Vance by Sandra R Neeley
Chapter 1
The lights came on, and the last stragglers stumbled out of their favorite hangout. Most of them were members of the local MC club. The bar was the kind of place that their hard partying ways wouldn’t bother anyone, and they were free to cause just as much ruckus as they wanted to without repercussions. But this night, as usual, there were some who just weren’t ready to call it a night.
“You got to go!” Jared called good-naturedly.
“I need one for the road,” the man slurred, slapping his hand on the old, scarred bar-top.
“I think you’ve had plenty for the road, Squeegee,” Jared said with a laugh. He approached the drunken man and slung his arm around the man’s shoulders. “You know your boys left you inside? Come on, let me get you out there before they leave your ass here.”
“Alright, alright, fine. But I’m coming back tonight,” Squeegee said.
“We won’t be here tonight,” Jared answered.
“Why not?” Squeegee asked defiantly.
“I told you, we’re closing down for a few days. We’ll be back before you know and you can come back then.”
“I’ll keep an eye on it for you,” Squeegee said.
“You do that,” Jared answered.
Squeegee came to a stop just a few steps into the walk toward the door, watching a woman bending over from the waist up, as she held the dustpan with one hand while sweeping smashed plastic cups, napkins and anything else that had managed to get dropped onto the floor, into it. “Damn, J. That’s a fine-looking woman you got there,” he said, bleary-eyed and swaying on his feet.
“I think so, myself. Now stop ogling my woman, and get your ass outside so I can clean my bar and get ready to go,” Jared answered.
“I could hit that, you know?” Squeegee said, nodding to affirm his words.
“And I could tear your throat out, too,” Jared said conversationally.
“No, now hold on. I didn’t say I would. I said I could.”
“Same,” Jared said. “Go home, Squeegee.”
Squeegee nodded again as he allowed Jared to escort him out of the bar and into the parking lot where his friends were laughing and joking as they brought the night to an end.
“Take this fool with you,” Jared said, shaking his head as he pushed Squeegee in the general direction of the crowd of men hanging around in the parking lot.
“Squeegee! Where you been, man?” Connor, their leader asked, grabbing him and steadying him as he tried to find his bike.
“Drinkin’!” he exclaimed. “Where you been?”
“Waiting for you!”
“Uhh, okay,” Squeegee answered.
“Let’s get you something to eat,” Connor said.
“Yeah, let’s do that,” Squeegee said, turning back toward the bar.
“No, not in there.”
“Kass makes the best breakfast!” he objected.
“Kass also has to get some rest sometime. Just like Jared. Just like the rest of us,” Connor said.
“Where we gonna go, then?” Squeegee asked plaintively.
“Burger place up the road. They open late on Saturday nights. We going there.”
“It won’t be as good,” Squeegee complained, allowing himself to be put on the back of his friend’s bike. He routinely left his here. He had no choice most days. Drinking yourself into a stupor, then trying to ride your bike home with no ability to balance at all, was a recipe for disaster.
Jared chuckled to himself as he watched the men trying to get organized enough to ride away.
The last to leave the parking lot was their leader, with Squeegee hanging on behind him. Connor grinned at Jared as he gradually accelerated, allowing the bike to slowly creep out of the gravel and toward the road that led into town. “Y’all have fun, now,” he said.
“Oh, yeah,” Jared said.
“Keep your damn hands above my waist, Squeegee!” Connor barked out suddenly.
“Don’t flatter yourself! I ain't touching you! Oh, wait. Was that you? You all warm and shit,” Squeegee said, leaning his head against the man’s back to catch a quick nap on the way.
“Never thought anybody but my old lady would be wrapped around me like this,” Connor grumbled.
Jared laughed again, then went back inside. He smiled as he picked up several empty beer bottles from the tables closest to the door and stepped behind the bar to start cleaning it. He watched Kassidy as she pulled a large plastic garbage can behind her as she cleaned the large barroom. “Kass, baby, I’ll trade you. I got the easy part with the bar.”
Kassidy looked up at Jared and smirked. “Seriously? You want to wait until I’m just about finished with the worst part and ready to mop to offer to trade?”
“Hey, I’m just offering,” Jared said defensively.
“No, thank you. I’ll just finish the part I’ve already started.”
“Where is everybody else?” Kassidy asked.
“I told all but Trent to go on ahead. Trent’s on watch tonight, but no reason for everybody else to stay behind and help clean. We can get it finished here, and they can get there early and get everything set up,” Jared said. “Still can’t believe this is your vacation of choice, woman,” Jared added, shaking his head.
“What? Why? Because I don’t like glamor and glitz? I’ve never wanted that and you know it. All I want is the quiet of the woods, the chill in the air at night, hiking, fishing, nature, and a campfire keeping me warm. No phone, no electricity, no raucous barroom, nothing but me and mother nature,” Kassidy said.
“You’d think you were the shifter,” Jared said.
“Yeah, you’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Kassidy asked with a chuckle, as she tossed the last bit of trash into the garbage can and dragged it to the back door.
“And you’ll have to put up with me keeping you warm at night, in addition to your precious campfire. And the guys hanging around.”
“I know, safety above all else,” Kassidy said, winking at him. She went to the kitchen to fill the mop bucket and passed Jared on the way.
Jared reached out, snagging her by the waist and pulling her in to him. He looked down into her deep brown eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m the luckiest male alive,” he said, kissing her gently.
“I planned it that way,” she teased.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Oh, yeah. I saw you walk past me and said, ‘I’m going to make that man the luckiest man alive’.”
He sobered and a seriousness that often overtook him clouded his expression. “I’d be lost without you, Kassidy.”
“That’ll never happen.”
“If anything ever happens…”
Kassidy sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder to try to offer a little comfort. “Nothing is going to happen.”
“I broke the rules, Kass. At some point I’ll have to answer for that.”
“I don’t think so. If they were as focused on you as you think, you’d have heard about it by now.”
“Maybe,” he said.
“Maybe they just wish you well. Maybe they said, ‘Good for him. We need to find our own way, too’.”
“I walked out on our family. Somebody’ll come looking.”
“And if they do, I’ll stand right beside you and face them all. But I’m feeling pretty sure nothing is going to happen. If it does, we’ll smooth it over just like we did that other Pride that got offended because we moved in too close to them.”
“We’re in a whole other state, that guy was wrong and he knew it. And no, you won’t fight beside me. You’ll do just what we’ve planned.”
“They’re not going to come trying to kill us all. If anything, it’ll just be an argument. They’re not going to kill their own flesh and blood.”
“I disgraced my father in front of our community — the entire Pride. He’ll demand retribution. And while I’m fairly sure he’s not Alpha anymore, I still have a lot to answer for.”
“Then you should call your brother.”
“And say what? I left my brother to deal with everything. I basically stole my freedom at the cost of his. It’s my own short comings that keep me from reaching out. How do you apologize for a betrayal like that?”
“Do you really believe he’d lash out at you?” Kassidy asked.
“I don’t know. He’s Alpha now, but I know he’d never hurt you even if he’s completely done with me. I drove a wedge that I don’t think can be removed, but he’d never hurt a female. Regardless, if anything ever happens, you know the routine.”
“I do. And I’ll do exactly what you taught me to do. Okay?”
“Yeah. Thank you for that. For trusting me. I know you don’t like it, but it does give me a sense of safety.”
“I’ll always trust you. And I worry about you, too. But I have to believe it’ll all be just fine.”
Jared nodded and kissed her again. “Let’s get this place cleaned up and try to get a little shut-eye before we have to head out on our glamping trip in the morning.”
“Glamping? No, it’s traditional camping, not glamping,” Kass said, kissing him again quickly before she rolled the mop bucket toward the main barroom.
“Got it! Except for the blow-up mattresses and hot tubs I ordered,” he teased.
“You better not!” she answered on a laugh.
He knew she loved camping, almost as much as his inner beast loved being in the wilderness. In fact, she probably loved it more than he did. There was no way he’d ruin her much anticipated getaway. A few days to run free, allow his woman to recharge her batteries while letting his lion take over and run for a while… it was a win-win in his opinion.
~~~
It was still dark when Kassidy was startled awake by Jared urgently trying to wake her.
“Kassidy! Baby, wake up!” Jared whispered harshly directly in her ear.
Kassidy’s body jolted awake as she glanced blearily around. “Hmm? What? Time to go already?” she asked, sitting up unsteadily as she shoved the covers off her body. “Shhhh!” he warned.
“You have to hide. Now! Right now!” he whispered. “Do not speak,” he warned her, still whispering.
“What?” she asked, trying to make sense of what he said in her half-awake state as he simply snatched her off the bed and rushed down stairs barefoot, moving silently with her in his arms. He used his shifter strength to easily shove the pool table out of the way with one hand while he held her steady with the other.
“Jared, what’s happening?” she asked, remembering to whisper also, trying to see in the darkened barroom they lived above.
He pressed his mouth to her ear whispering again. “Power’s been cut. I heard three distinctly different engines approaching right before it went out. They’re back for us, Kass. They’re here. But they’re not going to get you,” he said, setting her on her feet before claws sprung from the tips of his fingers. He bent over and used them to slip into an unnoticeable space between the wooden slats of the floor, which triggered the mechanism in the small hidden room beneath the floor. He lifted the edge of the hidden doorway and stepped back so she could go down the small set of cement steps and get inside.
“I’m not hiding while you’re out here fighting! Your family’s not going to kill us,” she whispered.
“It’s not my family. And I can’t fight properly if I’m watching your back the whole time. And I’d be watching your back the whole time if you were out here. You’re helping by disappearing into the safe room. Please, Kassidy. We don’t have time for this.”
“But, what if…”
“You’ve got supplies down there. Somebody will come if there’s a problem. But that’s not going to happen. Just stay down there until I open it and let you out.”
“What if no one comes?”
“Someone will come! And if it’s not me, then he’ll look like me, and that’s how you’ll know it’s safe to go with him. Anyone that doesn’t look like me opens this door, kill them. Don’t think twice, kill them.”
“I could die down there. Just let me fight up here with you!”
“No! And I’ve made arrangements. You won’t be forgotten down there. I wouldn’t let that happen. Trust me, Kass.”
Kassidy’s eyes filled with tears and she nodded as she allowed Jared to hold her hand and guide her to the safe room stairs.
As soon as her head cleared floor level, he spoke again. “Kass? You’re my world. You’re the only thing that ever made me happy. You were worth it. I’d do it a thousand times over. Be happy, baby. No matter what it takes, live your life, be happy.”
“Jared!” she said, and reached toward him as he closed the hidden door. She burst into tears and didn’t even try to knock or get his attention to let her out. It was pointless. The safe room he’d put her in was soundproof. It was made to completely insulate her from bullets, fire, even water. The safety measures he’d installed had considered every possible way someone could use to try to flush her out, or kill her while she hid from any and all assaults. The concrete was so thick that if searching for a hollowed space by simply knocking or pounding on the surface of the floor while listening for a difference in sound, there wouldn’t be one.
Kassidy sobbed as she held her arms around herself and went down the last few steps into the small area he’d prepared for just this reason. There was a shelf lined with canned food, gallons of water, canned juices. A cot with a pillow and blankets, a portable chemical toilet, and basically just about everything she’d need until someone came to let her out. “No,” she said to herself, “until Jared lets me out. He’s going to be okay; he’s going to let me out.”
Her gaze drifted over toward the three guns and ammunition he’d trained her to use. A small Sig P365, a 12-gauge shotgun, and semi-automatic weapon that regardless of the times Jared had coaxed her into firing it, she never became accustomed to. She hated the thing, but as he’d reminded her, if it was her against a group of people coming at her, if she aimed it at them and fired, she’d walk away, they wouldn’t.
Taking a seat on the army cot he’d placed in the safe room for her, she buried her face in her hands and let herself sob. Down here no one could hear her. She didn’t have to worry about hiding every sound she might make. All she had to worry about now was the fact that the only man she’d ever loved was upstairs, preparing to, or maybe already, fighting for his life.