She drove around town for what seemed like hours before she decided to actually call Katy. When she didn't answer, Delaney's stomach dropped to her butt. She had nowhere to go, and she had too much pride to ask her brother or her dad. And she'd rather eat nails than ask Beth. Delaney wasn't in the mood to be talked to death tonight. She needed silence, and a warm bed, which wasn't in the horizon. There was a cheap motel downtown, but she was also not down to bring bedbugs back with her. She could wait outside Katy's house, but she assumed Katy was with Lucas. Had Lucas told her what was going on? She doubted it. He didn't care enough to call or text, so she assumed he hadn't told Katy. Which sucked. Delaney pulled in front of the bakery, and parked, staring at her steering wheel that seemed to mock her silence. "Way to go, Laney," she mumbled to herself. Part of her wanted to go to back to Patch's house, but she didn't want to see Heather. She didn't trust her. Her kidnapping s
Patch stared at his mother's lifeless body with an emotionless expression. There was one thing to see a dead body, but a complete other to see your own mother dead.And she was … dead. Lifeless like an object, not a human being. Patch tried to see her as that, but it didn't work. All he could think about was his time as child, before drugs took over her life. He had so many questions, but he couldn't take his eyes off her. Her eyes were opened, unmoving, staring up at the water stained ceiling as if it would bring her back to life somehow. She never left with some man, she'd been killed, kidnapped, and Patch didn't know. Someone watched the house, obviously. They had to of been waiting for him to leave to dump her body. And what happened to Heather? There was an obvious struggle in the living room. It had to have been more than one person. But who? The Fallen Kings wouldn't have done this to him, would they? They might have taken Heather but they wouldn't have killed his mom after
He didn't believe her. He didn't say it, but he didn't. Delaney didn't know the extent of his relationship with Gabriel, other than them being friends for a while, but it was evident on his face that he didn't like that theory. "You're mad?" she asked into the silence. Patch looked out of the passenger side window, and scratched at the dark scruff on his jaw."Gabriel is the mastermind behind The Kings, Laney? Why would you even think that?"Delaney kept her hands wrapped round the steering wheel, and shrugged her shoulders. "I get a feeling about him, Patch. Daz is out of control, and wild, but he doesn't seem like in this state he's making rational decision. He seemed coerced. Listen, I'm not saying that Daz has never been in control, but something is going on right now with Daz, and I think Gabriel is using it to manipulate him."Patch sighed deeply. "I don't know. I don’t think Gab would do that.""It was just a thought," she said, pulling into the local Motel 6, and parking. Sh
Patch woke the next morning with an empty spot next to him. He felt relieved he hadn't been arrested in the middle of the night because of his mother's death. He'd been questioned, and he saw it on the officer's faces that they didn't believe him. It'd taken him hours to go to sleep after seeing his mother that way. Patch had seen his mother in many compromising positons over the years, but death was entirely different. The lifeless look on her face would scar him for eternity. He pulled the covers from his feet and sat up. Delaney's absence didn't seem unusual since she was an early riser, so he got up and walked down the stairs. The smell of food wafted toward him, and his stomach growled.Delaney stood in his shirt—which, made sense because he wasn't wearing one—and she stood in front of the stove cooking. He noticed a note on the island from her father about leaving for the day with Beth. He assumed it was because of her reluctance of having them there. Patch didn't care, and
Her legs felt like Jell-O but the best kind. It had been unexpected, in her dad's closet floor, but she felt lighter from his touch. Everything about it was spontaneous, something she hadn't felt in ages. Maybe since her freshman year of college, and everything felt new. Delaney got into the driver's seat of her car, and waited on Patch to slide into the passenger side. His stormy gaze shifted to her, and she smirked. It was on a whirlwind that she found that box with the storage key in it, and luckily, Beth was dumb enough to keep the number printed on the tag. "What do you think is in it?" he asked, stretching his legs out in front of him. She shrugged. "Weird old people décor. Or her abundance of car decorations." Patch laughed. "So you don't think she could have anything to do with The South Side?" "I don't know Patch. Beth? It's hard to envision, ya know? She's Betty Homemaker." "You're right, but I think it's the perfect disguise. No one would ever expect it to be her.
Patch grabbed Delaney's bag and swung it over his shoulder. The Airbnb that Lucas owned was nice, and sat on a small lake right outside of town. He didn't understand why anyone would want to come visit their small town, but this house was definitely a retreat away from city life. Delaney got out of her car and whistled. "Fancy, Lucas. Look at you, moving on up in the world." Lucas chuckled, and dug a set of keys from his front pocket. It felt nice to have Lucas not wanting to kill Patch. Not that were back to their usual friendship, but maybe they could get through a day without beating the crap out of one another. "Who all knows that you own this?" Delaney asked, as she followed her brother up the stairs. "I don’t know, why?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder. "Because I don't want Dillon showing up and killing me in my sleep, Lucas." Lucas opened the door to the house, and punched in a code disarming the alarm, while walking through and turning on the lights. "Do you rea
Delaney stood in the kitchen the next morning, making coffee, and feeling anxious. With everything going on, nerves crawled up her spine. She felt as if someone watched her every move, even though no one knew where they were. So many questions raced through her head. Who killed Patch's mother? Where did Beth get all of that cash? Was Gabriel really behind The South Side like she assumed? And how did Dillon play into everything. Why would he keep being Patch's half-brother such a secret? Fingers slid down the back of Delaney's arm, and she yelped. "Calm down," Patch said, sliding an arm around her waist, and burying his mouth into her neck. "You're jumpy."She scoffed, and turned to face him. If he didn't have that sleepy look in his eyes, and straight out of bed head, she would have smacked him a good one. "I'm just thinking about everything," she said. "I'm nervous."Patch reached above her and grabbed a coffee cup from the cupboard, and entrapped her against it when he came back
Gabriel sat on the desk in the front office, smoking a cigarette when Patch walked into work the next morning. Everything Delaney mentioned about Gabriel hit him, and he wanted to believe that Delaney was being paranoid, but he wasn't sure. "What up," he said, putting out his cigarette. Patch tossed his helmet onto the front lobby seats, and glared at him. "Oh, you know, just finding my mother dead at my house. Ya know." By the look on his face, Patch knew he had heard the news. "I'm sorry, bro. I didn't know how to bring it up. Any news about it?" Patch wanted to reach inside Gab's mind and pull out the truth. If The Fallen Kings had kidnapped Heather just to see how Patch would react, wouldn’t they have taken her back after Patch found out? And wouldn't that have put them at Patch's house where his mother turned up dead? "No. Where is Heather?" Gabriel hopped off the desk and pulled up their computer system. "I'm not sure, I haven't seen her since you came and took her. You
The sound of Delaney's car door slamming behind her, and peace the front seat of her car brought, made her smile. She'd spent most of the day studying in-between her grad school classes, before she needed to get home to whip up something for dinner. She'd spent the majority of the semester, trying her hardest to get the last few months out of her brain. Well, the bad parts of it at least. Those months brought her back into Patch Larson's sight. The mention of his name still gave her goosebumps. After his shoulder healed, and she made arrangement for grad school in Florida, they moved. Witout second thought, they gatered their things and moved. No more small town drama. No more of her father's problems, not that he hadn't tried to reach out by phone, and write Lucas wanting her to stop by. Maybe one day she could stop by, but at the moment, she didn't want to hear his lies or excuses. Having to go back for the trial would be enough for her. She hated that Patch had to relive a
The searing pain in Patch’s shoulder throbbed in sync with his heartbeat. He’d never been shot before, and he realized quickly he was glad for it. Delaney's voice wavered in and out of his hearing, her soft touches seemed light years away. Patch didn’t even realize the EMTs had arrived until they lugged him up and onto the gurney. They lifted him with a struggle up the spiral staircase as he heard the police reading Delaney's father his rights. He knew everything would be cleared now. The police had no choice but to drop their case against Patch and his mother. They figured it out. They knew who was behind the killings, and The South Side. Most likely other killings as well. Maybe they could settle solve other murders or mysteries now that he was caught. But Patch knew that the struggle wasn’t completely over. His best friend and his girlfriend just found out that their father was a murderer. A serial killer. A man they didn’t know him to be. The hurt in Delaney's voice and her
The shade of white on Delaney's face grew more pale by the second. Something traveled over her features, and realization settled there. She didn't even budge when the mug shattered to pieces at her feet. "What do you mean?" Patch asked after everyone became quiet. "You remember the mug? Couldn't it have come from your house--," She shook her head. "No. I vividly remember the mug and the cabin," she said, leaning against the island, she palmed her head in confusion. "I was around eight or so. We'd gone somewhere, and after dinner I was so sleepy, I fell asleep in the backseat. Dad must have thought I was out of it, and left me in the car while it was running," she whispered, her gaze traveling some place far off. "I stumbled out of the car, and into the cabin. I'd never been there before, it was old, and smelled like grandma's house. I remember feeling thirsty, so I poured myself a glass of water with a mug from the cabinet. I grabbed that mug," she said softly. "I yelled for Dad, an
Her entire body felt numb. A soul crushing numbness that began to eat at her insides, and travel through her veins like a virus, meant to kill her. My dad? Daddy? None of it made sense. How could her own dad be behind any of this? He’d taught her how to ride a bike, how to tie her shoe, and drive. His soft smile always put Delaney at ease. And to know that he was someone else’s fear. That he tortured Katy. He potentially killed Patch’s mother, and was behind The South Side? Why? Nothing made sense. She tried to put everything together, but nothing fit. It was a jigsaw puzzle with no matching pieces, that she didn’t know if it would ever come together. Her father’s eyes looked so lifeless when she stared into them. Tears coated her cheeks, and her bottom lip trembled. When Patch sprung into action, none of it registered. She stood like statue, waiting to wake up from her dream, but it didn’t happen. She didn’t even remember locking the door, or Gabriel getting arrested. It was
"I don't know why you're freaking out right now," Lucas said, swerving onto the main highway taking them to his dad's house. "My dad is not behind this. You think he kidnapped my girlfriend, too? Come off it, Patch. That's ridiculous." Patch knew how it sounded to Lucas, how it sounded to himself. He didn't want to accuse Mr. Summers of anything. He'd taken him in on so many occasions, that he didn't want to think he'd be behind this. But Patch's gut told him to get back to Delaney. "Are you even listening?" Lucas said louder this time. Patch glanced over at him, and he looked worried—irate—but worried. Maybe worried Patch was right. "I’m listening," Patch said, shoving his fingers into his hair. "I maybe wrong, but I have a feeling." Lucas sighed heavily. "There is something that I need to tell you," he said. "What is it?" "Dad … he. Our mother didn't die in a car accident, Patch. Someone broke into our house when we were small, and … killed her. We told Delaney she died fr
"I'll give Beth one thing. She picks the best snacks," Delaney said, tossing a bag of chocolate covered raisins and white chocolate popcorn at Joey on the couch. "Hmm. Yum," Joey said, opening the Zip-Lock bag. Delaney opened the cabinet where the wine normally was, and noticed it was empty. "No wine. Boo," she said, making her way toward the couch. "All of my lame teenage rom-coms are in my bedroom. Want to see how awesome I was in high school?" Joey laughed, and walked with her up the stairs. They passed Patch's room, and Joey jabbed her thumb across the hallway. "Guest room?" Delaney opened her room. "Sort of. Patch would stay there when he spent the night." "He didn't stay with Lucas?" Delaney sat down in front of her DVD case. "Well, he would stay over when his mother was strung out for weeks at a time. It was kind of his permanent room here." Joey plopped down beside her. "No wonder you have a thing for him," she said, shoving her shoulder into his. "Did you spy on him?"
Delaney pulled her hair to the side and braided it down her shoulder. Patch watched from the doorway, his gaze longing on her for as long as he could before it was time to go. They'd spent the day together, with Lucas and Joey, plotting their plan for the evening. Everything about the night made Patch uncomfortable. He never knew what the next day held, but he didn't like walking into the lion's den. He knew Gabriel was in on something bad, and it involved other people, but he didn't know who those people were. They could be cold, and heartless, put a bullet in his head without a second thought. Delaney's gaze shifted to Patch's in the mirror where she fixed her hair. Something about the day felt heavy, and cold, which made his stomach tie into a knot. "What are you thinking about over there?" she asked, turning to face him. "You look lost in thought." She wore a simple T-shirt, that showed the curve of her ample breasts, and a pair of jean shorts that highlighted the womanly
Delaney washed the conditioner from her hair, and ran her fingers through the length. She'd left the boys to watch over Joey, because she couldn’t look at her any longer. When she arrived at Gabriel's house with Lucas, her nerves were all over the place, but nothing compared to the feeling she had of seeing her for the first time. Her eyes looked sunken in and black, her cheeks bruised and boney. She looked like a walking skeleton. Delaney would never get that ghostly look out of her head. Like a She finished her shower, drying her hair and the droplets off her skin. There were a million questions that needed to be answered. Who killed Patch's mom? Where was Katy? And how was this going to work out so that Patch and Delaney could be together. She didn't know, and it hurt her to not know. The bathroom door opened, and Patch walked inside, leaning against the doorjamb, his arms folded over his body. He'd lost his shirt, and only wore a low-slung pair of pants. "You okay?"Delaney s
Patch pushed out the kickstand of his bike, and took a long look at the progress made on the clubhouse. The other member's bikes lined the place where the parking lot once sat, and the members stood in the foundation of the new clubhouse. Patch pulled out a cigarette, trying his best to calm his nerves before joining them. There was an energy in the air that he didn't like, and it made him check his phone again for a text or call from Lucas or Delaney. He felt better knowing that Lucas was with her, and that Joey would be safe soon enough. Daz stood in the middle of the group of members, smiling like a lunatic, and hyping everyone up. Patch didn't know what his agenda was, but he would find out soon enough. Patch: Text me when you get to the Airbnb. He shoved his phone into his jeans pocket, and walked up the wooden stairs and onto the platform of the new clubhouse. Some of the members he hadn't seen in over a month, or since the clubhouse was burned, and he didn't feel bad ab