Cowboy (Steele Riders MC)

“I want to go home, Ray. Please.”

“Angel, you’re awake.”

“I am. Can’t we go home? I miss you. I don’t want to be here anymore. They keep saying things that don’t make sense.”

“Let me see.” I brush my lips against her hands and I see the remnants of ligature marks.

I stand and walk out of the room. “Can I speak to Ms. Ryan’s doctor, please?”

“That would be Dr. Spencer.”

“Hello, Dr. Simmons told me about the situation. You must be Mr. Williams.”

“I am. Angel wants to go home. Can we move her care back to the ranch?”

“Yes. She’s actually in great shape for moving. Her vitals are good and movement would be good for both her and the baby.”

“Thank you. You can send me all the bills as well.”

“I will make a note. I’m sure the hospital will be happy about that.”

“I bet they will be. I need to get back to her.” I shake his hand and head back into the room and I see a look on her face that tells me she knows more than she’s letting on.

I lean in and whisper. “We’ll talk when we get home.”

“I missed you.”

“No more going away.” She makes a face that tells me there’s more. “When we get home.”

An hour later, she’s in a pair of clothes that Crystal brought to the hospital and we head back with Beast, and Boomer following behind us. I sit in the backseat with her, holding her hand in mine. I want to do so much more, but I don’t know what’s happened or if she wants me to even touch her.

I step out of the vehicle and take her hand, leading her out of the backseat and up the front porch. Beast walks behind us. Once I have her inside on the sofa, Beast leans in and says, “Talk to her and then you call us. We’ll have guys patrolling the area. We’re not trusting anyone. She ran and someone found her, so they might come back once they know she’s alive and tell her she’s not that good of an actress. I know she has her memory.”

“Yeah, I figured it out too.”

“Good. Then it will be easier to get answers.”

“Do you want me to wait?”

“No. Go home to your wife.”

“Okay. I’m sure she’s worried and curious.”

“More curious than anything.”

“Thank you for everything, but we’ll be fine.”

“Are you comfortable, Angel?”

“Yes.”

“So who did this to you?”

“My former bosses.”

“Bosses?”

“Yes. The one I was working when Danny hired me and the one I had as a field agent. You remember when you came to get me. I called my boss and quit right away.”

“I’m going to kill them.”

“They didn’t…rape me.”

“That’s good, but it doesn’t change what I’m going to do to them, you know that right?’

“You don’t have to do that for me.”

“Why? Because you left me? Whether you love me or not, I told you that I loved you, Phoenix and I meant it. That doesn’t change because you ran away instead of letting me help you.”

“I wanted to but….”

“You don’t want to be beholden to someone you don’t want to be with.”

“No, Raymond. I love you too. I meant it and I swear when I finally caved to my feelings I thought the threat was gone from my old boss, but then the envelope came in the mail and I couldn’t stay.”

“What was in it?”

“It was pictures of you working out in the field, driving in your truck, sitting on your porch or from your office window.”

“What?” I holler. “Shit. Hold on.”

“What is it?” she asks.

“No one has that high powered lens, so they had to be on my property for more than half the shots.” After everything that’s happened over the past year, the surveillance has been tripled on my property and around the entire club’s homes. So someone who works for me has been taking the pictures.

“Give me a minute.”

“We need a church session, Boomer.”

“I’ll call it. When?”

“An hour.”

“Good.”

“Hey, I need to meet with the guys, but I can’t leave you here alone.”

“You don’t trust me?”

“Enough, Phoenix. We need everything out in the open. Do you want to be with me? With or without this shit hanging over your head?”

“I do, but how can you forgive me?”

“I’m not saying it’s going to be an easy road but knowing that you ran out of fear and not out of regret between us makes it a lot motherfucking easier to handle.”

“I swear I didn’t want to run.”

“Then don’t do it again. We’re a team from now on.”

“He set it all up, Raymond.”

“Who?”

“Agent Moreno.”

“Wait one of the agents I met?”

“Yes. He wanted me and then he was spying on me here. He knew about me and you and then when you came to get me, he had to get me away from you.”

“He told me that just before we fought and I escaped.”