ALL THE RAGE (writer: T.M. Frazier)(65)

“I know you, Rage. Better than you know you,” Nolan lifted his head and gently brushed his lips against mine.

“Oh yeah? What is it you think you know about me, Goon?” I challenged, nipping at his lips.

He swept the pad of his thumb across my cheek and I leaned into his touch. “I know that you don’t love often, but when you love, you love with all your heart. Cause I can feel it.”

“I’m listening,” I said, my heart hammering in my chest. He rubbed gentle circles over my temple before tracing a line down to my jaw. “And?” I asked breathlessly.

Nolan found my eyes once again. “And, I know that when you hate, you hate with all your soul.”

I guess he really did know me after all.

Nolan stood up, taking me with him then setting me down on the pier. He stepped back into his jeans and tossed me my shorts. “Now don’t get used me to me telling you all my secrets,” he said, slinging his arm around my shoulder one we were both dressed. “Old ladies don’t get to know club business.”

“I don’t want to be an old lady!” I shouted, moving out from under Nolan’s arm.

I thought Nolan would get angry at my outburst, but he crossed his arms over his chest and smiled, looking amused. “Then what do you want to be?”

“I just want to be me. Just Rage,” I said.

Nolan closed the distance between us and wrapped his arms around me. “This Just Rage person you want to be, does she belong to me?” He whispered against my neck.

“Yes,” I breathed, tipping my head to give him better access.

“Then it’s all good,” he said, releasing me and grabbing my hand, tugging me behind him. The familiarity of the gesture sent a bolt of warmth through my chest. It’s crazy how much I’d missed such a simple thing like holding his hand.

“Where are we going? Why do we have to hurry?” I asked.

Nolan didn’t stop, just continued dragging me behind him. “It’s morning and your parents will be back soon.”

“And?” I asked.

“And we might wanna go retrieve our f*cking guns from their yard before that happens.”

Back at the house, we scooped up our guns. As Nolan was walking me to my scooter I saw something move in the window at Cody’s house. I turned my head, but it was just the blinds swaying from side to side.

Cody was away at school, but I made a mental note to come back and visit him when he was home. Maybe even bring Nolan and introduce him. Cody would be proud to know that although I never reached the “normal” we’d set out to achieve by making the list, I did successfully let someone else into my life, and that was a new normal for me.

A Just Rage kind of normal.





CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE




Nolan


Rage had to go get her stuff from the place she’d been staying at for the last six months, although she wouldn’t tell me where that was.

Baby steps.

The plan was that she’d get her shit done and I’d get my shit done, and then we’d meet back at the cottage after.

The first thing on my list that day was a big one. When Joker didn’t answer his phone, I rode over to the clubhouse. Figured I’d drop the bomb about Rage and me and ask if he’d give her a pass, seeing as she was my old lady. Even though I had no plans to tell Rage that was how I saw her and what she would be to me even if I didn’t call her that to her face.

Joker wasn’t there. When I called his phone again, he still didn’t answer, and none of my brothers knew where he was or what he was doing. Knowing Joker, though, he was probably holed up at some club whore’s house.

After that, I rode over to the doc’s office for my x-ray and follow up appointment and told myself that Joker would call me as soon as he resurfaced with a new tale of another woman who now hated him.

“Rage?” I called out, tossing my keys onto the counter. The sliding glass door, which I’d only recently replaced from smashing it when Rage left, was cracked open. “Or should I call you Hope now? It’s weird, but I kind of feel like it also kind of fits you, for some reason. Although, I’m not gonna lie, the name Rage makes my dick hard.” I smiled to myself, remembering the night before, which was all I could think about since we’d parted ways earlier that morning.

It had been awkward as f*ck sitting on the table in Dr. Hendry’s office sporting a hard-on. “The good news is my leg is healed and the doc thinks I should try the ice. He doesn’t promise anything, but it’s worth a shot. The bad news is that Dr. Hendry now thinks I want to f*ck him.” I sorted through the mail on the counter, tossing it into the trash bin after concluding that it was all junk. “Rage? Get your sexy ass out here, and when you do, it would be awesome if you could be very very naked.”

Silence.

“Murray?” I called out.

Nothing. Not even the usual scratching of his claws on the wood. I took a step into the hallway when pain ripped through the back of my head, sending me crashing sideways onto the floor, my cheek cracking against the hard wood.

The last thing I saw before it all went black was what was at my eye level. Dark jeans and a pair of black boots.

My last thought was of Rage. The image in my mind was of her looking down at me through the murky pool water on the day we met.