Baller: A Bad Boy Romance (52 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY NINE

Angeline tried to snatch the phone from Kane’s hands, wanting nothing more than to howl at him and tell him that if even one curl was out of place, she would rip his heart from his throat and stuff it into his mouth. But Kane held her tighter and spoke in smooth, eerily even tones.

“Where the fuck are you?” Kane asked.

They both heard him take a drag off his smoke, and he only continued after he exhaled. “Not too far gone,” Noel said. “Like not at the bottom of a cliff.”

Angeline gasped, and Kane kept her steady. Somehow Noel knew. Had he been following him from the first moment that he had fled with Ben leading the charge? Was it all just some joke? Some game at their expense?

“Truckers talk,” Noel said. “I figured you’d high tail it back to that sweet piece of ass, and he brought us to where you faked the whole thing. Ditching your jacket was a nice touch. But it didn’t fool me. I know the way you ride, kid.”

Feeling as if she would explode through her skin, Angeline couldn’t wait any longer. She grabbed the phone and screamed, “Where is he you fucker? What are you—”

Her voice came to a halt as the sound of Theo’s cries hit her ears. For the briefest of moments, Angeline was relieved to just know that he was still alive. But he sounded more scared than she had ever hear him, and when the word
Mommy
started to mingle with his tears, Angeline wished for the power to leap through the phone and collect him in her arms.

“Theo! Baby!”

Kane took the phone again, his jaw clenching as he spoke.

“Give him back, Noel,” Kane ordered. “They have nothing to do with this.”

“Guess we can agree to disagree,” Noel said. “But okay. The cunt can have her brat back if you come home and focus.”

Here was the way out, the fix that he had promised, but Angeline saw him shudder at the prospect of having to go back to the club and Noel’s wrath. He might keep him alive to keep him working, but what kind of a life would it be? Kane as a shell of the swaggering man that had first captured her heart? As much as she wanted Theo back, it seemed too great a price to pay when the crime was hers.

“Fine,” Kane said. “Where do we meet?”

She started to tell him no when he waved her off and started exchanging details. Angeline had to move fast if she was going to make this work, and she disentangled her body from Kane’s arms. Finding her purse, she grasped her cell phone and made her way back to the shattered nursery.

“Dad,” she said. “Here.”

“What’s going on?” Brent asked.

“Call for help, but don’t tell them about Kane or… or my baby.”

Brent’s face shifted into a mask of concern as she bit her lip and wiped the blood from his face.

“Angie?”

“You need to go to the hospital,” she continued. “But just say that we’re out and on our way to you.”

“Is Theo ok?”

“I know how to keep them both safe.”

Hugging her father, she kissed his bruised cheek and ran out of the room. Kane already had her keys in his hand, and he spoke without looking at her.

“I’m taking your car,” he started. “He said that the boys will bring Theo home.”

“And you really believe that?” Angeline asked, as she took his hand.

“I have to,” Kane sighed. “Only way I’m going to get through this.”

He was nearly out the door when she followed after him. “I’m coming with you,” she said.

“No, you’re not!” Kane said, as he took her face in his hands. Their eyes locked, and Kane kissed her passionately, his mouth claiming hers with so much longing that it could only mean the last time. And maybe it was. But she was still going with him.

“He’s my son, and I say how he comes home,” Angeline said.

Kane still seemed reluctant, but when she held his gaze, he stretched up and touched her face.

“You stay close to me,” he ordered. “He doesn’t get to touch you again.”

She nodded, and they hopped into her car.

Kane started to hit the brake as they neared a quiet patch of woods. Noel had been truthful about one thing; he wasn’t too far. Peering through the windshield, she saw three bikes, and she recognized Ben and Waldo as they awaited Kane’s approach. In that moment, her rage was for Ben. Maybe he hadn’t tricked Kane into running away, but he had to have a hand in bringing Noel to her door before they had a real chance.

“I… I don’t see Theo,” she whispered.

Parking the car, Kane told her that she need to stay behind him as he stepped from behind the wheel.

“What the fuck?” Kane said, as he lifted his hands in the air. Angeline stayed at his back as Ben lowered his gun and slowly shook his head.

“Not my call, man,” he muttered. “But he beat Gina bad. So I talked.” Ben stepped forward and hung his head and said, “I’m sorry.”

Angeline knew bits and pieces of Gina’s story, and she disobeyed Kane’s order and stepped forward even as he tried to hold her back.

“But she’s alright?” Angeline asked.

Ben cast Waldo a quick glance before turning his eyes back to her.

“She’ll live,” Ben said, and Angeline was grateful.

More so when Noel appeared from the shadows of the trees, and Theo was only whimpering quietly as he moved towards them.

“You know, in another life, I could have made a real Blood Brother out of this little shit,” he said.

No. Not my son. Not under your watch.

“That is not happening,” Kane said, as Angeline wished that she could have Theo and make all of it a bad dream.

“Cute little bugger though,” Noel laughed.

Angeline’s had to choke back the bile building in her throat when Noel curled his finger across Theo’s cheek. She had never seen her child glare, but he knew enough to be angry now.

Just like his mother.

“Angel! I said—”

She got right up in Noel’s face, as Kane gripped her shoulders.

“Give me my baby, you fucking asshole!” she said.

He seemed amused, high off of their sorrow.

“Boss,” Ben started, “come on.”

Noel spit at him and leered at Angeline. Her plan was already in place. But could she? Could she really do it?

“And what do I get in return?” Noel asked.

Before she could speak, Kane intervened and said, “Give the boy back, and I swear to you that I’ll fall in line.”

“I wonder…”

Noel kept the boy in his arms for as long as possible, but finally he smirked as he handed the boy off. As soon as she felt his body melting into hers, Angeline rejoiced at the feel of him safe, and as Noel listed off the ways in which Kane would have to pay for his transgression, she looked into Theo’s eyes and kissed his cheeks.

“I’m doing this for you,” she whispered. “I started this, now I finish it.”

Just before Kane was led away, Angeline rallied to his side and placed Theo in his confused arms. Then, she grabbed Noel by his collar and stared at him hard. “Take me,” she said.

Every man was confused as Angeline held her ground, and Noel cruelly smirked under his scar as he touched her face.

“Get your fucking hands off of her!”

“Let the bitch speak,” Noel ordered.

Angeline swallowed and glanced over her shoulder. Seeing Theo in Kane’s arms brought her some peace, and she knew that if she could take Kane’s sentence on her shoulders and become Noel’s toy, there was a real chance that he would never come back to Colorado or wherever Kane was able to hide him. However, the thought of what Noel would do with her caused her body to shudder.

But Kane had done his time for her. And now it was her turn.

“If you leave Kane and Theo alone, I’ll be whatever you want.”

Kane handed the boy off to Waldo and charged forward.

“She’s not going with you!” Kane yelled. “I won’t let you!”

Noel hit the back of his head with the butt of his gun. Angeline’s first instinct was to fall and tend to his wounds, but she had to see her plan through. His moans told her that he was still alive, and as she looked back, she saw Theo calming under Waldo’s arms despite the chaos all around him.

She was the chaos, and she needed to go.

“Theo, always remember that I love—”

Noel doubled her over with a swift punch to the stomach, and before she knew what was happening, her body was on the back of his bike and speeding off into the unknown.

CHAPTER FORTY

Riding with him was hell. The wind wasn’t gentle as it brushed against her cheeks, and she had no choice but to cling to his waist to keep from making Kane’s bid for freedom a reality and falling off the side of the road. But it wasn’t any fear of death that kept her at his back. It was the knowledge that if he lost his chance to torture her, he would head right back to Kane and Theo. So, she was going to take her poison and deal with the pain.

“That’s right, Angel,” he said. “You’re gonna hold onto whatever I say.”

Her body was awash in fresh trembles as he parked in the lot of a sleazy motel and pulled her off his bike. Noel hurt her arm as he dragged her through the main doorway, and Angeline saw a disinterested desk clerk. His ears seemed to perk to a kind of attention when she couldn’t help but quiver, but Noel just tossed him a wad of bills and demanded a key. The clerk did not argue, and Noel saluted the guy as he hauled Angeline to the room that would become a prison once he locked the door.

“You know,” Noel said, as he lit a cigarette and blew the smoke in her face, causing her to blink through the haze, “I could have used him—like he was—before you got your hooks into him.”

Wanting only to keep Kane safe, she asked him if he would leave him alone now, now that she had surrendered herself to him.

Noel lifted her chin to his eyes and gagged her with a harsh kiss, as he said, “You perform. Keep me interested. And maybe I’ll have all that I need to keep me happy.”

He slammed her into the wall, his hands everywhere as his tobacco-laced teeth bit her buttons away and started to nip at her breasts. She whimpered as he kissed her, but she kept close to the wall. The last thing that she wanted was to make him angry, and she tried to go dead as he kept mauling her. She thought of Kane and hoped that Ben and Waldo had talked some sense into him, making him see that  she was a lost cause. Would he get that and focus on Theo? What would her father say when she failed to come back?

Could this really work? Or should she have stayed?

“Keep me happy now!” Noel cried, slapping her face until she fell to the floor and hid behind her curls. Then, Noel kicked her back to attention, pulled her off the ground, and said, “Strip. Lose it all.”

Noel settled on the edge of the bed. Scared but feeling that she needed to go through the motions to keep her boys safe, Angeline did as she was told and removed what was left of her blouse. Sliding her skirt down her thighs, she kicked off her shoes and stood in nothing but her panties as Noel drooled.

I can’t… I can’t do this. I can’t let him have me like that again. I—

“This was your idea!” Noel bellowed, as he flicked his cigarette at her legs, and even as she drew back, she caught some of the burn and felt her eyes filling with tears.

“You doing this or what, bitch?” Noel asked.

She lowered her panties and blushed when she felt her body completely exposed to his eyes. Noel licked his lips, and as soon as he seemed sure that her body was his for the taking, he pounced.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

He forced her to the bed, his hands working their way between her legs as he curled his fingers around her shaking ass. Angeline hated the feel of his hands, but she sank into his touch. She would stop being a woman, a person, for the duration of her sentence. She would just lay back and take it and think of Kane with Theo. Just the thought of them safe was enough to make her sure that her sacrifice was worth it, and Noel…

“Aren’t you going to at least put up a fight?” he sneered, as he started to push his fingers inside her. Her entire body groaned around his point of impact, but she stayed still. “No difference,” Noel said. “I can make you scream in other ways.”

Pushing her off the bed, Angeline peered up and saw him removed his belt. Before she could tell him that they could go back to the bed, that she would do whatever he wanted, Noel slammed the buckle against her bare back. She yelled as she finally understood Kane’s anguish and why he had to try to get away.

However, as the brass cut into her skin, she knew that she had no such choice. She couldn’t run; she could only take her punishment and hope for moments of reprieve between his assaults. A part of her wished that Kane would appear and save her from this monster, but he had to be keeping Theo safe. He had…

She curled into a ball as the door was pushed open, and as she looked through her fingers, she saw Kane there, nearly frothing at the mouth with Ben as his side. Their guns were drawn, and when Angeline found his eyes, she cried out for Kane. However, he kept his gaze on Noel who stepped back, used her bare body like a shield, and said, “You can’t even listen to her! You are one dumb fuck.”

Kane clicked the trigger and appeared ready to shoot when Noel reached into his back pocket and held a knife to her throat. Angeline closed her eyes so as to not see the blade even as she felt it poking into her skin.

“She tried to give you a way out,” Noel said. “All you had to do was hang back with the brat.” He pressed the blade closer as he leaned forward and spat at Kane. “All you had to do was forget her.”

Again, he pressed his fingers between her legs. When she couldn’t stop from groaning, Kane swore that he would shoot him where he stood if he didn’t release her.

Noel seemed to grow reflective as he left her cunt and started to stroke her thighs. She hoped he would release her now. She longed to know where Theo was. And Kane…she had to have the chance to soothe her own blows to his face.

“But enough, Noel said. “So let’s say I just cut her and we call it a day?”