Angel's Halo: Avenged

by Terri Anne Browning

  “What the fuck?” I muttered as I parked my bike and ran up the rotting steps to the tiny porch and kicked my way through the locked trailer door.

  Three heads snapped around, a mixture of fear and fierceness on their faces at being startled. Raven, Flick, and Kelli all stood over a groaning body on the nasty living room floor. Lord knew what was on that dank-smelling carpet, but none of it was good. Raven was breathing hard, her face flushed with exertion. Her green eyes were wild, and she glared at me like she was debating making me her next victim.

  Because whoever that was on the floor was most definitely her first. All I could see was a plethora of hair, chunks of which hung from my baby sister’s fists. Fists that were cut and bleeding. The screams had obviously come from the girl on the floor, but I didn’t know who the fuck she was.

  “What are you doing here?” Kelli demanded, stepping closer to my sister as if she thought Raven needed protecting from me.

  “I was worried about you and came to find you. What the fuck are you three doing?” I stepped into the living room, taking up what little room had been left by the four women. Looking down, I still couldn’t tell who my sister had been beating the shit out of. “Who the fuck is this?”

  Raven made a growling noise in the back of her throat, but otherwise reminded silent. When the girl sobbed something unintelligible, Raven kicked her in the back so hard it knocked the breath out of the girl.

  “You should just go,” Flick advised, blocking my way when I would have bent to turn the girl over. “We have this under control.”

  “What the fuck do you have under control?” I yelled at them. “You’re beating some girl to death and won’t tell me shit. Who is she?”

  “You know who she is,” Kelli assured me, her eyes emotionless. “Now let us finish this.”

  That gave me pause. Who was the girl…?

  Fuck.

  Bubbles.

  There was no other reasonable answer for any of this. There was no one more deserving of the beating either. But what the fuck happened after Bubbles got what was coming to her? Who the fuck was going to clean this mess up?

  “What are you even doing with my sister?” I demanded. “You three are going to get caught doing this shit, and then what?”

  “We’re not going to get caught,” Flick said. “We know what we’re doing.”

  “And if you kill her?”

  Raven’s laugh was full of malice and tinge of mania, and it scared the ever-loving fuck out of me. My baby sister wasn’t someone I ever wanted to come up against in this mood, especially not in some rat-infested abandoned trailer park with no one around for miles to help me.

  “Oh, I’m going to kill her,” Raven vowed, making Bubbles whimper in fear. “But first, I’m going to make her bleed.”

  Bending, she grabbed another chunk of Bubbles’s hair, ripping out a handful of strands as she shook the ex-sheep. “I promise to do to her exactly what she did to me. Did you think you could walk away from me? That I would let you live after nearly costing me my son?”

  “P-please,” Bubbles sobbed weakly. “I’m s-s-sorry.”

  “Oh, honey. I know you are. And you’re about to be even more so.” Straightening, Raven stomped on Bubbles’s face with her boot, making her scream in agony as Raven crushed her nose and probably her cheekbones as well.

  “Raven, you should have let Bash handle this,” I complained. “Now I’m going to have to find a place to bury her body when this is over.”

  “No, you won’t,” Flick answered for her. “We’ve got this all under control. Try trusting us for once.”

  “Good to see I’m not the only one he’s so suspicious of,” Kelli drawled in a bored tone. “If he trusted me, he wouldn’t even be here right now.”

  I glared at her. “I trust you with my life. I don’t trust you not to walk away from me.”

  “Yeah, you probably shouldn’t. Because I’m leaving in the morning.”

  Those words in that emotionless voice of hers made my stomach bottom out, but I saw a flash of something in her eyes that had me holding back a grin. She wanted me to beg, show her that she meant more to me than everything and everyone else. I would take the challenge and show her whatever she needed to know.

  But first, I had to clean up the mess these three were making together. I was pissed at them all, but it was nothing compared to the insanity that would ensue when Bash and Jet found out what their females were doing.

  “What exactly are you going to do when you’re done with her?” I asked my sister, crossing my arms over my chest as I stared her down. “You can’t burn this place down because it will bring all kinds of attention out this way. You don’t have a grave dug… Or do you?”

  “We aren’t doing either of those,” Raven said with a simper.

  “So, what’s the plan, then, smartass?”

  She kicked Bubbles in the back of the head so hard the girl vomited. “Let’s discuss that after I’m done here, ’kay?”

  Scrubbing my hands over my face, I walked away from them. Standing in the tiny-ass kitchen area, I watched for the next hour, keeping my ears open for any sign of life outside the trailer over the screaming and crying coming from Bubbles.

  The bitch was getting everything she had coming to her, and I wanted her dead just as much as anyone else in my family. I didn’t want these three to have her blood on their hands, but I grudgingly understood why Raven wanted to be the one to play Angel of Death tonight.

  When it was over, and Bubbles stared lifelessly up at the ceiling, I debated calling my brother and brother-in-law as Flick stepped outside to retrieve something from Raven’s car. The explosion that was going to erupt when Bash and Jet found out about this was going to be of atomic proportions.

  Flick was gone less than two minutes before she was walking through the door with a large plastic storage container and several bottles of what looked like acid.

  Oh shit.

  I should have figured Flick would use a tried and true method her own cousin employed whenever he needed to make a body disappear. How she knew that, however, I had no clue. It wasn’t exactly common knowledge how Ciro Donati disposed of his enemies.

  Moving forward, I went to help them, but a glare from the three of them stopped me in my tracks. “Fuck,” I grumbled as I leaned back against the rotting kitchen counter and watched them put Bubbles in the tote and pour the liquid acid over her dead body.

  After putting on the lid and snapping it into place, they removed the protective gloves they had pulled on. “Good thing it’s winter,” Flick said as she wiped the sheen of sweat off her brow with the back of her arm. “Otherwise, it would smell twice as bad as it already does.”

  “Okay, geniuses. What’s the plan for the barrel of human goo?” I demanded, pushing away from the counter.

  “Leave it here,” Flick suggested. “That way, when the senator sends someone looking for her, he will know not to fuck with us again.”

  “Yeah, it’s not like he’s going to go tell the cops what happened,” Kelli agreed. “No way he’s going to want anyone to know that he was involved with Bubbles. Plus, the only one he will think did this is me.”

  “Shit, I didn’t think of that.” Flick frowned down at the tote. “Maybe we should dispose of this, after all.”

  “No,” Kelli urged. “Let him know. There’s nothing he can do to me now. My mom is taken care of, and it will finally cut the last of the ties we have to each other. Calvin needs to know I’m done with his games.”

  “In that case, let’s make sure there’s not a single thing left here that can lead back to anyone specifically,” Raven advised. “No footprints, fingerprints, hair, or tire tracks.”

  Groaning, I pushed them all out the door. “Just go, Raven. I’ll clean up everything.”

  Raven and Flick went on out the door, but Kelli paused and looked back at where what was left of Bubbles sat. “Don’t move it,” she commanded. “Seriousl
y. I want him to know.”

  I caught her by the waist and pulled her in close. Lowering my head, I kissed her quick and hard. “Go back to the clubhouse and don’t do any more stupid shit tonight. Wait for me, Kelli. We have to talk.”

  Her jaw clenched as she pulled away, but she didn’t give me an answer as she walked out the door. I waited until both cars were gone before wiping away any traces of the three other women and myself, making sure not to overlook anything.

  Once everything was as it should be—plus the liquified body currently turning to ice in the quickly dropping temperatures, I called my brother.

  “Meet me at the clubhouse. ASAP.”

  “What’s going on?” Jet demanded.

  “Just meet me there. It’s about our females. Make sure Bash is with you.”

  Chapter 14

  Jet

  The phone went dead in my ear, and I dropped my hand, wondering what the fuck was going on. What kind of trouble had Flick and Raven been getting into that would make my little brother call and have us come home? He knew what we were doing up here. Knew how long it would take us to get back.

  My silence drew the others’ attention. “What?” Bash demanded, seeming to feel the tension that was already rolling off me.

  I shook my head, staring down at the half-dead body still tied to the old chair. Boomer was barely hanging on, and once Matt was finally done with him, he would soon be in hell where he fucking belonged. “Matt, you okay dealing with the rest of this with Dutch and catching a ride back with him?”

  “Yeah, we’ll be fine. Why? What’s going on?”

  I scrubbed my hands over my face, feeling the day’s worth of stubble. “Something’s up with Felicity and Raven. We gotta go.”

  “We got this,” Dutch assured me. “I’ll drop him off on my way south. Got a bounty that needs running down headed toward Mexico.”

  Bash was already walking out the door. A last contemptuous glare at Boomer, and I was following him to the SUV. As soon as I was in the passenger’s seat, Bash didn’t let me stay quiet about the phone call I’d gotten.

  “What the fuck is going on? What did Colt want?”

  “Just said we needed to get back. Something went down with Felicity and Rave. Then he hung up. At this point, it could be fucking anything.”

  The drive was a long one back to the clubhouse as both of us were tense. With service so bad out this way, it was a wonder Colt had been able to get through to me. The few times I tried to call Flick, I couldn’t get through from the lack of signal. With each passing mile that got us closer to Creswell Springs, my nerves tightened a little more.

  It was after just after two in the morning when we pulled into the compound parking lot. Colt was leaning on his bike, a mug of coffee in hand as he waited for us. I glanced around, expecting to see both Raven and Flick, but neither was present. The quietness of the night contrasted with the noise in my head, and I was ready to tear the answers from my baby brother.

  “What the fuck is going on? Where are they? What the hell happened?”

  Colt grimaced as he glanced around to make sure no one was nearby. Stepping closer, he lowered his voice. “Rave and Flick went with Kelli tonight. They lured Bubbles to that old abandoned trailer park outside of town.”

  “Fuck,” Bash groaned. “Why didn’t you say that to begin with? We need to go up there and clean up their mess.”

  “It’s taken care of. They played it smart. Raven made some comment about watching too many Breaking Bad episodes with Spider a few years back. Whatever the fuck that means. But they pulled some Ciro shit and liquified Bubbles in a cheap plastic tote.”

  My gut twisted at the thought of Flick being a part of something like that, even as pride for her swelled in my chest. Fuck, she had me all kinds of screwed in the head.

  “What did you do with the tub?” Bash demanded, still agitated.

  “They told me to leave it to send a message to the senator when he comes looking for Bubbles. I cleaned up to make sure there was no proof we’d been there and left her where the senator wouldn’t be able to miss her.”

  “Goddamned motherfucking females,” my brother-in-law growled as he turned toward the front door of the clubhouse. “What the fuck was she thinking?”

  We didn’t even try to stop him, knowing that whatever happened between him and Raven, our baby sister deserved. We knew he wouldn’t put his hands on her in violence, so we knew she would be fine. Instead, I met my little brother’s gaze.

  “You know you’re going to have to keep an eye on Kelli from here on out, right? The senator dickhead is going to know now whose side Kelli’s on. She won’t be safe.”

  Colt’s fingers turned white as he gripped his coffee mug tighter. “Yeah, I know. I’ll take care of her.”

  I scratched at the scruff on my chin, considering how to say what I needed to say. Finally, I blew out a long breath and dived in. “I think Kelli is a good asset for you to have. She’s smart, feisty, and it’s obvious now that we can trust her. Fuck, she had to know that she would be the one this whole Bubbles thing would fall on, yet she still helped Felicity and Raven set it up. Regardless of what some of the other brothers might think, I say keep her around. Maybe wife her.”

  A ghost of a grin lifted at his lips. “That’s my plan. I just gotta make her see that we can trust each other now.”

  I nodded, understanding the hard road he might have ahead of him. All in all, I was just thankful I’d gotten Flick back and could now climb into bed beside her. “I’m going to go deal with Felicity. You should head to bed yourself. Work this shit out with your ol’ lady.”

  “Good luck. I’m more concerned for Bash right now, though. Rave scared the piss out of me back there tonight. Girl is vicious.”

  A grin snuck up on me as I headed for the front door. It wasn’t a bad thing that he was scared of her. If anything, it meant I didn’t have to worry about her at all. I was the one who raised Raven, and if she was making grown men scared of her, then I must have done a few things right.

  The lights were off in our room when I opened the door, but Flick was sitting up in bed watching television. Seeing me, she tensed, but she didn’t say anything as I shut and locked the door. I took my time crossing to the bed, enjoying watching her squirm even as I hungrily ate up the sight of her.

  Every damn day, I thanked God for bringing her back to me. Maybe I’d forced her hand a little getting her back originally, but I gave her the chance to walk away again, and she’d chosen me. I was a lucky bastard, and the only reason I was even remotely pissed at her now was because something could have gone wrong and taken her away from me all over again. Forever.

  I shuddered at the thought of losing her as I dropped down onto the bed beside her.

  For several long minutes, she remained quiet as I just sat beside her, watching her, waiting. When the tension in her shoulders seemed to snap, she mumbled a curse and glared at me. “I’m not sorry.”

  “Of course not,” I agreed. “Why should you be?”

  “Exactly. So why did Colt go tattling on us?” she grumbled, crossing her arms over her luscious tits, pulling my attention to her chest and the fact that she was only wearing a thin-ass nightgown that barely covered her beautiful, ripe body.

  My body hardened at the sight of all that perfection just waiting for me to surrender to her, and I fought back a smile at how young she sounded. “For having had a hand in killing a bitch tonight, you act awfully innocent, my little Felicity.”

  I heard the small hitch in her breathing at my using her given name and not “Flick.” I hadn’t called her Flick in months now, and she still reacted the same way every time she heard me say her name. “You’ve had a hand in making sure I’m anything but innocent,” she said with the smallest hint of a smile teasing at the corners of her mouth, her voice husky and seductive.

  I wasn’t sure if she was doing it on purpose to distract me, or if she just didn’t understand h
ow hard she could make me when her voice lowered like that. Grasping her by the waist, I pulled her across me, making her straddle my hips as I leaned back against the headboard. Her tongue darted out, dampening her full bottom lip, and I had to shake my head to clear it.

  First things first, then I could attack the mouth that belonged only to me.

  “I know how smart you and my sister are. Together, you two could flip this entire world upside down. But there are forces out there that could turn on you in the blink of an eye. Any number of things could have gone wrong tonight. Fucking Bates could have been patrolling out that way and seen you. That goddamn senator could have had Bubbles followed.” My jaw clenched at the endless possibilities that filled my head, and my voice came out hoarse when I spoke again. “Don’t do this shit again, love. If something happened to you, I would be nothing.”

  She cupped each side of my face in her soft hands, her lips lightly grazing across my own. “I’m not making any promises. I have your back every second of the day, but I also have Raven’s. Tonight, she needed me.”

  I knew that, and I loved that about her. Flick’s loyalty to those who meant something to her was unbendable. But it didn’t stop me from imagining all the things that could have gone wrong. “Next time, take me with you. If you two don’t want Bash there, I can respect that. But I need to be there with you. I need to be there to guard your back. Understand?”

  Her nose brushed over mine. “Yeah, babe. I understand.” She lowered her head, touching her lips to my ear. “And now I want to talk to you about something important,” she breathed.

  “Anything.”

  “Two somethings, actually,” she murmured, shifting her lower body so that her pussy was cupping my cock right between her folds through the silky panties she was wearing under that pathetic—albeit sexy—excuse for sleep clothing. “First, I don’t want to get married until all of this stuff has calmed down. Once Enzo is taken care of, then we can have a wedding. Deal?”

  I groaned as she rocked against me, and I would have agreed to anything then and there. “Deal,” I choked out.