Rage Read Online Free PDF Page B

to make sure she was safe.  And I was going to do exactly that.
    ***
    “What the hell are you doing here?” Shit.  That voice.  I turned around in the middle of the parking lot to see Brandy standing there, waiting.  Looking at me with those hard eyes.
    I was in a whole mess of trouble.  This was just the bitch I was trying to avoid.
    “Not now, Brandy,” I barked and hoped it would be enough to keep the woman at bay.  This was the last thing I needed, and it only compounded my anger.
    “What you mean, not now? Motherfucker, I’ll say what I want when I want.” She charged toward me but I turned my back to her, taking a claw right to the neck.
    If she hadn’t been a woman, I would have knocked her sweet ass out.
    “Asshole! Where the hell you think you’re going?” Her blonde hair whipped as she came at me again.
    This time, I couldn’t help it.  I let her hit me a few times, but when she went to claw my face, I had to deflect her.  I grabbed her and knocked her right on her ass, making sure I didn’t hurt her, but the message was clear.  I didn’t fuck women up, but I sure as hell didn’t take their shit, either.
    “Fuck, Rage, what the hell?” she asked, ass in a puddle.  She was halfway to tears, but I couldn’t help but laugh.
    She got exactly what she deserved.
    “Brandy, I don’t have time for your bullshit right now.  Shit’s going down at the club, and I sure as hell don’t need your ass acting all crazy.”
    “Why don’t you get your buddy to come and tell me to fuck off again like last week, huh?” What a fucking bitch.  I clenched my fist but held it.  They called me Rage, but Beast and me, we’d had a rule.  No beating up women.  Brandy, though, she was so close – so close – to tasting my fist.
    Before she could open her mouth again, I hurled the truth at her.  “Because he’s dead .”
    Her face glossed over as she tried to form the right words.  She hated Beast, but she knew she’d fucked up.
    “Man, I’m sorry.  I didn’t—”
    “Yeah, that’s right.  You didn’t.  What, too high to actually pay attention at work? I know they told you all.  The whole club knows, but you don’t? Bullshit, Brandy.  I’m sick of your junkie shit.  Don’t fucking come around me again, or I’ll more than leave you on your ass.”
    Maybe I’d let my temper get the better of me.  Maybe I’d snapped.  But I wasn’t going to hurt her.
    She didn’t know it, but I never would. 
    As I got on my bike, I laughed.  Hell, it was funny, really.  Brandy might have hated Beast, but it was Beast who’d always been the better man.  “Never hit a woman,” he’d said.  “You hit a man, you beat him.  You hit a woman, you beat yourself.”
    Turning away from Brandy, I fired the engine and got the fuck out of there, going where I should have in the first place.  Not back to Layla, no.  I needed space away from all the women in my life.  Instead, I went to my second home.
    The clubhouse.
    ***
    “Where in the hell have you been?” Mick sounded more cranky than angry.  “We’ve been trying to get ahold of you all fucking afternoon.” Glass of bourbon in hand, he reached behind the counter and grabbed the bottle, pouring me one too.
    It was much needed.
    Crow wasn’t as happy to see me.  “You out getting yours while we sit here and try to come up with a game plan, lover boy?” Ah, there it was, that little bit of anger they all had, brewing beneath the surface.  The blame they all had.
    I was called back to the clubhouse.  It wasn’t my fault.  But if I’d been there, if I’d waited another ten minutes, Beast might not have been ambushed, or we might have caught those who did it.
    Sean died because I wasn’t there.  We all knew it.
    They might not want to blame me, but everyone did.  Even me.
    Especially me.
    “Got business in the conference room.  You up for that?” Mick asked, his anger turned to sympathy as he got up, patting my shoulder hard.