Kane looked around the room. Waldo helped Ben to his feet, and they joined Noel, one on each side. Family meeting? Absolutely. All they had to do was clench their fists and make like his father. That’s all that family was to him. Or Jeremy sneering when he tried to explain about Angeline.
Angel…
She was his family. The baby was his family. He was a fool to think that he could keep both worlds running, and he started to turn towards the door.
“Bring him to the back.”
Waldo and Ben obeyed Noel’s order, and Kane was dragged through reams of forgotten tape. Flung just beyond Noel’s desk, he sucked the air through his teeth, still chattering, but he willed them to stop and managed to stand. Staring the guys down, he could only think of the lie, hoping it would last a little longer.
“Kane? Why do you make us do this?” Noel asked.
Noel started to reach into his pocket. This was it. Noel probably had a gun, and he would blow Kane away without a second or a first thought. Kane pictured his brains splattering against the wall, hitting the streams of tape. He had survived the joint only to die at the hands of his crew. His family. Angeline had been right to ask him to leave, but now it was too late. But he couldn’t just lie down and die. His bike was right out front. He was free. And Angeline…
“You won’t—”
“Won’t what, Kane?”
Noel revealed his hand, and Kane saw an untouched cigar in his hands. As it came to rest between his fingers, Kane didn’t know what to do with it, but he took the strange gift and shuddered when Noel slapped his hand to his back.
“I—”
“Won’t share the good news?” Noel said. “If your girl is about to keep your name alive, ain’t that something to celebrate?”
Did Noel not really know? He had to know something, but if the truth was still their secret, then Kane had to play along and just party.
“I… yes.”
Gripping the cigar, Kane asked for a light. Noel obliged, and as the butt flamed, Kane took a drag. Avoiding Noel’s eyes, he looked back to Waldo and Ben and shot them a smile through a puff of smoke.
“Let’s have another drink!” Kane said. “Maybe more than one.” Waldo was game, but Ben seemed to hesitate as he rubbed the back of his injured neck. Needing to keep the scene going and hating the fact that he had hurt his friend, Kane stepped forward and tousled Ben’s dreads. “Just caught me off guard,” Kane said. “It’s all good.”
Ben wasn’t buying it, so Kane grabbed his arms. Their eyes locked, and even as Kane still wondered how they all knew, he swallowed hard and forced a smile.
“Sorry, guy,” he said. “But… but it’s my girl. And… and our baby.”
Ben snorted and turned back to the party. Through the tape, Kane watched him drink and take another hit. He seemed fine after the toke. Waldo seemed even better as he drank with the party, and the music started to pound as the girls broke into their moves. Lap dances would soon require more, and Kane saw the redhead with sunken cheeks lowering Ben’s fly. She took him into her mouth, and Ben’s pain evaporated when she sucked his dark cock. Looking over the girl’s pale shoulder’s, Ben’s eyes remained cold, and he buried his head in her auburn locks.
“Don’t blame Ben.”
Noel touched Kane’s arm and turned him back to the office. His eyes were sad, maybe even sorry, and Kane forgot his need to get out.
“Boys just wanted to give you a good time. Before… well…”
Kane was not too far gone that he could not hit the silence and charge towards Noel.
“Well, what?”
Whenever he was alone with him, Kane thought of Angeline. She had been lied to, betrayed, violated under the force of Noel’s false words. He should kill him now, the consequences be damned. A glass rested on the desk. All he had to do was smash it and bring the sharp edge to Noel’s throat. Then, he could run, find Angeline, and—
“Kid, doesn’t every guy want to have his name go on?”
Kane stopped short of shredding him. In his mind and in Noel’s mind, the baby was Kane’s. Their plan had worked. However, Kane had nearly ruined everything. He had to make it right—quick.
“Sure,” Kane started. “But it’s kind of a—”
“Big deal, right?” Noel said. “Let’s talk it out, kid.”
As Kane smoked his cigar, Noel lit a joint and blew the smoke into Kane’s face.
“She’s stopped working,” Noel said, his words more sure than Kane might have liked.
“What do you…?”
“We still keep an eye on her,” Noel said. “Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“But you… you forced her—”
“Come on, kid,” Noel said. “Can you really blame me? Girl’s hot. Who could resist her?”
Kane’s mind immediately raced, causing him to think, “You. You should have.”
“But if you two are okay now,” Noel said, reaching into the desk drawer and bringing forth something better than beer. Slamming a bottle of scotch on the desk, he poured into dusty glasses without ice and offered Kane a sip.
“Come on,” Noel said. “You know you want to.”
Noel drank fast and poured out another. However, Kane held the same lukewarm glass in his hands as the party meant for him, without him, roared in the other room. He heard Ben come to life as he sang and danced with the girls. Ben had always stuck by him. Kane thought back to the time when they had to make a run for it after boosting an electronics store, moving into the night, struggling to carry their treasure until they reached the van with Waldo waiting. Stuffing the contraband into the back, Kane and Ben moved to the front. Waldo’s gut pushed Kane closer to the door, and just when he feared it might explode and send him to the street, Ben brought the van to a stop and smiled.
“We did good,” Ben had said. “Don’t fuck it up.”
Kane had done as much when they returned, ready to sell. If he remembered it right, Noel was angry when he saw that they hadn’t come back with more, but Ben calmed Noel’s impending rage and said that it was a fine haul. Noel seemed barely convinced, but he had relented and told the boys to bring the merchandise inside.
When Noel smiled, it was all good.
Maybe it was still good now.
“So… you looking forward to it?” Noel asked.
He was. He really was. Kane thought of Angeline in bed. He always wanted to stroke her below the sheets. However, it would be different when she had the baby in her arms. Kane would hold them both. He would be a father—a better father than he had growing up.
“Sure,” Kane said, trying to keep it light.
Noel seized the chance, as he took hold of Kane. “She’s gonna pop any second. And… and, kid,” Noel craned closer, focused his entire stare into Kane’s eyes, and said, “I think there’s something that you’re not telling me.”
Kane tried to look away, hoping to see Angeline again, but there was nothing but streams of tape. Kane heard the boys partying, and he wondered what they would do if they knew how Noel had hurt his Angel.
“There is something—”
“There’s everything!”
Losing himself again, Kane forced Noel to the ground. His fingers curled into fists as he started to batter his one-time mentor’s smug face. Noel absorbed blow after blow, but Kane kept hitting. He had no right to touch her. Even if he was on the inside, Angeline was always his. Just the thought of him taking her released a new stream of rage.
Kane slammed his fist into Noel’s jaw as a stray figure passed through the tape. Kane wanted nothing more than to finish the job. He should have done this right after his release, as soon as he learned the truth.
“K Man?”
Ben was at his back. Kane growled into Ben’s face. However, when he saw the friend who he had tried to hurt, Kane remembered all the ways in which Ben had stayed loyal. Everything that Noel wasn’t, and Kane forgot him as he gripped Ben’s arms.
“Guy,” Ben started. “Someone’s trying to call you or something.”
Ben had Kane’s discarded coat in is hands. Seizing it quickly, Kane saw a series of missed calls. Most of them were from Angeline, but then his eyes came to rest on another number and a single text message.
Kane. Please.
It was Jeremy’s number, but these were still Angeline’s words, and Kane started back to his bike. As he ran, he tried to reach Angeline and Jeremy, but now his calls were going unanswered. Something was wrong. Like really wrong.
“Where the fuck to you think you’re going?” Noel asked. He reached for his arm, but Kane brushed him off and mounted his chopper. Before he could push the pedal, Noel tightened his grip as his lips curled into a smirk. “She didn’t put up a fight,” Noel said. “Not saying that wouldn’t have been nice. She do you like that, kid?”
Noel followed his question with a harsh laugh, and Kane thought of how Angeline must have felt if he laughed like that when he made her believe that he was lost to her. However, he was not lost. And he had to get back to—
“Don’t waste your time,” Noel said. “She’s weak. And even it if is my baby, it’s—”
“Shut the fuck up!”
Kane struck Noel, the jagged edges of his torn nails slicing into his skin. Noel knew too much, and he felt the danger growing as he raced away from the clubhouse. He could only think that he’d deal with Noel later. For now, he just had to get back to Angel.
She had to be alright. If she wasn’t…