Page 4 of Fury (The Dark Angel’s MC #3)

Skylar – Eighteen - Eight Months Later

I furrow my brows as I go through the essay I had to write, which took me a freaking week and is due tomorrow for twenty percent of my grade for my cost accounting class.

Mumbling under my breath, reading as I gently tap my pad with my pen, my concentration not as good as it normally is.

That may be because my egg donor, Melissa keeps calling my phone.

Heck, it’s vibrating right now for the tenth time since I sat in the campus library two hours ago.

I don’t live in the trailer anymore. I haven’t since I was sixteen and committed a crime I never thought I’d commit, but I don’t regret doing it.

Anna got me a two-bed apartment, putting it in her deceased Uncle’s name that none of the brothers are aware even existed.

She comes by every day to make sure my laundry doesn’t need doing and to basically feed me before leaving when I’m in bed, trying not to raise suspicions with Brick who I have not had any contact with and don’t plan on having any.

The man is a grade-A jackass, both him and his son, especially with how they’ve treated Anna, something she hasn’t realized I know about, and where that woman is concerned, whoever hurts her is not allowed in my life.

She raised me and helped guide me on the right path.

Anna was the one who helped me choose the right college and helped me debate which major I wanted to pursue, something I wasn’t one hundred percent sure of, as my two choices were completely far apart.

Social worker or Accountant.

I want to help children who were in my position to help find someone as great as the woman who has basically raised me since I was the scared eight-year-old girl who blamed herself for ruining the woman’s marriage. I also love to work with numbers so Anna has helped me gain the best of both worlds.

I’m currently taking classes in cost accounting, auditing, and taxation while also pursuing my degree in social work, which will take me roughly four years to complete, now three, as I have doubled my workload.

I don’t want to take years and years to get to where I want to be, which is why I’m double majoring.

Having Anna by my side has made things a lot easier, and after I graduate, I’m going to start my own accounting firm alongside a nonprofit to help raise money for children in the system.

This will enable them to have the life they deserve while also helping them find their forever homes.

I know it’s a lot to try and do, a lot of degrees to gain to have the best of both worlds, but every child deserves to have an Anna in their life, and with me doing both degrees together, the time frame hasn’t changed.

My phone rings again, and I sigh and look down to see it’s Melissa again, and I silence the call.

I know what she wants – money.

It’s the only time I’ll hear from her, and if I don’t comply, she threatens to go to the police instantly causing fear to build up inside me, but the last four times she’s called over the weeks I’ve ignored her at Anna’s request. Melissa hasn’t reported Peter missing, her nasty piece of shit boyfriend and Anna says I shouldn’t be worried about her threats, but it’s not me I’m worried about if she does go through with her threats, it’s Anna.

Still, she’s adamant Melissa won’t report what happened because he’s apparently got a warrant out for his arrest for theft and assault and apparently Melissa is a witness to it but hasn’t come forward despite people giving her description to the police.

Besides, they won’t find his body or evidence anyhow, or so Anna says…

I swallow hard, the memory clear as day, yet regret is nowhere to be found.

“ Get off me!” I scream and kick out at Peter, and he chuckles, his hand going between my legs, and bile rises as I struggle even more, shoving my body side to side to knock him off.

I walked in after Anna dropped me off, intending to lock myself in my small room, but instead, Peter snatched me from behind while Melissa chuckled on the dirty couch high as a kite.

I was hoping they would both be passed out.

Dammit, I should have taken up Anna’s offer to live in an apartment she owns, but I was worried about what Melissa would do if I left, more to Anna than myself.

Despite her hurt, she still loves my father, her husband, who has only tried to contact me twice since that day at the diner.

Melissa has not only threatened to claim rape which would destroy Anna despite what she says, but she’s also threatening to kill herself if I left or had anything to do with the club, something I do want, but I really don’t want her death on my shoulders.

“You’ve barely been home, Skylar,” Peter grunts, “I wanted to show you how much I’ve missed you.”

“Besides, it's not like that bitch can do anything, she’s already gone,” Melissa slurs and my breathing picks up as Peter tries to put his hands down my jeans, and I scream, “Get off me,” before I fling my head backward, connecting with his nose making him shout in pain and Melissa gasps as the door flings open.

Peter’s weight is off me in seconds, and I stumble before I notice Anna hitting him over and over, shouting, “Think you can touch my daughter, huh, huh?!”

“Well, I had you, so why not,” Peter chuckles, not refuting the title that makes my heart flutter as Anna freezes, and I take a step forward in confusion at the pain etching in the woman’s features.

A woman I love more than life itself, a woman I see as my mother, who has stood by me, ensured I’m fed and have clothes, day in and day out for the past eight years.

Peter grins, blood caused by my assault staining his cracked teeth as he says with glee, “Remember when I held you down and thrusted inside you? Your slurred sobs were like music to my ears,” he takes a step forward while Anna stays frozen, the memories clearly taking hold of her as he asks, “or how about when you bled nicely for me, huh?”

My breathing picks up, his insinuation clear as day, and the bat Melissa used to use on me before Anna came into my life catches my attention near the stained wall, and I don’t think.

Instead, my legs walk without my mind catching up, and I grab the wooden bat while Melissa grins from the couch oblivious to the danger I have now become, his insinuations making everything come to light for me.

“How about when Brick walked in on me grunting, enjoying your tight heat, huh?” he continues, oblivious as I get up behind him, and while he’s grinning at Anna, whose pain flashes before me and I lift the bat then swing hard, the end of the bat hitting his head.

He grunts and falls to the floor as Melissa screams while Anna’s mouth opens in shock, but I don’t stop. I lift the bat again and swing it down with force onto his head, once, twice, three times before I see blood, but it isn’t enough, it will never be enough.

He raped her, he, oh god, they set it up, didn’t they, Melissa and Peter, they set it up so Brick would cheat, and the idiot didn’t see the situation for what it was, did he?

Anger courses through me, and breathing heavily, I lift the bat again, hitting him even harder before I crouch down and look at his face to see his eyes wide open, lifeless. I curl my lip at him with disgust before I stand while Melissa continues screaming.

Suddenly, I’m glad I never got to know Brick because, as far as I’m concerned, the man doesn’t exist.

“Skylar, what did you do?” Anna gasps in shock, her eyes on the dead man at our feet, blood pouring from his head a few moments later once Melissa has shut up but not stopped looking at her now dead boyfriend and I breathe heavily, clutching the bat Melissa used to use on me when I didn’t do what she wanted and I sneer, “I killed your rapist.”

She flinches, and I demand, “They all think you slept with him, don’t they?”

“Sweet pea, I, it’s not –” she stutters, but I cut her off and demand, “Don’t lie to me, Mama, I heard the rumors!”

Years, the rumors had floated around about how she cheated on that bastard, years he allowed the insinuations about his wife when all along, she was raped!

Her eyes tear up before she chokes, “Melissa set it up knowing Brick would want revenge for me sleeping with another man, knowing he won’t see the situation for how it was because of his blinding jealousy.”

Melissa gasps, obviously thinking she’s next, and honestly, if I thought I had it in me, I would kill her.

My tears fall, and I whisper, “Brick believed it, didn’t he?”

“Sky baby, please,” she begs, and I shake my head and demand, “The truth, Mama!”

She sniffles, looking at the dead body, and admits, “He snuck in my room while I was showering before he hit me over the head. I was dazed and he dragged me to the bed and raped me from behind before Brick walked in,” her tears fall, “he called me a whore while I was begging him to help me but Peter was groaning loudly to hide my pleas all while he was tearing me and -and I lost our child, a child he doesn’t know existed. ”

I swallow hard.

That is the reason why I want nothing to do with Brick and Blade.

They sat back and decided to make crap up, and to make it worse, Blade was only four, meaning he listened to the lies instead of getting the whole story, while Brick allowed that piece of shit to survive to punish his wife.

Anna, or should I say Mama, was twelve weeks pregnant when Peter raped her, and the trauma caused her to lose her baby and also her chances of carrying again.

I killed her demon, and I will never regret it. I’ll never struggle over it.

For years, she has become the mother I always wanted, while mine threatened to kill herself if I had anything to do with the club, only allowing me contact with Mama because she threatened to kill her and she was scared she would do it.

The threats from Melissa haven’t lessened. If anything, they have worsened because for two years, she’s had to try and fend for herself now that Peter is dead, but I barely speak to her, and it’s normally when she seeks me out that I have no choice but to talk to her.

Sighing, I check the time, and I smile a little before clearing my things up, knowing a certain someone who granted, I may have a small crush on is waiting for me.

At the start of the school year, I was preoccupied, the course load slowly drowning me, as I worked part-time at the doctor’s office, where I still work because I refuse to let Mama pay for everything, I accidentally bumped into someone.

I wasn’t paying attention, and all my books went flying, and I honestly thought the person was going to lose it with me. Well, to be fair, I thought I was going to be screamed at before I locked eyes with these light mosey green ones that made my heart race and my palms sweat.

He was mesmerizing, even with the tattoos on his arms and chest that peeked through his slightly open, buttoned black shirt.

I shake my head and quickly grab my bag before quietly walking out of the library.

After giving Nyx my number, he contacted me that evening, asking if I’d go for drinks with him, especially since he was new to town, and I didn’t even have to think about it.

He’s become a good friend, though I can’t say he’s my ‘best’ friend. That title is halved between Ivy, a club brat who Anna insisted I give a chance, and Raya, her best friend since she was like five or something.

We’re a strong trio.

My phone vibrates as I reach the door, and I sigh before looking in my bag and retrieving it. A smile on my face when I see it’s Mama, not Melissa, and I quickly answer it as I step out the door.

“Hey, Mama,” I answer as I get outside before looking around the parking lot and lock eyes on Nyx’s truck, and my smile widens as he gets out, noticing me, his shades covering his eyes.

“Hey, sweet pea, I’m just checking in, sweetheart,” Mama says as I descend the stairs, and I answer, “I’m eighteen, Mama, you don’t need to keep checking in.”

She snorts, “Nice try,” and I grin wide, making my way over to the gorgeous specimen of a man.

Anna Lopez is one hell of a mama bear, and I absolutely love it.

“Have you finished your workload?” she asks.

“Yeah, though it was a struggle, Melissa kept calling,” I admit.

Mama growls, “She’s probably wanting money again. I heard she’s racked up a lot of debt with the Hyena Gang, but they won’t touch you, I’ll make sure of it.”

I hum, not surprised.

Ever since I killed Peter, she’s been watching me like a hawk, and she worries, but again, it’s nice having someone in your life who is concerned about you.

“I love you, Mama,” I say to her as I stop near Nyx, knowing it’ll calm her down.

Nyx grins hearing my words, as Mama states, “You said that on purpose,” and I laugh before I hear, “Anna, a minute!” and I try not to wince, knowing it’s most likely Brick who she now ignores and she sighs before she replies, “I love you too, sweet pea. Go enjoy your evening, and I’ll see you tomorrow for dinner. ”

She hangs up, and I shake my head before tilting it to look up at Nyx, whose black shirt hugs his muscles, and I say, “Hey, stranger.”

“Hey, Mama’s girl,” he replies with a smirk, and I shrug and admit, “Guilty, but when you have a mama like mine, you’d be a mama’s boy. Trust me, she is the best and don’t get me started on her blueberry muffins, they are to die for.”

He chuckles, though it sounds strained, but I don’t question him as he opens the passenger side door, and I climb in with a goofy smile, trying to ignore all the butterflies as he shuts the door and rounds the hood, then climbs in beside me and starts his truck.

“Pizza?” he asks, and I nod in confirmation, making him grin, his whole face lighting up, and I swallow hard.

Friends, we are friends. He doesn’t see me any other way. I know this, but maybe someone needs to tell my traitorous heart that, especially when he decides to break it.