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  I spun around. Angel was crying as she raced across the yard toward us. I caught her before she fell headlong into the dirt. “Whoa, what’s wrong?”

  She was shaking and crying so hard she could barely catch her breath and then I knew. Something had happened to Gracie. “Where’s Dreygon?” I asked Jericho.

  “I’ll go get him.”

  “Tell him to hurry,” Angel cried after him. “Gracie’s had a stroke.” I followed her back to the kitchen.

  Her aunt was stretched out on the futon. Her arm was hanging limply to the floor, and her mouth and face looked flaccid and pulled down to one side. Angel knelt beside her aunt and placed her hand on her forehead. “We’re going to get you some help, Auntie,” she sobbed.

  Once again, I felt helpless. Angel had come to my aid so often in the past weeks, and when she needed me, it always seemed I was incapable of helping her. “What can I do?” I asked, knowing full well it was a useless offer.

  Angel didn’t take her eyes off her aunt. “There’s a medication that can minimize the damage if it’s given within a few hours of the stroke.” Her shoulders shook. “I hadn’t checked on her in a while. It might already be too late.” She stood and ran to me. I circled my arms around her. She pressed her face against my chest. “It will take an hour before any ambulance can get out here. If my grandfather even allows it.”

  The kitchen door flew open. It was a strange sight, seeing a man like Dreygon Sharpe distraught, but the look on his face could only have been described as anguish. He moved slowly, as if he had weights on his ankles, toward Gracie. I always thought of the woman as Angel’s aunt, but I’d rarely put her in the context of being Dreygon’s daughter. That reality became profoundly obvious as he walked over to the couch. He leaned down and picked up her limp hand. Gracie stirred slightly from his touch. He smoothed his hand over her forehead and for the briefest moment in time, Dreygon Sharpe appeared vulnerable, human like the rest of us. “I’ve called for an ambulance to meet us at the road, but it’ll be at least forty-five minutes.” He looked at Angel for reassurance that Gracie would be all right even with the delay of medical help. Angel’s knowledge of medicine and first aid was impressive, but this went beyond her skills.

  “There is a drug they inject with certain strokes that will stop the damage, but it has to be given within several hours of the first symptoms.” Angel had calmed down considerably. She spoke in a measured tone as if she was a doctor giving information to a distressed father. Then her composure melted as quickly as it had appeared. She ran to her grandfather and threw her arms around him. It was the first real show of affection I’d seen between them.

  An engine rumbled outside the kitchen door. “That’s Cash with my truck.” Dreygon motioned for me to pick up Gracie’s legs, and he took her shoulders. Angel held open the kitchen door and we carried her to the truck. Angel hopped in the opposite side and cradled Gracie’s head in her lap. Dreygon slid into the driver’s seat.

  I came around to his side. “Angel will be safer in the ambulance with her aunt.”

  He nodded. I stepped out of the way. The truck tires kicked up gravel as Dreygon turned it around and drove out of the compound.

  ***

  It had been two hours. Cash and Jericho had settled on the table and benches outside with beers. I walked over and pointed at a beer questioningly. Cash nodded.

  I picked up the can and sat down. “Any word?” Being without a telephone had been much easier than I thought, especially because the only person I really wanted to talk to had been right by my side every day.

  “Nothing yet,” Cash said. The first few weeks Cash had barely said two words to me. We still hadn’t had any big long conversation, but he wasn’t ignoring me anymore either. “We were just talking about the Bent for Hell club and the dead DEA agent.”

  It was a topic I’d dreaded. Gracie’s emergency had interrupted Jericho, and I’d hoped the subject would be dropped for now.

  Cash looked at me across the table. “I guess they really did a number on the guy. Took them awhile to identify what was left of him. No more teeth apparently.”

  I stared down at my beer, knowing full well that Cash was telling me the details and gauging my reaction. I had to keep myself from crushing the can in my fist.

  “That sucks.” I took a drink of beer, but my throat was tight.

  Jericho looked over at me and now I regretted joining them. “What sucks? That they’re questioning Griffin and his club, or that the guy got so messed up they couldn’t even identify him?”

  I shrugged and gulped back the beer. There was no way to get up now without them thinking it strange. The beer can smacked the table harder than I’d intended. “Both, I guess.”

  Cash slugged back his beer and popped open another. “What did you say to Belkin the other night at Mickey’s?”

  They were trying to corner me, but I was done with their interrogation. “Who?” I asked innocently.

  “The asshole you kneed in the face,” Cash continued. “You leaned over and said something that scared the shit out of him.”

  “Don’t remember. I was just trying to show Dreygon that I was with you guys. I guess I just threatened to hurt him more. Don’t know for sure. Why is it such a big fucking deal? Is that the guy they arrested?”

  “Yeah, that’s one of them.” Cash’s phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket. “Hey, what’s up?” He waited for a response. “Sorry to hear that, Boss. She was a good lady. Are you and Angel heading back?” He paused. “All right. See you soon.” He put the phone down. “Gracie didn’t make it.” Cash stood from the table. “I’ll go let the others know.”

  Jericho shook his head. “Shit. This is going to be really hard on Evie.”

  “Yeah.” I got up. “Thanks for the beer.” I walked back to my cabin to wait for Angel to return. I was going to be there for her if she needed me. I really fucking hoped she needed me because I sure as hell needed her.

  Chapter 11

  Angel

  The landscape whirred by as the truck headed along the highway. My eyes ached from crying and my head felt as if it was filled with air.

  “I’m just glad your grandmother isn’t around. Losing both daughters would have been too much.”

  “What about you?” I asked sharply. “I warned you many times that Gracie’s high blood pressure needed to be dealt with. You ignored it just like you ignored it when Mom started losing her mind. Both of them could have been helped. The only reason you’re childless now is because of the life you lead.”

  His thick fingers twisted around the steering wheel. “I’m not going to argue with you tonight, Angel. It’s not the time or place.” It was one of those rare times when he was the rational one and I was the unstable one. But the true impact of Gracie dying hadn’t even hit yet. I was still numb from shock, but losing her had just made life at the compound that much worse.

  I slumped down in the seat like a rag doll and closed my eyes. My head ached and my stomach felt sick. Like a lame horse, the truck trudged along the unpaved road to the cement tower, a tower that I’d been locked in forever. A tower I was ready to climb out of at any expense.

  Jericho opened the gate and we drove through. I already felt her absence and the place seemed a little darker because of it. There were no lights on in Luke’s cabin. I would have been disappointed if my entire body hadn’t already been shaken to its core. We parked the truck and I ran to Jericho.

  “So sorry, Evie.”

  I hugged him and realized that I’d missed his arms. I’d been horrible to my best friend. Since Luke’s arrival, I had basically ignored him. He deserved better.

  I peered up at him. “You’re the best friend a girl could have, Richo. Promise me we’ll always be friends.”

  He squeezed me tighter. “Always, Evie.”

  Chapter 12

  Luke

  The loud rumble shook the cabin walls and windows, and I shot straight up in bed. The cabin was completely dark but
then a flash of bright light lit it. Then blackness quickly followed. I’d fallen asleep. The one time when I’d hoped to stay awake, to wait for Angel, I’d dropped off into a deep sleep. I pulled on my shoes. Another flash of light was followed by thunder. After endless days of nearly cloud free skies and hot sun, a thunderstorm had settled over the compound.

  The flickering lights of a television lit up several of the cabins, including Dreygon’s, and I wondered if Angel was with him. When our mom died, the four of us, my dad, my brothers and I had sat around the kitchen table staring at each other in disbelief for several days. Death was a shock that really knocked you senseless. I remembered feeling as if all the energy had been wrung from my muscles and someone had emptied my head. My mom’s relatives came to stay with us, and I wanted badly for all of them to go away so the four of us could just stay there at our kitchen table and wait for Mom to walk back through the door.

  A dark ridge of clouds had settled over the mountain peaks like a gray wool hat. The sky lit up with a constant flow of electricity. Only a few heavy drops fell. Angel’s cabin was dark. I wanted to kick myself for falling asleep. She’d come back here to find that I didn’t care enough to stay awake for her.

  The television turned off in Dreygon’s cabin. Now I doubted that Angel was there. I walked across the yard to her cabin and climbed the steps. I hesitated, wondering if I should be waking her, but I needed to see her. I needed to let her know that I’d fallen asleep accidentally. I knocked but there was no answer. I tried again but she didn’t respond. Across the way, the two dogs were sitting in front of the kitchen steps.

  I headed in their direction. A flash of lightning illuminated the porch. Angel was sitting on the bench that her aunt had always sat on. The cat was sleeping on her lap.

  Her eyes were puffy from crying, but she forced a weak smile as she gazed down at me.

  “I’m a heel. I was waiting for you but I fell asleep.” I climbed the steps and sat next to her. The cat leapt off her lap and hid under the bench. “When I try to fall asleep, I stay awake. But tonight I tried to stay awake and I dozed right off.”

  “Maybe you’ve found a cure for insomnia.” She sounded frail in the shadows of the porch. She leaned her head against my shoulder. “I’m glad you slept.”

  “Always the doctor. Always looking for a cure.”

  “There’s no cure for this feeling of hollowness.” She laughed weakly. “I wonder what dimwit decided that time was the best cure. If that’s the case then I want to be catapulted a year ahead because this feels so shitty.”

  “Yeah, it sure does.”

  A crack of thunder shattered the quiet. “Cool thunderstorm, huh? Gracie always used to come over to my cabin and spend the night when there was thunder and lightning.” She laughed softly. “She would tell me that she was worried that I might be scared.”

  Angel lifted her head and climbed into my lap. I held her securely in my arms. “It’s all changing, Luke. My world was always fucked up but it seems worse than ever now. Gracie was my one tether to reality. It’s like that one thread hanging from the sweater that you pull and you realize the whole damn thing is unraveling. Gracie was that thread.”

  I kissed the top of her head.

  “Don’t know how much this helps, but you’ve got me.”

  She snuggled against me. “It helps a lot.”

  After the beer, I’d gone back to my cabin thinking I had to get out of here in the next few days or this was all going to end badly, but Gracie’s death would make that even more impossible now. Angel would never want to leave her grandfather in the middle of this. But I was running out of time. Cash’s and Jericho’s line of questioning tonight proved that. If I didn’t get out of here soon, I was dead.

  Chapter 13

  Angel

  I was surprised at how quickly I’d broken down my grandfather’s refusal to let me leave the compound. Gracie’s death and the turmoil in the club had taken its toll on him. It seemed I rarely saw him anymore when he wasn’t stoned out of his mind. With Griffin and the Bent for Hell MC dealing with their own problems, he had lifted the lockdown. It had taken a rather minor amount of pleading before he agreed to let me climb to the top of Angel’s Ridge with Gracie’s ashes. I planned to sprinkle them over the edge where my mom had fallen from. It just seemed right. Maybe somehow they could find each other again.

  Luke met me outside of my cabin. He looked tired and tense, but that was usual for him lately. He’d had it with this place. He wanted to get back to his life, and it seemed he was more anxious than ever to leave. But it wasn’t feasible or safe at the moment. He’d been dragged into the business of the club without ever wanting it. He’d done it for me.

  At first, Gracie’s death had made the notion of me leaving harder than before. But I finally felt closure after we’d held a rather unorthodox funeral, consisting of a group of Bedlam members sitting around, getting drunk and talking about her delicious chili and barbecue chicken. Everything was different now. Without Gracie, leaving here would be that much easier.

  I pulled my backpack over my shoulder. I’d wrapped the blue urn that held Gracie’s ashes in a cloth to keep it from breaking. Candy and I had baked several of Gracie’s apple pies for the visitors who’d come to pay their respects. I’d wrapped up two slices and stuffed them in the backpack next to the urn.

  I looked pointedly down at the gun in Luke’s hand. “I packed up Gracie and some pie, and you’re packing a weapon.”

  “Your grandfather insisted. Should I leave it behind?”

  I looked at him but didn’t need to say anything.

  “Right.” He walked into my cabin and returned without the gun.

  “Much better.” I took his hand. “Max shut off the wire fence. It’s a lot faster through the back.”

  “How high up is Angel’s Ridge?”

  “Remember that hike over the granite slabs to the pond?”

  “Uh, yeah. That was a hike I will never forget. Is that where we’re heading?”

  “Angel’s Ridge is about two thousand feet above that. The climb gets steeper, and the air gets thinner. Think you’re up to it, Reno?”

  “I think I can manage it.”

  Chance and the chickens struck up a chorus the second they spotted us coming around the corner. “I have spoiled the hell out of my horse and chickens. They think I’m out here to give them a second breakfast.” I squeezed Luke’s hand tightly in mine. “Thanks for making this trek with me. It’s kind of a long, arduous hike alone.”

  “Hey, I get to spend the morning with the only person who matters to me. Can’t imagine anything better. And I have to admit, getting out from behind those stark walls is a bonus.”

  “You know it’s easier now,” I said.

  Luke peered over at me.

  “It’s easier to think of leaving here now that Gracie’s gone,” my voice wavered as it always did when I mentioned my aunt. “You always tell me that I’m a contradiction in this place, but Aunt Gracie was the true contradiction. She never saw the bad stuff, or if she did, she didn’t understand that it was bad. She never saw past the pyramid of sugar cubes she’d built in front of her coffee cup. Everything was sweet and crystal white in her world. And sometimes when I was near her, the bad stuff didn’t seem all that awful anymore. She was my buffer. Now I’ve lost that.”

  “I’m glad you had her all this time then. She must be part of the reason you grew up to be so amazing, so grounded.”

  “I used to feel grounded, but lately, I’m not too sure. Of course, the hot hunk walking next to me might have something to do with that.”

  Luke looked the opposite direction as if he was looking for someone. Then he turned back to me and pointed at his chest. “Oh, you mean me?”

  I laughed and grabbed his hand. “Hurry, let’s get out of this wretched place.”

  We reached the wire fence and climbed through. We were out. We were on the other side. Luke seemed to feel the same surge of freedom. He picked up his pace
and pulled me along.

  “What’s on the other side of the mountains?” Luke asked.

  It was early, and the sun wasn’t too brutal yet. “Some pretty rough terrain. I mean probably not rough for the likes of Daniel Boone or Lewis and Clarke, but for two twenty-first century marshmallows like ourselves, it’s bad.” We hit the first outcropping of granite slabs and started our climb. “Probably a strange reason for a hike, but I think it’s what Gracie would have wanted. She didn’t really understand the concept of death. In her mind, my mom just left and decided to never come back.” I didn’t need to dwell on sad things. The scenery was breathtaking and so was the man next to me. “Have you done much hiking?”

  “I used to hike with my brothers sometimes. My late grandfather owned a ranch in Montana, and there were always plenty of places to hike. That’s where my brother, Gage, lives.”

  “So he’s a rancher?”

  He laughed. “He likes to think he is. He does break colts as a part time job. But I think that’s just because he loves participating in any activity where broken bones and concussions are a possible outcome. Ranch was really too grand of a word. I guess I always considered it one because as a kid the place looked massive, and my grandfather always had a few cows grazing in his fields. Right now Gage has a logging job to pay for things. My brother, Seth, came out of the navy and went into underwater welding. Another hazardous profession. My dad always used to shake his head and wonder why we all chose such dangerous jobs.”

  “I didn’t know being a mechanic was so dangerous.”

  “Uh, well, no, not really.” Luke stepped up onto a sharply tilted rock and lowered his hand for me to take. He seemed to be contemplating what to say next. I knew there was something big he kept from me, something that made this whole thing that much more impossible. And that was the reason I hadn’t prodded him more. I didn’t want impossible. I wanted happily ever after. “Angel—”