Read Online Raine Falling (Hells Saints Motorcycle Club) by Paula Marinaro - Free Book Online Page B

questions.
    But not Diego. Diego came right up by my side. Crowding me. Not looking at me.
    “Prosper?” Diego to Jules.
    I held my breath.
    “Yeah, man. Boss is on his way and he wants the room clear. Totally, Brother.”
    “Ain’t happening,” Diego challenged.
    “With that.” Jules sighed.
    Jules poured three more shots. One for me, one for him, and one for Diego. He left my shot on the counter. He grabbed the other two in his big hand. He handed Diego the bottle. He nodded once to the back of the room, and Diego started walking.
    Jules looked at me and winked.
    “It’s going to be fine, honey.” He followed Diego to a table in the back of the room.
    Diego just kept walking past me. I took a deep breath and turned to the bar to pour the fire down my belly and wait. A few minutes later, I heard the door fly open. I heard the footsteps that stopped right inside that door. I heard them come from behind me.
    “Raine.”
    A voice that sounded sweetly familiar. A voice that sounded like firelight, long blended notes on a silver harp, and summer nights on a lake. A voice that sounded like my mother, my father, and everything that family meant rolled into one. A voice that sounded like home. And although I knew he was coming and I had prayed for him to be waiting for me, I couldn’t look at him. The shame and the fear and the feeling of defeat overwhelmed me. I was that little girl in that van again. All those years ago. Because even though I had tried my hardest to keep it all together, I had failed. All the sacrifice and the hard work and the saving every dime had still brought me to this. To a place I needed to be rescued from. No matter how hard I tried, I had failed. That was the darkest secret of all.
    So I turned and stood with my back against the bar. My arms wrapped around me, holding down tight. My face turned away from Prosper. And he knew . I could hear the sharp growl when he saw the damage. He looked in the direction of Diego and Jules.
    “The cocksucking sonofabitch who did this,” Prosper snarled.
    Diego nodded and confirmed from his table at the end of the room. “Dead man, Brother.”
    Prosper’s attention was back then. I felt his eyes on me, and I wanted more than anything to run into his arms. But I knew that if I unwrapped mine, the bad would come shooting up and rip me apart.
    He moved slowly towards me and I tensed. My eyes burned brightly with their refusal to cry. Then he was next to me. He was looking at his shoe. I was looking at the spot on the wall.
    He knew.
    Damn if he didn’t reach into his pocket and pull out a bar of chocolate. He unwrapped it and popped a piece into his mouth. He handed the rest to me.
    I reached across the years and took it from him. We sat in silence for a while, relishing the sweet taste of time gone by on our tongues.
    “You still play that little harp I gave you?”
    Him not looking at me.
    “Every day.”
    Me not looking at him.
    I put my hand in his and my head on his shoulder.
    “Prosper?”
    “Yes, Little Darlin’?”
    “I’ve run clear out of brave,” I whispered.
    “Just so happens I got some brave saved up just for you, Raine,” he said against my hair.
    More silence.
    “So, Prosper?” I dropped my chin to his shoulder.
    “Yes, Little Darlin’?” His voice shaky now.
    “You got this?” My voice shaky now too.
    “I got this.”
    I turned into his arms. I was not a little girl anymore, but just the same I held on to him the way a daughter hangs on to her father. He held me tight, the way only a father knows how to do. We stayed that way for a long, long time. I didn’t see Jules and Diego leave. But I know they must have because when I thought to look for them much, much later, they were both gone.

CHAPTER 17
    W hen the call had come telling him that Raine had just walked into the MC, Prosper had let out a deep sigh. His first go-to was complete and selfish joy. Pure unabashed happiness. He was going to be seeing his Little