by S. Nelson
“Hey, Maddie,” I greeted, all hostility I held toward her gone the moment I heard about what she’d endured.
“Hi, Chelsea. How are you?” Such a loaded question.
“She’s confused.” Riley answered for me, dragging me back to the couch and plopping the bag of saltiness between us.
“I’m not confused.”
“About what?” Maddie sat in the chair beside us.
“About Ace.” My bestie couldn’t help herself, her gums flapping even though I shot her a look like I wanted to slap her.
“I like Ace. He’s such a nice guy.” Lincoln’s woman looked all starry-eyed at the mention of Ace, and for a second, I thought maybe she was interested. But as the ludicrous thought formed, I dismissed it. I’d seen the way she looked at Riley’s brother. The only interest she held was toward him and no one else.
“He is a nice guy, isn’t he?” Riley laughed when I tossed the pillow at her, snatching the chips before she could and tearing into them. I stuffed my mouth because otherwise, I’d have a few choice words to share with her.
“And he thinks the world of you,” Maddie continued, smiling at me when I turned to look at her.
“He does think the world of her, doesn’t he?” my bestie parroted, grinning like a fool.
With a mouth full of salty goodness, I mumbled, “Another topic, please.”
“Not a chance.” Riley snatched the bag from me, took a handful and passed it to Maddie. Both looked at me expectantly, but I wasn’t saying another word about the guy in question.
Because neither of them were going to relent, I brought up something I thought would swing their attention, especially Maddie.
“I hear you and Linc are moving in together.” I settled into the couch, crossing my legs, then my arms over my chest. My body language was defensive, protective, but the security of my position helped comfort me.
Her eyes lit up. “We’re supposed to go look at a place today, but I haven’t heard back from him yet. I think he’s just busy.”
“I’m sure he is. Time escapes them sometimes. No need to worry.” Riley was going to say something else, but the front door burst open, scaring the hell out of all three of us.
“What the fuck, Riley!” Kaden shouted, appearing disheveled with a crumbled shirt and his hair sticking up in the back. His worried expression shifted into anger the closer he came. “I’ve been callin’ you and callin’ you. Where is your phone?”
Riley stood and met him halfway, her tone when she answered turning icy. “It’s charging upstairs.”
“You are to have it on you at all times. Do you hear me?” She didn’t answer which only made him angrier. He grabbed her upper arms and pulled her impossibly close. “Do you fuckin’ hear me?”
“Hey,” I shouted, hopping off the couch. Maddie stood but kept her distance. “Get your hands off her.”
“Mind your business, Chels.” He didn’t even bother looking at me when he basically told me to fuck off.
“This is my business.”
Kaden ignored me, lowering his hand to grab Riley’s. He pulled her away from us, but not far as we could still hear him.
“I mean it, Ry. Make sure your phone is on you at all times. I’m not playin’ around. And before you ask me why, I can’t tell you. Yet. Just trust me. And don’t go anywhere. Stay put until you hear from me.” He leaned down until they were eye level, his expression serious. “Do you understand?”
“Fine.”
“I’m serious.”
“I said fine. I don’t have anywhere to go anyway.”
“I don’t care if you did. You’re not to step foot out of this house until I get back.”
“Until you get back or until I hear from you? Which is it?” Riley’s back faced us, but I could only imagine the look she shot him.
“Don’t get smart.” These two went head-to-head, and while I’d witnessed them going at it before, I’d never heard Kaden talk to her like this. He was pissed but also seemed to be frightened, as well. Of what, I had no idea because he wouldn’t elaborate.
“Fine,” she repeated for the third time. Only then did he release her, slamming the door behind him a few seconds later.
I rushed toward her and touched her arm. She flinched, which only served to piss me off even more. “What the hell was that about?”
“I have no idea. And while the stubborn part of me wants to push back against him and leave, just to show him he’s not the boss of me, my gut tells me to listen.”
Maddie’s phone rang, her ringtone startling all of us. Boy, are we on edge. “Hello? Yeah, I’m here. Kaden just came by. Okay.” There was a brief pause before she said, “Can you tell me—” Another lengthy silence. I could hear Linc’s voice on the other end. There was some shouting, but I didn’t think he was yelling at Maddie. Instead, it sounded like someone in the background of wherever he was. “Okay. I promise.” She pulled the phone away from her ear and looked down at the screen.
“What’s goin’ on?” I asked.
“I don’t know. He called to see if I was still here, as if I had anywhere else to go.” The arch of her brows would’ve made me laugh had I not sensed something was seriously wrong. “He told me not to go anywhere. Said he’d call me soon, then he hung up.”
“I don’t like this,” Riley uttered, taking a seat on the edge of the sofa. “Not one bit.”
My thoughts drifted to Ace. Would he try and call me, too, even though we were done?
Would I answer if he did?
My skin prickled at the thought danger was the reason behind Linc and Kaden acting all funny, but I wasn’t about to throw myself into the middle of whatever shitstorm was brewing.
“I’m gonna take off.”
“I think you should stay here with us,” Riley urged, stepping in front of me when I tried to move toward the door.
“I’m good.”
“I think she’s right, Chelsea,” Maddie added, walking up next to me. She was so tiny, but the concern on her face was fierce. “We don’t know what’s goin’ on, but I believe you’ll be safe here.”
“Why would I be unsafe?” I continued before either of them could answer. “If it’s club related, I’m good. I’m not with anyone there so…” I shrugged. “I’ll be fine.”
I moved around my bestie quicker than she could stop me and managed to walk out onto the porch and jog down the front steps.
“Call me when you get home,” Riley shouted behind me.
“Okay,” I yelled back over my shoulder as I pulled open the driver-side door.
My ride home was riddled with questions and concern. Maybe I should’ve stayed at Riley’s with her and Maddie. What if they really were in danger? Then a thought barreled in that appeased my bout of worry. There was no way Kaden would leave her alone in that house if he thought she wouldn’t be safe.
Several heartbeats later, I flicked on the radio and turned up the volume, losing myself to the newest pop song by a singer I’d never heard of before. I needed to focus on anything other than the anxiety that curled into my veins.
Hours later as I lost myself to mindless television, I still couldn’t shake the thick bead of dread twisting through me.
17
My head was foggy, but my body was on fire, like someone took a torch to my skin and held it there for moments on end.
Labored breaths left my mouth as I came out of my slumber, my lids opening slightly before closing again, only to repeat until my eyes finally remained open. I saw a shadow in the corner of the room, and at first, I had no idea where I was or why I felt like shit.
“He’s awake.” It was a woman’s voice who uttered the two words. “Get Marek.” My head lolled to the side when the bed dipped beside me. “Ace. Can you hear me?” Tingles erupted on my temple as fingers trailed along my face. “Sweetheart, can you hear me?” she repeated. Even with my vision still hazy, I realized Addy was the woman next to me. This couldn’t be good. A quick deduction ran through my brain before I star
ted to piece together what happened.
I’d walked out of Indulge after dealing with the issue with Jaz.
I’d been looking at my phone, intent on calling Chelsea.
I saw a car pull up and then three men pointed their guns directly at me. I hadn’t seen their faces, but I sure as hell saw the barrel of their guns.
Then my memory faded.
Trying to move proved futile because not only was I hit with a dose of mind-numbing pain, but Addy’s hands rested on my shoulders as she pushed me back on the mattress. “Don’t move.” I was about to argue, but I didn’t physically have it in me to do so. “Just breathe, Ace.” Her voice comforted me, and I did as I was instructed. One breath after another until I became fully alert, my eyes bouncing from her to Marek, who’d just walked in, to Brick and Linc who’d followed him.
“What happened?” Marek stood at the foot of the bed with his arms crossed, looking none too pleased. Was he pissed at me?
“I don’t know. One minute I’m dealing with the issue with Jaz, and the next, I’m in the parking lot when a car pulls in and starts shootin’ at me. I didn’t see their faces, but I have no fuckin’ doubt it was them.” Everyone in this room knew who “them” was. I didn’t need to specify.
Prez unfolded his arms and ran his hand over his face, mumbling to himself before giving me back his attention. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“Am I?” I felt the pain in my side, but I wasn’t aware of the damage yet.
“You are,” Addy agreed, handing me a purplish-looking pill and a glass of water. She placed her hand behind my head to raise it a little, just enough for me to get the water in my mouth and swallow the medication. “A bullet hit you on your left side, but it went straight through. In and out. I don’t believe there’s much damage.”
“Other than having a hole in my body.”
“True.” She smiled. “You’re all stitched up and you’ve had two rounds of antibiotics already.” Addy pointed toward the now empty glass of water. “And that’s your third pain pill.”
“How long have I been here?” I asked, suddenly aware I had no idea how much time had lapsed since the attack.
“Two days,” Marek answered.
“Two days?” My voice rose in urgency. I attempted to get up again, but that time Linc joined his mother in helping to keep me flat on my back. “I have to check on Chelsea.” The plea in my voice made the bastard smirk, but there wasn’t a goddamn thing funny about what I’d said.
“She’s fine.” Brick was next to the bed in two long strides. “Rez is watching out for her.” He saw the scowl on my face and hurried to say, “He knows she’s yours. He won’t overstep.” The truth was Chelsea wasn’t mine even though I wanted her to be. “I don’t even think she knows she’s bein’ watched. She doesn’t know what happened yet.”
I found a sliver of relief in her not knowing. I didn’t want to alarm her or make her worry about me. Would she worry? I couldn’t help the thought from entering my brain, but I shoved it away quickly because I had other things to concern myself with.
“Why did you text me when we were at Indulge? You told us to get back here ASAP.” I moved to get more comfortable on the bed, but the first wave of pain slicing through me was enough to make me stop and remain as I was. Addy had just left the room, whispering something to her son before she disappeared.
Brick’s tongue ran over his teeth and he made an odd sound with this throat. Whatever he was gonna tell me wasn’t good.
“Someone tried to run Braylen off the road as she was coming home from the grocery story.” I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off. “She’s fine and so is the baby. Zoe and Roman were with her, and they’re fine as well.” A darkness glazed over Brick’s eyes, his fingers clenching into fists. “She hit a guardrail, and the front end of her vehicle is messed up, but other than them being shaken up, they’re okay.”
“We thinkin’ Reapers for this, too?”
“Yep,” Marek, Brick, and Linc responded simultaneously.
I closed my eyes to gather my wits. This was a lot of information for me to digest in the span of only a few minutes.
Those bastards were ballsy, downright reckless and stupid. And after hearing how our club dealt with them in the past, I had no doubt we’d prevail again, but at what cost? That was the proverbial million-dollar fuckin’ question.
“What now?” I asked, returning my attention to Prez.
“The security cameras picked up everything that happened with the shooting. We’re in the process of tracking down the car now. Stupid shits probably didn’t even change the plates.” Marek paused but only for a second, barely enough time to take a breath. “We shut down Indulge and Flings for the time being. Only until we get this all under control.”
“When’s that gonna happen?” Brick asked.
“We’re workin’ on it” was our leader’s only response.
After Marek left, Brick and Linc stood near me, looking down at me like I was some kind of invalid.
“What?” I couldn’t hide the irritation in my voice.
“Nothin’.” Linc’s half smile fell flat. “Just glad you’re okay.” He looked at Brick. “Looks like you gotta somehow get inducted into this shit, brother.”
The mammoth of a man lowered his brows. “What does that mean?”
Linc pointed to the scrape on the side of his face, then pointed at my waist. “We both got hit.”
Brick pulled his head back and stood taller. “So what? You want me to get shot in order to join this twisted little club you guys got?”
“Exactly,” I confirmed. “Actually, come to think of it, quite a few of the guys in the club have been shot, some of ’em multiple times. Let’s see.” I held up a finger for each person I named. “There’s Prez, Stone, Tripp—”
“Fuck off,” he grumbled, but Linc and I saw the smirk on his face before he headed toward the door.
“What do you care anyway? It’s not like a tiny bullet is gonna do any damage to your giant ass.” I laughed but then groaned, a jolt of pain hittin’ me.
“God don’t like ugly,” Brick shouted before he slammed the bedroom door behind him.
I swore if I didn’t find some sort of amusement in this situation, I’d lose my goddamn mind.
18
I hadn’t heard from Ace in over forty-eight hours, and while he’d told me we were over for good when he left my place, I still expected to hear from him. We’d argued multiple times in the past about the status of our relationship, or lack thereof, and while he’d never given me this type of ultimatum, he’d always come around one way or the other.
Glancing in my rearview, I noticed the same black truck I saw yesterday. In fact, I saw it a couple times yesterday. It could be a coincidence, or someone could be following me.
Deciding to see if this asshole was in fact tailing me, I took a right, then a left, then another right. Sure enough, two vehicles back, there he was. With everything going on with Ace, or not going, depending on how I looked at it, this was the last thing I needed to worry about.
I pulled into a local shopping center, conscious of the time. My client would be at the salon in twenty minutes and Braylen hated when I showed up right before my appointments. But in order to find out who had the balls to watch my every move, I had to take care of this before going to work. Besides, if on the off chance this person didn’t already know where I worked, I didn’t want to give them that little tidbit of information.
Sure enough, the truck parked one row back from me. My patience for this, and everything as of late, had run out. I reached behind my seat and grabbed a baseball bat I had tucked away in case of emergencies and marched toward the black truck. As I approached, the driver’s window came down.
“Hi, sweetheart.” The guy behind the wheel wore a leather vest, much like Ace and his buddies, but I’d never seen him before. He had long black hair, which was currently pulled back off his face, olive-colored skin, and was in dire need of a sha
ve. Other than possibly being a complete psychopath, he was kinda cute.
I wasn’t stupid. I stood several feet from his door just in case he decided to make a move. Holding the bat high, I widened my stance and glared at him.
“Why the hell are you following me?”
“I was told to, sweetheart.”
“Stop calling me that. I don’t know you.” I flexed my fingers around the handle of my makeshift weapon. “And who told you to follow me?”
“That’s for me to know.” His smirk did nothing but irritate me more than I already was.
“Is that right?” I asked the question, but instead of allowing him time to answer, I swung the bat toward his headlight. His eyes widened right before the glass shattered.
“Whoa! What the fuck?” He jumped out and rushed toward the front to inspect the damage. “Are you crazy?” He glanced between me and the destruction.
“Who told you to follow me?” I repeated.
His silence was his answer, so I gave him my reply, crashing the bat down on his hood, putting a nice-size dent in the middle.
“Lady! Stop hittin’ my goddamn truck!” he shouted, looking like he wanted to tackle me to the ground.
“Then tell me what I wanna know.” My voice was calm, but I was anything but—fear and anger mixing together to form a whole other emotion. “I can do this all day.” I raised the bat once again, but instead of directing my fury on his vehicle again, I swung it at him when he rushed toward me.
He jumped back before I made contact. “Are you insane?”
“Who?”
“You,” he answered. “Are you crazy?” I believed he wanted an honest answer, or perhaps his question was rhetorical. Either way, I dismissed him with a roll of my eyes.
“No, you ass. Who told you to be my shadow?” When he kept his mouth clamped shut, I raised the wood in the air once more.