Chapter 2

Her rage took her back to the compound; she was at least in the mood to finally talk to Shady since she was already pissed and upset, knowing it was going to be a sh^tty day all around for her now.

As she parked her bike, Shady walked out of her house and nodded to her. Rain paused and waited for her friend to reach her. Shady was gorgeous; no one could deny her beauty and her strength. Rain admired her and knowing she was going to be letting her friend down killed her.

“Hey, Rain,” Shady said gruffly like normal.

“Can we talk?” Rain said slowly and hesitantly because if she said she didn’t have the time, Rain was so gonna take that answer and wait.

“Sure,” Shady shrugged. “I was going to get a drink, wanna join me and the girls?”

Rain bit her lip, she really didn’t want to do this in front of all the girls, it was bad enough she was going to have to talk to Shady about it, but to show the rest of them how dumb she was, yeah, that would suck. Shady’s eyes noticed the hesitation, her eyes narrowed, and Rain knew she wasn’t going to like what her friend said next.

“Does it affect the club?” Shady asked. Of course, her friend was too observant.

Rain grimaced and then nodded reluctantly, Shady looked at her closely and then said, “I get that you want to talk to me alone, and usually it would be cool, but we are starting this club on the right foot. So anything that will affect the club, we will all discuss. Let’s get the girls.”

F^ck, Rain thought, this was so gonna suck. She followed Shady into the clubhouse; the girls were already there waiting. Without saying a word, Shady grabbed a bottle of Tequila, motioned with her head to the others, and walked to the stairs. They went to the common room on the top floor, and everyone took a seat. Shady turned and looked at the girls.

“So this is not a formal meeting, we need the other girls here for that, but Rain has something to tell us, and instead of having to go over the story more than once, I told her we were going to deal together. I will call Abi and the others after this and give them a heads up,” Shady said, and all of the Lady Riders looked at Rain expectantly.

Freedom, Harmony, Nike, Bob, and Treat looked at her expectantly. These were only part of the new Lady Riders. Abi, Rose, Heaven, Chevy, and the others, Rain didn’t know as well, but they had entered a sisterhood when they decided to make the Lady Rider club, and all of them had lived the biker life for long enough to know the club was a family. Every one of these women would kill for her; she knew it, and she would do the same for them. They had all proved it. Now she was going to tell them that she betrayed the club. Not blatantly, no she had just withheld information that could have helped them all in the hunt for the human traffickers. She wasn’t sure how the hell to tell them that the sh^t that had gone down she knew about.

Shady pulled the bottle out, put it on the table with a shot glass, and looked at her pointedly. “Drink, then talk.”

Rain nodded and took a shot. She grimaced at the burn as it went down her throat, but it was just what she needed. She took another shot while the women all relaxed into the comfortable couches the Warriors had left.

“Okay,” Rain said after her third shot. She looked at each woman in the eye before she continued, “First off, let me say I never ever wanted to lie to you or make you feel like you couldn’t trust me. I realize that when I tell you all of this that you may feel that way, and I really wish there was some way to prevent it, but there isn’t. Just please know I love you all and have thought of you as my family and sisters since I met you.”

“Well sh^t,” Harmony said and grabbed the bottle, and looked at the others. “Drink up, bitches, this sounds like it is gonna suck, like big time. And seriously, after all the sh^t we have dealt with, I am gonna need to get drunk for the drama that we apparently are going to have here.”

Bob snorted, “We are chicks, of course, there is drama.”

Treat laughed loudly, “Rain, we have been through a lot, there is nothing you can say that will make us turn on you.”

Rain nodded slowly, but she knew that wasn’t true. They had no clue what she was about to tell them. She sought for a way to say what she had to say when Shady interrupted again.

“Rain, we have been on the road for like ever, I am tired, and I want a drink. Spit it out, and we will deal like usual.”

“I am married,” Rain burst out and all of them stared at her for a second before they started laughing. “And that’s not all,” she said, watching as the women continued to laugh.

“Well duh,” Bob snorted. “I mean who gives a sh^t if you are married. Well, unless we need to kill the asshole, and then I call dibs ‘cause seriously, I didn’t get to do anything fun in Mexico.”

“Shut it, ladies, let her finish,” Shady said, and they all looked back at her expectantly.

“My husband, his name is Zane Rugel. My real name is Storm Rugel, I am from Southern California just outside San Diego,” Rain said and then took another shot of Tequila. “If you look online, you would never know that it was me. I ran away from my husband and changed my appearance and everything about me in order to forget that life and move on. I was born Storm Brenning,” she said softly.

Everyone in the room gasped. They knew who her family was, well her mother’s side at least, everyone knew who her family was, and it wasn’t like they were normal, rich, obnoxious people. No, not her family, they were a rich-obnoxious-always-in-the-media-doing-stupid-ass-sh^t family. Her sister, who was the queen of drama in the tabloids, was the infamous Angel Brenning. Her mother was melodramatic to the point of needing Valium to deal with her on a good day. Her father was the only normal one, and that was because he was still in the military and divorced her mother when he realized she was emotionally dumb. Her father was the only one who knew where she was and about the changes she had made. He helped her with his connections, although he never told anyone where she was. She also knew when the Ops Warriors put two and two together—it was going to get messy. They knew her father; they had to, he was a General for God’s sake. However, most people didn’t realize the opulent Sophia Brenning was married to General Rick Tang.

“Zane turned my head when I met him he was everything my mother wanted, and so, therefore, he was everything I wanted. Everything was fine for the first few months. I buried my head in the sand and just went about my busy life of shopping and spa days with my mother and sister. I was such a fool, it was so stupid how I just never saw the signs,” Rain whispered.

“Did he beat you?” Shady ground out and Rain shook her head.

“I wish it were that simple, I mean seriously, I wish that was all it was,” Rain replied. “No, I discovered around month four that I married a monster. You see, I walked into a meeting my husband was having by accident. A woman was sitting in the corner crying, and I was shocked and just stood there while my husband barked at me to leave. I did, but I listened at the door. There I heard the deal my husband was making to sell the woman to the man who was in the office with him. I was shocked and disgusted, unable to believe it. I went upstairs to my room and started to pack. I mean, what the f^ck, I remember thinking. I pulled out my cell, called my mother who was shocked, not about what my husband was doing, that could be explained, it was just a misunderstanding. Even when I told her exactly what I heard, she argued with me. Told me I needed to ask Zane what exactly was going on before I left. It would cause such a scandal she said,” Rain said in a scoffing tone. She didn’t even see her friends’ faces, maybe because she didn’t want to and maybe because she was so caught up in her thoughts of the past she couldn’t see them. “So I waited like the dutiful wife. Zane came upstairs, and he was pissed. He yelled at me not to ever enter his office when he was in a meeting. I asked him about the woman, and he laughed, said it was none of my business, but I pressed it. He asked where the f^ck I thought he made all his money. Truthfully, I thought he was a consultant, that is what he told me and I never thought to ask more. Why would I, at the time I was so self-absorbed that I didn’t care where the money came from, only that he would be able to support me in nice clothes, nice cars, and a nice house? He said he was in consulting; he aided others on how to train women, I figured 50 Shades or something like that, even though the woman was crying, I still convinced myself. I didn’t get it, not until later when I truly allowed myself to look into his business.”

Rain looked at her friends finally and tried to read what they were thinking. She couldn’t believe all of them had a compassionate but cautious look on their faces. She wasn’t sure what it meant, and she knew that she had not gotten to the worst part yet. Damn this sucked, was the only thing she could think, and then took another shot and started explaining more.

“My father, he refused to come to the wedding. He said Zane was an asshole who was hiding sh^t, but I didn’t believe him. I was dazzled by the three-carat diamond he gave me as an engagement ring. Zane told me my father was just trying to break us up because he was threatened by him. He fed me a bunch of bullsh^t, which I used to rationalize why I didn’t listen to my father. Instead, I cut him out of our lives and didn’t even invite him to the wedding. Instead, I allowed Zane to take care of everything. Looking back, I get how he was controlling, but I let him, I allowed him to do that. So when I found out what Zane really did, I could have left, I could have told someone, I could have done a million things, but no, I was weak,” Rain said disgustedly. “I just let him explain, threaten, and then I followed orders, so I didn’t cause any waves. All because I didn’t have enough courage to do a damn thing.” She could feel the tears coming down her face, but she ignored them.

The others were listening intently; Rain was afraid to look at Shady because the next part was where it was going to get dicey.

“I buried my head in the sand and just went about my life, hoping Zane wasn’t the monster I perceived him to be. Hoping he was telling the truth, all because I didn’t want to give up my lifestyle. Then it all came crashing down around me when I came home again, and this time there was another man there and another woman. However, this time I listened and didn’t barge in. I listened to the whole disgusting transaction. The girl was only eighteen, barely legal, the man Zane was talking to said she was too old. I almost threw up, but he said he would take her so she could look after the younger ones. Zane laughed and said he was getting a shipment of the younger sort in a few weeks. I threw open the door and took pictures of the man, the girl, and Zane, yelled at them I was turning them in, screamed I was going to the police,” Rain said through her tears.

“What did he do?” Freedom asked softly, and Rain turned to her and tried to talk. At least she knew Free might understand a little, after all, her father had put her in a bad position as well.

“Beat the sh^t outta me, broke my nose and five ribs, punctured a lung, and broke my arm, then told me to mind my own business or I would end up on the next auction block, then walked out the door and left me laying on the floor. I called my mom; she didn’t answer. I called my sister; she said she was too busy. I had no one else, so I called my father, and he came and got me. Took me to the hospital, arranged for plastic surgery and for me to disappear, all without question,” Rain said.

Freedom nodded. “Honey, I am not quite sure why you would think we would look at you differently because of this. I mean, so you were rich and spoiled, sh^t happens, and that is not who you are now.”

She heard the others murmur in agreement and then she dealt the final killing blow, the one she knew was going to change their minds.

“The last day I walked in when he beat me. He was meeting with Reyes Sr., I have the picture still in a lock box, Zane didn’t get my phone, I fell on it, and he was too pissed from chasing me. I knew what he was doing, I knew right when you said the man’s name, my father had identified him but couldn’t touch him because he wasn’t in the US,” Rain said quietly and took a deep breath. “My father is General Rick Tang.”

The silence in the room was palatable. She turned to see the look on Shady’s face; there was no expression, nothing. F^ck.