Page 31 of Devil's Vengeance

He was being kind for once, offering to help me, but he was also telling me nothing. I didn’t like that. Trick said he found me because of Chase. I wanted to know why. I wanted to know what was going on. And how Chase planned to deal with it.

After helping me off his bike, he swung his leg over to dismount, grimacing a little when he did. My spine stiffened.

“Are you hurt? Do you need to go to the hospital? I told the cops we didn’t need an ambulance, but–”

“I’m alright,” he interjected with a shake of his head.

Crossing my arms, I raised an eyebrow at him, giving a significant look at his bike. He wouldn’t be making faces getting off of it if he was fine.

“Believe me, I’ve dealt with a hell of a lot worse. I’ll be fine. If I was worried about it, I’d go talk to Doc or Riley. You were right to decline an ambulance. No hospitals.”

Well, at least he had options. But it still worried me. “Chase, tell me what’s going on. What does Trick want? How do you know each other? And what does any of this have to do with me?”

He shook his head, denying me the answers I needed. When he reached for me to lead me inside, I took a step back, staying out of range.

“I’m not going anywhere with you until you tell me what’s going on. If you’re not willing to be honest with me, then I’ll just go home. I can call the cops if Trick comes looking for me again.”

“Mariah–”

“No, Chase!” I snapped, my voice raising a little to get my point across. Tonight had been hell, and I just wanted to lie down, but I wasn’t going to let another biker bully me into doing what he wanted. I deserved to know what he got me dragged into. And if he wasn’t willing to let me in, we were done here. “This isn’t something I’m going to just let you sweep under the rug. I deserve answers!”

The refusal was written all over his face, so I gave up, spinning around to walk away. It made the last rideshare driver nervous to get this close to the clubhouse. It was easier if I had them meet me farther away. Which was when I remembered I still had a gun in my hand. What the hell did I do with this?

“Wait! Marah, just… wait.” He grabbed my arm, taking the gun and pulling me back, but unlike when Trick grabbed me, his hold was loose enough to not actually hurt me. I could get out of it if I wanted to. When I turned around, pained resignation flashed across his face. “Alright. I’ll tell you. Just… not here. Come upstairs with me. I haven’t talked to my crew about it and I don’t plan to unless I have no other choice.”

My brow furrowed, but I could see on his face that he wouldn’t say more out here. We were the only ones on the sidewalk, the clubhouse was pretty quiet tonight, but that didn’t mean people couldn’t show up randomly. At least going with him upstairs didn’t scare the hell out of me like staying with Trick had. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Chase wouldn’t hurt me.

“Okay.”

The differences between Trick’s crew and Chase’s were apparent in every interaction we had when we came inside. There was no random sex happening in the middle of the room where everyone could see. No drugs being ingested like I saw near the back of the bar when I went to the bathroom. And no one had any disgusting cat calls to shout at me. A few lifted their chins in greeting, but it was way more relaxed than before.

“Where is everybody?”

Last week, there had been a party here, and it was crowded with bodies. This week, it was nearly empty.

“Axel’s bar. They split their time between here and there depending on what mood they’re in. The rest are probably at the main house. No sweetbutts allowed there, but Riley seems okay with it as long as it’s a place for people to relax and not do stupid shit to keep her awake.”

Well, that was surprisingly honest. And interesting. I thought everything happened in this building. “If the mayor isn’t careful, you guys will take over the whole town at this rate.”

Chase shot me an amused grin. “That’d be awesome. Fewer pigs hanging around to cause trouble. Come on. This way.”

He led me away from the hall where I’d stayed that first night, instead heading more towards the front of the building. His room was in themiddle, no window, but it had a tiny attached bath with a toilet and a stand shower in it. The room itself was simple, with his bed tucked into one corner and a dresser against one wall. There was a TV set up on top of it with a video game system, but what surprised me the most was the small line of books squished between two bookends that looked like a motorcycle split in half. I ran my fingers over the spines, recognizing a few of the titles.

“You like fantasy novels?”

He was sitting on the foot of the bed, his chuckle light, and when I turned to look at him, that smile ghosted over his lips again. It never stayed long, but when he did smile, he looked like an entirely different person. Cute, like the boy next door type instead of the angry biker. “Yeah. I, uh…” His brows furrowed a little. “Someone special introduced them to me when I was in high school.”

The pain was obvious, carved so deep in his face it looked permanent. I wasn’t going to pry, since it obviously hurt to talk about, but he explained anyway.

“Her name was Hannah. She was my first everything. First crush. First girlfriend. First person I slept with.” He huffed out a laugh, shaking his head. “First heartbreak.”

Sitting down next to him, I put my hand on his, waiting for him to continue.

“Trick and I were friends back then. The three of us went everywhere together. Hell, with the shit that went down in his house, he basically lived at mine for a while. But he was always kind of jealous of me and Hannah. We were all friends, and he didn’t take it well that she chose me. He started spending time with a rougher crowd, getting into trouble. And the second he got the chance, he lured Hannah away from me.”

I forced myself not to make a face at that. I couldn’t imagine dumping my boyfriend to get with his friend. Even if we were friends too. But then again, teenagers weren’t exactly level headed. She was probably swept away by Trick’s charm. He did the same thing to me.

“Hannah was… sweet. Naïve. She didn’t belong around a rough crowd. I tried to warn her off, told her to steer clear. I even suggested keeping their dates closer to home, to prove to her it wasn’t just me being jealous. But she ignored me. Told me Trick would take care of her and that I had to move on.”

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