Page 27 of Monster
By the time I walked into the compound in the early hours of day four, I was aching to see her. Every part of me hoped she had stuck around, but I wasn't betting on it. This wasn't what she had in mind when she had appeared in my life a week earlier. She’d had a plan and that plan was to make her father suffer, but never in a million years did I think she wanted this. Police Chief Monroe was out for blood.
Mine.
And if he couldn't get it then I knew he was going to make our lives miserable. He had warned that he would make something stick and I had no doubt it would happen. I was more than likely headed straight to prison. But if Angela needed me to marry her first then I would do it. It might even work out better, for her anyway. There was no way I would ask her to wait for me. I had seen too many women start to hate their men after years of waiting. I didn't want my angel to hate me.
“Fang wants to see you.” Hansel didn't even step out of the shadow of the doorway. The only way I knew it was him was because the lit ember of his joint illuminated his face for a second.
“Ok, I'll just go and say hello to Angela and have a shower.” I moved past him, and his hand came down on my arm stopping me in my tracks.
“He wants to see you now, Monster.”
Sighing, I nodded. I was too tired for this. All I wanted was to grab a quick shower and slide into bed next to Angela's tight little body. Surely that wasn't too much to ask for? Obviously in the Savage Sons it was. My shoulders slumped. I made my way down to Fang's office at the back of the building. The door was open like they had been expecting me.
“Good to have you back, brother.” Fang held out his hand, clasping mine as I entered.
“It's good to be back.” I risked a glance to the left. The last person I expected to see was The Judge. His legs were crossed and he looked every bit the gentleman he pretended to be. “Judge.” I nodded in his direction.
My interest piqued, I took the seat offered.
“I know you're probably eager to climb into bed with Angela but I wanted to grab you and…”
I cut him off, my head snapping up. “She's still here?”
Fang's smile was knowing. “Yeah, she's still here, brother, has been driving everyone crazy asking about you. She didn't want to go back to Keeley’s so I put her in your usual room. But there are some things we need to talk about.”
I didn't like the tone of his voice. Whatever it was they were wanting to talk to me about wasn't going to be good, and if The Judge was there it meant the Family had something to do with it. An uneasy sort of calm settled over my shoulders. The same kind of feeling I usually had before I hurt someone. Only this time I suspected the person who was going to be hurt was me.
“Monroe.” The Judge's voice filled the room. He didn't use the man’s first name, just his surname, and I realised with a start that I didn't even know Angela’s dad’s name, “is trying to pin Bear’s murder on you.”
I blinked at him in shock. How could he pin a murder on me when the man in question was alive and well? There had been other deaths, more than I cared to admit that he could do me for, but not that one. “How the fuck does that happen? Bear left here alive and well. I can't have murdered a man who is still alive.”
“Bear may have walked into a little trouble when he left here.”
I stared at the older man. The twist of his lips was familiar because it reminded me of my own grin. “At your hands I take it?”
This couldn't be happening. I ran my hand through my hair. “Why the fuck would you do that?”
“Hey.” The Judge held his hands up, palm outwards. “I just grabbed him. Gio did the honours. Don't go looking offended, Monster. Bear was a liability and everyone knows it. Just look at what he did to Angela.”
I couldn't argue with that but I still didn't understand why the head of The Family had gotten involved. “And why did Gio...” I swallowed hard. I already knew. Keeley. I had seen the way the Italian had looked at her. “My cousin.”
The Judge nodded. “He's taken quite a shine to her. Be careful of that, Monster. Gio can be a charming son of a bitch when he wants to be. And Keeley’s a sweet girl. The sooner you get her off his radar the better.”
Fang nodded, his face set like stone.
“So Gio killed someone for manhandling my cousin and now I'm looking to take the fall?” God, I was tired.
“Yes, and that's why I’m here.” The Judge took a deep breath. “The Family want to know if it comes to it, will you do the time?”
22
ANGELA
There wasa kind of camaraderie between the men and women of The Savage Sons. One that I had never really witnessed before. They were a tight family unit. Looking out for each other. And in a way that meant that looked out for me as well.
As Monster’s woman, I was welcomed into their hodge podge family. Kind of anyway. I knew they still had reservations about me. Fang and Cyber especially didn't trust me and that was fine, I wasn't exactly trustworthy. But they looked after me anyway. Reluctantly, sure, but they did it. They thought I was important to Monster, and that made me important to them. Of course most of Monster’s club brothers didn't know that it was all make believe and Fang was adamant it had to stay that way.
“Hey Angel.” Monster’s voice was soft and my head snapped up at the sound of it. For a second I could do nothing but stare at him from my place cross legged on his bed, my hair wet and dripping from the shower.
