When the water turned off, Chas dashed over to his leather jacket hanging on the back of a desk chair and shoved the bagged glass in the pocket.
Wrapped in a blue towel, Addie was a juicy sight—all pink and steamy. When she flashed him a wide smile, his heart melted, and the stabs of anger, which had been there ever since the fucker had called, shrunk to tiny pinpricks. Fuck, I can’t stay angry with her. I know how hard it is to leave a marriage. She or I will get this over with, and we’ll be back on track. Just a fuckin’ bump in the road.
“I have to go home to change my clothes before I go to work. I can’t wear these.” She pointed to the ones she was wearing.
Chas chuckled. “I guess not. I’ll take you home then wait for you to change so I can follow you to work. I wanna be sure no one is sniffing around.”
Relief washed over her face. “That’d be great. Thanks.” She moved next to him and kissed him quickly. “I do love you.”
Chas nodded. “Let me get ready then we’ll go.”
Thirty minutes later, Chas waited until Addie was safely in the library. He surveyed the area, careful to take in every shadow. When he was satisfied all was good, he rode away, heading to Hawk’s shop.
“Hey, how’s it goin’?” Hawk asked as Chas entered the motorcycle repair shop.
“Good. Missed you at the party last night.”
“Now that I got an old lady, the parties aren’t as much fun. Cara and I went out for dinner and dancing instead.” Hawk glanced at Chas. “What brings you here? Is your bike giving you trouble?”
“No. I have a favor to ask of you.”
Hawk motioned Chas to follow him into the office. Chas sank down on one of the leather chairs while Hawk sat behind his desk. “What can I do for you?”
“I need to find out some stuff on someone. I have a glass with the person’s fingerprints. Do you think you can help me?” Chas took the bagged wine glass out of his pocket.
Hawk stared at Chas. “Who’re you checking up on?”
“It’s not club-related. It’s personal, and I wanna keep it that way.”
Hawk nodded in understanding. “Fair enough. I can give it to Cara. She has a lab she uses on her criminal cases. I can let you know when the results come in.”
“Thanks, bro. I appreciate it.” Chas stood up. “Show me that 1957 sportster you’re restoring. Jax told me its fuckin’ sick.”
* * *
Addie gazed out the window, picking off her red nail polish. How the hell had Ian found her? Her stomach twisted in knots, and dread formed like a lump of clay in the pit of her belly. Each time the reality of it hit her, waves of nausea overcame her, and she had to force the bile down. What the hell was she going to do? And Chas knew about her marriage.
The room spun around her as the walls seemed to grow closer. She racked her brain, trying to figure out how Ian would have found her in Pinewood Springs. Rapid heartbeats thumped against her chest. Damn, the cabin! I bet Ian remembered about the cabin, and figured I’d go to it. But how would he remember that? He’d never gone to the cabin, and I only mentioned it once a long time ago in passing. I can’t believe he found me.
Tears stung her eyes as she recalled the happiness which had warmed her before he’d called and ruined everything. She and Chas had shared an amazing night together. She’d never felt so in tune with anyone. Caught up in the afterglow of amazing sex, Addie professed her love to him. She’d meant it—Addie loved Chas completely. Even though she was a bit hurt and dismayed he didn’t tell her he loved her, she could tell from the way he held her and looked at her that she was not just another notch on his bedpost. Since she and Chas hooked up, he’d spent as much time with her as their schedules allowed. He wanted to be with her.
For the first time in two years, Addie had let someone into her life and her heart. She adored Chas, and she was crazy about Jack. After all the hell she’d been through, daring to believe in “happily ever after” didn’t seem so crazy with Chas in her life. Then the cold-hearted sonofabitch she’d thought was gone appeared. Ian stood for everything she despised: lack of empathy and deliberate cruelty. Chas represented everything she loved: passion and loyalty.
How the fuck did Ian find me? The question pounded against her brain like a bad tune stuck in her mind, playing over, and over, and over. The thought of Ian touching her with his blood-stained hands sickened her. The only hands she wanted on her body were Chas’s. He knew how to make her tingle and shiver with ecstasy, leaving her sated and begging for more. The way the man knew how to make love, he must’ve been legendary among the women of Pinewood Springs. She giggled then blushed when she replayed some of the intimate moments they’d shared in her bed.
Ian’s dead eyes pierced through her warm thoughts and panic crawled up her spine, tangling every nerve in its ascent. Sweat poured down her face as a cold chill iced her blood. Thump, thump. The knocks on the door made her leap, and she felt like she could jump out of her skin—she was that nervous.
Tentatively, she opened the door, and a sigh of relief blew through her lips when she met Jordan’s smiling face.
“Addie? Are you okay? You look real pale.” The young employee held out her hand in support.
Shaking her head, Addie said, “I’m fine. I think I have something coming on. I always catch a little bug whenever the weather changes, and it’s getting real cold out there.” She half-heartedly pointed her finger at the window—a few snowflakes swirled around the bare-branched trees.
“I hate to bother you, but I’m having problems cataloging a series. Can you help me?”
“Of course, and you’re not bothering me. If you have a problem, never hesitate to ask me for help.”
For the next few hours, Addie cataloged volumes of periodicals, digest, and journals. Her mind was so focused on her job that she didn’t see Snake walk up to the reference desk.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said, a sneer pasted on his face.
Addie’s eyes darted to him, disgust overpowering her. “What are you doing here? I told you I don’t want you in this library again. Now, get out.” A pink flush tinted her cheeks and neck, and her ears felt hot.
With narrowed eyes, Snake snarled, “You don’t tell me shit.”
By the time Addie rose to her feet, Jordan had run over, grabbing Snake’s hand. “Baby, don’t get me in trouble. My boss is real busy. Here.” Jordan placed a wad of bills in Snake’s grease-stained hand.
And she’s supporting him, too? I thought she told me he helped her with the bills. Jordan needs to dump this loser. She could find someone better. Hell, anyone is better than this asshole.
Snake leaned in and kissed his girlfriend on her lips. “Thanks, sweetie.” He threw a thin smile at Addie, then swaggered away. As he opened the front glass doors, he peered over his shoulder and said, “Have a nice day, Lizzie.”
Addie jerked back as though he’d thrown a bucket of ice water in her face. His sinister laugh lingered in the air long after Snake kicked his Harley to life, driving off in the cold, late afternoon air. She stood frozen in place, eyes vacantly staring outside.
Jordan laughed nervously. “I don’t know what Snake’s deal is, but he has it in his head that your real name is Lizzie.” She cocked her head. “I don’t know where he comes up with this stuff. He told me he knows your husband. I didn’t know you were married.”
“I’m separated. Have been for over two years. How does he know Ian?”
“I dunno. He said something about your husband gave the MC your picture? I think he does some work for them. So, is Addie like a nickname or something?”
“Yes, a nickname. Please, stop calling Ian my husband. I’ve been single for a while now, so I don’t consider myself married.”
Jordan nodded. “I get it. That’s cool.” She went over to the counter to wait on a group of young students, who had just come in with their teacher. After school, different classes from the various schools came to the library for a tour.
“You got this?” Addi
e gestured to the group of sixth graders chattering, pushing, and shoving each other.
With a wide grin, Jordan said, “Yep, I got it.”
Addie shuffled back to her office and closed her door. So that’s how Ian found me. That moronic asshole saw my picture at his clubhouse. I’m sure he delighted in telling Ian everything. I should’ve let Chas kill Snake the night he attacked me. Figures Ian would be in thick with a club Snake belongs to.
Addie paced around and around her small office; she was so fucking jumpy. Her common sense told her to pack up and leave before Ian came for her. She knew he was playing with her—that was his way. The pleasure in going for the kill was the anticipation, the build-up of what was to come. She was the fucking mouse in his game, and he was the cat waiting for the right time to pounce as she ran around in circles. Waiting for him to attack seemed insane. But how could she leave Chas? Sweet, sexy Chas who’d taken her heart as gladly as she’d given it to him. Yet, how could she stay in Pinewood Springs with a sociopath hot on her heels? Cursing herself for not taking the joint Chas offered her earlier in the morning, she opened her purse, digging for a pain pill. Only finding aspirin, she popped two in her mouth and washed them down with her bottled water. At that point, anything would do. Maybe the throb in her temples would subside.
The cell phone vibrated against her desk. Glancing at the screen, she didn’t recognize the number, so she threw it on the desk like it was a bomb ready to explode. The caller hung up, and the phone was silent. Addie exhaled. Bringg. Bringg. The office landline’s ringing shattered the silence in the room. A hand against her heart, Addie picked up the receiver, her fingers trembling.
“Pinewood Springs Library. May I help you?” her thin voice asked.
“Hello, Lizzie—or should I say, Addie?”
Addie recognized Ian’s smooth, suave voice, and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. “What do you want, Ian?”
“You.”
Swallowing the lump in her throat, she paused. Ian’s steady breath kept time with her pulsing temples. “Please, leave me alone. I’ve made a new life for myself. I’ve finally carved out a small piece of tranquility. We can stay married so I can’t testify against you if anything you did ever goes to court.” She stopped when his deep chuckle filled her ears.
“I’m not the one the police are interested in. Before coming to your Utopia, I checked your status, and you’re still the number one person of interest for whom they are looking. Tsk, tsk, tsk, my dear. You weren’t too smart, leaving your bloody prints all over the crime scene. Definitely not a pro.”
Addie gripped the edge of her desk. Ian was insane. How would she ever be free from him?
“Have I left you speechless, my lovely?” His tone dripped danger, like the calm before the storm. “I’ve missed you, and I want you back in Chicago with me. You are my wife, and you need to be by my side.” He clucked his tongue. “I also never leave loose ends, and you, my pretty wife, are unfinished business.”
Shaking like a leaf, her teeth chattered, and Addie willed them to stop. “I can’t go back to being your wife, pretending everything is okay. Now that I know who and what you are, I can never be with you. Can’t you understand that? How can you expect me to live as your wife knowing that each time you go to work, you destroy a life?” She stifled the cries threatening to spill from her mouth.
Ian didn’t answer, and Addie thought he’d hung up the phone. As she began to follow that thought, she heard his voice—hard, bitter, and drenched in hate. “When did you start fucking an outlaw?”
She bristled. “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
“Oh, but it is, my dear wife. When any man puts his cock in your cunt, it is most definitely my business. Someone needs to be taught a lesson, wouldn’t you agree?”
Addie held her breath as goosebumps pricked her skin.
“I’ve never once cheated on you, and you disrespect me by spreading your legs wide to have an outlaw stick his dick in you? I never knew I’d married a whore. No matter. After you’re taught a lesson on how to be a good wife, we’ll pick up where we left off two years ago.”
The tension was too much. The chasm between her sanity and his insanity was too deep. “Ian, you’re a sick man, and you need to get some help. Please, I beg you, leave me alone, go back to Chicago, and get some help. Please.” She knew her pleas would fall on deaf ears, but she hoped there was a thread of humanity inside the man she once cared for.
“You will come back to Chicago with me. I’m watching you. I’ll be in touch real soon.”
The phone clicked. The cold sociopath had ended the conversation with his veiled threat, and each word stabbed Addie’s brain like a pick chopping up a block of ice. Ian would never give her up. For the first time in two years, she felt defeated. There was nowhere to run—Ian would always find her.
She stared blankly at the white wall in front of her. White—the color of her penthouse in Chicago. Monochromatic—the color of her married life. Tears rolled down Addie’s cheeks as she let out the sobs she’d been holding in since Ian first called her. After she had let it all out, a strong surge of determination zigzagged through her body, chasing away the weakness. No fucking way am I going back to you, asshole.
She picked up her cell phone and texted Chas:
Addie: Hi. U ok with me?
Chas: Yeah. U good?
Addie: Perfect. U want to have pizza n watch a movie? Want to b with u.
Chas: Can’t. Taking Jack to skating rink. Wanna join us?
Addie: Yes. :) Do u have Jack for whole night?
Chas: No. Drop off at his mom’s later.
Addie: Do u want to come over after for a grown-up sleepover?
Chas: Fuck yeah!!!
Addie smiled as love replaced the tension in her body. She refused to think of Ian. All she wanted was a relaxed, happy time with the man she loved and his adorable son. She’d be damned if Ian was going to ruin her night out.
* * *
Addie watched Jack and a couple of his friends zip around the skating rink. She marveled on how fast they went, and how no one fell down.
“He’s really good,” she said to Chas.
He killed his beer then nodded. “Yeah, he is. I don’t know how the fuck he doesn’t fall on his ass. I can’t do that shit.”
“He’s never asked you to join him?”
“He has, but I draw my fatherly duty lines at the skating rink. No way am I gonna make an ass of myself.” He smiled and covered her hand with his.
After a couple of hours of zooming around the rink, Jack came up to his dad. “Did you see me, Dad? I was freakin’ awesome out there.” He laughed while turning his head to look at the skaters in the rink. “I was the best.”
“Did you ever doubt it? After all, you’re my kid. Being the best runs in our blood. I think Ms. O’Leary will attest to that.” Chas winked at Addie then laughed when deep red streaked her face.
“Did you see me, Ms. O’Leary?”
“I sure did. How do you skate so fast and do all those moves?”
“I dunno, but I love to skate. It’s almost better than riding on your bike, Dad.”
“Watch your language.” Chas feigned a disapproving scowl.
“I said ‘almost.’ Can I have a pretzel with cheese? Please, Dad?”
“Didn’t you eat enough at El Tecolote? You had the supreme burrito.”
“I know, but I’m still hungry.”
Shaking his head, Chas gave Jack a ten dollar bill, and he dashed off to the counter to order his pretzel.
“Were you that hungry all the time when you were Jack’s age?” Addie asked.
“To hear my mom tell it, I was worse. Didn’t seem to cause me any problems, right?” Chas opened his cut, exposing the ripped muscles molded by his t-shirt.
Running her eyes over his gorgeous chest, she licked her lips and said, “No complaints here. You’re definitely drool-worthy.”
She laughed and ran her finge
rs up his arms, squeezing his biceps. They were the things she dreamed about. She loved touching them, watching the tattoos move every time he flexed. Feasting her eyes on them as they spoke, the sweet sensation between her thighs pulsed, and her panties dampened slightly.
“Feeling horny, precious?” Chas hot breath scorched her eardrums.
“Always,” she whispered back, licking his earlobe. His growl sent shots of pleasure from her nipples straight to her throbbing mound.
Chas craned his head. “Jack, you finished?”
Jack ran over, his small hand wiping his mouth. “I’m done.”
“You ready to take off?”
Yawning wide, Jack nodded. Chas laughed and ruffled Jack’s hair. “Let’s go.”
The skating rink was a twenty-minute ride to Brianna’s house. When they pulled up to the house, a wicked-looking Harley greeted them. Chas whistled softly under his breath.
“Nice bike, huh, Dad?”
“Fuck yeah. Do you know who it belongs to?”
“One of Mom’s new guys. I can’t remember his name.”
“He take you for a ride?”
“No.”
“Good. You don’t ride with anyone but me. Okay, little buddy?”
“Okay. This guy is pretty nice, though, and he plays video games with me. I think he knows you. He wears a jacket like yours, but it has a different name on the back.”
Addie felt Chas stiffen.
“The guy’s in a motorcycle club?”
“I think so.” Jack opened his car door. “Here comes Mom. You can ask her. Bye, Ms. O’Leary. Bye, Dad.” Jack slammed the car door.
“I hope your ex doesn’t make another scene when she sees me,” Addie said, her eyes fixed on Brianna as she came down the sidewalk.
Chas's Fervor: Insurgents Motorcycle Club (Insurgents MC Romance Book 3) Page 27