KNOW ME (DEFIANT Motorcycle Club)(28)

exchanged hands and they weren’t his friends no more.  So you’re safe and that’s all

you need to know about it, Kira.”
But it wasn’t all I need to know. “You’re the one who killed him?”
“Yes.”
“Did he scream?”
Orion flexed his large hands and smiled grimly.  “Yes.”
“Good,” I whispered.
We stood side by side and listened to the noise of the desert.  Varied creatures went

about their unseen business and things carried on.  Curious, because I’d always

thought of the desert as wasted, dead.  But there was life in it everywhere if you

looked for it.  If you listened carefully.
Orion shifted and lowered his head.  I knew whatever he said next would not be

something I would want to hear.
“What’s in the envelope?” I finally asked.
He wouldn’t look at me now.  “You,” he answered.
Orion didn’t stop me from grabbing it away and ripping it open.  Inside were a newly

made set of car keys, a driver’s license and other assorted documents.  Also there was

a carefully clipped pile of money.
“It’s twenty grand,” he said.  “Enough for you to get started somewhere else.”  He

paused.  “Ruger had it on him.  So I figure it’s yours.”
My eyes narrowed as a finger of coldness penetrated my chest.  “You think I’m a

f*cking fool, Orion?  If Ruger had any cash it would have been taken by whoever was

hosting him.”  I swallowed painfully.  “This is your money.  You’re paying me off.”
He didn’t deny it.  “You should stay gone from Cali.  Money won’t last as long there

anyway.  Try someplace with lower overhead, like Phoenix or maybe Albuquerque.  And

unless you want to be answering the queries of the law for the rest of your life

you’ll take the name change too.”
I looked at the other documents in the envelope.  The Arizona driver’s license and

forged birth certificate bore the name ‘Kira Hall’.
“Hall,” I said, shaking my head at his odd sense of humor.  His affection for Dick

Wick Hall couldn’t be a coincidence.
“It’ll be easier on you if you only change the last name.”
I swiped at my eyes.  “Fuck you.  None of this is easy.”
Orion glared at me angrily.  “This is a chance, Kira.  It’s what you were really

asking me for the day you got here.”
“Well,” I said quietly.  “That’s before things changed.”
“Yeah, now you’re a little tougher and a lot less innocent.  And kid, you’re gonna

need both those qualities out there in the nasty world your daddy tried so hard to keep

you from.”
I threw the envelope on the sand and clapped my hands loudly.  “Wow, so you did me a

favor. You f*cked me and got me to fall for you and now you’re cutting me loose. 

Thank you, Orion.  You’re the dipshit of the year.”
“Hey,” he grabbed me, “quit acting like a goddamned spoiled brat.”
When I twisted furiously away he didn’t go after me again.  He muttered a low curse

and looked up, seeming to glare directly into the sun.
“I love you, Kira,” he said so softly I could barely hear him.
With a cry I tried to hurl myself at him but he pushed me back.  “Why?” I shouted. 

“Why would you throw this away?  This isn’t something that comes around all the time.

”
He laughed without humor.  “You’re telling me that like I don’t f*cking know.  It’s

not something I’ve ever had or looked for or even wanted.  Fuck, I remember when Anne

Marie left your daddy.  Crest fell into a three day black hole bender so bad he barely

knew who he was.  I had to carry him like a baby and clean him the hell up and force

him to stand again.”
I had a few dim memories of that bleak time.  “And you stayed at the apartment and

took care of me,” I said quietly.
His face was painful to look at.  “That’s right,” he said.  “I took care of you

then.”  He knelt to the ground with a groan and picked up the envelope.  “I’m taking

care of you now.”
“You reminded me that I’m not a child.  I can find my own way.”  I reached up and

touched his face as he closed his eyes.  “I’ve found it,” I whispered.
Orion took my hand away and opened his eyes.  He shook his head and gestured to the

bar, the house, the trailers.  The bleak world of the Defiant Motorcycle Club.
“This isn’t for you,” he said.  “This isn’t what your daddy wanted for you and

until a few days ago I’m sure as shit it isn’t what you had in mind for yourself.” 

He pressed the envelope into my hands.  “Go back to school.  Study those books you

love so much.  Don’t hang around this mess waiting to see if I’m gonna make it back

alive every time I peel out with my boys.  Because, Kira, one day I might not.  Or I