“What is it, Tommy?”
Tommy sat on one of the stools near the counter and looked at his mother. “Do you remember when I was about eight years old, you bought me a backpack? It had dogs on it, and I colored one...”
“Blue,” she said with a smile. Tommy was surprised she remembered; it was a long time ago. “It was the German shepherd and you colored him with the neon markers so he’d shine at night. You said you were going to carry that backpack with you when you got your own motorcycle so Ama Sani could see you at night from her place in the stars.”
“Wow,” Tommy said, “I barely remember that part. I’m surprised you do.”
Ajei reached over and put her hand on her son’s cheek. “I’ll never be able to make up for the time we spent away from you, but I treasure every single memory of the time we spent together. I’ll take those memories with me when I leave this earth, to keep me warm at night.” Tommy smiled at her. He knew she tried hard to make up to him for all he felt he’d missed out on. Most of the time he was too trapped in his own pity party to notice, or at least acknowledge it. He put his hand over hers and said:
“I love you, Mom.” Ajei let the tears dancing in her eyes spill down her cheeks. Suddenly he was smothered by his mother’s cinnamon-scented hair as she grabbed him in a hug. He let her squeeze him and then laughing, he pushed her back.
“I love you so much, Little One.” He smiled again.
“I know. But listen, please. I kept that backpack until I was in high school. When Geo started kindergarten, I gave it to him.” Tommy was six years old when Geo was born. They saw each other a lot and Tommy treated him like a little brother. By the time Jonathan and Geo’s mother divorced, Tommy was a junior in high school. He’d finished school and gone off to college and he and Geo had lost touch. “When Jessie broke out of the house she was being held in, she took a backpack out of the garage and filled it with water and snacks. She said she left it in a cave she was sleeping in, but she described it to a T. It was my backpack, the one with the blue German shepherd.”
Tommy waited then while his parents slowly processed what he’d just told them. Ajei was the first to speak after looking at her husband. “Jonathan’s house, the one he lived in with his family...it had glass doors, and a garage.” Tommy nodded and Rock, already in motion, said:
“Tommy, come with me. Ajei, call Jace and give him the address of the house.”
“Wait! Rock, what about the police?”
“I don’t doubt what our son is telling us, but before we get the police involved in our family secrets, we need to be sure.” Ajei nodded and then she bent down and pulled something out from under the counter. She followed them to the door and Tommy felt her slip a gun into his hand.
“The safety is on but it’s loaded. Please be safe.”
“I will, Mama, thank you.” She kissed Rock then and said:
“I suppose you don’t need a gun?”
Rock smiled and said, “Have I ever?”
“Come back to me safe, my love.”
“Always.” He kissed her, and he and Tommy went out the door. Tommy’s adrenaline was pumping so hard that he had difficulty sliding his key into his bike to start it. Rock was already on the road before Tommy pulled out, but his father held back and let him catch up to him. Tommy suddenly thought of something funny, or strange. When he was a little boy he used to imagine himself riding side by side like this with his dad. He never could have imagined this would be the scenario, however. Jonathan had always been cold and distant. Sometimes he’d even acted like he was jealous of Tommy, and even like he hated him. Never in front of the family, though; only when they were alone. Once Geo was born things got a little better between them but that was because Jonathan wasn’t around as much. He was a weird dude...but a killer, or at the least a kidnapper? Tommy wasn’t sure. He was glad he’d gone to his parents first. Rock would get to the bottom of it.
* * *
“Jace! Ajei is on the phone for you!” The police had pulled up a body, after digging up their garage. Beck hadn’t seen this one, but Jace told her it was no more than a skeleton with a blanket gripped in between her bony fingers. Cops and FBI were all over the place, and Jace’s plans to go into the city and help the guys at the new shop had been put on hold. Beck felt sorry for her poor man. He looked completely wrecked when he walked up and held out his hand for the phone. Beck was curious to know what the older lady wanted. She’d spoke to her that morning and told her about the body, and about Jessie’s being found. Ajei had seemed relieved about Jessie and sick over the new body, but now she sounded almost terrified of something.
“Ajei, I’m sorry, it’s not really a good time.” Jace pushed the speaker on the phone and Beck heard Ajei say:
“I’m sorry, Jace, but Tommy and Rock think they may know who is doing all of this. Rock asked that you meet them there.”
Beck saw Jace frown and he said, “Where is there?” Ajei rattled off an address and Beck typed it into her own phone as she did.
“They’re on their way already. Jace...it’s Jonathan’s house.”
“Fuck.” Jace thanked her and ended the call. His dark eyes were wide as he looked at his old lady.
“Who’s Jonathan?” she asked.
“Ajei’s nephew. I met him the other day when I went to talk to Tommy’s aunt.”
“Motherfucker,” she said. “Let’s go.”
Jace smiled but he didn’t argue with her. She loved that about him. She knew he had these primal, male urges to protect her, but he was smart enough to know when to let them come out and play and when to keep them locked up tight. Beck ran inside the house and got the gun off the refrigerator and tucked it into her jeans. By the time she got back outside, Jace was already on his bike. “I told the foreman to let the detective know we had to run to town. They don’t need us for anything right now.”
“Good,” she said. “Let’s go bury this motherfucker.”
* * *
The drive from their place to the address Ajei had given them took about an hour. It was far off the beaten track and when Jace saw it, his first thought was that it was a perfect place to take an abducted girl. It was more of a cabin than a house and it was surrounded by Joshua trees, tumbleweeds and hills of sand on all sides. The road that went up to it from the main road looked almost too narrow for a car but Jace could see tracks from something with wide tires, and branches pushed back and broken on the trees along the way. He could also see Rock’s and Tommy’s fresh motorcycle tracks leading around behind the house, so that’s where he went. The two men were there, standing next to a pile of shattered glass that had obviously been pushed out of the frame of what used to be glass doors. Rock was on the phone. Jace stopped the bike and went over to meet them.
“He’s talking to my Aunt Lena. We’ve already been in the house – Jonathan’s not here and there’s nothing in the garage, but the signs of what Jessie told me are all here. This motherfucker is the one that took her.”
“I’m sorry, Tommy,” Jace said. “For your uncle, and for accusing you of things myself.”
“It’s okay,” Tommy said. “He wanted everyone to believe it was me.”
“You guys think he’s responsible for everything else, the other girls, too?”
“I think it would be a stretch to think he just grabbed Jessie at random. He was trying to set me up, and no murder would set me up more than Jessie’s.”
Rock ended his call and said, “I didn’t let on to Lena I was looking for Jonathan. I told her that Ajei had baked some of her favorite pies and I was going to deliver them. I asked about Jonathan in passing. She says he’s not there...she claims he went to California to see Geo. But she also knew that Jessie had been found. I didn’t ask how she knew that...but I don’t believe it’s been on the television yet.”
“That’s probably been his alibi all along,” Tommy said. “I wonder how long it’s actually been since he’s seen his son?”
“We’re about to find out,
I hope,” Rock said. “I told Lena Ajei was asking about Geo and she gave me his phone number. I’m going to find out right now if Jonathan is there or not.”
Rock pressed in the number and then put the phone on speaker and set it on the porch railing. It rang twice and a young man’s voice picked it up on the third ring. “Yeah?”
“Geo?”
“Who wants to know?”
“Geo, it’s Tse, Ajei’s husband.”
“I know who you are. Has something happened to my grandmother?”
“No. Lena is fine, Geo. I was wondering if maybe your father was there with you, however. I need to reach him but I haven’t been able to get through on his phone.”
Geo snorted. “Well, you probably called the last place he’d ever be.”
“Why’s that, Geo?”
“Grandma didn’t tell you?”
“No, son.”
He snorted again. “She protects him like he’s a little boy. My father dropped in once, maybe twice a year after we moved here. He always gave Mom a hard time and rarely acted interested in spending any time with me, until last year. He showed up and I had a girlfriend at the time. My father, the disgusting slime-ball that he is, hit on her. He not only hit on her, he scared her. He offered to give her a ride home after she’d spent the evening with us. She says he pulled the car over before they got to her house and tried to kiss her and put his hands on her. She started screaming, and he opened the door and pushed her out right there on the side of the road. He never came back to our house. Mom and I wanted to call the cops on him, but my girlfriend didn’t want us to. She said it would bring shame on her family...but I promise you if I ever see him again, he’ll pay for what he did to her.”
“I’m so sorry, Geo,” Rock said. “If there is anything Ajei and I can do for you or your mother, you have my number now; please call.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“We need to make sure the police don’t let him in to see Jessie,” Tommy said. He took his phone out and called Detective Tyler’s private cell number again. The cop picked it up on the first ring and said:
“Stop using this number!”
“Detective Tyler, wait! You need to check on Jessie and make sure my uncle Jonathan Claw doesn’t get in to see her.”
The detective was silent for a moment and then he said, “Why?”
“Please just trust me, it’s important.”
“Tyler?” Jace said.
“Yeah, Bell?”
“Yes. You need to send units out to this address...” Jace rattled off the address and then said, “And send another one to...” He looked at Rock, who rattled off Lena’s address. “Jonathan Claw is the man who abducted Jessie, and he might just be your killer too.”
“How do you know that?”
“You don’t have time for explanations, Detective. My guess is Claw is at home packing for his getaway as we speak.” Tommy ended the call and then looked at his dad and said:
“I have to get back to the hospital.”
Rock put his hand on his son’s shoulder and said, “Thank you for doing the right thing, Tommy. I know it was probably hard for you to not go looking for your uncle yourself. I can’t say as I would have been strong enough.” Rock stopped and swallowed hard and then said, “No, the truth is I know I wouldn’t have been strong enough to do things the right way if I’d been in your position. I’m proud of you.”
Jace could see how much that meant to Tommy by the look on his face. Father and son hugged and Tommy headed out. “I’ll wait here for the police if you want to be there when they pick this son of a bitch up,” Jace told Rock. Rock smiled and said:
“Don’t tell my son, but I was really hoping to find him before the police did. I’m glad you told them where to look, though. I might have gotten there too late and he’d be in the wind.”
“He still might be,” Jace said.
“Hopefully not,” Rock said as he stepped onto his Indian. “But if he is, I’ll pray to the makers that the wind blows him in my direction.”
25
Brandon fucked her...and then he turned into ice again. Taylor just couldn’t understand it. They were almost thirty years old and the man was in a motorcycle gang, for crying out loud. How could he care so much about what other people thought? She kept thinking about that judgmental look in his “friend” Beck’s ice-cold blue eyes the night before. The more she thought about it, the angrier it made her. Who was this woman, the “old lady” of an MC president, to judge her? Brandon swore that he wasn’t fucking her, that he’d never fucked her...so then why did she get a say-so in who he did fuck?
Taylor thought about Beck the entire time she was getting dressed and putting on her makeup and by the time she finished, she was all fired up. Being there in Arizona seemed to make Brandon more determined that they couldn’t be together and she had to wonder if maybe it wasn’t all about this cold blonde’s influence. Maybe they needed to have a talk...woman to woman. Maybe Taylor could win her over and get her on her side.
Impulsively, Taylor grabbed her keys off the dresser and before she knew it, she was in her car and headed back out to that house. Brandon wouldn’t be there. He told her he was working in the city, putting together the new shop. Hopefully that meant the guys would all be in the city, and the little woman would be home all alone.
Taylor was just pulling off the main road and onto the narrow gravel road that led to the house when her phone rang. She thought about not answering it when she saw that it was her little brother. She loved Will and she missed him but having his voice and face in her head while she was determined to convince Beck that she and Brandon belonged together might not be the best idea. It was on the fourth ring when she decided she had to answer it. If he needed her and she ignored his call, she’d never forgive herself.
“Hey, Will! What’s up, little man?”
“I need to talk to you, Taylor. It’s important. Are you headed home?”
She slowed down as she got to the driveway in front of Beck’s and Jace’s house. “No, buddy, I’m in Arizona...”
“I know where you are. I just talked to Brandon.”
Taylor felt a tiny little prick of fear in her belly. No way Brandon said anything to Will about them, though; that’s what Brandon had been trying to avoid all along. “Okay...what’s wrong?” She stopped the car at the edge of the driveway and shut off the ignition.
“I’d rather talk to you in person.”
“Okay, well, when I get back...”
“When will that be?”
“I don’t know. Will, just tell me what’s up. You’re kind of scaring me.”
“Brandon told me...everything.”
Son of a bitch. She’d threatened to tell Will and their parents before, but she wouldn’t have ever actually done it without at least warning him first. “What exactly did he tell you?”
“He said you want the two of you to be together...like boyfriend and girlfriend.” He spat it out, and he didn’t have to tell her any more for Taylor to know how her little brother felt about it.
“And did he say what he wants?”
“Tay, listen to me, okay? I get the whole raging hormones thing. I’m sixteen. I understand. But Brandon is our brother...your brother. This is just...I’m sorry, Tay, but it’s gross.”
She had to swallow hard; the lump in her throat was threatening to choke her and tears were stinging the corners of her eyes. “Will, you know that Brandon and I aren’t real brother and sister, not like me and you.”
“Bullshit.”
“William Green!”
“I’m not a child, Tay, so don’t talk to me like I’m one. You two are brother and sister in every way but blood. I’m not even sure what you want to do is legal.” Taylor was sure. She’d looked it up. No state had laws against stepsiblings being together, as long as they didn’t share blood. “Taylor...please don’t tell me you haven’t thought about what this will do to Mom and Dad.”
“Of course I’ve thought
about it. It’s the only reason this has gone on for twelve years and I haven’t said anything. You say you’re not a kid, so okay, I’ll talk to you like you’re a man, Will. I love him. I’m in love with Brandon and I can’t just make myself fall out of love with him. If he and I don’t end up together, all this time will be wasted. I could have had kids by now, a family...”
“Dear God, Taylor, listen to yourself. Your kids would be Brandon’s nieces and nephews and yours too. It’s like...an icky soap opera.”
The tears ran slowly down her face. She honestly thought that if anyone were on board with this, it would be Will. If he was reacting this strongly, she could only imagine how their parents would react. What bothered her the most, about all of it, was that everyone was simply worried about what other people were going to think. Taylor herself was even hung up on that for a while, but she’d grown up, and outgrown caring what anyone thought about her. Anyone, that is, except her parents and her brothers. Her family meant everything to her and she was suddenly afraid that maybe Will and Brandon were right...and she might lose them over this. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Will...”
“Tay, please don’t cry. I didn’t call to make you feel bad. I just had to let you know how I feel about this.”
“Well, I suppose the point is a moot one anyways, if Brandon is desperate enough to get rid of me that he called you.” The sound of an approaching motorcycle drowned out whatever Will said next. Beck pulled her Harley up next to Taylor’s car and turned off the engine. Her blue eyes were locked on Taylor’s face and she suddenly realized she was crying. She had a feeling that showing weakness where Rebekah was concerned was akin to showing fear in the face of a rattlesnake. “Will, I have to go, okay?”
“Okay. Tay, just remember how much I love you, okay? I’m just worried...I don’t want you to ruin your life over...”
Rise of the Phoenix: Phoenix Skulls Motorcycle Club: (Phoenix Skulls MC Romance Book 1) Page 18