Salvation (Angels Halo MC Next Gen Book 1)

by Terri Anne Browning

  Chapter 8

  Ben

  I drummed my fingers impatiently on the steering wheel as I waited for the others to arrive, glaring out into the darkness because I just wanted this shit over with.

  Beside me, Mayor Jenkins sipped his coffee calmly, trying to ignore my chaotic energy when we both knew he was just as anxious for this to end and to get away from me in the mood I was currently in.

  Lexa had been gone for over a week. On top of my not being able to see her, she still hadn’t unblocked me, and every text I sent was kicked back. It was driving me crazy—this need to see her, to touch her. To just fucking be near her.

  Things were already in motion to get Campbell taken care of, but I needed the MC to be on board with it too. I had no choice but to ask Jenkins to use his connection with the club to set up this secret meeting. Which brought us to now, the two of us sitting in my personal truck waiting on Bash Reid and whoever else he happened to bring along to have this chat with me.

  Finally, I heard the roar of motorcycles in the distance and wrapped my fingers around the steering wheel. My first reaction as I saw the four motorcycles pull into the old trailer park off the beaten path was to jump out of the truck and knock Bash the fuck out. I knew he was the reason Lexa was in New York and not there with me. He was why we weren’t together, and I wanted to tear him apart limb by limb.

  But that would only push Lexa away more; that much I knew. So, I squeezed the wheel until my fingers went numb as the bikers turned off their engines and casually climbed off them.

  Jenkins opened the passenger door and got out, greeting the four men like they were family, while I took my time opening my own door and stepping out.

  As I slowly walked toward them, I noticed the other three with Bash. Masterson was on his left, with Hawk and Jet Hannigan on his right. I was taller than the two Hannigans, but just as wide as Masterson and Lexa’s father, so their size didn’t even begin to intimidate me as I reached them and met their glares one at a time.

  “What’s this about, Jenks?” Bash asked the mayor as he crossed his arms over his cut.

  “Ben needed your ear,” the old man informed him. “And I think you’re going to want to hear everything the boy has to say.”

  “Doubtful,” Masterson said with a snort.

  Hawk stepped forward. “Let’s give the kid the chance to speak.”

  I wasn’t surprised he was the most reasonable of the group. His wife was a killer defense attorney, but outside of court, she was one of the sweetest women I’d ever met. I didn’t mind so much getting raked over the coal fires of hell by her on the witness stand because I knew how much time she put into volunteering at the local women’s shelter just outside of town. Hawk acted as the shelter’s muscle part time, and I’d been called out to help with a couple disturbances in the past few months.

  “I’ve got a connection at the attorney general’s office. I called in a favor, and Royce Campbell is being investigated. Starting tomorrow, every election he’s ever campaigned in to become DA will be scrutinized…along with other things.”

  My announcement seemed to stun all four men because they dropped their menacingly crossed arms and just stood there blinking at me.

  “Hold up,” Jet said after a few seconds of dazed silence. “First of all, you realize this will stir up all kinds of shit for you at work, right? Campbell is a vindictive motherfucker. He’s going to make your life miserable if he ever finds out you’re putting his position at risk.”

  I shrugged. “If he finds out, he finds out. I’m not worried about it. But this investigation is secret. Other than the investigator, the only people who know about this are the six of us.”

  “Okay. Second… Why the fuck would you do this? We all thought you were working with that little bitch to get dirt on us. You were using Lexa…”

  “Shut your fucking mouth!” I roared, taking a step closer to him, making everyone tense. “I would never use her. I don’t give two goddamn fucks about what you and your club do as long as you’re not stirring up shit around here. You keep spreading that shit and filling her head with it, and I’ll cave your head in.”

  Jenkins put a hand on my arm, trying to tug me back, and I breathed deeply through my nose, trying to clear the red haze that was blinding me.

  Jet surprised me by laughing, not in the least bit worried about what I could—and would—do to him if he kept running his mouth. “Point made, Sheriff.” He nudged Bash with his elbow. “Looks like this boy is all right.”

  Other than a grunt, Bash was quiet for a long moment, his eyes so much like Lexa’s drilling through me to see beneath to my soul. “Do you really care about my daughter, Davis?” he finally demanded.

  “Sir,” I told him, looking him straight in the eye. “I think I love her.”

  “Love?” he muttered, skeptical. “You’ve known her for all of, what? Two weeks? And half that time, she’s been in another state.”

  Masterson cleared his throat beside him. “Don’t knock it, man. Just because you eased into loving Raven doesn’t mean love can’t come that quick. You know how it was for Willa and me.”

  “But she’s just a baby,” Bash growled. “Barely nineteen. And he’s what? Fucking thirty?”

  “Age is only a number,” Jet told him with a shrug. “Besides, at least he’s not trying to sneak around behind your back. He’s man enough to tell you to your face he’s in love with the girl.”

  The MC president’s face tightened, and I suspected that his brother-in-law was throwing some serious shade at him. Muttering vicious curses under his breath, Bash turned on his heel and walked back to his motorcycle. Bellowing those same curses up at the sky, he threw his adult tantrum while I stood there with the other men.

  “Should we be aware of who the special investigator is?” Hawk asked, ignoring his brother-in-law.

  “I don’t even know who it is,” I told him honestly. “It’s better for everyone if no one is aware of who they are, so they aren’t getting added attention drawn in their direction.”

  “Understandable,” he said with a nod. “Whatever you find out, though, we would appreciate it if you kept us informed. And if you need anything, just say the word. Someone will make it happen.”

  “And him?” I lifted my chin in Bash’s direction. “Do I need to watch my back with that one?”

  “You want to fuck his daughter. What do you think?” Smirking, Hawk thrust his hand forward. “Don’t worry about the father-in-law. He will come around. We did after he snuck around with our baby sister for fuck knows how long. This is just karma coming back to bite him in the ass.”

  As I shook Hawk’s hand, I tightened my grip around it and asked the one question I’d been aching to know all week. “How is Lexa?”

  His brows pinched together. “You haven’t spoken to her?”

  Releasing his hand, I stepped back with a shrug. “She blocked me. I haven’t spoken to her since before she left.”

  “She’s good,” Jet answered for him. “She will be coming home next Sunday.”

  “That’s more than another week away.” I swallowed my groan, wondering what the fuck I was going to do until then. I needed to hear her voice, damn it.

  “Son, a week ain’t nothing. You’ll survive.” Nodding his head at me, Jet walked over to his bike.

  The other two followed, but I stood there, waiting, knowing this wasn’t over.

  Seconds later, Bash proved me right as he stomped back to me and poked me in the chest with his index finger. “I won’t stand in your way anymore, but it’s her choice. If she wants you, she can fucking have you. But if she doesn’t, you respect that and leave her alone.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And you come to me if shit gets too tight with Campbell. You might not care what happens to you, but people in this town already know about you and Lexa. That puts a target on her back if Campbell wants to go after you.”

  Fuck, I hadn’t even thought of that, but I should have.

&
nbsp; “If he even looks at her wrong, he’s a dead man,” I vowed, my voice laced with all the rage that wanted to be given free rein.

  Bash relaxed slightly, his blue eyes assessing me thoughtfully before he dropped his hand and stepped back. “You break her heart, I’ll break your neck,” he warned before walking away.

  As the four bikers rode away, Jenkins slapped me on the back, a smile on his wrinkled face. “You won that war, boy. Now what are you going to do?”

  “Wait for my woman to get back so I can tell her she’s mine.”

  Chapter 9

  Lexa

  “Are you sure you feel up to taking all of this on, honey?” Mom said as she handed over the keys to all the companies she took care of.

  For as long as I could remember, Mom had kept the books for all the MC businesses. From Uncle Spider’s tattoo shop to the construction company owned by my dad’s cousin Tanner and his wife, Jos. That included the Hannigans’ bar as well as Dad and Trigger’s garage.

  “Mom, I’ll be fine,” I assured her as I bent and hugged her.

  From the moment she’d gotten home from the hospital that morning, she’d been trying to do everything all at once. It had taken Dad carrying her to bed—and Uncle Jet and him standing over her threateningly to keep her there—to get her to take things easy like her doctor had said after her full hysterectomy the day before.

  Since she’d agreed to her doctor taking everything, we’d been told that the risk of her cancer cells spreading was low, but she would still have to undergo chemotherapy treatments. Dad and I had been relieved it was only three sessions, until Dr. Weller said they were the strongest treatments possible.

  Which meant Mom was most likely going to be so sick, she wouldn’t be able to work for a while. After talking it over the night before, I told Dad I wanted to take over more of Mom’s responsibilities. Which included the accounting books for the other MC-run businesses—at least, the legit businesses. I knew there was no way any of them was going to let me look at the books that weren’t supposed to exist.

  “I know you will, but this is a lot for you to have to take on, Lexa. You should be enjoying your summer off before you have to head back to school.” Her voice turned sad, and her green eyes filled with tears.

  Those tears felt like acid being poured right onto my heart. “Mom…I was going to wait until I had everything finalized, but I dropped out of Oregon and enrolled in Trinity. I got my acceptance letter in my email last week.”

  If I thought my announcement would dry up her tears, I was wrong. “Really?” she sobbed. “You’re going to stay?”

  “You’re not happy?” I asked, feeling tears start to fill my own eyes.

  “I’m th-thrilled,” she cried, putting her face in her hands. “I miss you so much when you’re that far away.”

  “Mom…” I hugged her again, but I glanced at Dad for help over her shoulder.

  His face was tight, his hands balled into fists at his sides, and he couldn’t hide the tears in his eyes. This was killing him just as much as it was me. Mom was so strong, and now her emotions were all over the place, completely out of her control. Dr. Weller had told us this was likely to happen, but I hadn’t really given it much thought. Mom didn’t cry at the drop of a hat. Hell, until recently, I’d rarely ever seen her shed a tear.

  Beneath me, she felt small and fragile, and I eased the pressure of my hug, afraid I might hurt her if I wasn’t more careful. But before I could straighten, she wrapped her arms around me, showing me she still had that same strength I’d always relied on. “Thank you, baby. It means so much to me that you’re going to be home from now on.”

  A light tap on the door was followed by Aunt Flick coming in with a tray of soup and sandwiches. Walking over, she ignored Mom’s tears as she placed the tray across her lap and then opened the bottle of pain pills on the bedside table.

  “I don’t want those,” Mom complained, wiping her eyes as she glared at the little brown bottle. “They make me loopy, and all I do is sleep.”

  “Good,” Dad growled, half under his breath. When she shot him a hard look, he shrugged. “You have to stay ahead of the pain. You might not feel any now, but you will soon. Please don’t torture me by having to watch you go through that.”

  Her beautiful face softened, and she held out her hand for the pill Aunt Flick offered. Popping it into her mouth, she swallowed it with a drink of the juice on her tray. “Happy?”

  “For now.”

  While they were distracted, I quickly made my getaway. Walking down the hall to my bedroom, I grimaced when I saw my case full of dirty clothes along with all the new ones I’d bought while in New York. None of them had been purchased by me. Between Anya Volkov and Theo’s mom, Victoria, I hadn’t had to spend a single penny of my own money, even though I’d protested that they didn’t need to buy me anything.

  The two women hadn’t taken no for an answer, though, and I knew it was because they thought I was going to be a part of their family soon if they had their way.

  Unfortunately for them, this was one thing they wouldn’t be getting their way on. Theo and I were just friends, and that was the way it was going to stay. Not only because I still hadn’t figured out how to turn off what I felt for Ben in the more than two weeks I’d been away from him. But because Theo had his own relationship issues that I wasn’t about to explain to either his aunt or his mother.

  Placing my keys by my phone, I started sorting through my case. I hadn’t unpacked when I got home Sunday evening, too anxious about Mom’s surgery scheduled for Monday morning. Then we were at the hospital all day, and I hadn’t gotten back to the house until late last night. I wouldn’t have left when I did, but Dad and the rest of the family had insisted, and I’d driven Max to Tanner and Jos’s before coming home and crashing.

  There weren’t just new clothes to be dealt with, but some new makeup and even a few pieces of jewelry. The makeup, I was sort of happy about. After Victoria taught me how to contour to minimize the appearance of my scar, I’d actually started pushing my hair back from my face. I’d never been one to wear a lot of makeup, but after a few lessons, I seriously didn’t recognize myself without the scar being so glaringly obvious now.

  Once the dirty clothes were in my hamper, I hung up all the new ones and then grabbed the keys and my purse before heading out. Mom had given me her schedule of when she did each business’s books, and today was Aggie’s normal time.

  The parking lot was crowded when I pulled in and tried to find a place to park. The only spot was at the back of the lot near the dumpster. Gagging at the stench coming from all that trash basically cooking in the sun, I hurried into the diner.

  As soon as I opened the door, Aunt Quinn was there, asking me how Mom was feeling.

  “She’s emotional today. And stubbornly not wanting to take her pain meds, but Dad is watching her like a hawk.” I held up the keys to the file cabinet where Mom kept the diner’s account books. “Hope you don’t mind. I’m going to be taking on some of Mom’s jobs until she’s back on her feet.”

  “No, no. Of course not. You go on back to the office, and I’ll bring you something to eat.” She was practically pushing me toward the back now, and I laughed at how strong she was for such a small woman.

  “I’m not all that hungry,” I tried to assure her, but she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “Okay, okay. But could I use the bathroom first?”

  Sighing heavily, she paused and nodded. “Yeah. You might as well. You’re going to see it eventually anyway.”

  “See what?” I mused, brows lifted at her.

  “He’s in the back,” Aunt Quinn said, as if I should know who “he” was. “And he’s not alone. He hasn’t been alone for over a week now.”

  “He?” I muttered, but something clenched in my gut, and I knew exactly who she was talking about—even if I wanted to pretend I didn’t.

  “Just put on a smile and don’t let him hurt you,” my aunt commanded as I walked around her.


  As I rounded the corner that would take me to the bathroom, I spotted him right in the back. He sat facing the rest of the hungry lunch crowd, but his full attention was on the person sitting in front of him. At my first sight of him in over two weeks, I felt my stomach tighten, and I ached to go over and sit beside him. To tell him how much I’d missed him.

  To just be near him.

  He had more than a few days of scruff on his jaw, and I wondered if he was growing out a beard. I liked it on him. A lot. And I couldn’t help imagining how his facial hair would feel against my cheek when he kissed me. But the dark circles under his eyes distracted me from that train of thought, and I couldn’t help thinking he’d been getting about as much sleep as I had during the time I’d been gone.

  Then the person he was with shifted, and all I saw was a cloud of lustrous blond hair. My concern for Ben died a sudden and painful death as I watched her put her hand on the one of his that was wrapped around his mug of coffee, just as I heard a husky, flirty laugh come from her. And he didn’t pull away. My gaze zeroed in on her touching him, and what Aunt Quinn said earlier finally made sense.

  “He’s not alone. He hasn’t been alone for over a week now.”

  Did that mean he was with the blonde now? As in with her, with her?

  Whatever the blonde was saying had Ben’s lips lifting in a half smile, and I felt like someone had punched me dead center in the chest.

  When I left for New York, I’d gone to clear my head and put what I was feeling for Ben into perspective. I hadn’t really thought about what he would be up to while I was gone. He seemed so into me, the thought of him moving on while I was away just didn’t enter my head.

  But it should have.

  Because obviously, he had.

  Suddenly, I couldn’t quite catch my breath. He’d moved on so easily, while I’d been losing my mind just trying to stop thinking about him twenty-four seven. The guilt I felt only mounted each day because I couldn’t stop what I was feeling, and I felt like I was letting everyone in my family down because of it.