a couple weeks to patch their club over.”
“Patch?” she frowned, that word jogging something in her memory.
“They become a part of our club.”
“And Chuck?”
He blew out a breath. “Well, I never did want to share a patch with that guy.” He looked down at her. “I figure I’ll need to get the information out of him on the Asian guy first. Then I can take care of both of them.”
“We,” she corrected.
“What?” He frowned down at her.
“I’m going with you, aren’t I?”
He stood, shaking his head. “Naw. Like hell you are.”
“If I don’t, how will I know you’ve got the right guy?” she pointed out.
He ran his hand through his hair, exasperated. “I don’t know. I’ll text you his picture right before I blow his head off.”
“But, Cole-”
“You’re not going, Angel. Get that shit out of your head.” He headed for the door.
Angel sat up suddenly, clutching the sheet to her chest, the fragment of memory clicking into place. “Cole. Wait. Before you go, there’s something, something else you should know.”
He paused at the door, looking back at her.
“That place. Where you found me…” she began.
He nodded, a frown forming on his face as he wondered where this was going.
“The night before you came, when he dragged me off from the campfire and everyone else, and-”
“Don’t!” he stopped her, shaking his head. “Don’t relive that nightmare, sweetheart. I don’t need to hear-”
“Damn it! I have to tell you something,” she snapped.
Her agitation startled him. He moved back to the bed, and stood over her, his eyes searching hers. “Okay. I’m listening.”
Angel cleared her throat, and started again. “He dragged me off into the brush, and, well, after he was finished with me…”
Cole looked away, and clenched his teeth.
She could see the muscles in his jaw move. She could also see that this was as hard for him to listen to, as it was for her to say. She looked down. “He left me there, and went back to the others. I..I lay there for a while. I wasn’t even sure if I could move.” She took a deep breath, and continued. “I’m not sure how long I laid there, but after awhile I heard a man talking. I looked toward the sound. There was a guy, not ten yards from me, dressed in the same cut as Chuck’s. I guess he didn’t realize I was there. He was talking quietly into a cell phone.”
She looked up at Cole.
“And?” he prodded her to continue.
“He was talking about setting them up.”
His mouth tightened. “What are you talking about? Setting who up?”
“That club. Both clubs, I think.”
“Are you saying he was an undercover cop?” Cole stared down at her, his expression hardening. He took a step closer, towering over her. “You realize you’d be signing his death warrant.”
There was something about the way he was standing over her, looking down at her with that tick in his jaw, as if…as if he was barely containing his rage. Angel swallowed, falling back onto her back, and realized in that moment just how deadly he could be if he was crossed. She’d witnessed a taste of it in the Dead Souls clubhouse. And now that expression was leveled at her. She knew the rage wasn’t directed at her, but still, it was scary to look into his eyes with that expression on his face.
“Answer me, Angel.”
“No. He wasn’t a cop,” she whispered, shaking her head. “He was talking about how if he gets this done, gives them this, would they drop the charges of what they had on him. He was-”
“A rat?” he coached.
“I guess that’s what you’d call him.”
“Give them what? Did he say?”
She nodded. “Something about blowing up some guy’s car. And how once you patch them over, they can get all of you.”
“Shit,” he whispered. “This guy, you saw him?”
She nodded.
“Well enough to ID him?”
“If you take me with you.”
He cocked his head, and his eyes narrowed, wondering what her game was. “You’re not making this bullshit up just to get me to take you up there, are you? Because I’m tellin’ you, babe. I know I promised you I’d get you your retribution. But I never promised you’d get to witness it.”
“No. I swear. I’m not making it up, Cole.”
He studied her face, wondering how much he should trust her. Wondering at her motivation for this. “Why are you telling me this? Why the hell would you do that?”
“Because…because I don’t want to see you go to prison. I owe you