Brent Wilkins’ limp was nearly non-existent, and while Angeline was grateful for the sight each and every day, it also meant that he was able to bust into her bedroom with fierce speed. His eyes were wild as he pushed towards the bed.
“Dad!” she cried out. “Just wait a—”
But he didn’t hear her; he didn’t even look at her. His furious gaze focused only on Kane. “Get the hell away from her!” Brent bellowed.
Angeline quickly buttoned her blouse and waved her hands frantically in the air; but, her father pushed her back to the bed and drove Kane into the mattress. Her lover struggled against him, but Angeline could tell that even though Kane wasn’t at full strength, he was holding back for her sake.
At least that’s how it felt to her.
“Let him go!” she screamed.
Somehow Angeline pressed her body between them, and she met her father’s stare. The rage in his eyes was replaced by worry tinged with love. She struggled to take hold of his sweating cheeks and assured him, “It’s okay. I want him here.”
Brent’s concern was swiftly replaced by total disbelief.
“You… you want this… this thing?” Brent said. “Why? So, his goons can aim a gun at you again? Maybe finish the job this time?”
He’d never been able to let it go, the threat of their deaths in their former home, the place that Brent had loved so well but willingly abandoned to look after her and Theo. Angeline started to tell him that this wasn’t the same thing when she felt Kane stumble from the bed, and she saw him shaking off Brent’s attack.
“No one’s after me,” Kane sputtered. “I just… I want my family back.”
It was the right word but the wrong moment. Abandoning Angeline amongst the rumpled sheets, Brent was on his feet, every hair on his neck on edge as he charged forward and yelled, “This is my family, you punk!” Brent’s hands captured his neck, and he slammed him against the wall.
“No, Dad!” she screamed, as she leapt towards him and struggled desperately to pry them apart. Kane winced on impact, and Angeline felt his pain as he groaned and clenched his jaw. “He’s hurt!” Angeline said. “Let him go!”
“He’s going to be in a world of pain when I’m done with him!”
Forming a fist, Brent brought his arm back. Clutching his arm, Angeline tried to stop the impending blow, but her father’s sudden strength was too much for her to her to combat, and his hand smashed into Kane’s chest. She cried out as he nearly doubled over in pain.
“Stop this!” Angeline begged.
“Why the hell are you here?” Brent asked.
Kane started to answer when Brent hit him again, this time in his jaw. A small pool of blood burst through Kane’s groaning lips. Angeline had to look away. He had come to her for comfort and solace, and now he was on the verge of enduring another beating on account of his escape. She could not let it happen—not again. “Enough!” she yelled.
Tugging on her father’s shirt, she maneuvered him away from Kane and protectively pressed her back to his chest. Brent was mid-punch, as she grabbed his hand and glared hard at her father.
“You want to hit him again?” she challenged. “Then, you have to go through me.”
Brent was so keyed up that his fist nearly crashed into her blazing face; but, as soon as he realized what he was about to do, he dialed it back. He was still seething as Angeline stared him down. “Stand aside, Angie,” he said in a thick voice.
When she was a little girl and her father used that tone, Angeline was always quick to stop whatever she was doing and retreat to a quiet corner. Although it worked like a charm when she was a child, she wasn’t a little girl anymore. If Kane was at stake, she would risk her father’s wrath.
“You gonna calm down?” she asked, prepared to take only one answer. Gritting his teeth, Brent was slow to stop the heaving in his chest, but as Angeline held her ground, he finally unfurled his fists and took a step back. She sighed softly at the small victory. “That’s better,” she said. Daring to turn back to Kane, Angeline took his face in her hands and examined the fresh mark on his face. “You okay?” she asked.
Kane nodded and wiped his bleeding mouth with the back of his hand. “It’s nothing,” he whispered.
Knowing what he had so recently endured, Angeline knew that he was speaking the truth. Reaching into a drawer, she still pulled out a clean cloth and wiped what was left of the new blood from his face. “I’ll get more ice,” she said.
Turning back to the bed, Angeline was stopped in her tracks by her father, his rage returning as he gripped her by her arms. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Brent demanded. “You’re helping him?”
“Dad, don’t—”
“We’ve had to live like fugitives when he’s the criminal!”
“No,” Angeline said, as she twisted her head. “That’s not who—”
“His boys brought guns to our home,” Brent said. “And now what? We should just welcome him back with open arms like it was nothing. He’s never brought you anything but tears. He’s a worthless piece of—”
She silenced her father with a sharp slap in the face. Having to hit him hurt her more than him, but she was not about to let him rewrite history. The truth of the matter was that Kane was the club’s golden boy before her desperation turned him to a place where he had to languish behind bars and that was the only reason that Noel questioned his loyalty. Tears? Sure. She wept when she thought he was lost to her and hated the sight of herself in the mirror after submitting to Noel’s lies. But worthless? No—not by a long shot.
And if she could get one thing besides Theo right…
“He’s suffered, too,” Angeline started. “And I’m never going to let anyone hurt him again. Even you, Dad.”
Brent started to object and list the ways in which she was making a colossal mistake simply by bringing him into the house, but Angeline wouldn’t hear it. “You will not touch him,” Angeline vowed. “Because I’ll… I’ll…” Now, she had to hit below the belt to prove her point and said, “Because I’ll take Theo and go with him, and you will never see us again if you don’t stop. Now.”
Her father seemed stunned, and a part of Angeline wished that she hadn’t had to utter those words. She loved her dad; so did Theo. But, could she really deny any of them the family that he had carried on his shattered legs for two long years? However, when Kane shuffled back to her side, zipping up his jeans, he lightly touched her shoulders, and she couldn’t think of losing him again.
No matter what.
“You would really do that?” Brent asked. “Leave to go on the run with him? Looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life?”
She tried to speak when Kane cut her off and said, “It… it won’t be like that.”
Both Brent and Angeline looked into his eyes, as he hung his head and spoke softly. “I’ve fixed it so we’ll be okay,” he continued. “Soon.”
“And how the hell did you manage that?” Brent demanded.
Kane sighed as he turned away from their confrontation and gazed out the window. Angeline shuddered again at the sight of his brutalized back. Out of the corner of her eyes, she even saw her father grimace. A trace of guilt seemed to wash over his face when he saw the state that Kane was truly in, but he asked again, “How can you be so sure?”
Kane kept his eyes on the world beyond the glass. He appeared to be lost in the throes of a recent nightmare, and Angeline started to make a move to hold him when Brent held her back and said, “Let’s hear it.”
His bruised back relaxed, and as Kane peered over his shoulder, a small smiled crossed his lips as he said, “I’m sure because I’m dead.”