Rain Shadow Book 3 Read online

  “Stupid bitch,” Gunner muttered as he rolled off of me.

  I laid there in too much pain to move. Gunner’s fingers wrapped roughly around my wrist, and I cried out as he yanked me to my feet. Blood trickled from my chin onto my t-shirt and blood from my knees was pooling along the top of my boots. There was a flicker of sympathy in Gunner’s cold eyes, but it passed quickly.

  He pulled me along. “That was your own fault, Angel.”

  The other club members were climbing onto their bikes as we reached the parking lot. They stared at us as Gunner yanked me harshly along. Some I recognized. Some I didn’t. A few looked rather sheepish about the whole thing, as if they weren’t too excited about being accomplices in the kidnapping of Dreygon’s granddaughter, but Gunner was in charge. And no one questioned him.

  I pulled back on his hand. “Wait, my backpack.”

  He seemed to consider leaving it behind.

  “Please, Gunner.”

  “God, you’ve always been the biggest pain in the ass.” Gunner had always taken on the part of mean and bossy older brother, but now he’d added a new layer of cruelty to the role. Dreygon had been the cause of that. He dragged me over to the backpack, and I picked it up.

  “Hold on.” He grabbed the bag and unzipped it. He reached inside and first yanked out a pair of my panties and held them up with a grin. I pulled them from his fingers. He reached back inside and pulled out the textbook. Then he handed the bag back to me. I stuffed my panties back in and zipped it up. He held me tightly as if we’d been cuffed together. He stomped over to the trash can on the sidewalk.

  “No!” I cried as he dropped the book inside. “Please, Gunner, I won’t use it as a weapon again.”

  He ignored my pleas, and once again, pulled me along like a toy on a string.

  “Climb on,” he pointed to his bike.

  I pulled on my backpack, threw my leg over and sat down.

  “Rick, what time have you got?”

  “Twelve thirty.” I’d known Rick for a long time. He was Jericho’s age and had been with the club since he was old enough to ride with his dad and uncle. He was still the ruddy faced, nervous twitchy guy I remembered, but he’d always been kind. I was sure that if his dad hadn’t been a respected member of the club, Rick would never have made the cut. I always figured he’d have been better off if he hadn’t made it.

  Rick couldn’t look me in the eye as he climbed on his bike. The others followed.

  Gunner climbed on in front of me. He reached back, roughly grabbed my hands and yanked them around his waist. “We’re heading back to our meeting place. Everything has just turned in our favor, and this little treasure tucked in behind me just earned me the president’s patch.”

  Chapter 5

  Luke

  “Whoa,” Seth looked up from the computer screen as I walked inside the house, “someone has his angry boy knickers in a bunch. What happened?”

  I scrubbed my hair back with my hand and paced the small kitchen floor. Dirty dishes and empty beer bottles littered the tile counter in true Barringer brother fashion. Gage had left earlier that morning, and Seth had decided to stay until his next gig. I walked up to the blank space of wall next to the fridge and looked over at Seth. “Are these walls made with drywall?”

  The unexpected question raised Seth’s brow. “Uh . . . I want to say . . . yeah.” Confusion still marred his face.

  “Just checking.” It was the same fist I’d slammed into the brick-filled wall at the office, and it was still plenty sore. But this time, my knuckles made a satisfying hole.

  “Nice.” Seth got up from the computer and walked to the kitchen. He reached in to the drawer and pulled out the kitchen towel with the red and green rooster print. It had been Mom’s favorite and, tattered and worn as it was, my dad had never had the heart to toss it. He filled the towel with ice from the freezer and handed me the makeshift ice pack. “I’m assuming that hole isn’t the start of a remodeling project.”

  I threw the ice pack on the counter. I wasn’t in the mood for first aid. I walked over to the couch, flopped down and dropped my feet onto the coffee table. “Carson won’t file a missing person report on Angel. He says she’s an adult who left home on her decision, and no one has reported her missing.”

  “Kind of makes sense, don’t you think?”

  I covered my eyes with my forearm. “I don’t want fucking sense. I want Angel. She belongs with me.” I dropped my feet down, too wound up to relax. I sat forward and scrubbed my face with my uninjured hand. “She’s out there totally on her own. I’m sure she doesn’t have much money.” I smiled thinking about how selfless and passionate Angel was about everything. “She probably took more precaution to make sure the animals were well cared for in her absence than to prepare herself for going out into this ugly world alone.”

  Seth sat down across from me. “The way you’ve described her, she’s super smart and resourceful. She’s a survivor. She’ll be fine until you find her.”

  I shook my head. “You don’t understand. Her world is different than ours. The MC world has some really vicious, ruthless people. Just look what happened to Dex and me. Angel is the granddaughter of a club president. She’s not safe. I need to find her, Seth. I swear I’m going to go fucking nuts just thinking about her out there by herself.”

  “Well, let’s do something about it. Do you have any pictures of her?”

  I shook my head. “Just the picture I have in my head. I can remember every detail when I close my eyes as if I am looking straight at her.”

  “Unfortunately, your mental images aren’t going to help us.”

  “Angel never used a phone.” I thought about how truly isolated she was in that damn compound, this amazing girl stuck behind stark cement walls with no outside friends. “Wait, Jericho, her best friend, used a phone. He’s got to have pictures of her. I know where we might find him. Are you up for it?”

  “Hell yeah. Getting bored sitting here stalking Victoria’s Secret models online all day.”

  I looked over at the laptop on the table. “Is that my department issued computer you’re using to troll kinky websites?”

  He paused. “Maybe.”

  “You’re going to get me fired. Anyway, there’s a place where Jericho hangs out near the compound. It’s called Mickey’s. It’s not foolproof, but I know he used to head there with Cash all the time. Cash is the guy who let me go and who just got put in witness protection, but there are a few girls at the bar that Jericho was seeing.”

  “A few?”

  “Yeah. He reminds me a lot of Gage but with less temper. I’ll buy the beer. Oh, and the last time I was there I started a massive barroom brawl, so I might have to tip the owner a few twenties just to let us sit there.” I was feeling better just knowing that I was doing something other than sitting in the house waiting for some miracle to drop Angel into my lap. “You game?”

  “Beer, female patrons and the possibility of a brawl— I’m past game. I’m starting the fucking car. But let’s hurry, I’ve got a date tonight.”

  “You’ve been here six days, and you’re already lining up dates.”

  “Uh, yeah, been looking at scantily clad women all day, remember?”

  I picked up the keys, and we headed out.

  Seth closed the door behind us. “So, is this a department sanctioned activity like my porn perusal?”

  “Shut up and let’s get out of here.”

  ***

  “Holy shit, there’s Chance,” I pulled to the side of the road and then backed up to the small farm nestled behind a long stretch of tumbleweeds and sagebrush. Four horses stood grazing on a mound of hay in a pipe corral and one was Angel’s horse, Chance. Just seeing her horse made my heart beat faster. Angel was going to be back in my life soon. She had to be.

  “Who’s Chance, and why are we stopping to see him?”

  “See that massive black horse out there?”

  “He’s hard to miss.”

  “Tha
t is Angel’s horse.” I got out of the car and Seth followed. “Not sure who owns this farm, but they must know Angel. There’s no way she would leave her horse with a stranger. She was crazy about that animal.”

  We headed down the roughly cleared path that had been packed hard by truck tires. An old Ford pick-up was parked in front of the run-down house. There were two dresses and a petite pair of jeans hanging on a clothesline. A goat stood beneath the line craning its neck and stretching out its mouth in an attempt to nibble the hem of the dress as it fluttered in the warm breeze. The horses lifted their heads as they heard us approach. Chance stared our direction and then whinnied and trotted to the side of the pen.

  “That horse knows you,” Seth said.

  “Yeah, but it’s not me he’s so excited to see. He thinks Angel is with me.”

  A woman stepped out onto the porch with a rifle in her hand. “Do you two need something?”

  I elbowed Seth to raise up his hands like me. “We’re not here to cause any trouble,” I said. “I’m a friend of Angel’s, and I saw Chance from the road. Hope you don’t mind that we stopped.”

  She contemplated my explanation for a second and then lowered the barrel of the rifle to the ground. She stepped off the porch and headed toward us. “The way that horse came running toward you, I figure you must be telling the truth.”

  I stuck out my hand. “I’m Luke Barringer, and this is my brother, Seth.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Seth said.

  “I’m Kathy.” She glanced toward the road. “Is Angel with you?”

  “No. I was hoping you might know where she went. I’m really worried about her.”

  “Flim-flam,” she yelled, “get away from that clothesline!” She picked up a rock and chucked it at the goat, and it skittered away. “Angel came here about a week ago and told me to keep an eye on Chance for her. I knew something was up. She used to ride over here to let Chance visit with my horses, but she always returned to her grandfather’s place afterward. She had her backpack, and she headed out of here on foot. She went north once she got to the highway. Haven’t heard from her since.”

  “Do you ever talk to Dreygon or any of the people at the compound?”

  “Nope, never wanted to. That Angel was a doll though. I always felt bad for her.”

  “Yeah. Well thanks for your help.” I walked over to Chance and patted his neck. “I’m going to find her, Buddy, all right?”

  We headed back up to the car and got in. “Shit. That didn’t help much.”

  “At least you know now that she headed north.”

  I sighed and slumped back against the seat. “Why does this seem so fucking impossible?”

  “Because she could be anywhere?” Seth offered.

  I glanced over at him, and he sensed my irritation.

  “What?”

  “You’re not helping.”

  “Hey, I’m here, aren’t I?”

  I pulled onto the road. “Yeah, you are, thanks. Although I suspect that has more to do with the free beer than for lending support.”

  “Now what kind of thing is that to say? My brother’s happiness is my happiness.”

  “Right.”

  “No, seriously, Luke. I know you’ve been through a lot, and I can tell this girl is really important to you. I’ll do anything I can to help you find her. But I’ve got to tell you, I’m a little worried about you winding yourself so deeply into this MC world. I don’t know that much about them, but after what happened to Dex and you, it feels like you’re really messing with dynamite.”

  I laughed. “Dynamite, shit, I’m not messing with dynamite. I’m messing with fucking nitroglycerin. One wrong move and it’s all over.”

  Seth slid his sunglasses from his head down to his eyes. “I sure hope she’s worth it.”

  “There’s no question about that, Seth. No question at all.”

  The lot at Mickey’s was empty, but it was still early. The owner was sitting in one of his booths drinking a soda and reading a magazine as we walked inside. The open door was the only source of light in the place. The walls and floors looked even darker than I remembered, but then, this time, Angel wasn’t standing in the center of the room casting her radiant glow over everything.

  It was obvious that Mickey was trying to remember where he’d seen me before and then it became even more obvious when it came back to him. With his massive frame, it wasn’t an easy task to slide quickly out from the booth, but he put up a damn good effort. The table nearly turned on its side. “You,” he said gruffly, “do you know how long it took me to clean this place up after you started that biker war in here? I’m still scraping blood off the felt on the pool tables, and two of my most expensive pool cues were broken.”

  I pulled out my wallet. “I apologize for that, Sir. Please allow me to compensate you for some of the damage. I only have a hundred in my wallet, but if you write down the address, I can send you a check.”

  The offer of money smoothed the ridges in his forehead, and he snatched the bill from my fingers. “This should be fine,” he said sheepishly, as if he now regretted the rude greeting. “What can I get you two?”

  “A pitcher and two glasses, please.”

  He nodded and went behind the bar to get the beer. I walked over and sat up on the bar stool. “Hey, have you seen Jericho yet today?”

  My question stopped his task. “Haven’t seen any of them in a few days. Why do you ask?” He squinted suspiciously at me, and I put up my hands.

  “Promise, I’m not here to start trouble. And, in my defense, the other guy threw the first punch that night. Jericho’s a friend.”

  He seemed convinced and finished filling the pitcher. “Hey, Amy,” he called to someone in the back, “is Jericho coming in today?”

  The girl I’d seen Jericho with the night of the bar fight poked her head around the corner of the backroom. She had a sweet spray of freckles across a button nose that was completely inconsistent with her sultry, plump lips. She looked at Seth and me. “Who wants to know?” She stepped out of the doorway. “Hey you’re that guy, Reno. You’re Angel’s honey.”

  Seth raised his brows at me. “Reno?”

  “It’s a long story. Yeah, that’s me. Have you seen Jericho? Do you think he might show tonight?”

  She reached back and pulled her phone out of her pocket. “I can call him.”

  “That’d be great.” I was so preoccupied with finding Angel, I stood there like an idiot watching her dial Jericho, completely forgetting everything that had taken place on my last day at the compound.

  “Hey, Sweetie, I’m over at Mickey’s and that guy Reno is here. Says he wants to talk to—” The spray of freckles crinkled up along her nose as she listened.

  And that’s when I remembered. “Oh, wait,—” I said.

  She lowered the phone and looked at me. “Jericho says you’re dead.”

  “Yeah, about that.” I reached for the phone. “Do you mind?”

  She shook her head. “It’s all yours, but you look pretty good for a corpse.”

  “Richo, it’s me. Are you alone?”

  “Nope, not at all, Amy. What the fuck, Amy?”

  “Is the old man nearby?”

  “You bet. Where are you, Baby, I think I should come see you. I’m in need of a good fuck.”

  “Uh, you might be laying it on a little thick there, Dude.”

  “Well, hell, Amy, I just didn’t expect your call, if you know what the hell I mean.”

  “Guess it was a bit surprising. Why don’t you head over to Mickey’s. I won’t promise you a fuck, but I’ve got a pretty good story for ya.”

  “All right, Sweetie. I’m on my way.”

  “Right. Oh, and Richo, leave the old fart at home.”

  “Yep.”

  Mickey and Amy stared at me as if I’d just grown a pair of horns. I handed her the phone. “Thanks a lot.”

  “Sure thing.” She looked over at Mickey. “I’m done unpacking the new glasses. Do you
want me to wash them before I stack them behind the bar?”

  “That’d be great.”

  Amy returned to her work. Seth picked up the pitcher, and I grabbed the glasses and we sat at a booth. Not wanting to alarm Mickey, I’d left my weapon in the locked glove box of my car. I wondered for a second if there was any way that Jericho would tell Dreygon that I was still alive. Something told me I didn’t have to worry. Jericho’s loyalty to him had never been that strong. He’d had a tighter bond with Cash. With both Angel and Cash gone from the compound, Jericho must have been feeling sort of abandoned.

  Seth looked longingly in the direction that Amy had gone. “She was kind of cute in that slightly innocent but easily corrupted kind of way.”

  “You’ve got a date tonight, remember? Besides she’s seeing Jericho, and I don’t need any trouble. I just gave my only money to Mickey for the pool stick that was broken over my head. By the way, the beer is on you now.”

  “Shit. So, no free beer and no barroom brawl. Why am I here?”

  I looked at him over the foam on my beer. “Support, remember?”

  “Oh, right.” He took a gulp of beer. “That reminds me, if you do find this girl—”

  “When, not if, don’t even say if. There can’t be any ifs.”

  “Sorry, when you find her, I was thinking if you needed a place to lay low, I’ve got the perfect hiding spot. I’m going to work on a bridge, and I’m going to be living nearby on a boat. It’s the perfect place to stay out of sight.”

  The rumble of a motorcycle sounded in the distance. I could only hear one bike, which was what I’d hoped for. “Good to know, Seth. That actually might work. Between that and Gage’s ranch, there’ll be a few good places to hang while things cool down around here.”

  The windows of the bar vibrated as a motorcycle rolled up to the building. “Is that your boy, Jericho?” Seth asked.

  “I hope so.” I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath until Jericho stepped inside. I dreaded the thought of ever running into Dreygon again. I was sure I wouldn’t be able to keep my temper. Just like with Belkin, I badly wanted to hurt the man.