THE BABY OATH

by Sophia Gray

  “What?” I stepped forward. “Break into the warehouse? It’s been empty for months. There’s nothing there, and that fucker didn’t stop to try the doors.” My blood started pumping harder and I could hear my own heart beat in my ears.

  “What happened to your brother?” Beth asked in a quiet voice.

  “He went on a run with the club. I don’t know who was all involved. Only that it had to do with some new business. Rafe knows what happened, but he won’t tell me. Jason wouldn’t tell me. My little brother was shot in the head. We couldn’t even have an open casket at his funeral, but no one will tell me what happened. That’s the life you’re getting yourself into.” Tears streaked down her face. I wish I could have held her to make her feel better, but the comfort she needed couldn’t come from me. She still saw me as the enemy.

  Christian had taken a bullet through his forehead. A point blank shot when the drug deal between Javier and his business associates had gone bad. I couldn’t tell her. If Jason didn’t want her knowing, she wouldn’t know. But I saw the raw pain in her eyes and I understood. She would never forgive the club for letting both her brother and husband die, and I couldn’t rightly blame her at that moment. Standing in her kitchen, remembering the times Jason would be sitting there drinking a beer and making her laugh…all of those memories were gone, he’d never be there again. She was alone, no brother and no husband. And all because of the club. I got it, but she still needed our help.

  “Stephanie. I’ll have the money deposited in your checking account. You don’t ever need see Gray again. Or I can stop by with the check every week. Just because you hate the club, doesn’t mean you’re less of a sister to me.” We never fully saw eye to eye on many things, but she was Jason’s wife, and I was his brother. That alone made us family.

  She looked at me with more tears welled up in her eyes. “What about Jason’s sister? She could use some help, too. She’s completely alone now.”

  “I’m trying to reach out to her, she left so fast after the funeral I couldn’t get a hold of her.” I had few guys up in her county looking for her, but she seemed to have run off the radar. She was always one to take care of herself, she wouldn’t be looking for handouts. “Have you heard from her?”

  “Yeah. She’s moving up to Chicago with a friend of hers there. I have her address. Send her the money, Rafe.”

  “No. Jason would kick my ass if I left you with nothing. If you want to split it, that’s fine. I’ll send her some of it and you the rest. But you take the money.” I noticed Beth watching me with a new expression in her eyes and wondered if Stephanie had spooked her.

  She wiped her hand across her cheeks to take away the tears that had fallen. “I just miss him so fucking much,” she whispered. She looked so small in that moment, like losing Jason had beaten every bit of energy from her body. I’d never seen her so beaten down.

  “I do, too.” She moved away when I stepped up to her.

  “Beth. I’m serious. Get away from him. You don’t want to end up like this.”

  “Steph…”

  “I’m tired. I want to go to bed.” She sniffled and folded her arms across her chest again. I sighed. Jason would tear me to shreds if I let her go on much longer with such hatred and hurt burning her up inside, but I didn’t know how to get through to her. She wasn’t wrong. The club had taken away two of her men, but I wasn’t the club. I was Jason’s friend, his brother.

  “We’ll let you get some rest, then.” Beth put her cup down and gave me a pointed look. “Would you give Sue Ellen a call, I’m sure she’d love to come by.”

  “Yeah. Maybe.” It was the best we were going to get from her at that moment. The pain was still too fresh, her mind still fixated on her hatred for those who loved him instead of those who killed him.

  Was I much better, though? I fixated my thoughts on getting the people responsible for his death. I suspected everyone and trusted no one. Except for Beth. And the way she was looking at me at that moment, I wondered if we were headed toward another discussion of ending things between us.

  I couldn’t fathom the idea of losing her. I wouldn’t lose her, that was the only option.

  We left Stephanie’s house in silence. Beth buckled herself in and stared out the window, not giving me the feeling that she was willing to talk.

  Something was going wrong in her pretty head. I thought I had straightened it all out, but from the way she huddled against the door, I knew everything was about to fall apart.

  Chapter Seventeen

  BETH

  It shouldn’t have been a surprise, what Stephanie said. Rafe carried a gun, why would I think he hadn’t used it? Of course he’d used it. To kill people. He’d been shot at. Hell, I’d been shot at!

  My body screamed for his touch, but my mind finally began to wake up from the lust haze he’d put me in. As he drove the car back to my house I started to think over what Stephanie said.

  “Beth, don’t let her get you worried. She’s had shit luck; I can’t deny that but—”

  “How many men have you killed?” I blurted out before the question could go through my mental filtration system.

  He glanced at me briefly, the street lights illuminating his face well enough for me to see he didn’t like the question. “Don’t go down that road, babe.” He shook his head.

  “Why not? Scared of what I’ll find, or ashamed of what you know is there?” I shot back at him. Not so long ago I had his arms around me, making me feel like nothing in the world could touch me. That being with him was a complete shield from the horrors of the world.

  “Beth.” His warning went unheeded.

  “That many, huh? Lost count?”

  “I never said I was a good man.” His voice darkened as he turned down my street. I could see my house come into view, the front Living room lamp lit up the window.

  “That’s right, you never did.” I gave him that much credit. “But you never told me you were a murderer either.”

  “I never murdered a single fucking person. I may have done shit that most guys don’t have to do in their lifetime, but I never fucking pulled the trigger on anyone who didn’t have it coming or wasn’t trying to take what was mine.” His fingers tightened around the wheel. A small tick in his jaw signaled me we were headed down a dangerous path.

  The car stopped in my driveway and he jerked the shift into park and turned on me. Putting his hand on the back of my seat, his dark eyes fixated on me in a way that sent a shiver down my spine. “Rafe, you can’t deny that killing someone is murder,” I said softly, but with more force than I thought I could have mustered given his glare.

  “I can and I do. What I do for the club has nothing to do with us.”

  “I wonder how many times Jason told that same line to Stephanie. And now look, she’s alone.”

  “She’s not alone. She has a fucking family, the whole goddamn club would be at her door if she only asked for them, but she’s turning her back on them. She did the same thing when Christian died, she turned away never came back. Now she won’t even open the door for our fucking president.”

  “Your president who apparently lied about how Christian was killed.” My voice rose higher. My own anger and fear built up to where I couldn’t hold it inside anymore.

  “I will deal with that.” He shook his head.

  “Yeah, you should do that. Go after the killers, get yourself shot, get me killed and maybe Maddie too!” I screamed the last bit, just before a sob broke free from me. My little girl. I shoved the door to the car open and jumped out.

  I heard him do the same, heard the door slam behind me but the tears in my eyes made me keep moving. I didn’t want to face him. Not when my emotions were pulling me away from him. I knew in my head he was no good, but I kept finding a way to justify being with him. I kept telling myself that as soon as he found the killers things would be normal. I wouldn’t have to worry.

  But that was all a lie.

  I jammed my key into my doorknob and sho
ved it open, hoping to shut it before Rafe got to me, but of course his mammoth of a body moved faster than it should and he was already in the house before I could slam the door in his face.

  Turning to demand he leave, I realized only the front light was on. The kitchen was dark and Maddie’s bedroom door was open, lights off. Where were they?

  “Beth.”

  “Not now.” I shoved past him and ran to Maddie’s room. The bed was empty. Thinking Mrs. Olsen took her back to her house after they had gone out for dinner, I moved past him and through the door. He followed me, calling my name, but I ignored him. Something wasn’t right.

  My gut twisted when I saw the lights out at Mrs. Olsen’s house. She wouldn’t have gone to bed if she was expecting me to pick Maddie up. Rafe must have picked up on my fear because he rushed a head of me and knocked on the door, ringing the bell over and over again until the overhead porch light flickered to life.

  Mrs. Olsen opened the door with wide eyes and messed up hair, hugging her robe around herself. It was obvious we’d woken her.

  “Where’s Maddie?” Rafe demanded, pulling the screen door open.

  She shook her head and tucked some of her curls behind her ear. “Not here. Your friend picked her up. She said you sent her because you would be later than you thought.”

  “Friend? What friend.” My stomach twisted into a knot.

  “One of the twins. Brittany. No, Chrissy.” Her face scrunched up in thought. “I’m not sure, the one with the purple in her hair.”

  “Brittany.” I let out a heavy breath. “Okay, if she has her, she’s okay.” I pulled out my phone. Why the hell would Brittany come for her? She never babysat for her and she’d never really been alone with Madison before.

  “Was anyone else with her?” Rafe asked the question while I started dialing the phone.

  “No, I don’t think so.” She shook her head. “But I couldn’t see so well, her car was parked on the street, the lights were off.”

  The phone was ringing but she wasn’t answering.

  “How long ago did she pick Maddie up?” Rafe continued his questions.

  “Oh, two hours ago or so.” She looked to me with concern in her eyes. “Is everything okay? I’ve met Brittany lots of times, and Maddie seemed excited to go with her. I should have called you.”

  “No, it’s okay, Mrs. Olsen. I’m sure she’s fine,” I tried to convince her, but really I needed the convincing. The call went to voicemail, and I left a message.

  “Thanks, Mrs. Olsen.” Rafe let go of the screen door. “We’ll see you tomorrow.” He sounded confident and I tried to steal some of that from him, but the ache in my stomach wasn’t going away.

  I sent three texts.

  “Is Brittany seeing anyone?” Rafe asked me as we walked back into my house.

  “Off and on. I know she was seeing some guy in your club a little while back.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t’ know.” I typed out another message, but one came in before I could get it out.

  I got her. Don’t worry. Just do what he says and it will be fine.

  Rafe yanked the phone from me, probably because my mouth dropped open. Nothing worse than your child going missing could happen to a mother. Well, there was worse, but my brain wouldn’t let me go there. Not yet. Not ever.

  Reading the text, he cursed and pulled out his own phone. He started to dial but I slapped the phone from his hand. “Get out!” I yelled.

  “Beth—” His eyes went wide, his hands splayed out in front of me.

  “Fuck, she was right! Not twenty minutes after she warns me about you, my world collapses!” I fisted my hands flying at him. He grabbed my wrists before I could do any real damage. Not that my little fists would do anything to the broad muscular chest of his.

  “Beth, wait. Calm down.”

  I twisted in his grasp, trying to get free. When I kicked my foot out and managed to land a good hit to his shin he dropped my wrists. Pointed heals will have that effect on people.

  “Get the fuck out!” I shoved him. “Get out of here! This is your fault. This is because of you! I know it!”

  “Beth, Brittany has her, but I doubt she took her for herself. We have to find out who Brittany is with.” His face contorted somewhere between anger and worry.

  “Get out! Whoever is behind this wants you! So get out!” I shoved him gain, trying to push him to the door.

  He wrestled my hands off of him and looked down at me with wide eyes. “Fine! I’ll go look for her, you stay here. Keep your phone on. Don’t go out, do you get me, Beth, do not leave this house until I get back.”

  “Fuck you,” I whispered, and his face fell; he let go of me. “Just go.”

  He opened the door, letting the sounds of crickets calling for their mates into the room. “Stay inside this house.” His voice was flat, his eyes blank. I didn’t answer him. There was no need, because he shut the door.

  Moments later I heard his bike roar to life and the sounds of him riding it down the street fade. Tears fell down my cheeks, and my chest felt heavy, as though a sumo wrestler sat on me. I sunk into the chair in my kitchen, holding my phone with Brittany’s text glaring up at me.

  Where was my little girl?

  Chapter Eighteen

  RAFE

  The dim lighting of the overhead street lamps barely lit my way toward the highway. The summer night air was cool against my skin as I pushed my bike over the speed limit, almost daring the cops to pull me over. Nothing mattered at that moment more than finding Madison. To do that, I needed to get back to the club house. I needed to find out who Brittany had been seeing in the club. They might know where she was or why the fuck she took Maddie.

  Beth wasn’t wrong. Maddie was missing because of me. Someone wanted me, but I still didn’t know why. I hadn’t fought Gray’s win on the presidency, and I hadn’t even been at the club over the past few weeks to get in his way. I kept an ear out for some the crazy shit he wanted to push through the club, but I stayed low. My only focus being on finding Jason’s killer.

  Maddie had to be okay. If Brittany had her, the odds were good that she was at least safe. No matter what member had been stupid enough to touch one of my girls, at least I knew Brittany loved that little girl. It wouldn’t stop me from ripping her throat out when I found them, but at the moment it helped calm me enough to keep my head focused and on straight.

  Beth would understand once this was all finished. Once I had Maddie back in her arms, and Jason’s killer was found. Once the club was whole again, she’d see that it wasn’t as bad as her worried mind was painting it out to be.

  The clubhouse was lit up when I pulled into the lot. The wake had wrapped up and the members were celebrating Tristan the only way they knew how—drinking themselves stupid. Guys with their girls stood in clusters on the front porch and sprinkled throughout the lot leaning against their bikes. No one seemed to pay much attention to my entrance. I was only their fucking VP.

  To that end, I wasn’t much of one anymore. I’d spent more time consumed by finding Jason’s killer and keeping Beth safe. I hadn’t been at the club house at all in the past few weeks. Who the fuck knew what Gray was up to, and I wasn’t there to oversee it, to put a stop to shit I knew would kill the club. Too many members were newer, didn’t know what Jason had been trying to build with the club. True, the gun runs weren’t legal shit, and none of us enjoyed all the heat from the cops, but it was putting more than a little bread on our tables at night. Jason wanted to keep it that way.

  Gray put up the front about wanting to get us legit, but after talking to Javier, I knew better. He wanted us back in the drug gang, and he’d hide it all behind the scenes of his strip clubs and porn business. I doubted anyone really knew what he was up to.

  I walked through the newly remodeled clubhouse looking for Gray and not finding him anywhere. I asked a few guys but no one had seen him since the funeral home. “He was talking with Sarah after you cut her down in the parking lo
t, maybe he took her home to soothe her wounds,” Darrel joked, pushing a beer at me.

  I shook my head and shoved it away. “He’s gonna stick his dick in that?” I scoffed. Sarah had been relatively new to the club when I had my time with her, but since then she’d made the rounds a few times. One too many trips to the free clinic for me, my dick wouldn’t ever go near her again.

  “Maybe you taught her well enough when you were riding her.” Darrell laughed, the several beers he’d already down tainting his breath. “Besides, a little plastic wrap and he’ll be fine.”

  “Yeah. Hey, you seen a girl in here lately, blonde hair with purple streaks?” Luckily Brittany had that telling feature, it would make finding her a bit easier than if her sister had been hanging around. Chrissy was pretty, just like Brittany, but pretty blondes were sort of like wallpaper around the clubhouse.