Read Clear (Storm's Soldiers MC Book 3) for Free Online Page B

and the same thousand yard stares? Yeah, maybe.
    The coffee was exactly the wrong move. It churned in my stomach and boiled up all types of conversations that awaited me when we next met. Aubrey was going there to psychoanalyze people, but I must be the more interesting subject. Knowingly dating a racist? Or even a guy who wasn’t sure if he was racist? Oh god, what if she invited Faith too? What a mess that would be. This thing between me and Vaughn would contaminate the rest of my life.
    I was starting to sweat and shiver. I reached for the door handle to go back inside, but stopped myself from opening. My issues didn’t disappear at the doorstep. I’d be even more alone inside.
    I itched my head uselessly. God, why had Vaughn put me in this situation?
    The world around me seemed to slow. A dizzying wave of clarity washed over me and I gripped the doorknob to stay up. Everything seemed more real. The wooden grains of the door stood out, the sounds of my soft little neighborhood chirped out crisp.
    And I knew. I knew exactly what it was that bothered me about the whole situation.
    I was turning Vaughn into another Rico. He hadn’t hit me, sure. Heck, I think he even loved me. But he was forcing me to hide his secret. He was out there putting on a show, proving to his family and club that he was who they thought he was, leaving me to be embarrassed for him. I was the dam holding his faults away from the world.
    Why should I? Was it my fault that I got beaten? Was it my fault I fell for a white nationalist? I’d held Rico’s crimes in for so long as if it was shame on my part, and they had eaten at me and reduced me to nothing.
    I wasn’t going to hold in Vaughn’s flaws. Let people know the kind of guy I was dating. If it seemed so messed up, then maybe it was.
    Maybe I’d have to deal with it as cleanly as I’d dealt with it before.
    I texted Aubrey: Fine, I’m coming.
    She buzzed back right away: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    I rushed in, set aside the coffee and got dressed to go out. As I was pulling over my sweater, static stinging me, another thought struck me. I grabbed my phone and dialed another number.
    “Hello?” Darryl said, grumbling.
    “Wake up, sleepyhead.”
    “ You wake up. It’s barely…9? Huh, why you calling so early?”
    “I’m in trouble.”
    I could almost hear him jolt to his feet. “What? What’s wrong?”
    “Not literal trouble. But I could use you as an escort.”
    “Escort to where?”
    “Ummm, a white supremacist rally?”
    “What?!”
    “I know someone who’s going to be there.”
    “I…oh, really?”
    “Yeah.”
    “That bitch ass motherfucker.”
    “Maybe.”
    I gave him the time and details. He agreed to meet in the park. This would only be the second time he was seeing Vaughn, but if it was destined to be the last, then I wanted Darryl to be around to help me see things straight.
    I finished getting ready and paused in the foyer, checking to see if I’d forgotten anything. After all, this was my first white nationalist rally - I couldn’t be too prepared. Nope, I was dressed proper. I had my brother and my friend on their way for company. I had a commitment to see things clearly.
    Good to go.
    The drive downtown stretched out forever. Finding parking was rough. Was this rally really that big? Then I remembered it was also just a nice Saturday morning.
    I texted with Darryl and Faith as I crossed Centennial Park. The place was vast and kind of desolate in the winter, but today it blossomed with life. The line to the Coca Cola museum in the middle was bustling.
    Everywhere I looked I saw people of all colors smiling and bustling and sometimes yelling at each other. Even the sidewalk water fountains were on. Little kids in puffy jackets walked up as close as they dared, squealing and running off once they got their first touch of ice chill water.
    I wanted to just sit on one of the stone benches around the fountains and watch them, they were so damn cute. But on