Cotton: Satan's Fury MC

by Wilder, L.

  “I… umm…” she stammered. Her back stiffened with resolve as she continued, “I came because I needed to talk to you.”

  “Ok. Then talk.”

  “Don’t be like that, Cotton. It was hard enough to come here like this at all. I don’t need you giving me a hard time on top of it.” She paused for a moment, then continued, “I know I should’ve come sooner. I thought about it a hundred times, but always talked myself out of it.”

  “It’s been twenty-five years, Sara. Twenty-five fucking years, and not so much as a damn phone call.”

  “I know, Cotton. At first it was just too hard. I missed you so much, and I knew talking to you would only make it harder. Then, after so much time passed… I don’t know. I guess I just lost the nerve to pick up the phone. Figured you wouldn’t want to talk to me, much less see me,” she explained.

  “That’s crazy, Sara. You were always welcome here. Always. I know things were rough when your dad died. It was rough on all of us, but even after you and your mother left, we’ve always considered you both to be family. Nothing changed that.”

  “I know, Cotton, but Mom… she really lost it after Dad died. I’d never seen her like that before, and honestly, she hasn’t been the same since.” She sighed as she recalled the memory, concern filling her eyes. After a brief pause, she continued, “You know, she moved back here a couple of years ago when Aunt Clara got sick.”

  “Yeah. We’ve been keeping an eye on her.”

  “I knew you would, Cotton. I appreciate it more than you know. Even though she wouldn’t like it, it’s helped me to know the club would always be there for her,” she smiled sincerely. “With work, I haven’t been able to visit her as much as I would like, but she seems happy being with her sister.”

  “Is she the reason why you’re here now, or is there something else?” I finally asked.

  The blood quickly drained from her face as she said, “No, Cotton. My visit has nothing to do with my mother. I’ve come because of Derek.”

  The sound of his name coming from her mouth caught me by surprise. I couldn’t rationalize it in my head, so I growled, “What about Derek?”

  “It’s a long story, but the short version of it is… I think he’s stalking me again, but this time it’s different. This time, I’m worried he might try to kill me.”

  “Tell me what’s happened, Sara. I need to know everything,” I ordered.

  “It started with strange things happening around my house and work. Things like weird gifts left on my doorstep or on my car and strange phone calls in the middle of the night. Then, almost two months ago, I saw him for the first time. I was making a coffee run for the team and ran into him at the checkout counter. I was surprised to see him in Anchorage, but at the time, I didn’t make much of it. I mean, it seemed simple enough, until I ran into him again a couple of days later at my favorite diner. Even then, I knew it could’ve been a coincidence, but I never liked Derek. After what happened all those years ago, I definitely never trusted the guy. When I asked him about it, he just tried to play it off like it was nothing, but something didn’t feel right.”

  “Did he threaten you?” I asked after I finally stopped pacing and sat back down beside her.

  I reached into my pocket and grabbed a cigarette, quickly lighting it, as she said, “No. He was all smiles and charms the first few times we ran into each other. He even had the nerve to ask me out on a date. Promised to show me a good time, but when I blew him off, things started to escalate. Every time I turned around, he was there, and it was starting to get to me. He was flat out stalking me, so I decided to take matters into my own hands—turn the tables on him. I had Seth, my partner at the firm, put a GPS tracker on his bike. I was able to use that to keep an eye on him… to know whenever he was close. My guys were even able to find his warehouse and got intel on some of the guys he was running with. He didn’t make it easy on us though. He always covered his tracks, changing out burners and even changing his name. Then, two weeks ago, he vanished. Disappeared without a trace and took most of his crew with him.”

  “You still haven’t told me why you think he’s trying to kill you, Sara,” I pushed.

  “He came back.”

  She reached for her phone and pulled up one of her pictures. Her hand was trembling as she turned the screen to me, showing me a picture of her sleeping soundly in her bed. At first, it didn’t register what the picture meant. There was no message. No one standing in the background, just her lying there, sleeping. Then it hit me. Sara was home alone, and someone had come into her house while she was sleeping and took the picture. Fuck.

  “What kind of person would do something like that? He’s insane, Cotton. He always has been. I can’t believe he was actually in my house, standing right next to my bed while I was sleeping. I can’t shake it. It’s all I can think about.”

  “Are you sure he’s the one who took the picture?”

  “Oh, it was him. There’s no doubt. Something woke me up, and the first thing I noticed was my phone. The screen was lit up, and when I checked it, I found that picture of me. I rushed out of bed and went straight to my laptop to check the security footage of the house, and that’s when I saw Derek. He was right there by my bed, and he wasn’t alone. Joe Delaney was standing next to him while he smiled at the security camera. He’s a hacker, one of the best. The FBI has been trying to track him down for months. He’s the one who got Derek inside the house without setting off my alarm. After seeing that footage, I couldn’t stay in that house a minute longer. I packed my bags and headed here.”

  “I’ll take care of it,” I promised. I’m not sure what triggered it, maybe it was part of his plan for revenge or maybe it was just seeing her again that did it, but Derek’s obsession with Sara was back. Whatever the reason, I’d have to do whatever I could to protect her.

  She sighed with relief and said, “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  “I’m going to need everything you’ve got on him and his crew.”

  “Most of it’s on my computer, but I can get Seth from work to send the rest.”

  “Gonna need you to stay here till we get this thing sorted.”

  A nervous grin crossed her face as she said, “I guess it’s pointless for me to say I can stay at mom’s.”

  “You’ll be safer here,” I told her. I decided to wait until our meet with Big Mike to fill her in on Derek’s attack on the club. I’d let her get settled first and explain everything when she gave us her intel on Derek. “I’ve gotta take care of a few things. I’ll get one of the girls to help you get settled.”

  “I don’t need a babysitter, Cotton. Just tell me which room, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

  “The last two rooms in the left wing are open. Don’t get too comfortable. We’ll be leaving for Anchorage as soon as I get things sorted,” I told her as I stood to leave.

  “Okay,” she agreed. She stood up and quickly wrapped her arms around my neck. “Thanks, Cotton. It’s really good to see you.”

  “Good to see you too,” I told her then gently pulled free from her embrace and headed for the door. Even though I knew Guardrail and Maverick were waiting to hear what was going on, I needed a minute to myself to decompress. I went straight to my office and shut the door behind me, trying to shut out all the noise in my head. I sat down at my desk and had just reached for a cigarette when there was a knock at the door.

  “Yeah?”

  Guardrail slowly eased the door open, and I nodded for him to enter. He took a seat in front of my desk and said, “So, I just saw Sara bringing her bags down the hall. What the hell is that all about? Is she really staying here?”

  “Yeah,” I told him as I lit my cigarette. “For now.”

  He cleared his throat and asked, “You good? Couldn’t have been easy to see her after all this time.”

  “Yeah, I’m good, but things just took a turn, brother. We’re going to need to head to Anchorage. The sooner, the better.”

  “Anchorage
?” he questioned. “Why the hell are we going to Alaska?”

  “Because Derek’s there, and we’re going after him. Sara managed to get some intel on him before he pulled his stunt last night.”

  His eyebrows furrowed as he asked, “What stunt?”

  “The asshole broke into her house last night, and it took some maneuvering, brother. He got past her high tech security system. Even took a fucking picture of her sleeping and used her phone to take it.”

  “Damn. Why didn’t he just kill her while he had the chance?”

  “We both know why. Sara has been gone a long time, but she’s still family- our family. He knows I wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He wants me to come after him, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

  After Cotton left, I couldn’t go back to sleep. Every time I rolled over and smelled his scent on the pillows, my mind would start racing a mile a minute. I tossed and turned, and finally decided it was pointless. There was no way I was going back to sleep, so I got up and headed for the kitchen. I decided to make the guys some breakfast, and just as I started to heat the sausage, Clutch walked in, wearing his cut with a pair of beat-up, old blue jeans. His green eyes sparkled when he smiled, making it irresistible not to smile right back at him. He sauntered over to me and leaned against the stove, and as soon as he looked up at me, I could tell he was going to hit me up for something. I didn’t know why he even tried being slick. He’d never been very good at hiding anything from me.

  “Hey, beautiful. You need any help with that?” he asked playfully.

  “I’m good. Thanks, though.”

  “It smells great,” he smiled.

  I turned to face him, pointing the spatula at his chest, and asked, “I know you’re up to something. Just tell me. What do you want this time?” Of all the brothers at the club, we got along the best. He was always in a great mood and never failed to make me smile.

  He cocked his head to the side and said, “Who, me? I don’t want anything.”

  “Spill it,” I told him as I poked him in the chest with the spatula.

  “Okay, I might need a little help with something,” he admitted. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “I mean, I could do it by myself, but I’m wounded.”

  “Oh, please. Are you still milking that?” I teased. I’d been fussing at him for days to take it easy. His arm was wrapped up in a sling, and he’d barely started to get his color back. He’d gotten shot a week ago when another club broke into Wren’s house and kidnapped her. Typical Clutch, he was more upset over them getting Wren than he ever was about being shot. I don’t know if he will ever forgive himself for letting them get past him.

  He gave me a pathetic look and said, “That hurts, Cass. I’ve been shot. Twice. I almost died.”

  I was actually starting to feel guilty about giving him a hard time until he started laughing. “You’re an ass,” I told him as I rolled my eyes.

  “Yeah, but you love me,” he taunted.

  “Are you going to tell me what you need help with, or am I supposed to guess? No, wait! Let me guess. It’s something for one of your many, many girlfriends, or you need me to do your laundry again.”

  “I’ve only asked you to do my laundry once,” he heckled.

  “Only because you didn’t like my fabric softener.”

  “I smelled like lilacs, Cass. No guy should smell like fucking lilacs,” he fussed.

  I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. I remembered adding several extra sheets to the dryer just to make sure the scent would be strong enough to last, and it did… for days. I loved it. My entire apartment smelled like lilacs. Clutch wasn’t a fan.

  “So if it isn’t laundry, it must be something about a girl.”

  “No… well, maybe later. Right now, I need your help with Dusty. He wants me to help him with a project, but I don’t even know where to start.”

  “What kind of project?”

  “He’s gotta make a model of the Solar System for his science class. And it’s gotta have all the bells and whistles. Full on epic project, better than anything they’ve ever seen before.”

  “And he asked you to help him with that?”

  “Of course, he did. I’m the best.”

  “Okay, Mr. Arts and Crafts. When is the project due?” I asked.

  “Tomorrow,” he answered with a grimace. “He asked me to help a few weeks ago, and I kinda forgot.”

  “Clutch!” I scolded. “How are we supposed to get this done in a day?”

  “I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking you.”

  “Let me finish this up, and then I’ll make a list of things we’re going to need. Maybe you can get Scooter to make a run for us.”

  “Thanks, Cass. I knew I could count on you. I’ll go see if I can round up Scooter,” Clutch said as he grabbed a piece of cooked sausage off the skillet and turned to leave.

  I quickly finished putting together the sausage and biscuits and turned off the stove. Once I had everything put on the table, I got out a piece of paper and started my shopping list. I was still writing when Dusty walked in.

  “Hey, Cass-dy,” he smiled and reached for a biscuit. “Me and Clutch are gonna do my project today.”

  “Clutch was telling me about that. It’s going to be awesome.”

  “It’s the Solar System and it’s gonna have lights,” he said proudly.

  “Lights!” I gasped. Clutch never mentioned he promised Dusty lights.

  “Yep. It’s going to be ep-ic,” he laughed.

  The smile on his face was contagious, and in a matter of seconds, I found myself feeling just as excited as he was about his not-so-little science project. “Yes, it’s definitely going to be epic.”

  “Where’s Clutch?” he asked as he took a big bite of his biscuit.

  “He’ll be back in a minute. He’s got to get a few things together before you can start your project.”

  “Okay.”

  “When I was a kid, I really loved doing projects like this. Would you mind if I helped a little?”

  “Yeah. That’d be cool,” he answered.

  “Awesome. I’ll let you know when he gets back so we can get started,” I offered.

  “Okeydokey. I’m gonna go play video games with Wy-it,” he shouted as he walked out of the kitchen.

  I finished up my very detailed list and gave it to Scooter and Clutch, giving them both explicit directions to buy exactly what was on the list. When they returned, they had me follow them into the TV room where Clutch had set up a table for us to work on. When Clutch dumped everything out of the table, I was completely flabbergasted. They’d done what I asked, but they’d also bought a ton of crap we’d never be able to use.

  Astounded, I placed my hand on my forehead and asked, “Exactly why do we need balloons and confetti?”

  “I told you it was going to be epic,” Clutch laughed.

  “Just so we’re clear, I told him he didn’t need all this stuff,” Scooter said, shaking his head.

  “Yeah, I think you may have gone a little overboard here, Clutch,” I warned.

  “Nah, it’s going to be awesome. Where’s Dusty?” Clutch asked.

  “He’s in his room, playing video games with Wyatt.”

  Scooter headed for the door and said, “I’ll go get him while you guys get everything set up.”

  “Thanks, man,” Clutch told him as he started organizing the huge pile of supplies he’d bought. I stood there and watched in amazement as he sorted through all the things he’d purchased. He’d finally gotten everything into place when Dusty walked in. When he saw all the goodies, he rushed over to us and looked at all the different-colored balls and paints spread out on the table.

  “You ready to get busy?” Clutch asked him.

  “Yep.”

  “Why don’t you help Cass paint the sun?” he suggested.

  “Okay,” he said, reaching for the paint brush. His chubby, little fingers wrapped around the brush and a wide smile spread across his face as h
e started painting. He took his time, and when he was done, he started on the blue planets. It’d only been a few minutes when he got bored with the paints and started in with the questions.

  “Where are the lights?”

  “They’re still in the box. We’ll put those on last,” Clutch told him as he glued one of the planets on the box.

  “Where we gonna put ‘em?”

  “They’ll go on the back, so they’ll look like stars when we turn them on,” Clutch explained.

  “Can I blow up a balloon?” he asked.

  “They’re all yours, buddy,” Clutch smiled.

  Dusty grabbed a handful of balloons and started blowing them up, one right after the other. Clutch quickly realized Dusty was more interested in playing with all the junk he’d bought instead of actually working on the project. It’d only been fifteen minutes or so when Dusty asked me, “Can I take a balloon to Wyatt?”

  “Sure, honey. We’ll let the paint dry, and we can finish this up later,” I told him, and the minute he got the okay to leave, he grabbed his balloons and he was gone.

  We continued to work on the project, and when everything was almost finished, Clutch turned to me and said, “Thanks for helping me with this, Cass. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.”