Page 25 of Bear (Rebel Saints MC 6)

“I’m not saying that it won’t be rough. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, but you will have me and the Saints behind you, and that’s a hell of a team to be running with.”

“I just want my brother back. I would give anything if I could see his face again. He knew he was going to die.” I floated off for a moment. I wondered what that would feel like to know that you were about to die.

“I can understand that and it’s tragic, which is why you have to tell me as much as you can remember because I want to pin Rocky to the wall. He’s gotten so cocky now. He needs to know that he’s not above the law.”

“Thanks Angie. I feel better now that I’ve spoken to you about it.”

The golden-haired woman smiled back at me. “You’re welcome. We can do this, Delphia, trust me. I’ve been in worse predicaments than this.”

“You have?” Personally, this was the worst pain I’d ever felt in my life and nothing could come close to it.

“Yes. So we are going to need a lotta girl power.” She winked and her hair bounced as she gave me a dazzling smile. She looked like a summer’s breeze, like nothing could shake her.

I was gobsmacked by her in a way. “Thank you Angie, again.”

She winked with the click of her tongue and turned to breeze right out through the double doors.

In the days that followed, Bear checked in on me on a regular basis, and that gave me more confidence. In a way, with Angie and Bear both aware of Rocky and his taunting, I began to cling to a false sense of hope.

Holbeck’s weather had been interchangeable as the seasons gradually morphed into the middle of fall. Through all of it, the gas station kept its clockwork pace.

My daily stock count of the candy bars was complete, the bathroom cleanliness check done and ticked off the list. My boss was a real stickler about that stuff. It felt purposeful to me now though. The time on my computer read seven-thirty, and I had several hours to go. The phone ringing stopped me dreading the time rolling. Every now and then, I received a call from someone who left their card on a pump, or they were ringing to check daily fuel prices. It just depended on what the day decided to bring.

“Hello, Delphia speaking, Holbeck Gas.”

“Holbeck Gas huh? I need some fuel in my tank.”

My blood ran cold because as soon as the filthy words caveated through the phone line I knew it was him. “R-r-rocky?” I squeaked as the handle of the phone jittered in my hand.

“It’s me, baby doll,” he drawled in a chilly tone.

His words were like shards of ice running down my back.

“Like the little show I put on for you?” he quipped.

To string a sentence together in the moment was too hard, and as I tried to speak, words stuck in my throat. “I-I…”

“You lost your voice, baby? That’s okay. I plan on taking your voice box out for you when I slice my knife clean across your neck.”

Screaming loudly, I dropped the phone as if it had burned me. All the pathways in my brain were crossed and flashes of white flashed behind my eyes. A sick feeling ran through my stomach and I prayed I wouldn’t throw up on the floor of the gas station. I left the phone hanging down as I started sobbing hard.

Rocky wanted to drive me crazy before he killed me.

I’d never been involved with such danger and mayhem before, but here I was knee deep in it. Shock and pressure kept me from calling Bear. My nervous gaze shifted from the phone to the emergency button.

What should I do? What?

My mouth dried up and with the pace my nervous system was running, my capacity to even put a sentence together was limited. I longed desperately to call Bear, but at the same time I wanted nothing to do with another phone in my life. I chose the lower road. Instead, I forced my trembling fingers to crank the radio, wiped my face with multiple tissues from the crumpled tissue box under the counter, and served the timely customers that saved me from being a shriveled mess on the ground of the cold tiled floor of Holbeck Gas.

My robotic smile hid the facts from the oblivious customers who just wanted to pay for their fuel. Numbness kicked in as I handed them back their cash. I couldn’t even see their faces. Just bodies in front of me wanting to pay for an item. All of it seemed so insignificant. Rocky owned my ass. He took my brother’s life, and now he was gunning for mine, step by step.

Who would care if Rocky got to me? My parents? I would be with my brother. What would it matter? Every time I tried to move forward in my life, Rocky slammed into my path, reminding me that he was the puppet master.

The next day rolled over and sleep evaded me as I wallowed in a pool of sweat. I knew it was stupid. I knew I should have called my boss. Bear. My parents. Anyone. But panic gripped me, and I wanted nothing more than to forget the call ever happened.

The trauma from the prior night dogged me to the next, as the phone rang again. Every nerve in my body shot missed signals through me as my nose started to run.

Pick up. Pick up. It’s not him. You can’t avoid the phone.

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