Eagle

I knock back a second double shot of whiskey and turn just in time to see Angel leave the meeting room. She steals my breath. Something indescribable happens inside of me. Everything just clicks. That hollow feeling that never went away after she died is instantly gone and replaced by longing. I’m seeing her for the first time again, the same fifteen-year-old at the beach who on the outside seemed like every other girl her age, not a care in the world.

Except it wasn’t true. She was as lost as I was. I recognized the sadness in her beautiful eyes back then, just like I do now.

Most people belong somewhere. When I met Angel, she told me she always considered herself a guest in her home. The girl never took anything or anyone for granted. How could she? No one stuck around long enough to give her a chance to.

“Eagle?” She takes a seat at the table closest to the doors.

“You all right?” I ask.

She wrings her hands and then folds them on the table. “I made a real mess of things, I think.”

I want to go to her. I need to. But rules are rules. She’s untouchable until Tonsils gives the okay. That’s the deal I made with him. I plead insanity for the sex thing—even though my body is humming with desire again. I could stay between her sweet thighs forever. My mind and heart are too tangled up in the past and present—caught between Angel and Serafina. And even if they rule in her favor, can we ever get back what we shared? Can I ever fully trust her again?

“What have you been doing for the last six years?” I ask all of a sudden.

“Hiding,” she says, without looking at me. “Dreaming of you. Loving you. Wishing I could take back everything I chose to do. Especially after I saw you at Lazaro’s.”

I try to swallow the lump in my throat.

“What about you, Eagle? What have you been doing all this time?”

Suicide mission are the first words that come to mind. “Existing,” I say. “Coasting along without really paying attention to anything. Missing you. Mourning you. Trying hard as fuck to find a way to join you.”

Gorgeous brown eyes take me in. “You wanted to die?”

“I wanted to be with you, Angel.”

“There’s no easy way to fix this, Eagle. I can’t stay here. Bear will freak out if he finds out I’m alive. Everything I cared about is gone. Even you.”

She’s so wrong. “Where’s the brave girl I knew? The one who would fight for everything she believed in?”

Still staring at the floor, she sighs. “Gone.”

I can’t take it anymore. Fuck the rules. I jump up and storm across the room. “Angel.”

She lifts her head but doesn’t really look at me. “Please, Eagle. I’ve heard enough tonight. Innocent men are dead because of me. Anything you say will be like rubbing salt in my wounds. If the brothers set me free, will you let me go?” She finally meets my gaze.

I can’t get past the fact that she saved herself for me. This beautiful woman, who could have any man she wants, loved me enough to stay true to our past. Can I let her go? Fuck no. “I don’t know. But I can tell you this, you might have every reason to stay, Angel. Think about that while I’m gone. Running away doesn’t settle anything.”

The doors open and Blue nods at me.

“I need to talk to the brothers now,” I say.

She acknowledges what I said with a sigh. Sam steps out to keep watch over Angel. I hope she convinced them that what she did was motivated by love for the club. Otherwise, her future is bleak.

Grim faces greet me as I close the doors and look around the meeting room. What the fuck happened in here? “What is it?”

Tonsils stares at me for a long moment. “The Dead Dogs need to die. Sick motherfuckers.”

The hair on the back of my neck stands on end. “Tell me.” I walk to the end of the table and sit next to my vice, knowing what he’s about to say isn’t good.

“Angel is innocent,” he informs me first. “As innocent as they come.” He hands me a cell phone. “Scroll through the pictures.”

I do, pressure building in my chest as I take in the images of Angel’s mother in various states of unconsciousness with her son jamming a needle in her arm. “What is this shit?” I drop the phone on the table, deeply troubled, unsure what I’m looking at.

He explains.

I shake my head, trying to keep my cool, regretting how I treated Angel’s mother at the cemetery. Nothing is what it seems. Why didn’t I see it before? Reggie was a fucking monster who deserved to die. And so does Bear.

“There’s more,” Tonsils says.

I fist my hands and stand up. “What?”

No matter how MCs are perceived, there’s one thing the Iron Norsemen don’t tolerate, and that’s child abuse in any form. The Dead Dogs need to die. Their charter needs to be disbanded. “Blue.” I look at our treasurer, still trying to keep my rage in check. “Find Allison Giles. Do whatever it takes.”

“Got it.” He leaves the meeting room.

“This is a mess,” I say. “We’ve ignored the epidemic of drug dealing in this town far too long. Even Lazaro Mendoza doesn’t shit where he sleeps. Our deal with him involves money from the international market—nothing to do with his activities in the states.”

We’ve turned down dozens of lucrative partnerships that involved drug running. Even prescription pills. Holly Beach is a haven. I grew up here and I plan on dying here, too. That’s the benefit of living in a place like this. The Iron Norsemen have the power and connections to protect our little city from scum like the Dead Dogs.

“What about Angel?” Snake asks.

“I claim her as my old lady.” The ultimate compliment for any woman who lives the MC lifestyle. Angel will be off limits to any other man.

Tonsils, Charlie, Snake, and Big Ben look at me with deep respect.

“I forgive her for the mistakes she made.”

They all nod in agreement.

“Angel Orani is my old lady now. I expect all of you to protect her and treat her like she’s family. Like she never left us.”

“What about the old ladies and prospects?” Charlie asks.

“Call a family meeting. No kids, though. I want everyone here, even the passarounds. Angel Orani gets resurrected tomorrow.”

No hesitation. I want Angel so bad I can feel her all over me. I can taste her. The only obstacle? Convincing her she belongs with me, with us. The girl did what she thought was right and necessary to protect this club. A selfless act that took a lot of guts for a kid. A brother with a trustworthy old lady is the luckiest man in the world.

“For now, no one outside this charter can know Angel is alive. Contact her friend in Texarkana and get her down here. She’ll need protection, too.”

Tonsils shakes my hand and slaps my back. “It’s good to have you back, Eagle.”

Yeah, I’m back with a vengeance.