Chapter 2: The Man in the Rain
Three months earlier, Emily Carter had been running late for her evening shift.
Rain hammered the windows of the city bus. Water streaked down the glass, turning streetlights into blurry yellow circles.
She sat near the back with a secondhand backpack between her feet.
Inside were two notebooks, a half-eaten sandwich, and the acceptance letter from Westbridge University.
She had read that letter so many times that the folds were beginning to tear.
A full scholarship.
Four years of tuition.
A chance to become something beyond the exhausted teenager who spent her afternoons cleaning other people's offices.
Emily smiled to herself.
Then the bus driver slammed on the brakes.
“What the hell?”” he muttered.
A motorcycle lay on its side near the shoulder of the road.
A man was sprawled beside it.
His black leather jacket was soaked. One arm was tucked beneath his body, and blood ran from his forehead into the rainwater.
Several cars had already passed.
Nobody stopped.
Emily stood.
“Sir? Can you stop the bus?””
The driver glanced into the mirror.
“Not my problem, kid. Emergency services can handle it.””
“But he's hurt!””
“Sit down.””
Emily looked through the windshield.
The man's fingers moved.
She grabbed her backpack.
“Please. He's alive.””
The driver sighed.
“You get off, you wait for the next bus.””
Emily pulled the emergency cord.
The bus hissed to a stop.
“I'll wait.””
She ran into the rain.
Cold water soaked through her sweater almost immediately. Her shoes slipped against the wet pavement as she hurried toward the fallen motorcycle.
“Hey! Can you hear me?””
The man groaned.
“Don't... touch the bike.””
Emily dropped beside him.
“I wasn't planning to.””
He tried to move and winced.
“Damn it.””
“Don't move. I'm calling an ambulance.””
He caught her wrist weakly.
“Phone... pocket.””
Emily shook her head.
“I have my own phone.””
She dialed emergency services and gave the dispatcher the location.
“My name is Emily Carter. There's a man injured beside a motorcycle. He's bleeding from his head, and I think his shoulder might be hurt.””
The dispatcher asked her to check whether he was conscious.
Emily leaned closer.
“What's your name?””
The man opened one eye.
“Jace.””
“Okay, Jace. I'm Emily. Stay with me.””
“School?””
“What?””
“Your uniform.””
Emily glanced down at her school sweater.
“Yes. I was going to work.””
Jace gave a faint, incredulous laugh.
“Shouldn't you be somewhere dry?””
Emily almost smiled.
“So should you.””
He closed his eyes.
“Hey!”” Emily called.
“No sleeping. The ambulance is coming.””
She pulled her sweater sleeve over her hand and carefully pressed it against the cut above his eyebrow.
Jace hissed.
“Sorry.””
“It's fine.””
“Doesn't feel fine.””
“Then stop complaining.””
For the first time, he actually smiled.
The ambulance arrived twelve minutes later.
Two paramedics jumped out and rushed toward them.
One examined Jace while the other looked at Emily.
“Were you with him when this happened?””
“No. I found him here.””
“You stayed with him?””
Emily nodded.
The paramedic glanced at her soaked clothes.
“You did a good thing.””
Jace was lifted onto a stretcher.
As the paramedics secured him, he reached toward Emily.
“Hey, kid.””
She stepped closer.
“What?””
“Your name?””
“Emily.””
“Emily Carter?””
She blinked.
“How do you know my last name?””
He pointed toward her school ID, hanging from the zipper of her backpack.
“Good eyes,” he muttered.
Emily laughed nervously.
“Get better, okay?””
Jace looked directly at her.
“I owe you.””
“You don't owe me anything.””
He was about to answer when the ambulance doors closed.
Emily watched the vehicle disappear into the rain.
Then she looked at her phone.
Her supervisor had sent three messages.
*WHERE ARE YOU?*
*YOU'RE LATE.*
*DON'T BOTHER COMING IN.*
Emily closed her eyes.
There went another evening's pay.
She walked to the bus stop and waited in the rain.
She didn't know that Jace Walker was the president of a motorcycle club called the Iron Ravens.
She didn't know that his brothers had already begun searching for the young woman who had stopped to help him.
And she certainly didn't know that the man she had helped would soon discover something about her life that would make him furious.
Two days later, Jace sat in a hospital bed with his left arm in a sling.
Marcus stood beside the window, eating a packet of vending-machine crackers.
“You look terrible,” Marcus announced.
“Good morning to you too.””
“Doctor says you're lucky.””
Jace glanced at the bandage around his head.
“Lucky?””
“You could've ended up under a truck.””
Jace looked toward the rain-streaked window.
“Where's the kid?””
Marcus stopped chewing.
“What kid?””
“The girl who called the ambulance.””
“Emily?””
Jace nodded.
Marcus pulled a small notebook from his jacket.
“We found her.””
Jace sat up straighter.
“How?””
“School ID. A little digging through the emergency report. Nothing difficult.””
“Did you contact her?””
“No. Thought you'd want to do that yourself.””
Jace held out his hand.
Marcus passed him the notebook.
Inside was a simple note:
**Emily Carter. Age 16. Excellent academic record.
Lives with no listed guardian. Scholarship recipient.**
Jace read the last line twice.
“No listed guardian?””
Marcus shook his head.
“Her mother died a few years ago. Father isn't around.””
Jace's expression hardened.
“She's sixteen.””
“I know.””
“And she works?””
“Two jobs, apparently. Grocery store and office cleaning.””
Jace stared at the page.
Marcus put the crackers down.
“What are you thinking?””
Jace looked up.
“I'm thinking a kid who has that much on her shoulders shouldn't have to carry it alone.””
Marcus nodded slowly.
Then he opened his phone.
“There's something else.””
“What?””
“Her graduation is next week.””
Jace looked at him.
“Does she have family coming?””
Marcus shook his head.
“According to the school secretary, she's got nobody.””
For several seconds, neither man spoke.
Then Jace swung his legs over the side of the hospital bed.
Marcus stared.
“Where are you going?””
“Find me some clothes.””
“You're not even discharged.””
“Then tell the doctor I'm making progress.””
“Jace.””
He turned.
“Yeah?””
Marcus studied the notebook.
“You're not thinking of doing what I think you're thinking, are you?””
Jace picked up his phone.
“Get the brothers together.””
Marcus sighed.
“Lord help the school.””
Jace smiled.
“Not the school.””
He looked again at Emily's name.
“The girl.””
That evening, twenty-one members of the Iron Ravens gathered at their clubhouse.
Jace stood at the head of the table.
“There's a sixteen-year-old girl graduating next week,” he began.
“Her name is Emily Carter. Three months ago, she stopped in the rain to help me when every other driver kept going.””
A biker named Danny leaned back.
“So we're buying her a present?””
“No.””
“Flowers?””
“Already handled.””
Marcus crossed his arms.
Jace looked around the room.
“She's going to walk across that stage with nobody cheering for her. I want to make sure that doesn't happen.””
A silence settled over the table.
Then Marcus stood.
“I'm in.””
Danny raised his hand.
“Me too.””
One by one, the others followed.
Within minutes, every man in the room had volunteered.
But as the meeting ended, Marcus approached Jace.
“There's one thing you haven't told them.””
Jace looked at him.
“What?””
Marcus lowered his voice.
“About the letter.””
Jace's jaw tightened.
“Not yet.””
“You sure?””
Jace looked down at the old envelope in his hand.
The paper was yellowed at the edges.
And on the front, in familiar handwriting, were five words:
*For the man who finds her.*
Jace slowly folded it.
May you like
“After graduation,” he said.
“She deserves to hear it when she's ready.””
