Chapter 20

Shane

I loitered outside Satan’s Perch for nearly an hour just to get a glimpse of her, and it was completely worth it.

Dallas looked miles different from the sweet young girl with Broadway dreams that she was when I left Sitka Valley, and I understood why Jake thought I might not recognize her. She’d chopped off her long hair to her shoulders and dyed it black as spilled ink. Her nose had a ring in it, and her once tanned complexion had faded to an ivory hue. She was just as striking, but now she was beautiful in a different way. A fiercer way. She may have followed Wes into the backseat of that limousine willingly, but she didn’t look happy. It made my blood boil to think that she’d been under his thumb all this time. I didn’t believe it at first when Jake told me she was with Wes, that she had been since his dad chased me out of town. I couldn’t believe that she would enter such a relationship willingly, which made me wonder what was going on behind the scenes.

I couldn’t think about it for now. If I did, it was only going to make me angry, and when I was angry I wasn’t smart. I wanted to help Dallas and the only way I could do that was to be smart.

I watched the limo sail off and then walked back to where I’d parked my bike. It felt good to ride around these familiar streets, even if there was potential danger at every corner. The fact that someone might recognize me at any second was a little exhilarating. I spent my entire exile looking forward to coming back and exacting my revenge, and my proximity to both Dallas and my goal was a rush. I couldn’t wait to kick Wes’s ass, both for what he did to me and what he was still doing to Dallas. Preston too. I didn’t have a clue how I was going to fix this, but I would have to try. First order of business was figuring out what exactly there was to fix since I didn’t know what Gromley had on Dallas that would compel her to be his pet.

The only person I could safely ask was Dallas’s father, which was convenient since I had a hunch it had something to do with him. It was late, so I headed straight for Randall’s house. The trip took me past Keane’s Bikes on the way, and I was surprised to see the lights still on in the auto shop. I parked my bike around back and banged on the back door, where he was most likely to hear it.

A couple of minutes later, Randall unlocked the door and opened it a crack.

“What do you want?” he asked, glaring at me. “I paid this month already. If Tommy ran off with the money I gave him, that’s not my fault.”

A second later, Randall’s eyes filled with recognition.

“Shane!” he hissed. “Sorry about that. I thought you were one of Gromley’s. Shit, come in, come in.” He opened the door wider and enthusiastically gestured for me to enter.

Once inside, Randall locked the door again and led me down to his office. We passed the shop doors, and I saw a bike on the jack, tools scattered around on the ground. He was working at this hour?

“What are you doing here?” Randall asked. “Did Gromley have a change of heart? That doesn’t seem like him. It’s good to see you, either way. Really good. Do you want a beer?”

We stepped into his office, and I took a seat by the wall. It was a lot tidier than I’d ever seen it, no stray paperwork cluttering the desktop, not a dirty coffee mug in sight.

“I’ll take a beer,” I said.

Randall nodded and grabbed two beers from the mini fridge in the corner, handing me one. I cracked it open and took a drink.

“Gromley has no idea I’m here, and I’d be grateful if you didn’t tell him,” I said.

“Of course I won’t.” Randall cracked his beer but didn’t drink. “A lot’s changed since I last saw you. I don’t even know where to begin.”

I did. “What’s this about paying this month? Do you owe him money?”

All the light that had risen in Randall’s eyes fell away. He sagged down into his chair and spun to face me, sighing.

“There is nothing I regret more in this life than getting involved with that shady weasel,” he said. “One minute I was taking out a small loan, the next I’m up to my neck in debt with no end in sight. My daughter...she hates me. I don’t blame her. She spends almost all her time with the Gromleys, either cozying up to them or dancing at their club, and never makes a cent of her own. I’ve been working day and night but it’s going to be years before I can pay Preston back, and I have a feeling it’ll be too late by the time I do.”

“How much money?”

Randall winced. “Just over a hundred grand.”

I whistled and took another sip of beer. “That’s a tidy sum.”

“Don’t suppose you’re a billionaire now, are you?”

I laughed. “Would that I were. I’ve done okay for myself, but I’m still just a military man with unfinished business.”

“Unfinished business?” Randall cocked an eyebrow. “You’re not telling me you’ve come back just to get some revenge on Gromley, are you? You’d be better off trying to battle global warming with a handful of ice and an Al Gore DVD. Take advice from somebody who knows—you made it out of this town in one piece, and you’re better off staying that way. Just leave. Go be happy somewhere else. Is your pride worth losing everything?”

“If it were just my pride, then I would,” I said. “But there’s something much more important at stake.”

“Like what?” Randall’s brow furrowed in thought, then his eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “No! Shane, if you came here with the intent of helping us get out of the mess I put us in, you can get right back on that bike of yours and go back to a place where things make sense. There is no helping us.”

I took a long draw of my beer and examined his expression. He meant it. Randall believed they were a lost cause.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “There has to be something I can do.”

Randall shook he head. “I’ve tried everything. Even though he obviously duped me and everything he does is shady, everyone in Sitka Valley is on Preston’s side. He’s practically a god here, and he’s only gotten more powerful since you left, now that his son’s in on the family business with him. The only thing I can do is keep my head down and continue working away, and maybe that’ll be enough.”

“That’s grim.”

He shrugged. “Welcome to my reality, son.”

“I don’t subscribe to your reality.”

“Then you’re going to get yourself killed.”

I frowned into my beer and Randall set his on the desk, sighing. I looked up, and there was warmth in his gaze.

“It means a lot that you’d risk your biscuit to come back for her. She was devastated when you left, and not just because her daddy’s mistakes got her a new boyfriend that she despises. But I know my girl, and I know she’d rather go down fighting than see someone she cares about get hurt trying to save her.” He chuckled. “She’s her mother’s daughter in that way.”

“How can they do all this?”

Agitation rippled under my skin. Framed like this, the situation did seem hopeless, but I refused to believe that.

“She’s not a piece of meat. Wes can’t just put his stamp on her because you owe his father money. It’s not right.”

“Of course it’s not right,” Randall acknowledged. “We’re insurance on each other, you see. I pay my bill every month, and nothing bad happens to her. They know that she’s the only thing I’ve got. Otherwise, I would’ve hit the road a long time ago. I tried to, in fact.” His eyes grew sad, distant. “I tried to get us both out of here, but it was no good.”

“What happens if she leaves?” I asked.

Randall chuckled bitterly. “If Dallas leaves before my debt is paid, I’m dead, and she has to take over the rest of the debt. Simple as that. That’s as good as guaranteed that she’ll stay with Wes for the rest of her life if they want her to.”

My hand tightened on the beer until the can buckled. A little liquid sloshed down the side, and I took a deep breath.

“Sorry,” I said. “I just...I just can’t believe it’s this bad.”

“Believe it.” He shrugged. “I had to accept the hopelessness of it a long time ago, or I would’ve gone crazy.” He winked. “I might still.”

“Randall, I’m going to do everything I can to help you and Dallas,” I told him.

“I believe that you’ll try,” he said. “I just wish I could believe that you’ll succeed.”