emotion trying to choke me. “Baby, tell me what’s wrong.”

  She lowered the hand still covering her face and finally lifted her head, a small but bright smile on her lips. “I’m okay.”

  The smile caught me off guard. All those tears. Those damn sobs I had heard coming from her would probably haunt me for the rest of my life, yet she was able to smile?

  My own tears dried up in the face of her brilliant smile.

  “I’m really confused right now,” I told her honestly.

  She wiped at a few tears still running down her face. “I’ve been confused for weeks now, so I get it.”

  “Will you tell me why you were so upset?” I cupped her face in one hand, rubbing my thumb under her eye as I looked deeply into them. “Because you were killing me with those sobs, sweetheart.”

  Her lashes started to lower, but before they could close, she snapped them back up. “It’s complicated.”

  I didn’t speak, not knowing what to say to that. Instead, I just stood there, waiting.

  Quinn blew out a long breath. “Okay … But you might not like what I have to tell you.” Her chin began to tremble again, and my fingers contracted on her cheek. Still, I waited. “I’m pregnant.”

  My hand dropped from her face at that whispered confession. For a few seconds, those two words didn’t make sense to me.

  I dropped my eyes to her abdomen, covered with a sheet. One of her hands was lying over it, as if to protect the life growing there from me.

  I sucked in a deep breath, tried to think through all the new crazy thoughts now swimming through my head. Pregnant? Quinn was pregnant.

  The first thought that caught my attention was: how could I have been so stupid to not use protection? That was not normal for me. I had only ever not used it a few times in my life, and only then because I had known it was safe. But with Quinn, I had lost all control. Protection hadn’t even entered my mind.

  The second though was even more mind numbing: is it mine? Then I remembered how tight she had been, how innocent she had been, and all the years she had been patiently waiting for me to stop being so fucking stupid.

  Of course the baby was mine. Quinn wasn’t the type of girl to sleep around with just anyone. I had taken her virginity, had claimed her body as mine that night over four weeks ago.

  Then I remembered what had happened earlier. The bullets, the broken glass, Quinn on her stomach with me on top of her.

  “Are you okay?” My voice was hoarse, full of a new fear and a million new emotions I had never felt before.

  My kid was growing inside this female. We had just gotten caught in the crosshairs of the war that some psychotic Italian wanted to rage on me and my MC. No wonder she had been so upset. I had just found out that I was going to be a father, and suddenly I couldn’t breathe for fear that something had happened to my child before it even had a chance to live.

  She smoothed her fingers over the sheet in a loving kind of way only a mother would do. “I’m good—we’re good.”

  The breath rushed back into my lungs as relief flooded over me like a welcomed tsunami. “Thank God.”

  Quinn’s face scrunched up. “You … You’re glad?”

  “Of course I’m glad. It would destroy me if something happened to you, Quinn.” I touched the hand that had been cupping her face only moments ago to her belly, my fingers covering hers as I pressed both our hands over where I could only imagine our child was growing safely. “I know I haven’t shown it all that well, but I care about you, Quinn.”

  “Oh,” she murmured, her lips pressing together.

  I didn’t know what I expected, but an “oh” wasn’t it. I thought confessing that I cared about her would make her soften toward me. That she would get that look back in her eyes she had always seemed to have in them whenever she had looked at me in the past. I wanted that look back, but it hadn’t been there once since I had been back.

  Had I finally accomplished what I had always stupidly said I wanted? Had I killed her love for me?

  Fuck, I hoped not.

  “Quinn …”

  The door opened without warning, cutting off what I was about to say. I wasn’t even sure what I would have said. Maybe I would have admitted that I didn’t just care about her. That I loved her. Maybe I would have begged her to love me again.

  Kelli walked in with a snarl twisting her face. “You stole my fucking car.”

  I shot her a glare, hating her for interrupting. “You weren’t
moving fast enough.”

  “The Flash wouldn’t have been able to move fast enough the way you were running to chase after Colt and Quinn.” She stood at the foot of the bed, her hands on her hips. “And the cops were at my house. What was I supposed to do? Let them walk in and do whatever the hell they pleased?”

  I shrugged, not giving a shit about her, or anyone else. Except for Quinn. Nothing mattered but her … and the baby. “I don’t really give a fuck.”

  “Of course you don’t.” She rolled her eyes at me then turned them to Quinn. “How are you feeling, honey?”

  “I’m good. The baby is fine, too.”

  Kelli shot me a quick look, as if expecting me to go off at the mention of the baby, but Quinn shook her head.

  “It’s okay. He knows now.”

  “Okay then.” She moved around to the other side of the bed. “Are they going to let you out of here? Or should I run home and get you a few things?”

  “I’m getting released, but Colt said we can’t go home. We’re back on lockdown. We will have to go to the clubhouse.”

  “Great.” She grimaced. “Just where I wanted to sleep tonight.”

  Chapter 24

  Raider

  After what had happened at Quinn’s house, lockdown was in full-force once she was released from the hospital later that night. The clubhouse was packed, which meant very few places for privacy. The one thing I needed more than anything right then with Quinn was privacy.

  “I want you to sleep in my room,” I told her as I turned the Honda off.

  She lifted her head, fighting back a yawn. “Right now, I don’t care where I sleep. I just need a pillow and a blanket, and I could sleep right here if I have to.”

  “You won’t have to.” I reached for her hand, entwining our fingers. I thought I saw something flash across her face, but it was too dark in the car to know for sure. “Stay in my room. With me.”