Avenged (Angel's Halo MC 7)

Glaring up at me, Kelli rubbed at her wrist. “Asshole.”

Raider closed the door, and I stepped back, letting my brothers take point. As much as I wanted to question her on this, I knew I was too close to it. I would get too emotional, too fucking pissed or regretful, and the room would explode before we even got anywhere.

Crossing my arms over my chest, I leaned back against the wall behind Bash’s desk and waited, fighting the need to shield her.

As if that was his cue, Bash stood and moved until he was standing directly in front of Kelli. The look on his face, the menacing glare that was flashing out of his electric-blue eyes, had Kelli losing some of her courage. She gulped, but she lifted her chin when it started to lower, forcing herself to stare down the MC president.

“I want everything. Every last detail, from the moment you set foot in this town up until this very second. You will tell us everything. Understand?”

“And if I don’t feel like it?”

He bent, his hands going to both chair arms as he leaned in so that his face was barely an inch away from hers. Instinct told me to push him away from her, that he could hurt her. Clenching my hands into fists, I fought my instincts and waited.

“If you don’t, Raven will come in here and beat it out of you. Either way, we will get the answers we want.”

Chapter 3

Kelli

A sliver of fear crawled up my spine as I watched Bash Reid’s disturbingly beautiful face come closer. He wasn’t the first guy I’d had to go toe-to-toe with, but he was probably the scariest.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone shifting closer and gulped. No, I was wrong. That man—he was the scariest motherfucker I’d ever come up against. With his shaved head, larger-than-life frame, and that tattoo of the black widow on his neck, he scared the ever-loving fuck out of me. There was a soullessness about him at times, but the moment he set eyes on his wife, every single person in the universe could see his one and only weakness.

Spider came closer and put his hand on Bash’s shoulder, urging him to back off. I balled my shaking hands into fists so they wouldn’t see my weakness just as Spider leaned in closer. “Don’t be afraid, Kelli,” he murmured in that deceptively soothing voice. In the blink of an eye, this man could have slit my throat and not even hesitated. “We don’t want to hurt you, sweetheart. We’ve all listened to the files on the flash drive, and we know you didn’t betray us. We just want the full story.”

He glanced at the others over his shoulder. “Right, brothers?”

Throats were cleared, and I could see some of the brothers nodding their heads as others gave verbal answers of assertion.

Spider stepped back, his calmness giving me a false sense of being in control. But I wasn’t stupid. I knew who was really in control of everything, and he was smiling down at me like some damn angel of hope. I felt sorry for his poor wife. “Let’s start from the beginning. Why did you come to Creswell Springs?”

For one fleeting moment, I silently begged Colt to save me. To stand between me and his MC brothers. To fucking put me first. But no sooner had that thought filled my head and my bruised heart than I mentally recoiled at my own ridiculousness. He would never stand between me and his brothers. Or anyone else, for that matter.

Not now.

Had he ever? If I hadn’t kept so much from him, would he have wanted to protect me now?

Would he have loved me—just a little?

Stupid, Kelli. Stop being stupid and focus. You never needed anyone before, and you don’t need anyone now.

Realizing I had no choice, I leaned back, getting comfortable so I could tell them my life story from the moment I came to this fucked-up town.

“Kevin Samson was my older half brother. Our father needed someone to keep their eye on him, to report back if he got into any trouble or whatever. Since the old fucker tries to control me using my mother as bait, I agreed.”

“So you were originally sent here to spy on your brother, not us?” Jet asked from where he stood across the room with Matt and a few other MC brothers. Of all of them, I suspected Jet was the most level-headed. It was why he was once the MC president. His one moment of insanity, however, cost him months behind bars and even longer away from the woman he loved. But there was no current danger to his lovely Flick, so I expected him to remain sane in the face of everyone else’s crazy.

“Basically. When he started making trouble for you, I reported back to Calvin, told him he needed to step in and get the dumbass out before he got himself beaten and dumped in a ditch somewhere. But his motto when it came to Kevin was more or less ‘boys will be boys.’ I told the old fuck Kevin was getting in too deep, that he was going to end up hurt, in jail, or dead.” I grimaced, remembering those conversations with my sperm donor. “I didn’t understand why he still wanted me to continue to watch Kevin if he wasn’t going to do anything about the idiot’s behavior.”

Hawk leaned forward in his chair, his face set in hard lines as he watched me closely. If there were anyone who should still hold a grudge against my dead brother, it would be this man. Kevin had nearly raped his woman. If given the chance, I would have held Kevin down while Hawk did whatever the hell he wanted to the evil motherfucker I unfortunately shared DNA with. “Did you know Kevin was planning on burning down the bar?”

“I didn’t have a clue. By that time, I was just living my own life. What was the use of keeping tabs on Big Bro if Daddy Dearest wasn’t going to take me seriously?”

“If your job was to keep tabs on Samson, why did you stick around after he died?” Bash demanded, pacing in front of me like a caged tiger, anxious to be set free and obliterate me with a single strike of his massive paw.

I shrugged, pretending like I wasn’t about to piss myself if the man so much as said “Boo.” When was the last time I used the bathroom? I couldn’t remember. Colt hadn’t stopped except to fill up with gas, and I’d used the restrooms every chance I got, but that last stop had been hours ago. “I figured the job was done after his death, but Calvin went a little insane. Kevin was his reason for living, I guess. I don’t know. Don’t really give a fuck. I was set to pack up and go home so I could take care of my mother. But he said I still owed him. He wanted me to get closer to the MC. Wanted any piece of dirt I could dig up on you guys after the ATF gave up and cleared out.”

“That’s when you moved in with Quinn?” Raider tossed out.