Bronze (Blackwings MC - Devil Springs Book 5)

by Teagan Brooks

  “Gotcha. But we still need to eat. Do you have any other suggestions?” I asked and placed my hand over my empty stomach, hoping it wouldn’t growl like the beast it was.

  He smirked. “After last night and working all day, I’m beat. How about we order room service? Maybe watch a movie, while soaking in that bougie ass bathtub.”

  Dinner, a movie, and a bath with Bronze. Yes, please. “Sounds like a good plan to me. Let me know what you want, and I’ll call it in,” I said and passed the menu to him.

  After we made our choices and placed our order, he asked a question I should have been prepared for. “I didn’t get a chance to ask what brought you to Devil Springs last night.”

  Just like the giant dork that I was, I started to gasp and promptly choked when I inhaled a tiny bit of saliva. Then, I proceeded to cough and cough until I was red-faced with mascara smeared under my eyes, all the while thanking the stars above that I didn’t pee in my pants.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Fine,” I choked out and ran to the bathroom to get a drink of water and attempt to fix my face. I didn’t wear makeup often, and when I did, I didn’t wear a lot of it. But, I had put on the basics in case he came back.

  “Sorry about that. I guess I swallowed wrong. I hate when that happens.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “Because there’s not shit you can do about it.” Thankfully, he gave me a few more minutes to compose myself before he asked again, “So, what brought you to Devil Springs? Are you here on business?”

  “Yes!” I almost shouted. I hadn’t planned on meeting anyone other than my sister, and her family if she had any, which meant I hadn’t bothered to make up a cover story. However, he inadvertently gave me an excuse for being in town as well as a way to ask about Heidi and Paige. “I am here for work, and you might be able to help me.”

  Spreading his arms along the back of the sofa, he leaned back and grinned. That damn dimple of his popped up, and I swear it winked at me. “Whatever you need, I’m at your service.”

  “Behave,” I laughed and playfully swatted his chest.

  “Only for a little while. Because where’s the fun in that?” he returned. “Now, how can I help you?”

  I sat back and picked at the stray lint, so I didn’t have to look him in the eye while I lied to his face. “I’m here looking for someone, but I haven’t been able to find her. That’s actually why I was at the bar last night. She listed Precious Metals as her place of employment.”

  “Who’re you looking for?”

  “Heidi Coleman.”

  Recognition and something I couldn’t put my finger on washed over his face for a flash before he masked it. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Heidi’s no longer an employee at Precious Metals.”

  “Oh,” I gasped in disappointment, but I refused to let it deter me. “Do you know where I can find her? Or Paige?”

  He shook his head while his brow furrowed in confusion. “No, they haven’t been around for months.”

  “What?” I almost shrieked. “Where did they go?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. They didn’t leave a forwarding address when they moved.”

  6

  “They moved?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “Yeah, Paige moved first,” I paused and tried to think back. “I guess it was around five months ago. Then, Heidi left about a month later.”

  Her shoulders slumped while disappointment filled her beautiful eyes. “What am I going to do now?”

  “Why are you looking for them again?” I asked. I thought she’d said she was here for work, but her reactions seemed to be of a personal nature.

  Before she could answer, there was a knock on the door, followed by, “Room Service.”

  Even though it was her room, I got up to answer the door. “I’ve got it from here,” I said and wheeled the cart inside before closing the door.

  “It’s his job to bring the food in and see if we need anything else,” Sloane pointed out and made her way to the cart.

  “Then he should be grateful for the break,” I chuckled and almost groaned when the smell of a perfectly seasoned hamburger hit my nose.

  “This one’s yours,” she murmured and attempted to move the plates around like they were on a merry-go-round.

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Sloane. I had my face buried in your pussy several times last night and once this morning. You can touch my damn hamburger,” I blurted.

  “I can’t believe you said that,” she gasped with mock indignation. Then, she took a huge bite of her burger and groaned, calling my cock to attention once again.

  “You’re gonna have to cut that shit out,” I grumbled.

  “Cut what out?” she asked innocently.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” I said exaggeratedly. “Could it possibly be the sex noises you’re making while you eat?”

  I watched her while she brought the burger to her mouth for another bite. “I think that bun is bigger than your face. Or it was before you started eating it.”

  She looked down at her hamburger and cocked her head to the side. Then, the little shit grabbed the top of my bun and would have shoved it in my face if I hadn’t caught her hand before she could. “The fuck?”

  With her wrist still enclosed in my hand, she smirked. “I figured if it was bigger than your face, it would definitely be bigger than mine.”

  I laughed and repeated the words she’d said to me the night before. “I don’t know what to do with you.”

  “Treating me like a princess is always a safe bet.”

  “Oh no, I’ve learned my lesson about making bets with girls,” I muttered and silently cursed Tatum. “Now, back to Heidi and Paige. You said you were here for work?”

  She swallowed her food and slowly wiped her mouth before answering, which made me think she was either choosing her words carefully or she was coming up with a lie. “Yes, that’s right. I’m here to interview them, or at least one of them.”

  “What for?” I asked bluntly.

  “To help me accurately portray the characters in my upcoming novel.”

  “You’re writing a book?” I asked in surprise.

  “Yes, I am,” she said with a proud smile.

  “What’s it about?” I was genuinely intrigued, and since I was never much of a reader, I fully blamed the bookstore for my sudden interest.

  She grinned and shook her finger at me. “You’ll have to wait until it’s released like everyone else.”

  “Hmm, let me think. If you’re here to talk to Heidi, and maybe Paige, for a character, I’m going to guess it has something to do with their relationship,” I said and paused when something else occurred to me. “When did you set up this interview? Because like I said, they’ve been gone for a while now.”

  She sighed. “It didn’t work out with the first two applicants I chose. Heidi is my third attempt,” she explained and held her crossed fingers.

  “If Heidi applied for the interview, wouldn’t the application have her contact information?”

  “It did,” Sloane sighed and rubbed her forehead. “But it’s been well over a year since she submitted the form, and clearly at least her address has changed since then.”

  “That seems like a long time between the application and the actual interview,” I prompted.

  “Like I said, it didn’t work out with the first two. Admittedly, I didn’t do the prep work I usually do before traveling for an interview, which is why I’m scrambling to find her. I really don’t have time for this to end up being a wasted trip.”

  Fuck. It dawned on me that she had no idea about what happened between Paige and Heidi, and I was going to have to be the one to tell her.

  7

  “It was a stupid move on my part. I made an impulsive decision because I was frustrated as hell at having to start again. So, now I’m here, and I can’t find Heidi or Paige. And, yes, it would be easier to move on, but I really feel like Heidi is the one,” I shared, solidifying my explanation
by ending with a true statement.

  “Well then, I wish you the best of luck.”

  “Oh!” I gasped excitedly. “Maybe you can help me! Do you have her phone number?”

  “What?” he asked and suddenly leaned forward.

  “You were her employer. You should have her number or have access to it. Will you please share it with me?”

  “Why don’t you have it?” he returned.

  “Do you answer every question with a question?”

  “Do you?”

  I sighed in exasperation. “Whatever. I don’t have it because I forgot to include a spot for phone numbers on the application.” The excuse came to me easily since I’d once forgotten to include a spot for city, state, and zip code on a paperback order form.

  He exhaled slowly and leaned back in his seat, though he was far from relaxed. “I’ll give it to you if you want it, but it was disconnected last month.”

  “I want it,” I told him pointedly. He seemed like he was telling the truth, but admittedly, I wasn’t always the best judge of character, and I was going to have to remember that if I was going to keep him from pulling the wool over my eyes. After he pulled the clothes from my body.

  He wrote the phone number on the back of a business card from his wallet and handed it to me. “Here you go.”

  “Thanks,” I chirped and snatched it from his fingers. Then, I promptly dialed the number and pressed send.

  Bronze doubled over laughing. “I knew you were going to do that.”

  I ended the call and rolled my eyes. “Of course I was. Who wouldn’t check?”

  “Most people would’ve waited until after I was gone.”

  “I don’t have time for that shit,” I blurted.

  “Am I keeping you from something? Besides your interview, that is?”

  I shook my head. “I meant in general. I don’t have time for people’s pity petty bullshit.”

  “Pity petty?” he chuckled.

  “Shut it. I needed a P.”

  “I can give you a P. And a D. And a C.”

  I clapped my hands together. “Focus. What else can you tell me about them? Do you know why Paige moved? What do you think happened to Heidi?”

  “You obviously have some serious interviewing skills,” he teased and took a long, slow sip of his drink before his next words threw me for a loop. “Let’s start with the easiest one. Paige moved away because she broke up with Heidi.”

  Of all the things he could have said, that was not even a remote possibility in my mind. “What?” I shouted, far louder than I intended, but seriously. What? “That can’t be!” They were sisters, weren’t they? I started to ask but realized that was something I would have known from the application—if it was real.

  But I had to know, even if I blew my cover story because of it. “I’m sorry, would you repeat that?”

  “Paige broke up with Heidi and moved away,” he repeated and chuckled. “You thought they were sisters, didn’t you?”

  “Yes,” I nodded rapidly. “That’s exactly what I thought. They’re not?”

  “I thought the same thing when I first met them,” he laughed and shook his head. “No, they’re definitely not sisters,” he said in a way that told me he knew from experience.

  I wanted to wrinkle my nose in disgust. Hearing about my current partner’s previous conquests was not on the list of things I liked to do.

  “Listen, I normally don’t discuss things like this with other people, particularly women, but I think it’s pertinent in this case.”

  “Oh this sounds like it’s gonna be great,” I drawled and didn’t bother to hide my lack of enthusiasm. Because I already knew what he was going to say. Or at least I thought I did.

  “Heidi and Paige were already a couple when I met them. I don’t know for how long, but they said they started dating when they were teenagers.” He paused and cleared his throat. “Heidi worked at Precious Metals, but both Paige and Heidi helped out at the clubhouse bar. One night, it came up that Paige enjoyed watching Heidi have sex with a man, and Heidi enjoyed doing it. There was some discussion about how they went about finding a man to participate, and long story short, I ended up being, um, there for them like that.”

  “Why do I need to know this?”

  “You asked about their relationship, so I’m telling you about it.”

  “Their relationship to each other,” I clarified.

  He held his hands up with his palms out. “I was just trying to help. I thought telling you about them might help with your story since they’re not here for you to interview.”

  And that’s why I tried to avoid outright lying if I could help it. Because it always came back to bite you in the ass in ways you never imagined—like listening to the man who rocked your world the night before tell you about having sex with a woman who might be your sister.

  I inhaled deeply and told myself I needed to hear him out, in case he shared something that would eventually lead me to my sister.

  “So, you had sex with Heidi but not Paige?” I asked and crossed everything I had while I waited for his answer.

  “Right. I never touched Paige, and she never touched me. I was about to tell you that when you interrupted me, again.”

  “My apologies. I’ll hold all questions until the end,” I said in an overly sweet voice while I thought of a few different ways to torture him in one of my books.

  “Before you go thinking it was one big orgy, night after night, it wasn’t like that. It was more of a you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours kind of thing. Friends with benefits or whatever you want to call it. And, it only happened a handful of times.”

  When he continued to stare at me in silence, I tossed my hands in the air. “What? You told me not to interrupt with questions.” And I really wanted to tell him to shut up right after the word orgy left his mouth. “Get on with it,” I insisted.

  He shook his head and snorted. “As you wish. So, the first time we made plans to get together, there was an explosion at the clubhouse before things happened. Since the explosion was near my room, we were all hurt—me worse than them—but I think it scared Paige. They both had concussions, and Paige’s arm was broken. Heidi was back to work in a few days, but Paige was off for six weeks while it healed. Skipping forward, it was a few months before they brought it up again. Not long after that, two of the club members were attacked one night when leaving work and almost died. Right after that, Paige stopped showing up for her scheduled shifts at the club. Then, Heidi came home from a shift at Precious Metals to an empty house. She said Paige left a note breaking up with her but didn’t give any explanation for it. When Heidi tried to call, her number had been disconnected. About a month later, Heidi called in sick to work. Later that night, she sent me a text saying she was having a hard time with the break up and thought moving out of the house they shared together might help. I agreed with her and told her the club would help her move when she found a place.”

  He paused and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I told her to take some time off—as much as she needed. She asked if she could have two, maybe three, weeks off to find a new place, get herself moved, take time to process her new life, and come back to work with a fresh start.” He shrugged. “I’ve never been through a break up like that, but her request sounded reasonable to me. She never took time off, rarely called in sick, and always came in to help out whenever we asked. I was happy she was finally taking some time for herself. After her two weeks off, she’d found a new place and started moving in but said she needed more time and asked for another week. That was the last time I heard from her.”

  I waited a few beats to make sure he was finished before I tapped my phone to stop the voice recording, which he noticed immediately. “Were you recording me?”

  “Yes,” I admitted and slapped my hand over my face. “I’m sorry. It’s a habit. I always record interviews.” While that part was true, I was also so blown away by what he was telling me that I was afraid I would miss som
ething important. “I’ll delete it when we’re finished.”

  “Before we continue, you got anything to drink in here?”

  I gestured toward the not-so-mini-fridge. “Help yourself.”

  He walked over to the small kitchen area and set about making himself a drink. “Do you want one?”

  “No, thanks,” I replied and got up to retrieve the complimentary bottle of wine the hotel sent up the day after I checked in.

  “You’re not going to share?” he teased.

  “I would’ve until you said that,” I retorted and stuck out my tongue.

  When we settled back into our seats, he gestured for me to get on with it. However, there was only one thing I wanted to ask about. “Where are their mothers?”

  “Heidi’s mother lives in town, but they haven’t been on speaking terms for years. And Paige’s mom died years ago.”

  “Damn it. I was hoping Paige’s mom might be a possible lead.”

  “I hate to break it to you, but unless you know something I don’t, I doubt you’re going to find any new leads.”

  Oh, like the part about one of the girls being my half sister. Nope, I was honoring my mother’s request and keeping her suspicions to myself until I had proof. Even without that piece of information, there had to be something new to learn, at least for me. “You’re probably right, but will you write down the names and addresses you have? I’m not going to do it tonight, but I want to do a few more searches. I get that you’ve already done it, but all of this is new for me and I want to see the search results for myself.”

  “No need to explain. I’d be the same way,” he assured. “You got a piece of paper or something I can write on?”

  I gestured to the multiple notebooks scattered around the room. “Pick one. Any one. Don’t judge me. I’m an author. This is totally normal behavior.”

  “I’m sure it is.” With that, he wrote down the information he had and handed the notebook to me. I quickly glanced at the paper and recognized one address as Adelaide’s, but the other was a new one for me to check out.

  “Whose address is this?” I asked.