Page 21 of Edge

“Pretty sure I do. I know they sell drugs and treat their women like shit. I know they wouldn’t think twice about putting their hands on a female or killing someone who owed them money,” he said.

He only thought he knew. There were no words to describe how awful they really were. “I can’t do this.”

“You don’t have to do anything. Just tell me if they’re the reason you’re hiding in Cedar Valley.”

I wanted to trust him and tell him everything. No one knew what happened besides me, and it weighed heavily on my soul. But I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it. Then a tear slipped out of my eye and rolled down my cheek.

“Fucking hell,” Edge said quietly and pulled me against his chest. His big arms wrapped around me and held me close. “I didn’t mean to make you cry. You don’t have to tell me anythingyou don’t want to. But I want you to know I’m here if you need me.”

And that did it. I couldn’t hold it back anymore. The dam broke, and I burst into tears, crying all over his shirt. He continued to hold me, rubbing my back and whispering words of reassurance against the top of my head.

It took longer than I cared to admit, but I finally pulled myself together and took a step back while wiping the tears from my face. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry about. I’m sorry I upset you.”

I shook my head. “You’re not the reason I’m upset,” I said and exhaled heavily. I was about to take a huge leap, and I hoped I wasn’t making a colossal mistake. “I am related to the vice president. He’s my father.”

“And Ken is your brother?”

I involuntarily shivered at his name. “Yes,” I said disgustedly. “He’s my half brother.”

Edge waited patiently for me to continue. I took a few moments to decide where to start. “Ken and I have different mothers. My mother divorced Carl when she found out he cheated on her and had a kid with a club whore. I was six years old at the time, and I think Ken was around three. After we left, I didn’t see Carl again until I was an adult. Shortly after I moved back to Fairbanks, I ran into them at a gas station, which was the first time I met Ken. I was upset with my mom and wondered if maybe she lied to me about what kind of person Carl was. So when he invited me to have dinner with them at the clubhouse, I went. During the short time I was there, I saw two different women get hit in the face by a man and another one was bent over a pool table and fucked by three different men in front of everyone. I got out of there as fast as I could and made it a point to avoid the Mad Dogs. If I was going somewhere and there wasa motorcycle in the parking lot, I went somewhere else. I didn’t see either of them again until several years later when they came looking for my roommate.” I paused for a few moments before starting the next part of the story. “I met Randall when I started working at the hospital. One day, I mentioned something about looking for a new place to live. He was also looking for a new place, so we ended up finding something together. Everything was fine for a while, but then Randall started staying out to all hours of the night. He’d come home stumbling and slurring his words. Then he’d pass out and sleep all day. Eventually, he got fired for missing work. We had a big fight about it, and he promised he’d find a new job and do better. I kept waiting for things to improve, but they only got worse. He was different. It took me longer than I care to admit to figure out things were much worse than he said. He’d started using meth and didn’t seem to have any intentions of stopping. Since he didn’t have a job, he started taking things from the apartment and pawning them. By that point, I was trying to move out and get away from him. I almost had enough money saved up for a deposit on a new place when he broke into my phone and transferred all the money in my account to himself. We were on the verge of being evicted when everything came to a head. Apparently, he’d been getting his meth from the Mad Dogs with a promise to pay. When he couldn’t give them the money he owed, they came to collect.” I stopped abruptly and tried to swallow past the emotions clogging my throat. I wasn’t sure if I could actually say the words to the next part.

“And they killed him,” Edge said.

I couldn’t speak, so I wordlessly nodded.

“Oh, Evie,” he said sympathetically.

The tears had started again, but I didn’t bother to wipe them away. “I tried to stop them. That’s how I got the black eyes. They told me they’d kill me, too, after they took me to their clubhouseand let all the members fuck me to pay off his remaining debt. So, I didn’t say anything as Randall’s throat was slit with one of my kitchen knives. When they left, I packed up my shit and got the hell out of there. I stopped a few towns away and called in an anonymous tip. I told them about the murder and where they could find the murder weapon. I made sure they knew Ken’s fingerprints would be on the knife and both of their prints would be all over the apartment. Then I got back in my car and didn’t stop until I made it to Cedar Valley.”

“Evie,” he said quietly and once again pulled me against him. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

I was too tired to resist any longer and relished in the comfort he offered.

“I feel bad that I don’t feel bad,” I admitted.

“What do you mean?”

“About Randall’s death. I feel like I should feel guilty for not doing more to stop them, but I don’t. They were going to kill both of us if I didn’t comply, and he wasn’t the same person I once knew. That person had been gone for a long time. In a way, I feel like it put him out of his misery.” It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders when I uttered those words.

“It’s okay to feel however you feel. You were put in a bad situation by no fault of your own. You did what you had to do to save yourself. There’s no reason to feel guilty about that,” he said.

“Thank you,” I said, and let him hold me for a little while longer before I stepped back. “Where are my manners? Would you like something to drink?”

“Coffee, if you have some.”

“I should’ve known that.” It seemed like coffee was all he ever drank.

Edge leaned on the counter while I started making his coffee. “I think you should talk to Byte about getting a new ID.”

“Irene mentioned something about that when we were at the clubhouse.”

“You might not need it right now, but you will if you ever want to do anything requiring identification, like opening a bank account. And you should probably consider trading your car for another one and registering it in your new name,” he said.

“Why do I need to do that?”

“The tags are going to expire soon. When you pay the taxes, you’ll have to give them an address to send the sticker to. Anyone who knows how to get their hands on that information could find you.”

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