Free Iron Angel by Kay Perry Page B

to hear anything in the alley above the music, but it was relatively quiet tonight and the juke box wasn’t playing. Maddox could clearly hear voices. They weren’t speaking, but what those voices were telling Maddox was very clear. He was hearing David and Carol having sex... loud, wild, heavy sex. Carol was always a bit loud when they made love, but he had never heard her like this. She was yowling like a cat in heat and screaming, “Harder! Harder! Harder!”
     
    Maddox restarted the Harley and tore out of the alley, knocking over a garbage can near the entrance and sending it flying into the street. His first impulse was to roar out of town and ride until morning, or at least until he could figure out his next move. But someone from the club would see that. They might discover what was happening and that would be a total loss of face. All of his plans and schemes and alliances would be for nothing. He may even be seen as weak and possibly blamed for what happened to Burke.
     
    That could be fatal, so instead of allowing his anger to simmer and flare, Maddox let his feelings go immediately beyond hot until his mind was almost cold as he pulled his bike around to the front of the bar and parked it with the line of Harleys already there on the street. Then he walked into the bar as if nothing had happened.
     
    He wasn’t sure what he was going to do once he got inside, but several doubles of Yukon Jack seemed high on the list of probabilities. There were a few open spaces at the bar. He chose one next to a dark-haired girl in a close-fitting white pullover blouse and tight, tight black jeans.
     
    “Double Yu, neat,” he told the bartender, and when his drink arrived, he held up his glass in a toast to the dark eyes that were now watching him. There was something about those eyes... and that face... and those lips. Something was tugging at his memory. He knew her.
     
    She wasn’t a tourist, but she wasn’t part of the club. He’d seen her somewhere before, possibly around town in Iron Creek. But if that were the case, he definitely would remember her—of that he was sure. She was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen.
     
    “What’re you having?” he asked her.
     
    “If I let you buy me a drink, does that mean I have to let you fuck me?” she asked bluntly in an almost musical voice.
     
    “Uhhh,” responded Maddox in surprise. Then, recovering, he said, “That depends on how many drinks you like to start with and how willing you are.”
     
    “Honesty,” she replied. “I like honesty. What’s your name?”
     
    “Maddox, Maddox Robinson. What’s yours?”
     
    “Aimee,” she replied. “Aimee...”
     
    “Wells,” he interjected. “You’re Jake Wells’ kid.”
     
    “Not exactly,” she answered. Her voice was flat and sounded hurt... and angry. “But that’s a long story that would require sitting in one of the booths and ordering a couple more rounds.”
     
    “Make mine a coke and Jack...” she yelled to the bartender. “Double on the Jack.”
     
    ***
     
    Aimee Wells’ anger flowed from the death of her father. More precisely, it had simmered for a long time–perhaps her entire life. Her mother had died while she was in high school. She had cancer, but they carefully hid that truth from Aimee until she was hospitalized for the last time. But her simmering anger toward her father at last bubbled up like lava at the reading of Jake’s will.
    About four months ago, Jake died of liver failure–not uncommon for someone who drank as heavily as he did. He had promised Aimee that he would quit. He had assured her that he had quit. Her brother, James, even reported to her regularly that their dad was staying on the wagon. Then came the call that he was dead.
     
    Jake Wells had collapsed on the street one night, severely intoxicated. He died the next morning in the hospital. The cause of death was listed as “acute liver failure brought on by years of heavy alcohol