Chapter 18
Megan - Day 29
After peelingmyself away from Aaron’s chest, I turned off the blaring alarm clock. It was 2:30 a.m. We needed to get dressed so that we could use the cover of darkness to get rid of Chuck’s vehicle. Aaron had parked Chuck’s truck behind his house until it was time for us to get up and get rid of it.
As I followed Aaron, who was driving Chuck’s blue heavy-duty truck, I marked off another day in my mind. This was day twenty-nine in my thirty-day ride with the August Knights Motorcycle Club. I’d gotten a lot more than I’d bargained for in dealing with this club. I’d shot one man in the shoulder. Shot and killed another, stared death in the face, and had continued to carry on a sexual relationship with one of the MC’s chairmen.
After hours of driving, we’d traveled over the Florida state line and crossed into the state of Alabama. Aaron stopped to refuel and to take a bathroom break.
Before we got back on the road, he hopped into his truck with me and sat on the passenger’s side.
“I want to get Chuck’s vehicle as far away from Florida as possible. Let’s head up north into the mountains of Tennessee. I know a place where I can roll it over a cliff into the water.”
Already dirt-deep into the shit, I nodded my head. It was obvious that this was a new endeavor for Aaron—having someone he could share his dirty deeds with. The fact that I could handle the aftermath of so much death without showing remorse appeared to impress him.
“Sounds like a good plan to me,” I agreed, flashing a smile. I wasn’t smiling because of his suggestion. Just looking at him sent my hormones jumping. The man emitted sex appeal like he’d sprayed it on. On the rare occasion he let loose a smile, any female within sight would be in deep trouble. He never attempted to be sexy or seductive—he just was.
To my surprise, Aaron leaned over his center console and placed a sweet kiss on my cheek before exiting the vehicle. I glanced around the area. Anyone could have seen us, but it occurred to me that Aaron never seemed to care what people thought.
If I’d read him right, I’d say he was starting to develop feelings. Shit, I’d developed them the moment he touched my body, but I had enough sense to know that we had always been one screw away from our end.
A wide grin lit my face when I thought of some of the things I’d done with Aaron. He lived a life outside the law, and although I was starting not to want to, I needed to get back to my reclusive life of writing books.
However twisted, living this adventure with Aaron had been one of a very few highlights of my life. I hadn’t shared much about my life with Aaron. Although I chose to live a sheltered life now, it hadn’t always been that way.
My life as a foster care kid had been a hellish anarchy of violence and crime that had twisted my mind into so many knots I’d be entwined for the rest of my life.
* * *
Six more hoursand another pit stop brought us to the area Aaron had picked out. I watched him wipe down Chuck’s truck with a dusty white rag he’d found in the tackle box. He leaned under the open driver’s side door into the vehicle and did something to the brake and accelerator before he stood behind the truck and attempted to shove it forward. His boots scratched up rocks and dirt as several loud grunts sounded before the truck started to move.
At first, it rolled at a sluggish pace before picking up enough momentum to teeter over the cliff. The scene was like watching a clip from a movie.
Hurrying from behind the wheel of Aaron’s truck, I climbed out in time to see the ass end of Chuck’s truck careen over the side of that rocky bank. My gaze remained glued to the scene. The metal of the truck groaned and strained as gravity pulled it down and sent it hurtling into the dark grayish-blue water below.
The truck didn’t go down the rocky bank easily. It scratched and clawed against the jagged sides of the mountain all the way down. The windows were left rolled down, and the back window remained open. When it finally hit the water, it sank, bubbling to the bottom of the waving dark bed of liquid.
On our return trip, I reclined the passenger’s seat and napped most of our drive back to Aaron’s house. When we drove into his yard around six that evening, we found his father sitting in the yard inside his truck with the motor running.
Shark’s fingers drummed against his steering wheel as he eyed Aaron and me suspiciously. His door screeched when he finally exited his vehicle.
I purposely remained in the background as father and son stopped and chatted on the porch. Aaron gave Shark the quick version of what had taken place inside his house and where we had just returned from. Shark’s eyes flashed a small crease of concern, but it was easy to see he had a lot of confidence in his son’s ability to take care of himself.
When Aaron relayed the part I’d played in taking out Chuck and his crew, Shark’s long, lazy stare unnerved me. He was taking a deep enough look to see the real me for the first time as Aaron had stared me down in his kitchen last night.
Shark’s gaze remained on me, but his words were meant for Aaron. His forehead creased like he was having a hard time trying to decide something. His eyes squinted as he continued to study his son and me.
“Son, you know I’m a man of my word. Martha’s thirty days are up tomorrow. I think she’s proven that she can be trusted. Do you want me to take her where she needs to go and drop her off or do you want to do it?”
He didn’t say out back, so I guess that meant Shark hadn’t decided to kill me. Although I believe I’d done enough to earn the MC’s trust, I’d also seen and heard enough that it wouldn’t be a stretch for them to still want to put a bullet in my head.
Aaron frowned as he glanced from his father to me, likely just realizing our time had come to an end.
“I’ll take her,” Aaron said, his voice tight.
Shark turned towards me. “Consider your sister’s debt paid. I’ll put the word out to the MC that they are to leave her crack head-ass alone. What is her name again?”
The fact that Shark couldn’t remember mine or my sister’s name was not reassuring, considering I’d worked a month to clear the debt she owed to the MC.