Shade's Lady

by Joanna Wylde

  Shade messaged me at 12:30, and we came back to find four bikers in the living room. The first thing I noticed was that the Reapers weren’t wearing their colors. I’d never seen them without the distinctive, patch-covered vests.

  It was weird.

  The second thing I noticed was that our living room was way too small for four big bikers. I could hardly turn around without hitting one of them. They seemed to be using up more than their fair share of the air. I knew Dopey, but the other two were strangers, and Shade didn’t introduce them. They didn’t waste any time, taking a few minutes going over the plan, which was mostly just Hannah calling Randy and convincing him to come over.

  They’d take it from there.

  “You ready?” Shade asked her. She nodded, but she looked nervous. I caught her hand, giving it a squeeze.

  “Hey, Randy,” Hannah said, somehow managing to hold her voice steady even though her hands were shaking. “We should talk. I found some drugs in the bathroom. You need to pick them up in the next ten minutes or I’m throwing them away.”

  She held the phone away from her ear as Randy exploded, shouting “Fucking cunt!” and “I’ll kick your ass, you little bitch.”

  Nice. Classy to the end. She waited for him to run out of insults, then spoke again.

  “I don’t care what you think,” she said quietly. “And you can yell at me all you want, but I’m not having this shit in my house. Get your ass over here and pick it up or I’ll throw it away. I don’t care how much money it’s worth.”

  Another explosion, but this time it didn’t last as long. We all watched as she held the phone, waiting for her chance. Finally, she managed to get in another sentence.

  “Last chance, asshole. You’ve got fifteen minutes. Then I flush.”

  “Nice,” Shade said, and he seemed to mean it. Hannah gave him a strained smile, sliding her phone into her pocket.

  “Now what?” I asked.

  “We wait. When he gets here, you’ll let him in and then we’ll discuss whether he’s got anything else hidden in the house. After that, we’ll move on to figuring out who his friends are.”

  “And you’re sure he won’t bother her again?” I asked, swallowing. It just seemed too good to be true. Too easy.

  Shade offered me a feral smile. “Yeah. I’m sure.”

  I believed him.

  Ten minutes later, Randy pulled up in his battered little car. It was some kind of hatchback that spewed black smoke every time it started and couldn’t go more than fifty on a good day.

  Still better than what the mother of his children had.

  The bastard looked like he hadn’t slept in a week. His hair was all messed up and his clothes were wrinkled. He scowled as we peeked at him through the window, stomping up onto the porch like he owned the place. I guess in his mind, he did. I glanced toward Shade, who nodded toward the door.

  Hannah reached for the knob and started to open it. Randy shoved through, nearly knocking her over in the process.

  “You fucking cunt,” he hissed, raising a fist. “You touch my—”

  “I don’t think so,” Shade said quietly. He’d been standing behind the door, waiting. Dopey stepped out of the bathroom, followed by the other two Reapers. That’s when I realized one of them was about the same size and build as Randy, with similar coloring. Coincidence? I swallowed, making a conscious decision not to think about it.

  Randy had frozen, staring at Shade with an almost comical expression of shock.

  “Who the fuck are you?” he asked.

  Shade smiled. “I’m the man who’s gonna kill you if you don’t tell us everything. Girls, go wait outside and don’t come back inside no matter what you hear. And make sure nobody bothers us, okay? If anyone asks you why Randy’s car is here, just say he came to pick up some of his stuff and you wanted to give him space.”

  Maybe it made me weak, but I was thankful for the reprieve. Randy didn’t deserve our pity. Now that this was really happening, though… Well, I didn’t feel good about it. But I sure as hell didn’t feel bad enough to stop them, either.

  Hannah and the girls will never be safe with him around, I reminded myself. And his friends are a danger to other children, too. You shouldn’t have to go to jail to protect this asshole, and your sister shouldn’t have to live in fear, either.

  “Let’s just sit on the porch and hang out,” Hannah said. “It’ll be okay. It’s all going to be okay.”

  God, I hoped she was right.

  Shade

  Turned out, Randy boy wasn’t quite as much of a badass when his victims weren’t women. We made him strip and then duct taped him to a chair, immobilizing his hands and feet as we “discussed” the situation. It’d only taken three hits before he started crying, and then I’d pulled out my gun and pointed it directly at his head. Probably could’ve started with the gun, but I enjoyed punching the bastard.

  He started talking so fast I could hardly follow the words, admitting that he’d hidden more meth and some other stuff in the electric baseboard heater in the children’s room. Lucky thing we hadn’t had a cold snap. I sent Dopey after it and smacked Randy again, this time for being such an irresponsible cockwad.

  Five minutes later, Dopey came back with one baggie full of crystals and a second one full of pills. He also held a wad of cash—not much, maybe a hundred bucks—that Randy hadn’t bothered to mention. Fucking moron. I had a damned gun to his head, yet he was still spewing bullshit.

  “Found this in the light fixture,” Dopey said, holding up the cash. I turned to Randy, seriously considering just shooting him on the spot. Unfortunately, we needed him to find the others. This guy was just part of the problem.

  “I don’t think you understand what’s going on here,” I told him. “If you don’t tell me the truth—all of it—in the next ten seconds, I’m going to kill you.”

  His eyes widened.

  “You can’t!”

  “Give me one good reason.”

  “Because I don’t even know what all’s in here,” he babbled. “A couple of times the guys came over while Hannah and the kids were gone. They probably left stuff around, too. You’ll never find everything unless I talk to them. You can’t kill all of us.”

  I raised a brow because I damned well could kill every last one of the little bitches. I’d do it, too. Had to clean out the trailer first, though.

  “We got a problem, boss.” Dopey said. “Cop just pulled up.”

  “Fuck,” I muttered, stepping toward the window.

  Heath Andrews was outside, and he was moving fast. Halfway across the lawn already. Hannah and Mandy were hanging on his arms like rag dolls, for all the good it did them. From the look on his face, he knew something was off and he wasn’t going to stop until he figured it out. Probably because he’d seen Randy’s car, I realized. He had a whole goddamned county to cover, yet he still found time to cruise by Hannah’s place every five minutes.

  This was gonna complicate things. Complicate them a hell of a lot.

  “Get this cockwad into the back bedroom,” I said, kicking Randy’s chair.

  Dopey and Thrash grabbed it, dragging it toward the hallway. Bax—the prospect we’d brought along to take Randy’s place—scooped up the drugs and money, making for the bathroom. I raised my gun, training it on the door, realizing there was no fucking way we could cover this up.

  It crashed open and I stood, waiting, as Heath Andrews stepped into the room, his own gun raised and ready for action. Hannah was right behind him, followed closely by Mandy.

  I met him head on and everyone froze.

  Standoff.

  His eyes took in everything. I could tell that Dopey and Thrash hadn’t made it to the bedroom from Hannah’s low moan. Apparently seeing Randy in all his half-dressed and bloody glory was a bit of a shock. Yeah, there wasn’t gonna be an easy way to explain this one.

  My mind raced, searching for a solution.

  With any other guy, I’d try a bribe. Unfortunately, Heath
Andrews was straight up. We’d reached out to him several times already, and while most of his fellow officers were more than willing to accept a little Reaper cash on the side, Andrews had made his position clear.

  He followed the law. Period.

  That same law said this was assault and kidnapping, with possession thrown in just for fun. If I let him arrest us, Mandy and her sister would get pulled in as accomplices, and all three of those little girls would find their asses in foster care.

  Then they’d be sitting ducks for their dad’s associates.

  Hell, even if I shot the fucker, odds were good the noise would draw witnesses and we could find ourselves surrounded by SWAT. Not even the Reapers could get away with killing a cop in cold blood. At least, not without careful planning.

  “Girls, get the hell out of here,” the deputy said, his voice steady.

  “You should go, Hannah,” Mandy agreed quickly. “She had nothing to do with this, Heath. It’s all my fault. Go to Sara’s place, Hannah. Ask to borrow her car and start driving.”

  “That’ll make a bad situation a hell of a lot worse. Come inside and shut the door,” I ordered. Hannah’s eyes darted between me and Heath, frozen in indecision. “You go to your friend’s house and get her car, that’ll just drag her into it, too. We can still control how this plays out.”

  “No. We have to stop,” Hannah said, her voice quavering. “It’s one thing to hurt Randy. He deserves it. Heath hasn’t done anything.”

  “Tell me what’s really going on here,” Andrews insisted, holding his gun steady. Something was strange here, I decided. Something off about the way he was handling this. He wasn’t acting like a cop. For one thing, he hadn’t stopped to call for backup. He’d barged in like an angry boyfriend ready to clean house. Out of uniform, and that sure as shit wasn’t a service issue gun… Suddenly, the pieces fell into place.

  Andrews wasn’t just dating Hannah—he was in love with her. He’d come in here ready to handle Randy in whatever way necessary.

  I was about to bet my life on it.

  “Hannah’s fuckwad of an ex has been hiding drugs in the house,” I said bluntly, laying it all out. “Not only that, he owes people money. Some of them were here earlier looking for it. Threatened Hannah. Said they’d take the girls if she didn’t pay. I’m sure you can imagine what they’d do with them. We’re here to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

  The deputy’s jaw clenched and his eyes went flat.

  “Hannah, is that true?”

  “Yes,” she replied softly.

  “You should’ve called me,” he said, his voice full of tightly banked fury.

  “Mandy’s on probation,” she whispered. “And we’ve only gone out together a couple of times. I was afraid you’d throw her in jail.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Andrews said, shooting her a quick glance. “Jesus fucking Christ, Hannah. We—no. We’ll talk about that later. Right now, we focus on making this go away. How solid is your plan?” he asked me.

  My hunch had been right.

  “It’s solid,” I told him. “Everything is in place. We only brought in Mandy and Hannah to get him here and set up what happens next.”

  “The girls will need an alibi,” Andrews said. Hannah seemed confused by what was happening, but Mandy’s eyes widened in understanding and something like wonder. She’d figured it out. “I can provide that, but your club has to deal with the evidence. This conversation never happened. As far as I’m concerned, I saw the bastard’s car here and stopped by to check on Hannah. Randy was inside picking up some stuff and I thought he was bad news, so I’m taking Hannah and Mandy with me. We’ll grab the kids and do something that will take the rest of the afternoon and evening. Something public.”

  The deputy glanced behind me toward Hannah’s ex. “Do what you have to do and don’t give me any of the fucking details.”

  I exhaled slowly, part of me sure it was a trick. Logic said it was—Heath Andrews upheld the law and he didn’t fuck around. Everyone knew that. But the look on his face… I knew that look. He’d decided to do something ugly and he didn’t care.

  “Why?” I asked, needing the words.

  “Why do you think?” Heath said. “It’s for Hannah—her and the kids. If you and I work together, I think we can pull it off. You’ll need to burn down the trailer, though. Destroy the evidence. I can’t see any way around it.” He shot a glance at Hannah. “Sorry, sweetheart, but it’s gotta go. The trace evidence will come back on us otherwise.”

  Andrews looked back to me, holding my eyes as he lowered his gun. He set it on the floor slowly and steadily, then took a step backward.

  “I’m all in,” he said, his voice steady.

  “We burn the trailer, the girls lose everything,” Dopey said in a low voice, coming up behind me. I studied Heath, considering. I hated to give up on the place, but he was right. Burning it really would be the best solution. The trailer was contaminated as hell—not just with meth, but blood and hair and a thousand other tiny pieces of evidence. People would be suspicious when Randy disappeared, but if he disappeared because he’d accidentally torched his own trailer, leaving his kids homeless…

  Hannah and Mandy would have airtight alibis if they were with a cop, and it wasn’t like he didn’t have plenty of enemies.

  “We’re losing everything anyway,” Hannah said slowly. “I don’t even want to live here anymore. The place is contaminated—meth is poisonous and I was already prepared to leave with the kids. I don’t see how it burning would be much different. I’d like to grab a couple photos and keepsakes. Anything else can be replaced.”

  “We’ll need to do it right,” I said, thinking out loud. “Get out clean. This will draw a hell of a lot of attention. We’re good but nobody’s perfect—how professional is your fire inspector? He know what he’s doing?”

  “He’s the best,” Andrews said coolly. “He’s also my brother. You do what you have to and I can guarantee you he’ll draw the right conclusions. Nobody will second-guess him.”

  Damn. Hadn’t seen that coming. I lowered my gun, studying him. “You’re surprising the hell out of me, Andrews. I thought you were the real deal. Straight cop.”

  “I am a straight cop,” he replied, dead serious. “Don’t ever try to pay me off—I’m not interested. But this isn’t about money, it’s about family. My brother will back me up.”

  “Why?” Hannah asked, her voice almost a whisper. “You hardly know me.”

  “I’ve known you for years,” he said simply. “You think I need to buy groceries every damned day? I stop by the store to see you. I watched that piece of shit cheat on you and use you, but you never lost your smile. When it finally ended, I waited. I gave you time to heal before I asked you out, but there was never any question in my mind. This is serious, Hannah. We’ve only been on four dates, but I’ve known you were for me from the first time I saw you. Six years ago. You were at the park, laughing. You had on a red sundress and you smiled at me and I thought, ‘That’s the girl I’m going to marry.’ Then I learned you were with him, and for a while I gave up on that dream. Now it’s real again, and I won’t let him take you away from me. He had his chance.”

  Hannah melted, wrapping her arms around him. Mandy watched them thoughtfully, crossing her arms. She wasn’t convinced—not so much a romantic, I decided. Neither was I…but here I was, committing a series of felonies for a woman I hardly knew.

  Fuckin’ moron.

  Then Randy the cockwad moaned through his gag, reminding me we still had serious business to handle.

  “Very nice,” I said, because we needed to get this shit moving. “You kids are adorable in love and all that shit, but you need to get out of here if this is going to work. You sure your brother has our asses covered on the fire?”

  Heath looked up from Hannah. “Yeah. Make it look good, though. Just because we have my brother doesn’t mean we want to use him. Not if we don’t have to.”

  “Got it,” I told him. “Girls,
grab whatever shit you can fit in your purses and then get out of here.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Mandy

  Heath took us to Cranston to see the latest Pixar film. It was good. Really good. So good that I cried, although some of that might’ve been pent-up emotion over the situation. Afterward, Heath took us all out to Applebee’s. I watched him with the kids, wondering if he could actually be the real deal.

  He laughed with them, teasing and playing, all the while treating Hannah like a queen.

  The whole thing was so sweet I could have vomited. Hannah ate it up. Good for them. Maybe Heath wanted a big family, and Hannah sure as hell loved being a mom. No way you’d catch me bringing any spawn into the world, but whatever made her happy was fine by me.

  Ignoring them, I focused on my food, plowing through a burger the size of a house. Then the little girls begged and pleaded for ice cream, and there was a long debate over exactly what sundae to order. We’d made a decision and had just gotten our order when my phone started blowing up.

  Sara: I got a call from my sister. There’s a fire on the flat. I don’t want to freak you out but sounds like it could be your place

  Hannah’s phone went off a moment later, followed by Heath’s. Then more messages started arriving. Heath made a tense phone call to dispatch, then looked up at us and nodded.

  Show time.

  “There’s a fire at your trailer,” he told Hannah, and Callie’s eyes went wide. Hannah and I had talked about this—we hated putting the girls through trauma, but it was better than being ripped out of their beds and taken to a whole new town.

  “Mommy, what’s happening?” she asked. At least the twins were too busy with the ice cream to pay any attention.