Luca clasped his hands on the table and studied Copper for several long beats. “He has been searching for someone. I presume something in his search led him here, but I do not know that for certain.”
“Who is he searching for?” Copper asked.
“His fiancée, Adrianna. She disappeared under mysterious circumstances several months ago. He’s been searching for her ever since,” Luca explained.
“I see. Well, for whatever reason, Cristofano showed up at our clubhouse around one o’clock in the morning, drove his car through our gate, and forced his way inside because he thought we had her.”
Luca blinked slowly but otherwise didn’t react to Copper’s words. “I will cover the cost of any damage he caused to your property.”
Copper nodded in agreement. “We aren’t in the business of selling women, Luca. Never have been and never will be. I know a lot of clubs get a bad rap—it comes with the territory—but we’re not a one-percent club. If a woman came to us for help, we’d help her; we wouldn’t hold her here against her will, and we damn sure don’t kidnap people.”
“Technically, you are currently kidnapping my associate,” Luca countered.
“Women. We don’t kidnap women,” Copper snapped. “Innocent women. We don’t kidnap innocent women.”
The corner of Luca’s mouth slightly curved upward for a brief moment. “Understood. I do apologize for his behavior, and I can assure you, he will not bother you again.”
“Batta, go get Cristofano.”
I walked out to the shed where Coal and Grant were playing a game of cards while Cristofano appeared to be sleeping. “You two are free to go,” I announced.
Coal threw his cards on the table and headed for the door. “Thank fuck.”
I undid Cristofano’s restraints and frog-marched him to Church. Surprisingly, he remained silent the entire time. I was prepared for more verbal threats and possibly a physical struggle, but he’d either worn himself out or knew he was about to face his unhappy boss.
We entered the room as Copper was saying, “…had my guy look him over, and he has a bit of a concussion, but he’ll be fine.”
Luca’s eyes immediately went to Cristofano and he scowled. Before any of us could react, Luca had a gun in his hand aimed at Cristofano’s head. “Apologize.”
I stepped out of the line of fire as Cristofano fell to his knees. He dropped his head. “Please forgive me.”
“Just so you’re aware, we have some type of federal agent sitting in the common room,” Copper interjected.
Luca nodded once. “Yes, I’m aware of Tatum Cross’s presence, though I thank you for the warning.”
I was taken aback by his response. How in the hell did he know Tatum?
With his gun still trained on Cristofano, Luca continued, “You will pay for any and all damage to their property, and you will stay away. If that’s going to be a problem for you, I’ll make sure it isn’t right this very second.”
“It won’t be a problem, boss,” Cristofano vowed. I didn’t know the man, but judging by his body language and the tone of his voice, I believed him.
Luca slipped his gun into the shoulder holster hidden under his suit jacket and turned to Copper. “Are you satisfied with our offered amends?”
Copper leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin as if he was mulling it over. “Do I have your word that this won’t be an issue for us in the future?”
And there it was. Asking a man like Luca to give his word was the equivalent of asking him to sign it in blood.
“You have my word,” Luca vowed.
“Well then, I don’t believe we have anything further to discuss.”
“If you’ll show Piero to Cristofano’s car, Cristofano will be riding with me,” Luca announced as he got to his feet.
“Of course,” Copper agreed and looked to me. I gave a brief, nonchalant shake of my head. Copper cleared his throat. “His car suffered damage as a result of driving through our gate. I’m sure you understand.”
“His car’s condition is of no concern to me,” Luca replied instantly.
Copper nodded. “Judge will pull his car around front.”
“Very well,” Luca replied and got to his feet. “Again, I sincerely apologize for my associate’s behavior. I truly appreciate your understanding in this matter.”
Copper also stood and extended his hand. “You helped us out a few months ago. We were just returning the favor.”
After shaking Copper’s hand, Luca moved toward the door. “Thank you, again.” He then directed his attention to Cristofano, who was still kneeling on the floor. “Get up and get in my car. You can use the ride home to convince me not to shoot you once we get there.”
Cristofano obeyed Luca’s command and silently followed him outside while Piero fell in line behind them. Judge was waiting out front and handed Cristofano’s keys to Piero. They didn’t linger, and within a few moments, they were gone.
20
While the men were meeting with Luca, I sat in the common room staring at the television. I couldn’t have told you what was on the screen because my mind was consumed with thoughts of Josie. My job had been to protect her, but now that she was in a different location, I wondered what Luke was going to do with me. I didn’t see a need for me to stay in Devil Springs without Josie.
“You okay?” Heidi asked as she placed a tray with chips and salsa and two drinks on the table.
“Oh, yeah, I’m good,” I said distractedly.
“Mind if I join you?” she asked.
I pushed the chair out with my foot. “Be my guest.” I wasn’t feeling exceptionally social, but I welcomed the distraction.
“So, how’d you meet Batta?”
“We got shot together,” I said simply.
“What?” she gasped.
“Sorry, I don’t have a filter. Actually, I’m not really sorry. It is what it is.”
She waved her hand dismissively. “I hang around an MC; I’m used to it. I just didn’t realize you were the woman that helped them.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I was one of them. My sister, Josie, helped Bronze while I helped Batta.”
“Thank you,” she said softly. “For helping them.”
I studied her for a few moments while she focused on the tortilla chip she was twirling with her fingers. “Oh,” I said as it dawned on me. “You must be Bronze’s girlfriend.”
She looked up and shook her head. “No, I’m not his, or anyone’s, girlfriend,” she said solemnly.
“I see,” I said, and I did. She was clearly in love with Bronze, and judging by her response, he had no idea. I had no interest in delving into that conversation, so I did us both a solid and changed the subject. “You want to have some fun?”
“Uh, that depends on what you mean by fun,” she said hesitantly.
I grinned. “I thought we could play a harmless, little prank on one or two of the guys.”
“Oh, hell yes. What do you have in mind?”
After I explained, we went to the kitchen and gathered our supplies. Then, we snuck down the hall to Bronze’s room. After we finished in his room, I opened the door to head to Batta’s room and saw Judge walking down the hall. “Shit. I think their meeting’s over, and I’m supposed to be in the common room. We’ll have to get Batta later.”
She stashed our supplies in the kitchen and joined me at the table in the common room. “It’s probably just as well. Once one of them figured it out, they’d all check to make sure they hadn’t been pranked, too.”
“Very true,” I agreed and shoved a chip into my mouth.
“I hope I’m here when it happens,” she whispered.
I laughed. “Yeah, me too.”
When we heard the men coming down the hall, I tried to appear relaxed as I engaged Heidi in conversation. “So, how long have you been coming to the clubhouse?”
She shrugged. “A couple of years, I guess. My friend wanted to go to one of their parties and asked me to come with her. We had
a lot of fun, and some of the guys invited us to the next party. We kept coming back, and somewhere along the way, they asked us to help out around the club with cleaning and bartending.”
“Who’s your friend?”
“Paige.”
“Oh, I don’t think I’ve met her.”
“You haven’t. She stopped coming around the club after Bronze and Batta got hurt. Then, about two weeks ago, she moved away,” she said sadly.
“Did she move far away?” I asked.
Heidi shrugged again. “I don’t know. She stopped talking to me. I only knew she moved because I ran into her mother at the grocery store.”
“Did you two have a fight or something?”
“No, but a while back, the clubhouse was attacked, and we got hurt, but we were both convinced it was a one-time thing. When Bronze and Batta were attacked, I think it scared her more than she was willing to admit.” She paused for a moment and picked up another chip to twirl. “I get where she’s coming from, but I wish she would’ve talked to me about it. We’ve been best friends for seven years. I wouldn’t have tried to talk her out of moving away if that’s what she wanted.”
“One thing I can tell you for certain is that people show their true colors during stressful situations. Scared or not, there’s no excuse for the way she treated you. You deserved more than that from her. It’s never okay for anyone to treat you like crap, especially the ones who claim to love you. Remember that.”
“How old are you?” she asked.
Her question caught me off guard, but I didn’t have a problem answering her. “Twenty-nine. Why do you ask?”
She smiled shyly. “You look young, but it seems like you have a lot of wisdom. Those two don’t usually go hand in hand.”
I laughed. “You’re right about that.”
I felt a presence behind me before a large hand landed on my shoulder. “What’re you girls doing?” Trey asked.
“Sewing a quilt,” I deadpanned.
“Smart-ass,” he grumbled and pulled out a chair.
“Did your guests leave?” I asked.
“Sure did,” he said and popped a chip into his mouth.
Heidi pushed back from the table. “Well, I guess I better get back to work. Nice chatting with you.”
I moved to get up as well, but Trey stopped me. “Where’re you going?”
“Back to my room. I need to call Luke.”
“All right,” he said and reached out to squeeze my ass. “Come find me when you’re finished.”
“Will do.”
Once in my room, I closed the door and locked it. Then, as an added precaution, I went into the bathroom and turned on the shower before I dialed Luke’s number.
“Hello, Tatum. What can I do for you this afternoon?” he asked jovially.
“Shut it, old man. You know why I’m calling.”
“How did it go?”
“Good? I mean, there was no bloodshed. They were here for about thirty minutes or so before they left.”
“Did they see you?”
“I don’t know if Cristofano did, but Luca and Piero did. I made sure of it.”
“Good. Now that we don’t have to worry about Cristofano blowing our entire operation, we can focus our attention elsewhere and hopefully get this wrapped up soon.”
“About that. Do I need to stay in Devil Springs now that Josie isn’t here?” I asked.
“Yes, you do. And before you start arguing, listen to me. We have to stick with our cover story. I promise, Tatum, we are doing everything we can to end this, but you, of all people, know that these things take time,” he explained. And damn it, he was right.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “I know.”
“Since Josie is going to remain at the new location for the time being, you can return to the safe house and resume your regular work schedule at the store,” he told me.
“I’m not doing anything until I have a new car.”
Luke laughed. “Good news. Since it turned out to be Cristofano following you, you can have the truck back. I’ll have someone drop it off at the clubhouse and pick up the minivan.”
“I suppose I hate you a little less right now.”
“Gotta go. We’ll talk soon,” he said abruptly and ended the call.
Well, shit. As much as I bitched and moaned about being at the clubhouse, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to leaving. One thing was for sure though, if I was going back to the safe house, I was moving my ass into the main house. There was a huge bathtub in the master bedroom that was calling my name.
Exhaling slowly, I turned off the shower and went back into the bedroom to start packing my things. It was then that I realized we’d left all of Josie’s belongings behind in our rush to get out of the clubhouse. I packed her stuff separately and sent a text to Luke. I told him I would put her bag in the minivan so he could make sure it got to her.
On my way back inside from putting Josie’s things in the van, I heard a string of expletives come from Bronze’s room. I slapped a hand over my mouth and stepped inside my room, leaving the door wide open so I wouldn’t miss any of the show.
Bronze came out of his bedroom clad only in a pair of boxer briefs with one arm held straight in the air. “Seriously?” he bellowed, pointing to his armpit as he stomped down the hall. “Which one of you fuckers did this?”
“Did what?” Trey asked.
“This?” Bronze stressed and pointed again.
“The fuck is with you and your armpit, man? That shit looks nasty.”
“It feels nasty!” he said indignantly. “And it smells like pie! Why does my pit smell like pie?”
Trey sniffed the air, then threw his head back and laughed. “Someone replaced your deodorant with cream cheese!” Bronze scowled and scooped a handful of the creamy gunk from his armpit and smeared it on Trey’s head. “You motherfucker,” Trey growled and tackled him to the ground.
Bronze landed hard, and Trey took the opportunity to use Bronze’s clean armpit to wipe the cream cheese from his head.
“What the fuck is going on out here?” Copper roared.
Bronze and Trey froze for all of one second before they pointed at each other and said, “He started it.”
“I did not,” they both said at the same time.
Copper shook his head at the two of them and turned on his heels, disappearing down the hallway.
And I got the whole thing on video.
When both men got to their feet, I slipped back into my room and closed the door, hoping I hadn’t been seen. A few minutes later, Trey opened the door without knocking and walked inside. He glanced around the room and narrowed his eyes. “Going somewhere?”
“Yep. Apparently, I’m being released early for good behavior.”
He snorted. “Yeah, right. What’s really going on?”
I shrugged. “Nothing’s going on. Luke said I could go home.”
“Home?” he croaked.
“Yes,” I nodded. “I need to get back to work. That store isn’t going to get itself ready for opening. And now that Josie’s gone, I’m going to have to bust my ass to have things ready on time,” I explained.
“You’re staying in Devil Springs?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said slowly. “We’re opening a bookstore next to your gym, remember?”
“When are you leaving?” he asked and stepped closer to me.
“As soon as my truck is delivered. I refuse to go anywhere in that minivan if I don’t have to,” I said seriously.
He’d slowly closed the distance between us and was standing directly in front of me. He leaned forward and pressed his mouth to my neck, gently nipping at my skin. “Come shower with me,” he said as he kissed his way up to my ear. “Unless you want me to tell Bronze you’re the one who put cream cheese in his deodorant.”
“What?” I asked, trying to sound surprised.
“Don’t even try it, woman. I saw you and Heidi on the surveillance cameras.”
Shit. I had forgotten
about those. “You gonna rat me out?”
“Not if you take a shower with me,” he said slyly.
“Okay, big guy, a shower it is.”
21
I lasted all of five hours before I caved, and I didn’t give the first fuck what anybody thought about it. Tatum had gone back to her place as planned, and I didn’t like it one bit. I knew she couldn’t tell me anything, and I knew she could handle herself, but that didn’t stop me from worrying about her. The leftover anger from her secrets and my growing concern for her had me so worked up that I was ready to fuck her three ways from Sunday the moment I saw her.
My worry increased ten-fold when I knocked on the little red door, and no one answered. “Tatum,” I called out as I moved to peek through one of the windows.
“You’d make a shitty spy,” Tatum said from behind me, effectively scaring the fuck out of me.
I straightened and whirled around to see her standing with her arms crossed over her chest and a smug look on her face. “Most people just answer the door.”
“I would have if you’d have knocked on that door,” she said and pointed to the back door leading into the main house.
“Why’d you decide to move?”
“This one has a bigger bathtub,” she said flatly. “What are you doing here?”
I shrugged. “I was in the neighborhood.” I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something seemed off. She wasn’t throwing out sarcastic comments or doing something kooky like she usually was.
“You were worried about me,” she said knowingly.
I looked down at my feet and rubbed the toe of my boot into the ground. “I know you can handle yourself, but fuck, Tatum, how could I not be worried about you?”
“Aw, the big, grumpy biker has feelings,” she taunted.
I turned her by her shoulders and smacked her ass. “Get your punk ass inside.”
She huffed dramatically. “Fine.”
I followed her through the back door into the kitchen. My mouth dropped open when I took in the room. “Who in the hell lives here?”
“I do,” she deadpanned.
“You did this shit?” I asked incredulously. There were mushrooms everywhere—mushroom handles on the cabinets and doors, mushroom wallpaper, a mushroom table and chairs. Even the ceiling had striations making it look like the underside of a mushroom cap.
Batta (Blackwings MC - Devil Springs Book 4) Page 12