Cane's Promise (Forever Midnight MC Book 1) Page 8

  Caleb grumbled but didn’t comment on my tone. “I gave Bono a quick call on the other line while you two were having your little tete-a-tete, or whatever the fuck you want to call it. Unlike you, he listens to me and does what I ask. He’ll be with your lady friend in a little over fifteen minutes.”

  “If Bono’s here in fifteen minutes and Thea’s comfortable with his presence, then and only then, will I leave.”

  Thea cleared her throat and touched my arm. “You should go,” she said.

  “What? No fucking way. I’m not leaving you here alone.”

  “I won’t be alone.” She shifted nervously on the spot. “Bono’s the one who gave me Advil, right? The one with the marine tattoo?” I nodded and she huffed out a breath. “Then, I’ll be fine. I’ll lock myself in the bathroom until I hear a motorcycle outside.”

  “You’re not gonna fucking lock yourself in the bathroom. This is stupid. I’ll wait until Bono gets here and then I’ll go.”

  “Please,” she said and trailed her fingers down my arm before squeezing my hand. “I’ll be fine. Don’t let me be a source of problems between you and your brother. I’ve already caused you enough bother.”

  I mumbled a cuss under my breath and my mind went numb. I didn’t want to leave, but the look on her face told me I was causing her more pain by staying.

  Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

  “Are you a hundred-fucking-percent sure?” I asked.

  “I am. If Daniel knew where I was, he’d be here already. I’ll be fine by myself until Bono arrives and then fine with him until you get back.”

  My shoulders slumped. Her mind was made up, and I didn’t want to add to her problems and have her worrying that she was the source of any trouble between me and Caleb. I sighed and lifted my phone to my ear. “You hear that?” I asked.

  “I did.”

  “You got anything to say about it?”

  Caleb shifted on the other end of the line. For a second, I wondered if he was going to change his mind and tell me to stay. Instead, he mumbled out a two-word answer before hanging up the phone: “Leave now.”

  I dropped my phone on the table and pulled Thea into my arms, kissing her gently on the forehead. Then I whipped her up the stairs and told her to get dressed, while I did the same.

  We got our clothes on in record time and I positioned her by the window. “Don’t lock yourself in the bathroom,” I said. “Stand right here and keep your eye on the road. If you see any fucker beside one of my brothers in a Forever Midnight MC jacket, then you get your ass out the back door. There’s a trail that leads to the forest. Follow it, hide, and I’ll come for you. Don’t come out of hiding until you hear my voice. You got it?”

  Her brow furrowed and her eyes flashed to the back door, looking for all the world like she was noticing it for the first time. “It’s a little overkill, but I’ve got it. Now, go. You’re making me nervous.”

  “I’m keeping you safe. If you need anything tell Bono to call me straight away. I’ll call you as soon as I reach the clubhouse, which will be in about 40 minutes, okay?”

  Without giving her the chance to answer, I kissed her one final time and grabbed my keys and phone before rushing out the door. I hopped on my bike and turned on the engine, but hesitated and glanced back to the cabin.

  This better be fucking important, Caleb!

  Thea waved and I nodded before pulling away.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Thea

  I stood, staring out the window, unable to contain the rolling in my stomach that appeared as Cane rode out of view. I held my breath, listening until the last rumble of his bike faded from my ears. But then, I was too afraid to gasp in air in case I missed the sound of Bono’s arrival.

  I felt more alone in this little cabin in the woods than I ever had, and couldn’t help but think, out here, no-one would hear me scream. Not that anyone ever came to help when I did back home.

  The forest was too noisy. Every rustle of leaves in the wind or squawk of a bird pierced my eardrums and made me wince. Why couldn’t they just shut up? I strained harder waiting for the sound of Bono’s bike to reach my senses, but it never came. I sat down on the ground, tired of standing, and clasped onto the window ledge. After a while, I moved my gaze from the gravel road that wound through the dense forest with its tangled branches and creeping vines and stared at the hardwood floor.

  I closed my eyes and huffed out a breath before shaking my head and giving a wry laugh.

  “Get a grip, Thea,” I told myself, making sure to say the words out loud to break the silence stifling the air.

  I stood, ran my hands over my stomach before resting them on my hips, and took a few deep breaths. I had no way to tell the time, and even though it seemed an eternity since Cane left, it could very well have been only a few minutes.

  Not wanting to torment myself with staring out the window, I decided my best bet would be to check out the path that Cane had mentioned led into the forest. I wouldn’t go far and could come back to the cabin as soon as I heard Bono arrive.

  I opened the back door and sucked in the forest air. A bird zipped overhead, making me duck, and then laugh. If I ever wanted a normal life with Cane, I had to stop jumping at the slightest sound. I’d drive him away if I was too clingy and stifled his freedom. Although — I shook my head — was that what I wanted? To stay with Cane. Even if I did, and it was possible, there was no saying Cane wanted it to.

  The morning sun cast a golden sheen over the trees and mountains, and the woody incense of fir and pine wafted on the breeze as I walked up the path. The beckoning forest seemed safer than it had when I’d first arrived, and I wondered what had changed. Something inside me was different. I felt an overwhelming certainty that had to do with Cane.

  Maybe having someone want to take care of me instead of feeding me to the dogs had made me place value on myself. “Hell, Mom,” I said, wanting to stick my fingers up at her. “Maybe I am precious, after all.”

  The memory of her following me out of the kitchen with a bottle of red wine in her hand surfaced. ‘It’s better to accept your fate.’ Her words echoed in my mind and I felt like my head was spinning. Once again, the cold hard certainty that Daniel would find me settled around my heart.

  What was it Cane’s dad had said about midnight? How a peace came over the world and he wished he could stay in that moment forever. As I trudged along the path leading to the forest, I knew that was what I’d been doing. I’d been living in one forever-moment with Cane, and sooner or later the spell would be broken. The tear winding down my cheek, told me that maybe, it just had.

  I shouldn’t be here when Cane returned. It would be easier for both of us if I just disappeared.

  A strange urge to run through the forest surfaced. I needed to feel the wind on my face and experience a final rush of freedom that could only come from knowing that no-one was around to watch me fall.

  Before I could take my first step, the skin on the back of my neck crawled and my every instinct turned to high alert. My initial thought was that Bono had arrived, or better yet, Cane had returned, but that was the voice of hope and not reality.

  I turned to look at the cabin. I’d left the back door open. The inside was dark, and no trace of movement met my gaze. I scanned the small clearing and the surrounding forest. There were no cars or bikes visible, but from my position, the cabin blocked my view of the main parking area. The only creatures that greeted me were the birds and the chirping grasshoppers.

  The hot June sun beat down on my head and body, causing my skin to tingle from its warm caress, but goosebumps prickled my arms and I found it hard to shake the feeling of danger.

  I stood frozen to the spot, half-way between the cabin and the concealment of the woods, not knowing what to do and worried that any movement on my part would draw attention. If there was attention to be drawn.

  Feeling silly, and as though my imagination was kicking into overdrive again, I considered calling out to Bono, but someth
ing froze my tongue.

  Damn it!

  Deep down, I knew that eventually, Daniel would find me, but did that knowledge have me jumping at non-existent ghosts in the forest?

  One thing was certain, I had to move. I’d run to the forest and circle around to the cabin we’d passed on the way in. Maybe they had a phone, and I could call a cab. After that, I’d be out of Cane’s hair forever. Even if the thought of never seeing him again did cause a lump in my throat and a heaviness in my chest. It was for the best. Daniel wouldn’t think twice about having one of Tony’s men put a bullet in his head. Hell, he might even expend the effort and do it himself. I could always phone the bar and leave a message with Cherrie, just so Cane knew I was safe, and he wasn’t to come looking for me.

  I turned my back to the cabin and picked up my speed, focusing on my destination. The grassy hill led up to the sun-kissed treetops beyond. I made my way to the woods, my breath tight in my throat.

  When I reached the tree line, I gave my surroundings a final scan and saw nothing. “Goodbye, Cane,” I said to his cabin. “It was fun while it lasted.”

  Without another word, I stepped into the forest and broke into a run. Not an easy thing to do with all the branches and roots underfoot. My pulse quickened and my breath came in shallow gasps, but the wind brushed my hair from my face and allowed me to breathe again.

  I almost jumped when a faint breeze rustled through the thicket, and a mouse shuffled through the undergrowth to my left. I laughed at my jitteriness, but worried that next time it might be a mountain lion or worse.

  I ran on, twisting in the direction I knew would lead me to the cabin we’d passed on the way to Cane’s. The scent of sweet, summer berries filled the air and me with a fresh sense of purpose. I was doing the right thing.

  The tread of footsteps thudded behind me.

  I had a fraction of a second to turn my head before a man easily twice my size plowed into me and sent me careening into the rough bark of a tree, grazing my cheek.

  The form was too large to be Daniel, and Cane would never jump me in the forest.

  Despite the dizziness that threatened to overwhelm me, I lashed out with my leg and landed a satisfying kick on my attacker’s. Adrenaline rushed through my veins. I jumped up and faced the man before me.

  I was right. It wasn’t Daniel, but my legs shook, and I almost fell again when I realized it was one of the men who worked for my stepfather.

  “Jacob,” I said, amazed at my ability to find my voice. “Please, just let me go. Tell Tony you couldn’t find me. Please, you can’t take me back.”

  A menacing smile filled his face. “It’s funny how you think you can ask a favor of me, bitch. Do you think I’ve forgotten all the times you looked down your snotty little nose at me?”

  “I-I never. I was just...” How could I say I was too afraid of anyone who came into the house to look them in the face?

  “You were a fucking tease. Like I didn’t hear you’ve been shacked up with some biker. You play that butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth crap with him?”

  My heart nosedived into my stomach. Mom had called me a cock-tease, too. What the hell did everyone think of me? That I’d been playing some silly game with them my whole life?

  “Tony tasked me with bringing you home, and that’s what I’m gonna do. Although, interestingly enough, after Danny-boy heard where you’ve been the past few days, he’s not too bothered about the condition you’re in when you get there.”

  I stood frozen to the ground, unable to do anything but watch as Jacob slipped his hands to his waistband and unfastened his belt. The buckle shimmered in the light as he doubled over the leather, held it in one hand, and slapped it over the palm of the other.

  He swung it at my head, and I fell to the ground, raising my hands to protect me. It was the searing crack I heard as the leather hit my forearm, more than I felt the pain itself. At least, at first.

  I screamed. My arm felt as though it was on fire.

  Jacob grabbed my hair and yanked my head back. “It’s about time you were on your knees before me.”

  The stench of his breath filled my nostrils and a glob of spit landed on my face. I clawed at his hand, to free it from my hair. When that failed, I beat at his arms and shoulders. Bile rose in my throat.

  Jacob laughed and threw me to the ground. I flipped over onto my front, and dug into the ground, pulling myself along, desperate to get away. He grabbed hold of my leg and pulled me towards him, flipping me on my back before straddling my legs.

  He threw the belt to the side, and pushed his hand up my top, squeezing my breast tightly. I cried out and tried to push him away, but he was too strong.

  “I can’t breathe. Please, I can’t breathe.” The words came out in rasping breaths, barely audible above the pulse thrashing in my ears. I was suffocating. His weight was too much. The forest was closing in.

  Jacob’s hand slid over my stomach and fumbled with the buttons on my jeans. I filled my lungs with as much air as I could. I screamed and screamed again while tears ran down my cheeks.

  His heavy hand grasped my throat and squeezed. “Shut the fuck up or I’ll make sure you can’t breathe.” He loosened his grip and I gasped for air.

  Fear that he’d do it again washed all fight from my body. My eyes glazed over and I stiffened, trying to imagine myself anywhere but here.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Cane

  I thought the worst when the phone vibrated in my pocket. All moisture fled my mouth and a pang hit deep in my stomach.

  “Bono,” I said as soon as I’d pulled the bike over to the side of the road and answered the call. I was on the outside of town and had another few miles to go before I reached the clubhouse. “Is Thea okay?”

  “That’s what I was calling to ask you.”

  My fists tightened and my neck corded. If Thea wasn’t at the cabin, then something bad must have happened. It was easily half an hour since I’d left. My anger surged along with my worry. “Why the fuck did it take you so long to get to my cabin?”

  “Cane. Calm down a second. I’m not at your cabin. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  My temperature spiked, but an icy dread pierced my heart. I wanted to pick my bike up and throw it at Caleb’s head. The fucker had lied.

  “Caleb didn’t call you earlier and ask you to head over to my place and take care of Thea, did he?” I asked to be certain. The silence that greeted me was answer enough. “I’m gonna kill him.”

  “Calm down,” Bono said again. As if telling anyone to calm down ever had anything but the opposite fucking effect. “If Caleb lied to you, we both know there has to be a good reason.”

  “We both know, he couldn’t give a flying fuck for Thea’s mental state or wellbeing.” I glanced back up the road I’d come along. A few cars zipped by. One honked their horn and gestured as though pissed off I was starting. At this time of day, traffic had been heavy, but I’d made sure to glance in every car that passed to see if Dan was driving. But I couldn’t check vehicles coming in from the opposite direction. “I need you to get to my cabin as soon as possible. Thea’s likely in a panic by now. She was expecting you almost twenty minutes ago.”

  “Will do. Where are you?”

  “Just outside of town. I was on the way to the clubhouse.”

  “Then, you’ll likely beat me to it. I’m with Rex. We were at his place going through all the CCTV he collected the other night.”

  “Fuck! I gotta go.”

  ~

  I didn’t think I could feel worse than I had when Bono called, but as I rounded the bend before my cabin and saw a black fucking SUV parked outside, my vision closed in around me and I couldn’t focus on anything else but that motherfucking car.

  The front door to the cabin was open. Through it, I noted the back door was open too.

  Good girl. She must have run and hidden, just like I told her.

  Without caring what damage it would do to my bike, or how m
uch it would rattle my brain, I circled around back and took the Harley off-road and up the hill to the forest. The suspension sure as hell wasn’t built for the dirt path, but its torque and low center of gravity worked to my advantage, and it was a damn sight better than me trying to run up the hill.

  As soon as I reached the top, I flung the bike to the side and entered the forest. Now, all I had to do was find Thea before any fucker else did.

  I edged deeper beneath the canopy, listening for the faintest sound, but the only noise was my own fucking breath, hissing in and out like a goddamn snake. I tread lightly, being careful not to make any more sound. With each step, my worry grew, and when a heart-breaking scream ripped through the air, I felt as though my soul had been torn in two.

  I was a fucking idiot to leave her. I’d promised to keep her safe and failed.

  I charged in the direction of the sound. Another scream came a few minutes later, then another. The sound choked off, and I nearly fell to my knees and wept at the silence that followed. Only knowing Thea needed me kept my feet moving.

  A flicker of movement caught my gaze through the trees. I increased my pace, and as I got closer and saw some fucker tugging on Thea’s jeans with one hand while the other was wrapped around her throat, a guttural roar bubbled up from my chest and escaped my lips. I charged. The pounding of my steps matched the thumping of my heart, and my nostrils flared.

  I barreled into the fucker, driving him from Thea’s body, and showed no mercy as I pummeled my fists into his face. He lifted his hands to protect himself, but I batted them away. In a strength only found in pure rage, I lifted him by the neck and held him in place against a tree while I continued to smash my fist into his head. Only when the metallic scent of blood filled my senses, and I was satisfied the fucker would never move, let alone lay a finger on Thea again, did I stop.

  I dropped him to the floor, wiped the blood from my hands and face in his shirt, and then turned to Thea.