UnKiss Me Novel – Eden It’s been two years since my father was arrested. Apparently, the neighbors heard my screams. Honestly, I don’t remember much after the screaming, only pain. Blacking out from the excruciating agony, that’s my memory. The cops arrived and found blood everywhere and me on the floor. I was severely beaten. Glenna was found shortly after, crying from under her bed—terrified. Once released from the hospital, I fought with everything I had to keep custody of Glenna. Since social services couldn’t find her birth mother, I was all she had left. Being that I was over eighteen, they finally relented, but not without regular visits, calls, and surprise checks to ensure everything was okay. Needing to feel secure, I moved us back to my hometown, into my childhood home. Finally feeling halfway settled, I find out my father will be up for parole in just three months, and I’m terrified. Our justice system isn’t all that great.
Just last year, in the news, I saw where some man stabbed his girlfriend and was let out of prison in just six months. If Dad gets out, I know he’ll kill me, and then Glenna will be next to suffer his wrath. After watching the news last night, I was tempted to pick up the phone. I stopped, but the urge was there. Bikers are scary, even though they say they’re all about protecting children. Sometimes, though, they have a hidden agenda, just like the old club, Satan’s Law did, so I hesitated. I kept the number, though, just in case. “Eden?” I hear a tiny voice call out. I get off the leather couch, pausing the DVR to go find her. I don’t ever get to kick back and watch TV until she goes to bed. “Hey, Glenna, sweetie, are you okay?” I ask her, hoping she isn’t coming down with something. She nods her head and jumps out of bed, gripping her pink fuzzy teddy bear, running to hug me. “Had a bad dream about Dad,” she says softly in a sad tone.
Sighing, I lean my back against the wall in the narrow hallway just outside her room. I decide I need help. I’ll do anything to keep my sister safe—anything to protect her from knowing the hurt I’ve endured. I remember back to when I ran away with Glenna, the year before he went to prison for almost killing me. I never want my sister to go through that. I thought for sure I was going to die and leave my sister all alone. Maybe calling those bikers I saw on TV is a good idea. Angel It has taken me years to clean what used to be a piss poor excuse of a club up. It’s been brutal, but my boys and I have accomplished the unthinkable. After the reputation we had, it was hard getting known for something better. Since my father ran this club before me, it was all about private parts, guns, and drugs. My boys and I didn’t want that.
Once Dad went away and got shanked in prison, we started cleaning up he’d built. We even changed our club name. Instead of Satan’s Law, we’re now known as the Angels Warriors. It’s also a spin on the Untamed Angels that have a charter just a few hours from us—those bastards are as evil as they come. They have no boundaries—killing, raping women. It doesn’t matter to them. When people first heard of the Angels Warriors, they were hesitant because Angels is also associated with the Untamed, but it eventually caught on and people were good with us. When I first found out about the Untamed Angels, while we were looking into other club names, I figured it would be perfect- the good and the bad. It took two long years to change everything around. We do charity runs and protect the innocent. We don’t mess with that shady things anymore.
Our days of gun running and dealing drugs are long in the past. Now, we all have our own jobs, and the club is secondary. “Angel!” I hear Zippo shout through the shop. “Got a call, brother.” I put down the socket wrench and wipe the grease off of my hands, taking the cordless phone from him. “Yo,” I say into the phone, trying not to sound annoyed. I don’t normally deal with calls. I let Zippo handle that, so I’m not sure why he’s passing the phone off to me. “Um, yeah, hi. Uh, not sure if I have the right number, but the, uh, guy before said it was,” she says weakly into the phone. “Who you callin’ for, darlin’?” I ask her kindly. “Angels Warriors,” she says hesitantly. “I saw this thing on the news last night.
I wasn’t going to call, because I heard about the stuff you all did before you changed things up, but I don’t have a choice now,” she says, rambling. Usually, we get calls from the courts asking us to watch over someone until a court date. Other times, we get calls from relatives asking us to please step in. “I’m Angel, sweetheart. What you need?” She sounds young, and normally, I don’t watch my language, but when I’m dealing with kids, I do. They don’t need to hear that crude words. “My father, he’s due up for parole soon, and I need protection for my little sister,” she says all in one rushed breath. I flick my wrist at Zippo, who is standing there with his fists and jaw clenched tight, to get me a pen and paper. “Let’s set up a meeting first, okay, darlin’? I need your number, name, and address.” She gives it all out, hesitantly, and I’m shocked with the information she gives me as I write it down. She doesn’t recognize my voice; although it has been a few years.
I can’t believe it’s Eden—my Eden. I can tell in her tone she almost wants to change her mind. Holy screw, I can’t believe she’s back and needs my help after all these years. So unreal. I try to rein my shock in and keep the rest of our talk professional, but on the inside, I am screaming. Why did you leave me? Where did you go? Why are you here now? I have so many unanswered questions rushing through my head right now. “A few boys and I will come by after work,” I tell her, feeling anxious to see her. Is she still the same girl I once knew? My mind flashes to the girl I used to know. Angel Snapping out of the memory, I again hear Eden’s voice on the phone. “Work?” she asks, sounding confused. I chuckle. “Yeah, darlin’, work. We don’t just ride around on our bikes all day. Later.” I click the phone off and hand it back to Zippo. We all work normal week day jobs.
Myself, Zippo- whose real name is Vinny, and Reaper- whose real name is Mason, all work at Angel’s Repair Shop, the shop I own, but we also have the MC, a club I now wouldn’t change for anything. “We’ll ride over after we finish up here, get the information we need and see what we can do.” I pause. “You know who that was?” “Yeah, I know her, man. It’s Eden. Why do you think I made you take that call?” he says angrily, passing me a file from the desk. “I was given this file from Paula, the girl at the local court house. She wanted me to keep my ear out about this family. When I recognized the last name, my heart raced. Yeah, I know, makes me sound like a coward, but it’s bad. When I say bad, think of all the kids we protected from sickos over the last year, and put it all onto one kid.” He looks disgusted by what he has learned from the file.
He shuffles his hat around on his head anxiously, making me just wonder what in this file holds. Vinny and Eden used to be good friends growing up—the keyword being used to. He helped me look for her when she first disappeared on me. He was just as determined as I was to find her, but eventually, he and Mason gave up. It took me a little longer to accept that she was gone. I did some things I’m not proud of after she left, but I’m not that man anymore. I can’t help but wonder if she would like the man I am today. Taking the file from him, I scan it over. With every word I read, my rage builds. This entire file pisses me off. He’s right; when we are called to protect or save someone, it’s usually just one thing to protect them from. Typically, we are dealing with abuse, or occasionally, the suspicion or threat of murder.
This is bad. What happened to Eden? “I thought this prick was dealt with years ago after the bust?” I spit out to Zippo. “Big Willy told us that Martha ran off with Eden the week after I came back from dealing with Roni. This fuckin’ file says she’s missing, presumably murdered, and Eden has a kid sister?” “Call Reaper. The three of us will go over. The way she sounded on the phone, I don’t think she’ll open the door if we all show up at the house. We’ll go in small.” God, this isn’t going to be easy. He nods and goes into the office. The last time I saw Eden, she was seventeen, I was twenty-one, and she willingly gave me her first time in the back seat of my truck. A week later, after not hearing from her, I sought out her dad.
He informed me that she was gone, and I swear I felt like someone cut me open and tore out my heart. I’ve wondered about her every day since. It had been a month, and still no Eden. I didn’t know where she went, or why she went—no one was giving me any answers. I knew Big Willy knew more then he let on, but he wasn’t saying anything. I found Zippo grabbing a beer from the bar and went over to him. “You finally ready to give up yet, man?” I shook my head, snatching a beer from Bruce.
“No, not just yet.” He snorted. “Brother, hate to say this, but she’s gone. I doubt she’s coming back.” I gave him a shove. “Man, don’t say that. We both know eventually she’ll come back. And I’ll be waiting,” I told him. He narrowed his eyes. “So until then, what? You gonna be a celibate moron?” he asked in disgust. “I don’t want anyone but her, man,” I told him honestly. Another month later, that wasn’t true… I had woman, lots of it. One thing is for sure, I never stopped loving her. Eden’s always owned a piece of me.