Page 9 of Dark Savior

“Take a seat or walk out. But if you walk out, you’re just postponing the inevitable,” he told me in an almost bored tone, like he didn’t care whether I opened up or not.

Not sure how I was supposed to feel about that, especially after the scene he just caused with my brother.

I glowered at him. “Fuck was that about?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “Carter found out we fucked. Told me you’re my problem now.” Callan ran his eyes over me in a way that made every part of me come alive with the need to be claimed. Fuck, he wasn’t even touching me. How did he do that? “For the record, I don’t think you’re a problem. I think you’re backed into a corner, lost, and don’t know where to fuckin’ turn.” He flicked those eyes up to mine once more. “Let me take care of the problem for you, Rachel.”

I sighed and pulled out the chair across from him, sitting my ass on the comfortable, worn leather. “Is Granddad okay?” I asked.

Callan shrugged. “Right now, it’s all up in the air. Rodney or Gretchen will reach out as more news comes available on his condition.” I frowned, my gut twisting. Callan flicked his ashes into an ashtray on his right. “Tell me what’s going on, kitten.”

I scrubbed my hands down my face. The club had found out, and I knew they needed to know, especially since Granddad was now hospitalized and couldn’t take care of whatever was going on himself. But the way Carter had come at me… it’d made me rebellious.

Old habits died hard, it seemed. Three years away hadn’t changed anything, really.

“I was getting groceries when two men from the Souls of Grim MC tried to snatch me right out of the parking lot.” Callan’s eyes went stormy, his rage palpable, but he kept his mouth shut. “The only reason I’m sitting here right now is because some brave old lady who didn’t know me from fucking Hades smacked one of the men upside the head with her purse, threatening to call 911. I don’t know what the hell she had in her bag, but she smacked that fucker hard enough to knock him out. Then, she told me to get the hell out of there.”

“Why’d you come here?” Callan asked, studying me. His face was nearly unreadable, but it helped a bit, honestly. To see him so calm and level-headed made it a tad easier to open up about what happened. If Granddad wanted it to remain a secret… well, too late for that now.

I sighed. “Granddad told me to when I called him. Didn’t let me come home. Told me not to reach back out. So, I came here. And I didn’t know what he wanted you all to know, so I just kept my mouth shut and lied out my ass.”

“But it concerned you. You were the one nearly fucking kidnapped by a rival club, Rachel. Not him. You had every right to tell us what was going on. Fuck how Raymond might have felt about it.”

My chest tightened. I just shrugged one shoulder. My loyalty lay with Granddad, no matter what it might cost me. He’d saved me in more ways than one. If I’d remained here, I probably would’ve been killed or locked up.

Callan grunted when the silence only stretched between us. “The men—describe them.”

I rubbed at my temples where a headache was beginning to form. Callan reached into his cut and pulled out a clear tube. When he popped the top off, a blunt slid free. He lit it before passing it over to me.

I couldn’t stop the small smile from tilting my lips even if I’d tried. He just nodded once at me. The man was eerily good at sensing what I needed.

“One of the men had a patch over his eye,” I informed Callan. “That stood out to me the most. Otherwise, no. To be honest, I don’t know much else. Both had dark hair. The other one was wearing shades, so I can’t give you an eye color.” I closed my eyes, trying to think. I knew this information was vital, but fuck—I’d been more focused on making it away from them than I’d been trying to memorize anything about them.

“The one without the eyepatch has a crooked nose, and he’s missing his front tooth,” I suddenly remembered. I opened my eyes, looking at Callan again. “I noticed it when the old lady knocked him on his ass.”

Callan grunted. “They’re dead as soon as I get my hands on them, you hear?”

I smirked and leaned back in my chair. I didn’t know what strand this was, but it had me feeling relaxed already. Figured Callan wouldn’t have the cheap shit. “Feeling protective?”

He let his eyes meet mine. “Of you?” I swallowed thickly at the overprotective glimmer dancing in his dark eyes. “Always.”

5

Rachel

The clubhouse was filled with tension over the next few days. Granddad was still unconscious with a severe concussion and laid up in a hospital bed, and as of the last update, he wasn’t showing signs of waking up. Carter was overbearing, breathing down my fucking neck as if I might know something I hadn’t already spilled to Callan. But I’d told Callan everything I knew, which I knew he’d relayed to the rest of the club so I wouldn’t have to.

I literally did not know a single thing more. And burning holes into the back of my skull every time we were in a room together wasn’t going to make new information suddenly or miraculously appear out of thin air.

Sighing, I snatched the keys to my car off the nightstand by my bed before striding out of the room. The clubhouse was quiet for the first time in days. Callan was out doing recon with Bruce and Orlando. Genesis and Brittany were God only knew where with my niece, and Carter was at the hospital with our parents to check on Granddad.

I was taking advantage of the silence, of no one around to demand where I was going, what I was doing, how long I was going to be gone… The questions were normally endless.

All I wanted was a pack of fucking cigarettes. And I didn’t want to bum some cheap ass, shit-tasting cigarette off someone else like I had been for two days now. I’d had enough of those to last me a lifetime. I needed a pack of Kools as soon as fucking possible.

I was honestly a bit surprised that someone didn’t pop out of a random spot and stop me from leaving, but I also knew Carter wasn’t extremely worried that I’d be found here. Not yet. I’d been gone for three years, so most people would assume I wasn’t back home when I’d worked hard to keep my distance for so long.

Besides, it wasn’t as if Carter hadn’t let me go out on my own since everything had come to light. He had… he just asked fifty thousand questions before he let me go out the door, which usually led to a huge argument until Callan stepped in and forced my brother to back off.