by Khloe Wren
Keys’ expression went dark and I swear the air in the room got colder. I glanced at the other two men and all three were looking equally furious. My mouth went dry, and I was suddenly very glad they weren’t turning that fury on me. My phone alarm went off.
“I need to get back to work.”
They stood and followed me as I grabbed up my bag then went out the front door. I got to my car when Ryan’s hand landed on my shoulder, turning me to face him.
“This is serious, Bess. You can’t keep trying to deal with this guy. It’s not going to be a simple fix you can pull off. I don’t want to see either you or Ma hurt. Trust me to take care of this.”
I huffed out a breath. “On the condition you keep me in the loop. We don’t have a ton of time on this. He’s pushing to get your mom to sign those papers.”
“And it doesn’t take a genius to know what he’s gonna try after that. Keys will look into him, gather intel, then I’ll go in with the club and deal with this shit.”
I gave him a nod, agreeing. But couldn’t help but ask the question floating in my mind.
“Then what will you do? Leave your mother alone again? Vulnerable to the next charmer that comes through town?” Leave me to deal with the mess that my life will no doubt be at the end of all of this.
He winced and stared off over my head for so long I didn’t think he was going to answer. I pulled myself from his grip and opened my door.
“Bess, I honestly don’t have a fucking clue what I’m gonna do after this all plays out. I’m just taking this shit one step at a time. It’s all I can do for now.”
I refused to acknowledge the tears in my eyes as I got in, started my car and headed back to work. The last thing I needed right now was to get tangled up with a man. The reasons I couldn’t settle down hadn’t changed. No matter how tempting the man was, and Ryan was damn tempting, I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t put a man in the position of falling for a woman who couldn’t give him everything he deserved.
Like a family.
Chapter 4
Needles
Bess’ parting words had me thinking as we headed back to Bridgewater. What was I going to do once this shit was all sorted? Clearly Ma wasn’t coping as well as I’d assumed with losing dad. Fuck it all. With a heavy sigh, I scrubbed my palm over my head. It wasn’t like I was living it up in New York, either. Ashlynn seemed happy enough, but she’d been pretty vocal about missing her grandma. I looked out the window at the passing houses of the outskirts of Bridgewater. I didn’t think I could ever live in Rocky Gully again. Too many memories. But Bridgewater? That could work. It would mean leaving the Knights and seeing if I could join the Charons, but that wasn’t impossible to accomplish. I winced. It would no doubt mean prospecting again. Dammit.
I turned to Arrow, who was currently driving, as Keys was in the back on his laptop.
“Hey, Arrow, does Bridgewater have a tattoo place?”
“Sure does. Silky Ink. Silk is Bulldog’s niece and Eagle’s old lady. It’s not technically a club business, but we all go there for our ink. Why? You want something to remember your trip down here with?”
I shook my head. “Nah, just wondering about work options.”
“That girl’s words got to you, huh?”
I winced. “You heard what she said?”
I’d rather hoped they’d missed her parting remarks.
“We heard. You know, Bash has just headed up to New York, staying with your crew, and now you’re down here. Looks like we’re starting an exchange program between the clubs or some shit.”
That had all three of us chuckling before Arrow grew serious again. “For real, you wanna stay down this way, we’ll find you somewhere to fit in. Club needs to vote on it, but we always need more good men in the club. And a few of Silk’s artists have dropped back to working part time recently. I’m sure she could work something out to give you a job over there. Your kid would fit right in too. Hell, we’re getting taken over by rugrats lately. How old is she?”
“Ashlynn’s six.”
Arrow groaned. “Yep. She’ll fit right in. Scout’s kid, Ariel, is six, too. Damn, I can just imagine the trouble those two would cause if they put their minds together.”
Keys chuckled from the back seat. “Ain’t nothing we can’t handle. I’m old enough to remember Silk as a teen. Trust me, if the club survived that, we’d survive the current round of kids growing up. It’s good to have so many young ones running around the place. Makes us feel alive, reminds us what we’re fighting for when we have to clean up shit like this Godfrey fuck.”
There seemed more to that comment than what was on the surface but before I got brave enough to ask, we’d pulled up to the clubhouse.
“Come with us, Needles. We need to find Scout and get him caught up.”
We all crowded into Scout’s office and got settled. I let Keys and Arrow tell Scout everything that had happened in Rocky Gully.
“I started looking up Drake Industries on our way home. Looks like this fucker’s been at this for a while.”
Scout scowled over at Keys. “What’s his game?”
“So far, looks like he sells out to developers to build strip malls in towns that don’t already have one. I’m sure there’s more, but I need time to dig deeper. With the company name Bess gave us, it gave me a starting point. I’ll have everything on this bastard soon.”
Scout gave him a nod. “Excellent. Let me know when you get enough that we can go after this fucker.” Keys stood and left the room, already tapping at his laptop as he walked. I shook my head at his multi-tasking abilities. Pretty sure I would have walked into the door frame or some shit if I even tried to hold a laptop, type and walk at the same fucking time.
“So, Needles. Looks like this shit is gonna take more than a couple of days. Did you want to bring your daughter down with you?”
First Arrow and now Scout was asking about Ashlynn. Did these guys actually want me to settle down here with them? I mentally shook that thought away. I’d worry about that later.
“I’m already missing her, but I can’t keep pulling her from school. She’s only six, but I don’t want to fuck up her education from the start.”
Scout shrugged. “Shouldn’t be an issue. She’s the same age as my Ariel. We’ll just have a chat with her school about having Ashlynn join the class while she’s down here. Might not be learning the same shit as she is up there, but it’ll keep her on schedule and learning something. And after school she can hang with Ariel at Marie’s Cafe with my woman, or here with us. We’ll make sure she’s covered.”
Arrow piped up from his spot in the corner. “Could be good to have her here in case we have to pull your mom in. It’ll give her something to focus on other than this Godfrey fuck.”
I nodded. “Yeah, okay. Guess I’ll book a flight up and back for us both.” I pulled my phone out and did a search. “Shit outta luck tonight. I’ll book the flight out in the morning. Can I take a cage and leave it at the airport?”
Scout nodded. “Yeah, that’ll be simpler than getting someone to drive you. I’ll get the room next to yours cleaned out for Ashlynn. If you end up here for longer than a week, we’ll get you something else sorted out that’s a bit more family friendly.”
Arrow spoke up again. “We could just knock a hole in the wall and put in a door. Put a lock on it like they do in hotels. Could be a good thing to have a few family rooms in this place with how y’all are breeding lately.”
Scout laughed. “You’re just jealous, brother. Find yourself a woman and join the fun! But, yeah, I like that idea. Fuck, Bash is gone just as we need someone with some construction ability. Gotta make sure we don’t go punching a hole in a load-bearing wall and bring the place down. Arrow, make it happen.”
I wasn’t sure what the fuck to say. These men barely knew me, knew my kid even less, yet here they were, renovating the fucking clubhouse to accommodate us.
“Thank you.”
Before they could comment on
the roughness of my voice, I stood and strode out. Heading up to my room, I checked the time. New York was an hour ahead of us here, so Ashlynn should be home from school by now. I’m sure she’d be excited by the news that she would get to come back to Texas. Although I wasn’t real sure what to say when she asked about her grandma. How do you explain to a six year old that some motherfucker was trying to con her beloved grandma out of everything she owned, possibly even her life? Because I couldn’t think of any other reason why this bastard would be fucking pushing for her sign her new Will so damn hard.
Pain flared within my chest, proving that I did, in fact, have a heart in there somewhere. Ma and I might not have seen eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but I’d never wanted any harm to come to the woman who raised me. Hell, I loved her. No way would I stand idly by why this bastard stripped her of everything.
Once locked in my room, I dialed up Ally’s number.
“Hi, Needles, how’re things going down there?”
“Hey, Ally. It’s a fucking mess. Gonna take more than a few days to clean up, so I’m going to fly up in the morning and pick up Ashlynn so she can stay with me here. The Charons are actually rather family friendly. There’s another girl her age that we’re hoping she can go to school with while we’re down here.”
“Sounds like you’re settling in. You thinking of moving for good or something?”
I was thinking something, all right.
“Honestly I don’t know yet. Gotta get Ma outta this shit first, then I’ll worry about the future. Right now, I just want my daughter with me. I’ll work out the rest later.”
“That’s real good, Needles. I’m glad and Ashlynn will be so happy. She’s been missing you. So let me know what you decide whenever you decide it.”
Fuck, she sounded sad. “No matter what, we’ll stay in touch, yeah? I wouldn’t break the bond you and Ashlynn have for nothing.”
She cleared her throat. “Thanks for that. Um, you want to tell Ashlynn the good news? She’s out watching Deuce work on his bike.”
That made me chuckle. “That’s my girl. Yeah, let me talk to her.”
A minute later her sweet voice filled the line. “Hi, Daddy! Deuce is teaching me how to polish chrome so it’s all bright and shiny.”
“Is that right, honey? I’ve got some good news.”
“You coming home?”
The hope in her tone made me feel like a fucking heel. I really had to start doing better by her.
“Kind of. I’m going to come get you and bring you down here with me. Sound good?”
The squeal nearly had my ear bleeding. “I get to see Grandma again? Is she there? I wanna talk to her!”
I took a deep breath to steel myself against disappointing my girl.
“I’m sorry, honey. I’m not staying with Grandma. She’s gotten herself in a bit of trouble and I’m working with some friends to get her out of it. As soon as it’s all fixed up, I promise we’ll go spend some time with her, okay?”
“Oh, okay then. What am I going to do if I can’t see Grandma?”
“Well, I’m staying with a club down here and there’s a whole heap of kids. Including a girl your age. Her name is Ariel and we’re gonna see if you can go to school with her while we’re down here. We’re going to be staying in their clubhouse and the guys are so excited for you to come down here, they’re knocking a hole in a wall between two rooms so you can have your own room right next to mine. How’s that?”
“A girl my age? Really? Does she have a horse?”
I shouldn’t be surprised she didn’t even comment on where we were gonna be staying. Poor kid’s never lived in a fucking house in all her life. We’d gone from shit-hole to shit-hole, then to the apartment over Big Nose Kate’s. It really wasn’t good enough. My daughter deserved so much better.
“Yep, she’s six, just like you. Don’t know about the horse, you’ll have to ask her. I haven’t met her yet, but I’ll ask if Scout can bring her over when we get in tomorrow afternoon so you can meet each other. Sound good?”
“Sounds great! I’m gonna go pack my things up so I’m ready to go.”
I chuckled at her enthusiasm. “Hold up, sweetheart. I couldn’t get a flight tonight so I’ll be there tomorrow, late morning. You have another night with Ally and Deuce. You gotta make sure he doesn’t miss any spots on his bike. Can’t have the man riding around on a bike with dirty chrome.”
She laughed, and then after telling her I loved her, we ended the call. Then I logged into my bank account. Fuck, all this flying all over the damn country wasn’t helping my balance. Maybe I needed to see this Silk chick sooner rather than later...
Elizabeth
As I gathered the pile of files from my father’s desk, he cleared his throat and gave me a sad smile when I looked up at him.
“Sweetheart, I know you don’t want to do it. I know I certainly wish it wasn’t happening, but ultimately, Mrs. Perry is paying us to follow her instructions. Today you must get those documents typed up for her. Pastor Godfrey and Mrs. Perry are both coming in first thing Monday to sign them. We’ve stalled all we can, not that it’s made any difference. She seems set on her path.”
With a nod, I gathered the new work and went back to my desk with a heavy heart. I hadn’t heard anything from Ryan since I saw him on Monday. It was now Wednesday, and the silence was killing me. I’d tried to call him yesterday but his phone had gone straight to voice mail. I didn’t bother leaving a message. As I pulled out the file and opened the required documents on my computer, I started to wonder about what I could do to stop all of this myself. The Charon MC wasn’t working fast enough to save Barbara. I had a horrible feeling once she signed those papers, her life was going to be in great danger.
By the time lunch rolled around, I’d decided that I needed more information and logically, that would come from the people who had owned the homes for which he’d already taken ownership. From what Barbara had said, Godfrey didn’t want to take over the houses he was transferred. More like him owning them was a form of tithe collectible at the time of death, type thing.
Grabbing my keys and bag, I headed out of the office to my car and made my way to the first house. It looked quiet and just like any other house on the street, really. Taking a deep breath for courage, I headed up to the door and knocked. After a couple minutes, I knocked again. Then accepting no one was home, made my way back to my car and over to the second house. And got the same result. Deciding there was no point in trying the third house, I headed back home to get some lunch. While there, I pulled up the contact details for the owner of the third home. A woman I’d gone to school with, Mirabelle. She worked in a coffee shop on Main Street. I hit dial and waited for her to hopefully answer, having no idea if she was working today or not. When she picked up I tried not to sigh with relief down the line at her.
“Hello?”
“Hi? Mirabelle? This is Elizabeth Brookes. How are you?”
“Elizabeth? Wow. Haven’t spoken to you since we dealt with my parents’ estate last year. I’m doing good now. What’s up? Is there something with the estate that’s come up?”
Ah, I remembered now. Her parents had died in a crash. She’d been in the car too, but had survived. I had some questions about that whole thing, now that I thought about it. Had Godfrey set up that accident hoping to kill the whole family? How would he have gotten the house if there were no survivors, though? Something to think about later.
“Oh, no nothing like that. I always meant to stay in contact with you to make sure you were doing okay but life got busy on me. I was just wondering if we could catch up for a coffee and chat or something?”
“Ah, okay, sure. I’m working Friday but don’t start till early afternoon. We could do lunch, if you’d like?”
“That sounds great. My break is at noon. Meet you at the bakery?”
“Sure, sounds good.”
We said our goodbyes and hung up, then I headed back to work feeling like I was a step closer to getting
some information to help Barbara’s case. When I got back to my desk, I pulled up the file on Mirabelle’s parents’ estate. The Will hadn’t been done by us but by a firm in Riverton, a town about an hour north of here. The Will was only a year old, and stated that everything went first to Mirabelle, then to Drake Industries. Interesting. Even more interesting was the fact that the road they died on was between here and that town.
I wish I’d thought to get Keys’ number the other day. I was sure he’d want to know this little piece of the puzzle. This felt good. I could do this. I could help gather information, then pass it on to that club to deal with, assuming they were actually working on the situation. I decided I’d call Ryan again tonight and see if I could get Keys’ phone number off him.
The afternoon went quickly as I worked my way through the pile of files Dad had left me and before I knew it, I was locking up for the night. It wasn’t until I pulled into my drive that I realized I was in trouble. There was a bike and a very angry looking man waiting for me.
I mumbled under my breath. “Oh, no.”
Ryan was furious about something and since he was on my stoop, I took a guess that it was something I’d done. Unless he’d maybe gone to his mother’s and it hadn’t gone well.
“Um, what brings you back to town? Did you go see your mom?”
He shook his head as he rose from where he’d been sitting on my front step.
“Let’s do this inside.”
Suddenly I wasn’t so sure I wanted to be alone inside my house with him. With a growl, he snatched the keys from my hand, threw me over his shoulder and strode to my door before I knew what hit me. Once inside, he slammed the door, dropped me to my feet, then pushed me back against the wall.
“You trying to get to your grave early? Or are you just trying to send me to mine?”