AllFreeNovel
Share Us
One
Ineed to find out what is going on. He is acting so sketchy and secretive – even more so than usual, but I can’t ask Crow about it at home. There will be no chance of him telling me anything if Dad is around.
The rain is a relief. I am a winter lover - rainfall and all. I have only just walked out of my house, and yet I am thoroughly drenched. My favourite hoodie has droplets of rain being thrown its way. Even as a child I loved the rain. Dancing in the rain, making mud pies, and going on hikes, much to my dad’s displeasure. Gray always used to play with me when Dad wouldn’t, even though his friends always told him what a loser he was for hanging out with his little sister instead of them. It is one of the countless things I love about him.
I place my earphones in their rightful place, squeezing and moving them slightly to get them to fit just right. Looking down at my phone, I wipe away the droplets of rain that have already started appearing on its surface, click on the Spotify app, and put my running playlist on.
I look ahead at the houses beside my own, knowing that everyone that lives inside of them are no longer there apart from a few of the Cobras’ wives. Not as though many of the men have wives around. Those that do are probably cooking their men dinner or cleaning the house in a hurry, running around after their children, or worrying about if their partners will come back tonight or not. It is never simple, never a certainty, always a worry. My father always promises me that he will return, and he hasn’t disappointed me yet, even if he has returned home beaten black and blue on occasion. My dad is passionate about very few things, but keeping a promise is one of them. The others being me and the Cobras.
The Dark Cobras. His little, or not so little, part in the circle of men that surround us. He's in charge of them and the Clubhouse that so many of them call home. His best friend is the owner, the true Pres, so while he’s in prison my dad is in charge. He nearly beat someone, or possibly multiple someones, to death. I was so young when it happened, no one ever really told me why he was gone, but I do remember hearing snippets of conversations. He asked my dad to take over his role, which as his best friend my dad gladly did.
I turn on my heel to look behind me as I hear Crow pounding down the steps after me. He’s new to the Cobras, and he’s been tasked with keeping watch on me – acting as my bodyguard.
My dad worries about me and thinks it will be best to have someone around, which I initially hated the idea of. I know it comes from a good place though, and sadly it often comes with good reason. I know that the dangers often lurk nearer than we would like, especially as a family member to a Dark Cobra.
My dad did his best by me though. He taught me to fight young, how to wield a knife and aim a gun. Now, just because he taught me, that does not mean that I am any good. I have admittedly never put my skills, or potentially lack of skills to the test, but I like to think that if I freeze and forget everything else, I could just kick whoever in the crown jewels and run. In my head that would totally work. I’m hoping I don’t have to put it to the test anytime soon though.
“You couldn’t have waited for me, Char? I’ve just searched the whole damn house for you!” Crow pants.
He’s at the bottom of the steps that lead to our three-bedroom house, leant over catching his breath. He looks as if he’s just run a marathon, not run around a small town house.
My eyebrows raise as I smirk at Crow. He’s young, though he doesn’t particularly look it. He’s four years older than me. Just. He had his twenty-second birthday a few weeks ago, and he just loves to remind me how mature that makes him and childish it makes me. Even though I know he’s only joking, it still drives me crazy.
He’s been on my watch for about six months, and we’ve gotten to the point where we’re inseparable, not just because he’s there to guard me but because we get on a lot better than I think either of us expected.
He's still leant over catching his breath.
Good thing I hadn’t turned my music up too loud or I wouldn’t have had the luxury of hearing him huffing and puffing. I roll my eyes and start a slow jog away from my house, past the front of the other homes that belong to my dad’s fellow men. I’m not sure how it started, if it was done on purpose or not, but so many of my dad's friends that work with him live on the same street as us, or in the Clubhouse full-time.
“We’re running, Crow, get your arse into gear or you won’t catch me at all.” I turn around, jogging backwards, silently hoping that I don’t trip over anything or anyone, keeping my pace as I yell at a still hunched over and out of breath Crow.
He brings his eyebrows together and looks at me with the same fiery look they all have when they're angry, and I can’t help but smile.
Crow is about six foot in height, possibly even a little taller, so he overpowers my five-six appearance. He has shaved, short, jet black hair. Where my appearance is plain, with freckles covering my face and a healthy body to match, with no bones on show but not enough fat to actually call me chubby, he is anything but plain. He has the most annoyingly perfect body, so much so that you can see through however many layers of clothes the man is wearing that his body is ripped. He has muscle everywhere and looks like he should be in some fighting ring, instead of following an eighteen-year-old girl around town.
We’re opposites, Crow and I. He likes to act grumpy around practically everyone and yet I am happy. Well, most of the time. Most women, hell not even just women, most people in general would cower at the look of annoyance, anger, or frustration that the men around me seem to collect when they become part of Club life. It’s got to be some sort of initiation. If you can’t pull some crazy deadly face, then you can’t join. I mean probably not, although that would be a funny rule to implement.
“Fuckin’ hell, I hate you sometimes, woman.” Crow sighs as he begins a light jog behind me.
I turn back around and face the road ahead once again as I speed up and turn the volume of the music that I’m listening to up so that it drowns everything else out, and then I run.
The rain is slowly stopping. It is now a slow intermediate shower of soft liquid falling from the grey clouds above.
Between the rain and the droplets of sweat running down my brow from the run, I don’t notice that I’m at the place I need to be until I practically run into the large oak tree in front of me.
I transform my high-speed run into a gentle jog as I aim for the top of the hill above the park. The park is silent, not a person in sight. It’s always overcrowded and filled with people throughout the summer, but at the peak of winter, around mid-January, there’s no one around and there probably won’t be anyone around for a few months to come yet. The hill I’m running up is one of the most popular hiking spots in Yorkshire, surrounded by forestry, biking paths, and little benches that are now rusty and breaking, desperately in need of some serious maintenance that it appears they haven’t seen any of in years.
The trees protect me from the last of the rain. I sprint to the top of the hill, seeing my spot isn’t far away. In the winter, no one bothers with this place, so until the summer arrives, with it being just four miles from my home, it’s my favourite place to use for the peace I crave away from anyone else.
I grab my phone out of the pocket of my grey hoodie, panting from the run as I turn the music off and take the earphones out, folding the lead around my phone until it’s neat enough to put back in its previous home.
Just as I reach the top and find the space between the trees where Crow and I made our makeshift shelter a few weeks ago to take a seat that allows me to see the park below, I turn back on myself, looking for Crow, and notice that he’s still a little way behind me.
I sit down on the leaves, bark, and dirt on the floor, crossing my legs and take out my book, and my flask of tea as well as two cups from the backpack that I carried up here, pouring the still scalding water carefully into the camping cups and then placing one in front of me and one next to me, ready for Crow.
Reading is one of my greatest pleasures. I get through a different book every day or two. I love to read anyway, but I’ll be starting university next year to study Publishing and English Literature, so part of my love for books comes from my desire to be a publisher. I tend to read and worship romance novels, albeit dark romance novels, but romance all the same.
I see love every day in my dad’s fiery eyes, and that of the men and women around me, but it’s not the kind of love that I yearn for.
