Sun Catcher - Book Two

by Giselle Fox

  “No. It’s been real hard on her.”

  “Were you ... close to your aunt?”

  “I was. I mean ... I’m driving her car. She’s a good woman.”

  Jericho nodded. “Have you seen her?”

  “I can’t really. It’s not ...” Taylor paused as she thought of how she would explain it. She looked up into Jericho’s eyes. “It’s just not a good place for me and Max to be.”

  Jericho nodded again.

  Taylor slung her arms around her shoulders. “I’m really glad you’re here. I was going a little crazy by myself.”

  Jericho bent and kissed her lips. “Me too. I really missed you today.”

  “Where did you go?”

  “There was something I needed to check out,” Jericho said. “Just a work thing.”

  “Oh,” Taylor said. The answer seemed evasive or maybe she’d just read it wrong.

  Jericho reached for her hand. “You want to ... go sit down somewhere and talk?”

  Taylor glanced down the hallway toward her bedroom. It was late and there was nothing more she wanted to talk about. She raked her nails down Jericho’s back and pulled her close until she could feel the taut curves beneath her t-shirt. “Can we just go to bed? I want you to hold me.”

  Without another word, Jericho lifted her. Taylor nestled into her strong shoulder until she was deposited gently on her sheets. Jericho looked down at her as she pulled her t-shirt over her head and dropped it to the floor. Her bra fell next, then her jeans.

  Taylor laid back and let Jericho strip her bare. And then finally Jericho was beside her, on top of her, and beneath her and she felt like she could breathe again.

  After, they laid together. Taylor still felt an unbreakable need to hold on. Jericho swept the hair from her forehead and ran her fingers through her long black strands. Taylor coiled Jericho’s blond waves around her fingers and watched them unravel.

  “I need to ask you something,” Jericho said softly. Even in the dark, Taylor could tell her eyes were serious.

  Taylor pulled her head back a little. “What is it?”

  Jericho took a deep breath. “The tattoo your mother has on her left arm - I know what it is. It’s the crest of the Iron Sons.”

  Taylor felt her stomach drop. “You saw it.”

  “Yes,” Jericho said softly. “The day I came over to fix your door.”

  Taylor rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling.

  “Can we talk about it,” Jericho asked.

  Taylor looked back at her and sighed. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

  Jericho clasped her hand and kissed it gently. “Yes ... there is. Your father was Gus Beauchamp.”

  Taylor closed her eyes. “That name isn’t exactly common knowledge.”

  “I know. I did some digging.”

  “Why, Jericho?”

  “Because I’m worried about you and I want to help.”

  Taylor said nothing. She just stared at the ceiling.

  “Look, I get it. You’re in the middle of something big and you don’t want to talk about it. But seriously, someone has to help you.”

  Taylor sat up. “Like who, huh? Who’s gonna help me when everyone is in on it somehow?”

  “Taylor … Sandy -”

  Taylor’s head shot up. “No! Sandy Beauchamp is gone, okay? My name is Taylor.”

  “Taylor,” Jericho said gently. “Tell me what you know. I can help you.”

  “You can’t help me, Jericho. You just can’t. If you really want to help, don’t do any more digging and don’t ever say my name again.”

  “I went to your high school,” Jericho said slowly.

  Taylor’s eyes opened wide. “You did what?”

  “And I went to the clubhouse. At least I drove by it.”

  Taylor felt sick to the pit of her stomach. “Jericho, no, please say you didn’t.”

  “I had to see for myself who Stinger James was. I saw your old house. I even went to your mother’s place. It was burned down, did you know about that?”

  “No,” Taylor said from inside her hands. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. “You have to stop whatever it is that you’re doing, okay?”

  “I can’t,” Jericho said.

  Taylor felt tears begin to roll down her cheeks. Her body felt crushed by the weight of it all. Her head fell into her hands again.

  Jericho wrapped her arms around her. “You’ve been dealing with all of this while you’re raising a kid and moving every few months.” She swept the hair from Taylor’s damp face and kissed her forehead. “You’re an incredible woman.”

  Taylor sobbed in her arms. There was nothing else she could say.

  “Taylor, look at me,” Jericho said gently. “Please, tell me what happened.”

  Taylor pulled her hands away from her face and held onto Jericho’s arms. “We’re staying away from him, that’s all there is to know.”

  “Why? Did he hurt you?” Jericho asked.

  “No, but he sure as hell will now if he finds us,” Taylor said.

  “Tell me why,” Jericho implored her.

  “I can’t tell you, Jericho. You need to forget everything you know, okay? It’s not safe for any of us you digging up stuff about me.”

  “I can help -”

  “How? You think one of your city council friends can help us? or the cops? None of them can help. It’s way bigger than that.”

  Jericho stared back at her with pain in her eyes.

  “I have to keep us safe, you have to understand that. I got my son, my mother and now I have you to worry about.”

  “But you don’t have to worry about me, Taylor. You can trust me.”

  “I do. I trust that you’re a good person and seeing me like this is probably hard for you. But you have to let it go. Otherwise ...” Taylor didn’t want to say it but there didn’t seem to be much choice. “I’ll have to move on. That’s all there is,” she breathed into the darkness.

  Jericho clenched her hand tight. “No. Don’t say that.”

  “Then promise me you’ll stop this.”

  Jericho seemed to consider that for a moment. “Tell me what you know and I promise I will stop digging.”

  Taylor was past the point of being frustrated. “Are you not hearing me? I can’t!”

  But Jericho was determined. “Why is he after you?”

  “I took something!” Taylor said as she felt herself lose grip. “I found something I shouldn’t have and I took it from him. Now he knows I know!”

  “What do you know?”

  Taylor shook her head. “No.”

  “Yes!” Jericho said louder than Taylor was expecting. She stared back at her. They said nothing for a few long moments. Both just stared, silent and unyielding.

  “If I tell you, I want you to promise that you won’t ask anymore.”

  “Okay,” Jericho said solemnly.

  Taylor shook her head. She’d known better than to get herself into that kind of situation but there she was. She couldn’t tell Jericho to leave even though she probably should have. That was the last thing she wanted. “Maybe you’ll understand just how deep in shit we’re in,” she said softly.

  Jericho reached for her hand. Taylor felt her resolve cave-in to its warmth. Her head was spinning so hard she didn’t know where to begin. She laid her head back on the pillow. “Where do I start?”

  Jericho laid down beside her. “How about at the beginning.”

  Taylor took a deep breath and let it all out. “Something happened when I found out I was pregnant. I was happy but I knew I was in the wrong place. A part of me wanted to believe that Stinger and I could have a family like the one I grew up in. But Stinger isn’t the kind of man my father was. My dad wasn’t perfect. Lord knows he was into all sorts of things he shouldn’t have been. But inside, he was a good man. He loved my mother like no one else and he loved me too. We had a real home. The door was always open to anyone that needed help. And let me tell you, there were a
lot that did. But I knew that I would never be able to build something like that with Stinger and I was right.”

  Jericho looked back at her with sadness in her eyes.

  “I know what you’re wondering,” Taylor said as she wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Why did I marry him?”

  Jericho nodded.

  “It was just meant to go that way. We were practically kids when we met. He was a year older than me when he moved to Independence, but he was put in the same grade as me. He was strong and tough … but charming, you know? My dad took a shine to him straight away and Jeff looked up to him. His foster parents weren’t bad people but they weren’t that good either. I helped him a lot in school. He worked hard and graduated when no one expected he would. When I went to college, he worked at my dad’s shop and then after got in with a city crew for a while. But he always had this dream that he would make something of himself one day. Jeff wasn’t the same when we were younger, not like he is now. Drugs did something to his mind, dealing them and then doing them, it all messed him up. He wasn’t strong like my father. My dad separated business from his life. It’s like Stinger wanted to be bad. It makes him feel strong having people afraid of him.”

  “Did he ever hurt you?”

  “No. He wouldn’t have dared while my father was alive. But no one crosses him now and doesn’t pay somehow.”

  Jericho sighed heavily and stared up at the ceiling.

  “When they found my dad by the side of the road, no one could believe it. The law called it a gang-related hit like he had it coming. I was three months pregnant. We were in shock. The whole club was. Stinger just sort of … stepped up and took over, even though he wasn’t in line. But the boys listened to him - especially the younger ones - because he was angry and he talked about vengeance and taking back territory like they were all outlaws. And that’s when he just … changed.”

  Jericho’s eyes narrowed.

  “You can’t do anything about it, same as I can’t. Stinger is protected, and not just by the Iron Sons.”

  Jericho stared at her. “You think he’s working for someone?”

  “He’s either working for the feds or the DEA. I know it in my gut same as I know a lot of things. I just can’t prove it.”

  Jericho sat up and held her hand. “How do you know?”

  “The night I left him, he had a suitcase of bills. He’d nearly passed out on top of them, he was so high. He’d been celebrating. At first, I thought he’d made a big deal but when I looked closer at the money, I knew something wasn’t right about it.”

  “What happened?”

  “I thought the feds had finally caught up with him but then ... nothing happened. That money was meant for someone else. The Horsemen got taken down a week later, the Reapers a month after that. There were others too. And guess who’s territory grew from it. They’re propping Stinger up to take bigger fish down.”

  “What did you take from him?”

  Taylor sighed. “The night I left I went into his safe. I took a chance that he’d still be using the same combination he always did. I only wanted enough to get me and Max somewhere safe. Some of it was mine anyway. There was something inside the safe that belonged to my father, something Stinger had no business having. He knows I have it now. He knows I know.”

  “Do you think -”

  “Stinger killed my father and I wouldn’t be surprised if the law put him up to it, or at least helped cover it up. Like I say, I can’t prove it but I know it.”

  “Oh my God,” Jericho whispered.

  “I know. I’m only telling you this so you know just how serious it is. I know you want to help, I can see it, Jericho, but there’s no helping here. It’ll only get you killed. Please take my word for it and don’t do anything stupid.”

  “You need to just get out altogether and start over somewhere else.”

  “I’m going to have to sell a lot of jam on Saturday,” Taylor said sadly. “Look at me, we’re just holding on, living simple and doing what we can. I can’t leave the country any more than I can use my credit card. I have to keep moving and hope someone worse than Stinger finishes him off. It’s only a matter of time, I reckon. He’s not smart enough to know he’s in a game way over his head.”

  Jericho laid on her back and shook her head. Taylor leaned over and kissed her lips. “I’m sorry. I forget sometimes that people haven’t lived the way I have. This is probably a lot to take in.”

  “No,” Jericho said. “It’s not that.”

  Taylor reached out and stroked her cheek. “I want you to know that being with you is the nicest thing that’s happened to me in a long, long time. I really … think you’re something special. I wish things were different.” Taylor wanted desperately to tell her how she was really feeling inside but she knew she couldn’t. Jericho was torn up enough as it was. “Remember what I said about having to leave,” Taylor said softly.

  Jericho grabbed onto her hand and sat up. “I don’t want you to leave. I want to help you.”

  “I know you do, baby. But you can’t.”

  “What if I can?” Jericho looked deep into her eyes.

  Taylor sighed. “If anything happened to you because you tried to help me, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. Please, don’t think about it anymore. Okay? Promise me.” Taylor searched her eyes for an answer.

  “I can’t promise something like that, Taylor. We’re here now. In the beginning, I figured you’d had a bad divorce or that maybe it was a custody thing but you’re in serious danger. I can’t go on with things like they’re normal.”

  Taylor clasped her hands between hers. “And I can’t let anything to happen to you.”

  “You have to trust me. You were right that first day you came over for dinner - there’s more to my story than anyone knows.”

  Taylor looked at her and shook her head. “What do you mean?”

  “I have access to certain kinds of information. And I’ve done … certain things.”

  Taylor had no idea what she was talking about. “What does that mean?”

  Jericho sighed. “It’s a long and complicated story that I can’t tell you right now.”

  Taylor gave her a long, calculating look. “I’m not sure what kind of connections you think you have but these guys will kill you. Stinger will kill you.”

  “No, he won’t.”

  Taylor sighed.

  “Look, I’m not saying he isn’t dangerous. The only way to win here is to outsmart him, I know you know that.”

  “He’s not smart,” Taylor said bitterly. “He’s just mean and crazy.”

  “Then maybe we can beat him.”

  “We…” said Taylor. She shook her head again.

  “You said yourself that all it will take is someone bigger to handle him for you. Who does he deal with? Who are his enemies?”

  Taylor already knew names and there were lots more like them in her father’s ledgers. She looked back at Jericho and sighed. “Okay.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Jericho heard the steady thump of a subwoofer out on her street. She looked up from her laptop. A few seconds later, her sister Charlie appeared at the gate dressed in a silver minidress and heels.

  “What have you done to your hair?” Jericho called.

  “You like it?” Charlie called back as she minced down the path. “Hey! A soccer ball. Woot!” Charlie flipped the ball up with the tip of her stiletto and punted it clear to the other side of the yard.

  “Want some real shoes?” Jericho offered.

  Charlie swore loudly and limped for the remainder of the walk. “Shit, that hurt!” she muttered. She dropped her bags and climbed the steps. “Hi, Jaybird! I’m home!”

  Jericho stood and gave her a hug. “It’s good to see you. I like the blue.”

  “Thanks,” Charlie said as she bounced her hair with one hand. “Watcha doin’?”

  “Oh … just stuff. Work,” Jericho said. She closed her laptop.

  “Work work or work?” Ch
arlie asked.

  “Just something,” Jericho replied. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to ...” she stopped talking since Charlie had already focused on something else.

  “What’s with all the kid stuff?”

  Jericho looked out over the yard. “Oh, the turtle pool? That’s not mine.”

  Charlie gave her a look.

  “It belongs to a kid down the street.”

  Charlie stepped closer and looked deep into her sister’s eyes. “A kid down the street?”

  “A kid that belongs to a friend, a new friend, a woman friend actually. They’re new in the neighborhood.”

  “Okaaaay,” Charlie said slowly. She put her purse down and took a seat. “That’s different.”

  “What is?”

  “Having a woman friend that leaves her child’s playthings at your house.”

  “Well, I have more space here and we just thought ...”

  “We?” Charlie said and stared back at her. “Go on.”

  “We’ve been spending some time getting to know each other lately while Max plays.”

  “Max? I like it. What’s her name.”

  “Taylor.”

  “Max and Taylor. Nice. Does she know what you do?”

  “As in work work, or work?”

  “Work.”

  “No. Wait - is work the other thing or the real job?”

  “The question is, which is the real job?” Charlie said cryptically. She eyed her sister. “Kidding. Is she nice?”

  “Yeah, she’s really nice.”

  “Good. What have you got to drink? It’s hot and I’m thirsty.”

  “There’s beer in the fridge.”

  Charlie stood up. “Want one?”

  “Sure.”

  She disappeared into the house. “Oooo, I like what you’ve done with the stairs. Very nice,” she called.

  Jericho was puzzled. “I haven’t done anything with the stairs.”

  “The baby gates? I see there’s one at the top as well as the bottom. Has little Max been sleeping over?” Charlie asked when she returned. She handed Jericho a cold beer and gave her a smile. “Heard from the grandparental units?”

  “I got the pictures from Kilimanjaro but that’s it. You?”

  “Same. Though the last time I saw Lexi she said she’d been talking with granddad quite a bit. She was pretty drunk at the time.”