Page 41 of Renegade

As he walked off, I called out to him, “Thank you…for bringing my car back.”

He waved and then disappeared in the dark parking lot.

It was impossible to believe anything that had just transpired. Addicts stole, but usually didn’t bother replacing. Monica had held onto my necklace and my car, ensuring that I’d gotten both back. Well, her scary boyfriend had taken care of the car, but it still didn’t make a bit of sense.

I let myself into my apartment, while my mind tried to piece together a rational explanation for why my car was back in my possession.

Maybe the universe had finally decided to stop taking a shit on me.

If that was the case… “Uh, Universe? Think you could send me a man while you’re at it?”

Hey, it never hurt to try.

Chapter Seven

March 2014

I parked my truck in the spillover lot atNick’s, while looking around for David’s truck. It appeared the place had gotten pretty popular since I gave up drinking almost four years ago.

Once I was certain that Grey wasn’t going to screw me in Galveston, I changed my entire life to keep the club happy. I’d only been half kidding when I told David that I’d sold my soul to Satan. Working for Grey was singlehandedly the hardest job I’d ever had.

I was his bitch, for lack of a better term.

A couple of years ago, I’d made the mistake of researching the statute of limitations on murder in the state of Texas. Within two minutes, my phone was ringing.

“Getting cold feet on me again?”Grey had laughed as he said it, but my skin broke out in a fine sheen of sweat as I shut down the browser.

I doubt I took a shit that he didn’t know about within minutes. I knew in that moment that my life belonged to the club. Even if the statute of limitations expired on wrongful death after two years, Silent Phoenix MC had kept my hands nice and dirty all the way up to the present.

Just last night, Grey had called, wanting me to run plates on a vehicle.“Got a new club whore here. She’s an addict, driving a really nice Toyota. Something about this ain’t settling well with me, kid.”

He gave me the plate number and I had one of the other officers run it through a database for me. Unsurprisingly, it came back stolen.

I gave him the information and he sighed,“Yep, that’s what I thought. I’m gonna take it to Comedian’s shop and have him buff out all the dings and replace the upholstery. Looks like a fucking bullet hole in the back window—gonna need to replace that too. Give me forty-eight hours and then close the case. I don’t want anything on that vehicle tracing back to me—we clear?”

I made sure he knew that I had it taken care of and then went back to work. I didn’t know what his plans were for the car—I didn’t care what his plans were, to be honest. The less I knew, the better off I was.

When David called not long after and asked me to meet him for dinner, I quickly agreed. I hadn’t seen much of him in the last year. John died and David shut himself off from everyone. My calls and texts went unanswered and I tried not to take it personally, butfuck—John had been like a father to me too. I’d sort of imagined David like my brother and thought we’d get through his death together. Instead, my closest friend in the entire world, built a wall and kept me out.

By the time he and Elizabeth got back from their honeymoon, I’d moved out of our old college house and bought a place outside of town. I knew Grey had eyes everywhere, but I liked the illusion of privacy I got out in the country.

Life had taken us in different directions, but up until recently, David hadn’t let anything come between us. I assumed that tonight was his way of coming back around. I walked through the crowded bar and immediately caught the back of his head out on the patio.

“Hey man, good to see ya,” I shook his hand and he pulled me into a rough hug.

When he sat back down, I noticed that his eyes were bloodshot and his hair was in need of a trim.

He glanced around the patio before leaning in toward me. “So, I cheated on Beth. Do you want a beer?”

I frowned and waited for the punchline. “You’re shitting me, right? Is this a joke?” This time, I looked around, certain a camera crew was about to pop up out of nowhere.

His head dropped down onto his chest. “No, I fucked up. It’s just been so hard since my dad—and we were fighting all the time. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but Jess was there—”

I held my hand up and stopped him. “Wait, just so I get this straight. You’re telling me that you couldn’t deal with John’s death, so you went out and fucked your wife’s best friend?”

I’d seen enough shit early on that I never put stock into the whole marriage business. Men weren’t made to be monogamous—how many times had my old man used that line on me?But David didn’t live in the world that I did.

He was going to break through all of that and live happily ever after or some bullshit. The problem was that he’d decided to play both the hero and villain in his story.

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