“Well first, I want to thank you. For personally making sure my daughter was all right. She and that child of hers mean… a lot to me,” he said.
Yeah, I’m sure they fucking do, you prick.
“I can only imagine,” I said.
“What um… price… are we talking?” he asked.
“Three hundred thousand, and that comes with up to twenty-four-seven guarding and a private bodyguard for your daughter. Someone to escort her around town should she leave and someone to make sure she gets from A to B safely.”
“My daughter rarely leaves the house,” he said. “That won’t be necessary.”
I felt my blood boiling as those words rolled off his tongue. He was keeping her in that fucking house. I knew it. I felt my fists clenching at my side as I tried to keep my voice was shaking.
“Well, should she choose to leave and should you want her protected, the offer’s there,” I said.
“Three hundred thousand? And that’s protection until the election?” he asked.
“Yep. There’s a core group of us. Five of us. You get all five of us whenever you need us, then the rest of the Angels at the rest of your rallies.”
“Even at our house during the evening?” he asked.
“Yes, sir. Even then. You just designate who you wish to stay, and we’re there.”
The silence on the phone was deafening. I was ready to reach through the phone and grab his throat. I just wanted him to take the fucking deal so I could get on with this shit.
“Okay,” he said. “You have a deal. But all of you are signing paperwork saying you won’t talk to the media.”
“That’s fine. Let me take it up with the group just so everyone is clear, and we’ll send you the paperwork to sign. Same way we did it the first time. Anonymous carrier. You sign, you pay us half up front, and we get to work.”
“I’ll be on the lookout.”
I hung up the phone and sent a text to Doc. We needed church, and we needed it now. I sat in the clubhouse while the rest of the guys showed up, and I was ready to make this short and sweet. I was one vote and a damn signature away from having Harper all to my fucking self.
“Why are we in church again?” Blade asked. “Didn’t we just do this?”
“You said it was important,” Doc said. “What do you have for us?”
“Ryan Thomas perceived a threat at the rally,” I said.
“But the rally was fine,” Ink said.
“What did you do?” Vex asked.
“I called him like you guys told me to. To let him know the rally went fine. But he had his doubts, and I might have used those doubts to sway him into hiring us for the rest of the campaign.”
“You what?” Blade asked.
“For how much?” Doc asked.
“Three hundred thousand. I told him that got the five of us whenever he wanted us, and the rest of the Angels at the rest of his rallies in town. Plus, private protection for his daughter if he wants it,” I said.
“You just want a piece of that pregnant pussy,” Vex said, grinning.
“Didn’t know you had a thing for lactating titties,” Ink said, chuckling.
“I don’t give a damn what he’s into. Three hundred thousand for less than a month’s worth of work? I’m fucking in,” Blade said.
“Okay. That’s one vote. How to the rest of you guys feel?” Doc asked.
“I’m in. I wanna see if he can slay this pussy,” Vex said.
“Same here. I’m in. And fifty bucks said he can’t,” Ink said.
“Obviously Cade’s all for it, so that’s a majority vote. I’m in as well, by the way. Cade, you arranged this, so you get the paperwork out to him. Call our carrier. He’ll know what to do,” Doc said.
I was seething with how they were talking about Harper, but there was nothing I could do about it. I was just one damn signature away from making bank and talking with Harper, and that was all that mattered.
We ended church, and I pulled out the paperwork, then filled it out and called up our carrier. I gave him the details of what was going on and that this needed to be delivered to Ryan Thomas today.
Then, we needed to set a schedule.
Chapter 11
Harper
“Harper! Family meeting!”
The door shook on its hinges as I peeled myself from the covers. What the fuck was happening now? There wasn’t a rally today, I didn’t have a doctor’s appointment, and my mother didn’t have anywhere to drag me to in order to keep a watchful eye on me.
What the hell could this family meeting be about?
I hated these things. Where the three of us sat around the table and pretended to give a shit. Usually, it was just my father telling my mother and me what we should and shouldn’t be doing. Where we should be going, where we should be seen, what we should say if someone from the press approached us. It was annoying, and I was over it. I was over being commanded, and I was over being instructed on what I was supposed to do because of how it would reflect on him.
But I didn’t have a choice, unless I wanted my father to take my door off its frame.
Throwing the covers off my head, I slipped my feet into some slippers. I threw my robe around my body, barely getting it tied before I headed downstairs. The staircase groaned underneath my feet, and I made a mental note of which ones were making noises.
They would be the ones I’d have to avoid when I finally left.
I came around the staircase and headed for the kitchen. I could smell the aroma of freshly-pressed orange juice. I made my way for the kitchen table to pour myself a glass, but when I looked up, I realized my mother had already been crying.
How long did it take me to get down here?
“Sit down, sweetheart,” my father said.
“Juice?” my mother asked.
“No, thank you. What’s going on?” I asked.
My parents looked at each other warily before my mother poured me a glass anyway.
“Honey, someone’s made a threat against me,” he said.
“Doesn’t that happen often?” I asked.
“Not to this extent,” he said.
“Is that why you had all the security at the rally yesterday?” I asked.
“More or less.”
“Well, what did the threat say?” I asked.
“A couple of weeks ago,” my father began, “a package arrived in the mail. It had a few things in it, but among them were photos. Pictures of the family. Of us. Of you.”
“Pictures,” I said.
“Yes, sweetie. Pictures of us out and about. Through the window of our home. Some were of you alone in town, which we’ll talk about later,” my mother said.
“There’s a reason I tell you not to go out into this city alone,” my father said.
“Did you come down here to scold me about it?” I asked. “Or scare me with a threat?”
“We brought you down here to inform you that whoever’s doing this isn’t playing around, Harper. This isn’t a game, and I would appreciate it if you tucked in your attitude and showed us a bit of respect. That protection detail at the rally yesterday was for you.”
“But I thought all of us were in the pictures,” I said.
“Yes, but in the note-”
My father held up his hand to my mother, signaling her to shut up. And in true, obedient form… she did.
“Among the photos was a note, and in it, the writer stated I needed to stop running for Mayor. If I didn’t, they said they would take matters into their own hands to ensure I didn’t win.”
“I still don’t know what that has to do with me,” I said.
“It’s going to scare her,” my mother said.
Nothing could scare me more than you, father dear.
“What?” I asked. “What’s going on? What’s happening, Dad?”
“One of your pictures, when you were in town alone, had your head circled in red. With an ‘X’ through it. I could only assume that when they meant ‘take
matters into their own hands,’ they meant harming you in some way.”
I felt my stomach sink to my knees. My head became dizzy, and my knees grew weak. Someone wanted to kill me? Who the fuck would want to kill me? My father was the asshole. He was the one spewing bullshit day after day. Why did they want to harm me!?
“I told you it was too much,” my mother said as she scrambled for me. “She’s pregnant, Ryan. We can’t bring stuff like this down on her head.”
“It’s not my fault she’s pregnant. And if she wants to be an adult and raise this child right, she’s gotta learn the truths about this world. Especially if I win this election. She’ll always be a target if I do. You both will be. It’s what you signed up for when you said you’d help me with my campaign.”
“No one signed up to die for you, Ryan,” my mother hissed.
I felt my mom wrap her arms around me as my father huffed. Typical. He could even take a threat on my life and somehow make it about him. I sighed into her neck and drew in her comforting smell. The floral undertones of her bright perfume. For the longest time, I’d associated it with comfort. I would crawl into my mother’s lap as a child, bury myself into her bosom, and drink her in like a glass of fresh water.
But now, her perfume smelled stale. Tainted with the weakness, she had succumbed to and the actions she took to make me fall in her footsteps.
“Should we go to the police?” I asked.
“That won’t be necessary. I’ve decided to hire on The Black Angels.”
I felt my entire body stiffen as my mother pulled away from me.
“They’re going to be able to protect us better than the police can,” my mother said. “They’re quiet, and we’ll have their protection around the clock from now until the election. And this means that if you want to go out in public, you won’t need one of us. You can take one of them and spread your wings a bit.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Patrice,” my father said. “But yes. They’ll be much better all around than the police.”
I knew what was going on. My father liked the fact that he could keep The Black Angels from talking to the press. The police had loose jaws when it came to the local newspaper, but The Black Angels didn’t. They’d sign anything to get work, which meant signing away their ability to talk to the press if it meant securing work.
“You hired outlaws to protect me,” I said.
“To protect us,” my father said.
“And you’re okay with this,” I said as I looked at my mother.
“It… takes some getting used to. You know, digesting things,” she said.
“But what does that say about us? Won’t that mess up your campaign?” I asked.
“I’m touched that you’re still so concerned about my campaign,” my father said.
“I’m still hired by your campaign to care, so of course I care,” I said.
“It’s fine,” he said. “They are good at what they do. The man you pointed out to me earlier. The one backstage? He was the one coming after you to make sure you were all right. We had a breach backstage at the end of the rally. He was the one that chased them down.”
“We had a what?” my mother asked.
No, we didn’t. There was no fucking breach. That was Cade trying to talk his way closer to me. Fuck. Was he the one that organized this job in the first place?
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that one of the Black Angels took those hoodlums down and not the police. They’re so spread out with the other crimes that happen around this city, and my family deserves the best. I don’t want this story hitting the media because it’ll mess with the election, and I don’t want lazy ass police officers guarding the two of you,” he said.
“So… they’re just going to be here. Around the house,” I said.
“Around the house and around the clock,” my father said.
“Just like that.”
“Just like that,” he said.
I was speechless. As I sat back into the chair at the table, my father got up and walked away. Like his portion of the meeting was done. I’m sure he had more important things to do, like spew more bullshit online for his social media or whatever it was he did in his fucking office. But I was still processing that The Black Angels would be here.
At my house.
If Cade was the one that worked this deal with my father, then that meant he would be spending a lot more time around me. That meant I would see him more often. And seeing me more often with my stomach growing in size every single day, it would only be a matter of time before it led to the conversation.
The conversation where I would have to tell him this child was his.
Shit.
How the hell was I going to get out of this now?
Chapter 12
Cade
“I think you guys know why I called church,” Doc said.
He lifted up the signed paperwork as the guys cheered on.
“Three hundred thousand dollars in the tank!” Ink said.
“I take it it’s scheduling time?” Vex asked.
“How does Thomas wanna work this shit?” Blade asked.
“Ryan Thomas is leaving that to us. Now, we can’t all work around the damn clock, so I figured our usual would suffice. One person posted in the evenings in their house, two around it during the day, and all of us during his rallies. If he requests special protection for his daughter, we’ll give him that, and if he wants more people at night, then we’ll discuss when it comes up,” Doc said.
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Vex said. “But I can’t take this first shift tonight.”
“Why the fuck not?” Ink asked. “You got a hot date?”
“Fuck you. My moms gotta get to the doctor, asshole.”
“How’s she doing anyway?” I asked.
“It is what it is. The M.S. is eating her alive, but she’s comfortable,” Vex said.
“Because of your mom, Vex, you’re only gonna be doing daytime shifts. Only three days a week, if we can swing it. If you can handle more, you let me know. Otherwise, that’ll be it,” Doc said.
“Thanks. I’ll let ya know,” Vex said.
“No worries on tonight,” I said. “I can take the first night shift.”
“Why the fuck does that not shock me?” Ink asked, grinning.
“Can it with the jokes. On a real note, you know you can’t fuck around with his daughter, right?” Doc asked.
“She’s pregnant. What the fuck kind of weird shit are you guys into?” I asked. “I’d only fuck a pregnant chick if I was the one that got her that way.”
“All in favor of the schedule?” Doc asked.
We all voted, we all solidified, and five minutes later I was on my bike and heading to Harper’s home. I was ecstatic. I was ready for this night with her. I didn’t know how Ryan Thomas would greet me or anything, but I’d be in the same fucking space as her. The wind whipped around my body as the sun sank beneath the horizon, and as I pulled up to the house, I saw someone standing at the window over the garage.
But they moved before I could see them, leaving nothing but a fluttering curtain in their wake.
I parked my bike on the side of the house and rang the doorbell. The door ripped open, and I was face-to-face with the asshole himself. Ryan Thomas looked me up and down, his eyes analyzing me as I held out my hand.
“Mr. Thomas,” I said. “I’m your nightwatch. Cade.”
“Nice to see you again,” he said curtly.
He stepped off to the side, ushering me in with his head. I stepped through the threshold of his home and looked around, clocking where everything was. The kitchen. The staircase. The fireplace room and the living room. I made my way towards the staircase to go walk around the second floor, but it was Ryan’s voice that stopped me.
“You’ll be downstairs,” he said.
“Then walk me through the rest of the house verbally,” I said. “Because the more I know about it, the better I can protect it.”
; I heard him give me an exasperated sigh before he nodded.
“Through this hallway door is the staircase leading into the basement. It’s completely underground, so the only way to access it is through this hallway door. When you go upstairs, it’s one long hallway. Three bedrooms and one bathroom sit on it, and the door all the way at the end of the hall is the bedroom over the garage,” he said.
“Where do you and your wife sleep?” I asked.
“First door on the right,” he said.
“And your daughter?”
His eyes narrowed at me, assessing me once again before he drew a breath through his nose.
“The room at the end of the hall,” he said.
“Have a nice night,” I said. “Should you need anything, I’ll be on the couch. I’ll make two house rounds during the night, just to make sure everything’s okay. No private doors will be opened unless a threat is perceived.”
“Good. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen. Except the alcohol. That cabinet is locked,” he said.
I could pick your fucking lock in a heartbeat.
“Not necessary. I don’t drink on the job,” I said.
“On the job,” he said, chuckling. “Goodnight.”
“Night, sir.”
I watched as Ryan made his way up the stairs. He turned back one last time to look at me, sizing me up before he went to bed. I could hear him and his wife chatting as he opened the door, then all the lights in the house turned off. I took a seat at the kitchen table and waited them out, my leg jiggling to pass the time. I kept my ears peeled for any sounds of distress as my eyes continued to scan out the windows.
Then, all was silent in the Thomas household.
Slowly, I began up the steps. Some of them creaked underneath my feet, and I memorized which ones they were so I wouldn’t make noise coming down. I stood by the Thomas’ room, listening to see if I could hear anything.
But the only thing that was coming from their room were snores that could saw down a forest.
Snake (The Road Rebels MC Book 3) Page 22