Dark Angel (Sequel to White Raven)

Chapter Twenty-Five: Rave Knows

"Why would Christian want to blow up your uncle?" Wilcox continued with the questions.

"I don't know. Maybe to send me a message?" she suggested.

"Has Christian or any of his men tried to  contact you since the explosion? Any threatening notes or calls?" Wilcox pressed.

"No," she admitted. "But what else could it be? Besides for me, my uncle doesn't have any ties to the Bloodbaths."

"What about your cousin?" Wilcox asked. Ary could hear the hesitation in the older man's voice.

Luke was always a sore subject for her, especially when it came to the police and this case. Despite how pissed off she was at him, she still wanted to protect him. At the very least she didn't want to talk about him. Would her family ever get out of this mess?

"Luke's not with the gang anymore," Ary objected. It sounded like a weak protest, even to her own ears.

"Come on, Harper. You're smarter than that," Wilcox told her. She could just imagine him rolling his eyes at her.

"He's probably at the hospital. I guess I could go talk to him," she sighed. She wasn't too enthusiastic about seeing Luke, especially if he had something to do with what happened at the Sheriff's office.

"Be careful. If this was your cousin, we know he isn't above hurting family," Wilcox warned her before he hung up.

Ary dropped her cell into the pocket of her flannel jacket and leaned back against the railing. She was going to have to talk to Luke, and more than likely that meant seeing the rest of her family as well. Accusing Luke of blowing up their uncle with her Aunt Charlotte around? Yeah, that'd go over real well.

Just as she was about to walk inside and let Maria know she was heading out, her cell phone started to ring. She pulled it back out. Rave was calling her. She immediately went into panic mode. She didn't want to talk to him, but she couldn't keep ignoring him. He'd eventually send someone out to look for her.

"Hey, Rave, what's up?" she answered, awkwardly. Why the hell didn't she just ignore the call?

"You were gone when I got up this morning. Where'd you go?" he asked her.

Normally she'd get upset about him being nosy and wanting to know what she was doing and where she was, but because she was actually hiding something from him she just felt guilty. They hadn't fought at all this past week. They hadn't been around each other enough to fight.

"I've been with Maria most of the day, talking about Christian," Ary told him. At least it wasn't all a lie.

"Oh." He sounded just as awkward as she felt. It had been months since she felt this awkward with him.

"Yeah. This whole thing has been driving me nuts. I just want to find out who did this, you know?" she rambled on, trying to cover up the awkward silence.

"Have you talked to your detective friend? Does he know who did it?" Rave asked.

"Yeah. They think Luke had something to do with it," Ary admitted, sadly.

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Rave hung up his phone, his face set in anger. He turned to Mason, who was wiping down the counters of the bar. He was pretending that he hadn't been listening to the whole conversation. He felt just as guilty as Ary did. Lying to his boss and friend was not easy for him.

"Ary says her cousin is a possible suspect in the bombing," Rave said through gritted teeth. He was fighting hard to control his temper.

Before anything else could be said, Rave grabbed his jacket off the back of one of the chairs and headed out the back door.

"Where are you going?" Mason asked Rave, following him outside to the parking lot.

"I'm going to kill that little bastard," Rave stated as he stormed off to his car.

"You cannot go after Ary's cousin, no matter how much he deserves it," Mason told Rave.

"Don't tell me what to do," Rave snapped at him.

He wouldn't kill the kid, just rough him up a little bit. The asshole deserved it. He had almost gotten Ary killed. Again. It was about damn time that someone taught him a lesson. No one seemed to want to punish Luke for his actions, not even Ary. Rave was tired of it and he was going to do something about it.

"What will Ary think about this?" Mason tried a different tactic to get Rave to stop what he was doing.

"I don't really care what she thinks. Luke is dangerous. If it keeps Ary safe, I'll put a bullet in the kid's head myself," Rave said. He had no reservations about killing the kid.

"Colt, would you just stop!?" Mason begged him.

"Why don't you mind your own damn business!? I should knock your ass out for letting Ary get hurt all over again. You're supposed to be watching out for her, not bonding with her family!" Rave shouted at him.

"You know what? I don't even care if Ary kicks my ass anymore. You two need to talk about this. She needs to talk about this," Mason stressed.

"Talk about what?" Rave stopped from getting in the car and turned to give Mason an icy look.

Rave had noticed how close Mason and Ary had been after the explosion. He'd catch them whispering to each other, their conversation stopping as soon as he stepped into the room. Ary had been more than a little distant. It seemed like she flinched away from him every time he tried to touch her. She'd been spending most of her nights away from the loft. He never thought Ary would cheat on him, but he didn't know what to think anymore.

He knew that Ary was traumatized from the bombing. Anyone would be. He tried to get her to talk about it, but every time he tried to get close to her she'd just run the other way. She kept pulling away from him and it seemed she was always headed into Mason's arms. He wanted to know what was going on.

"Ary was pregnant."

Rave felt like he'd been hit by a car. The breath wooshed out of him and he struggled to bring any fresh air in. His chest had constricted so tightly that he couldn't breathe.

"Ary's pregnant?" Rave managed to gasp out, his eyes wide.

"Was," Mason said. He winced as he watched Rave trying to understand what he was saying. "The explosion, the force of it or stress, or whatever, it caused her to lose the baby," he explained.

It took Rave a second to comprehend everything that Mason had said. He was still trying to take in the fact that he was going to be a father and now he had to deal with the fact that he had lost a child he never knew. Mason couldn't even begin to understand what Rave was going through.

"Man, I'm really sorry," Mason placed a comforting hand on Rave's shoulder.

Rave shook it off, his expression hard. His jaw was clenched tightly as he got into his car and slammed the door shut with more force than was necessary. He started the car and revved the engine loudly before peeling out of the parking lot, sending gravel flying as he went.

"Colt!" Mason called after the speeding car. "Shit."

Nothing good could come from this.

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Sorry for the incredibly late update. Thank you all so much for putting up with me and I hope you enjoy this chapter!