“No, none that I can think of.”
“If you see or hear from Phyllis or Adelaide, be sure to give us a call before you take things into your own hands,” Dunk said seriously.
“I’ll try, but I can’t promise more than that.”
“Is there anything else?” Copper asked, clearly trying to hurry the conversation along.
“Yes,” Dunk said excitedly. “We want to know if we can hold the baby. Neither one of us has even gotten a good look at her yet.”
Thankfully, they only stayed for a few minutes, each briefly holding Blue before returning her to me. The moment they were gone, I turned to my brother. “What in the actual fuck?” I asked, miraculously remembering to whisper.
“Should I leave?” Layla interrupted.
Copper shook his head. “That’s up to Bronze. As far as I’m concerned, this is family business, not club business.”
I turned to Layla. “You’re welcome to stay, but you might not like what you hear.”
“You don’t need to leave, Locks,” Copper said and directed his attention to me. “Ain’t no use in wasting time speculating. You’d be better off waiting until the police finish investigating and focus on other important matters in the meantime.”
“Such as?”
“Such as securing your parental rights now that paternity’s been proven. Especially since the mother’s been found dead.”
11
After Bronze left, I turned off all notifications and spent the rest of the day alternating between searching online and completing my daily word count. By the time I decided to call it a day, it was well after dark, and I was mentally exhausted, which is why I once again fell asleep on the sofa holding my laptop. At some point during the night, I managed to sleepwalk to the bed, which saved me from waking up with a sore back.
Since I didn’t have any plans until the following afternoon when Bronze said he would come back, I treated myself to several in-room spa services, which took up most of the morning. Feeling like a new woman, I got in my car and set out to explore Devil Springs.
After eating lunch at a locally owned diner, I parked along Main Street and started checking out the downtown area on foot. As I got closer to what appeared to be the central area, the sound of rushing water became louder and clearer.
I wanted to squeal in delight when a bridge and waterfall came into view. Pulling out my phone, I snapped a few pictures and saved the location as a potential site for a photo shoot in the future. The bridge had suspension cables only on one side, allowing for a multitude of unencumbered views as it curved in front of the falls.
Surveying the area, I was pleased to find a park filled with numerous places to sit and enjoy being outdoors—or sit and write some dirty stories as it was in my case.
Far too many hours later, my phone whistled at me and scared the shit out of me since I'd never heard it make that noise before. Looking down to see Frankie's name on a notification from an app that I didn't know I had, I closed my laptop and planned to respond once I got back to my car. However, I changed my mind once I realized it was very close to being dark and there weren’t many people out and about.
"When did you install this on my phone?" I asked.
"Well hello to you too," Frankie answered. “Wait, what are you doing?"
"I'm walking back to my car. What are you doing?”
“Don’t try to deflect. We have more important things to discuss once we’ve established where you are or that you’re safe. I’ll accept either at this point.”
“I spent the day in a park downtown working on one of my stories," I explained. “The day got away from me, and now I'm walking back to my car with you as my security guard.”
“Tell me, my dear demon, why are you lolly-gagging around this town? You’re there for some reason I’m not privy to, yet you spent the day outside writing. Don’t get me wrong; I'm always happy when you produce words, but you don't need to be there to write. So, that leads me to believe there's another reason you want to stay in town, besides the one you aren't telling me about.”
“What?” I shrieked.
“I knew it! It’s a man!” she shouted excitedly. “Tell me all about him.” I gasped at her correct guess and promptly choked. “That’s not gonna work. Go get you some water. I’ll wait.”
Shit. Fuck. Damn. I had been doing a great job of ignoring any feelings I maybe, possibly, kind of, not really had for a certain charismatic biker. There was no sense in denying it to her any longer. Plus, if she knew what was going on, she could be prepared for the pep talks I would likely need.
“Stop justifying telling me, and fucking tell me," Frankie insisted.
“I will if you’ll get out of my head,” I huffed. “Give me one second to get situated in the car.”
“You don’t situate yourself with your mouth.”
I growled like a wild animal before I huffed and started telling her about Bronze. When I was finished, I added, “Some of the things I need to do can only be done during regular business hours Monday through Friday. As such, I think it’s only fair that I’m allowed to have fun after hours. Enjoying myself doesn’t equate waiting around for him.”
“No, but getting all defensive over a simple question sure as shit equates feelings.” She paused and inhaled deeply. “I don't know how to respond here. While I'm happy someone’s caught your attention, I get the gist this isn't an ideal situation for feelings to be involved.”
“I have we-had-great-sex feelings, not we're-going-to-get-married-and-have-babies feelings,” I reassured, even though just the thought of marrying Bronze and having his babies caused a delicious chill to shoot through my body.
“Own it, Sloane. You like the biker.”
“Fine,” I huffed. “I like the biker.”
“My work here is done,” she chirped and ended the call.
I shook my head and focused on driving back to the hotel. I didn’t realize how tired I was until after I ate dinner and took a shower. Clad in only a thin T-shirt and a pair of underwear, I climbed into the bed and fell asleep with my soaking wet hair saturating my pillow.
The next morning, I woke to my computer ringing with a picture of Frankie’s smiling face on the screen. There was nothing I could do to fix the hot mess I knew I was, so I bit the bullet and answered. “Good morning,” I rasped.
“Good morning? How about good afternoon?” she quipped. “Are you just waking up?”
I sat up and stretched with a yawn. “Yeah. What time is it?”
“Eleven,” she said flatly.
“What?” I gasped. What the hell? I was the girl who didn’t need an alarm clock because I never slept late. Yet, I’d done it two days in a row.
“Pro tip: If you didn’t stay up to all hours of the night doing who knows what, you wouldn’t sleep all day.”
“Thank you for that helpful piece of advice. Watching the back of my eyelids for over twelve hours is what I was doing.”
“Don’t get snippy with me because you overslept. Go get your coffee and call me back.”
She knew me so well. A mug of coffee needed to be in my hand within ten minutes of opening my eyes or everyone in my general vicinity was going to have a bad day, including myself.
“On it,” I said and ended the call.
While drinking my coffee, I thought about what I wanted to do with my day until Bronze got off work. I really wanted to have something new to give him, but I hadn’t been able to find anything, which meant it was time to ask Frankie for help. But first, I needed to put in a few hours of work before the day got away from me—more than it already had.
When my phone rang several hours later, I remembered I never called Frankie back. “Hello,” I answered quickly.
“If the reason you forgot about me is anything other than a huge cock, I’m going to be hurt,” Frankie teased.
“Do fictional cocks count?”
“Only if they’re thrusting and throbbing.”
I laughed while I made m
y way down to my car. I was probably being overly cautious, but I didn’t want to take a chance of anyone overhearing our conversation. And I knew my car was the best place to ensure my privacy because my dad had it overhauled to make it as safe and secure as possible. The man even made sure it was bulletproof for crying out loud.
“I need your help,” I said, bypassing any formalities once I was safely inside.
“Confess your sins, Demon,” she replied without missing a beat.
I snorted. “You better sit down, because this one’s a doozy.”
“Tell me what you did so I can start fixing it.” She was always there, ready to fix whatever problems arose, no matter what time of day or night.
“It’s doesn’t have anything to do with the book world. It’s personal.”
“Your problems are my problems. Spill.”
So, I did. I started telling her everything else that happened from the moment I found the letter at my mom’s house. I didn’t feel the need to repeat the parts about Bronze unless it was pertinent to the new information I was telling her, like him being my possible sister’s employer. Just as I finished, I heard the rumble of an engine approaching.
“Holy shit! A biker wearing the same cut as Bronze just pulled into the hotel parking lot. And he’s walking inside. I’m gonna go see what he’s doing.”
“No!!” Frankie shouted. “Have you learned nothing from the books you read?! You don’t fuck around with bikers. Especially you.”
“Too late. I already fucked one, and I’m following the other one. It might be his brother.”
“Sloane, they all call each other brother.”
I scoffed. “No, he said his biological brother is the president. And this dude kinda looks like Bronze.”
“Did you say ‘president’? Oh, I think I’m having chest pains. What in the hell is wrong with you?” she continued shouting at me while I stealthily crept into the hotel and tried to spy on the biker.
“Where did he go?” I whispered.
“He’s probably sneaking up behind you right this second to kidnap you and hold you prisoner in a cell underneath their clubhouse. I bet it’s where your long-lost sister is! Run away. Now!”
At her words, I whirled around to check behind me. “Shit, Frankie! That’s not funny.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and exhaled slowly. “Stop trying to scare me. If he’s here to see me, I want to know why.”
“I’m trying to save you, not scare you. Stop making my job harder and listen to the woman who is thinking clearly right now.” Her words fell on deaf ears. I couldn’t let it go, and deep down, she knew that as well as I did.
Thanks to Frankie freaking me out, I was hiding by the ice machine down the hall and peeking out every few seconds to see if I could spot him anywhere.
My heart started pounding in my chest when I saw him stepping out of the elevators. “Shit, Frankie! He’s walking toward the front desk.”
“Abort mission! Get out of there!”
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I whisper-shouted into the phone. “The man at the front desk just pointed me out. What do I do?”
“Listen to me! Run!”
“That’ll make me look guilty. I haven’t done anything wrong,” I argued.
“Excuse me,” a deep voice rumbled behind me.
Everything froze for a split second when I realized running away was no longer an option. I slowly turned around to face him. “Oh, I’m sorry. I must be in your way,” I said and stepped away from the ice machine.
“I’m actually looking for you.”
“Me?” I squeaked and cleared my throat.
“Act like you don’t know who he is. Pretend like you think he wants an autograph,” Frankie quietly insisted.
I plastered a fake smile on my face. “If you have a pen, I’ll be happy to sign something for you, but I don’t have any books or swag on hand to give you.”
“Too much. Stop talking,” Frankie coached in my ear.
“That’s not why I’m here,” he said and gave me a pointed look. “I’m here about Bronze.”
“I’m muting myself. Tell me you’ll call me back and put the phone in your pocket so I can still hear. Make it quick and get out of there.”
“Uh, let me call you back in a few minutes,” I said and slipped my phone into my back pocket. Turning to face the biker, I asked, “What about Bronze?”
He didn’t beat around the bush or sugarcoat anything. “I don’t know what it is you’re doing in Devil Springs, and I sure as shit don’t know what you’ve been doing with my brother, but you need to leave. Now. And don’t come back.”
“What?” I snapped and started getting angry. “Are you threatening me?”
He smirked. “No, sweetheart. I don’t have time to go around threatening every whore my brother fucks.”
Oh hell no! I was not a whore and refused to tolerate being called one. President or not, he received the same response as the handful of other people who used that word to refer to me. “I prefer bitch,” I told him and raised my open palm as if I were going to slap him right across his handsome face. “Nah, you’re not worth it,” I sneered.
He maintained his mask of indifference, though I could sense his growing anger. “I’ll be back in a few hours, and you better be long gone.”
“What if I’m not?” I prodded.
He glared into my eyes with gorgeous blue ones, just like Bronze’s. “One way or another, you’re leaving Devil Springs today.” With that, he turned on his heel and left me standing there speechless without a backward glance.
A strange noise caught my attention. It took me a few seconds to realize it was Frankie pressing buttons on the phone. Pulling it from my pocket, I held it to my ear and ran for the stairs. “Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!”
“Is he gone?” she demanded.
“I don’t know. I ran when he walked away from me,” I panted.
“Ran where? Where’re you going? What’s happening?”
“To my room!”
“Sloane!”
“I just need a minute to think.”
“No, you don’t. You need to pack your shit and get out of there.”
“I can’t! Not until I find my sister!” I screamed and felt my eyes filling with tears. “I want to meet her!”
“For fuck’s sake. You can go back another time, but right now, you need to leave. Put me on speakerphone and start packing while I see what I can dig up.”
“Okay,” I breathed and tapped the speaker button. “I’m in my room, and all the locks are locked.”
Proper packing went out the window. I stuffed and crammed everything I brought into the closest bag or suitcase. Frankie shouted something I couldn’t make out while I was gathering my toiletries. “What was that?” I asked. “I was in the bathroom and couldn’t hear you.”
Frankie’s next words paired with her calm and even tone sent chills through my body. “Sloane, you need to leave. Get your purse, laptop, and whatever can’t be left behind. I’ll arrange to have what’s left delivered to my PO box. Stay on the phone with me until you’re safely in your car. If anything, and I mean anything, happens between now and you leaving, I’m calling your father.”
She didn’t have to say anything else. Frankie would never call my dad unless it was a dire situation. “I’m walking out the door right now.”
“Good. Stay calm, at least on the outside. You’re okay, and we want to keep you that way,” she encouraged.
When I reached my car, I threw everything into the backseat and locked the doors the second I was inside. “Okay, I made it to my car. Now, tell me what the fuck is going on!”
“Are you driving?”
“Tell me!”
“Keep the source in mind, but I’m looking at a comment posted on the local news’s social media page that says the bodies of an apparent murder-suicide have been identified as Heidi and Paige Coleman.”
“What?” I
practically screamed.
“Heidi and Paige are dead.”
I was still on the phone with Frankie but lost in my thoughts while she was searching for more information when I remembered something. The other address Bronze wrote down was where Paige and Heidi used to live, or that’s what he’d said. I wasn’t sure what to believe anymore, and figured it wouldn’t hurt anything to drive by the house so I could see for myself. Taking a deep breath, I pulled onto the street, hoping I wasn’t making a foolish mistake.
I slowly rolled by the house and surveyed the area. There was a For Rent sign in the front yard, and it looked like the house was still unoccupied.
“What are you doing?” Frankie blurted out of nowhere, scaring the crap out of me.
“Driving.”
“What else?”
“How do you do that?” I asked and honestly wanted to know.
“I know you too well. You’re probably doing something I would be doing, which is always something we shouldn’t be doing.”
“Okay, so I told you one of the addresses Bronze wrote down was for their old house,” I started. “And he mentioned something about a few boxes still being there.”
“Have you lost your damn mind?”
“It might be the only chance I ever have of knowing the truth! Especially if they’re really dead. I can’t live the rest of my life not knowing!”
“Just ask your dad!”
I scoffed. “If I thought he’d tell me the truth, I would.”
“You can’t just walk into some random house.”
While approaching the front door, I kept a close watch on my surroundings and tried to play it cool. I could be a potential tenant for all anyone knew. Crossing my fingers, I twisted the knob and wanted to shout with glee when it turned, and the door eased open. “I can if the door’s unlocked,” I whispered. “And what do you know? It is.”
“Don’t go inside. Don’t go inside. Don’t go inside.”
“Shh!” I hissed. “You’re echoing off the empty walls.”
Bronze (Blackwings MC - Devil Springs Book 5) Page 8