by A. M. Myers
“Is there a note?” Blaze asks from the back of the room and Piper nods as she plucks a little card off of the top, opening it.
“To Wyatt and Piper, congratulations on your special day.”
Travis scowls, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me into his side. “It doesn’t say who it’s from?”
“Nope,” she answers before looking around at all of us. “Did one of you send it?”
Everyone shakes their head and she shrugs before grabbing the pocket knife Fuzz holds out to her and flicking it open. She drags it along the top seam of the box where it’s taped together before handing the knife back to her husband and popping open the top. A horrified scream fills the room and she stumbles backward almost tripping over her dress but Fuzz catches her before she can hit the floor, pulling her into his arms as he whispers something to her but her eyes remain wide in fear and her hands shake. Curiosity getting the best of us, we all surge forward almost like we’re being pulled in by the box itself and when I get close enough to peek inside, I gasp and clamp my hand over my mouth as I stare down at the contents. My breath catches in my throat and tears sting my eyes.
It isn’t real…
This can’t be real. I tell myself to relax as spots dance in my vision and I focus on each breath entering and leaving my lungs, putting all of my attention on the act itself so I don’t have to think about what is in front of me.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
Just fucking breathe, Rowan.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Storm whispers, his voice as haunted as I feel as I stare down at the box’s contents, trying to make my brain form even a single thought but the only thing that registers is the fear pumping through my veins. My hands shake and my body feels on edge as my heart hammers in my chest. Tears streak down the sides of my face as I wrap my arms around my body and shiver.
When in the hell did I start crying?
“Is that Tawny?” Carly asks, horror in her voice. Horror that I feel down to my very core as I try to pull my gaze away from the contents of the box but I can’t.
She just keeps looking at me…
Tawny’s severed head stares back at me as my hands shake and my stomach churns violently. It’s terrifying, hard to look at, and I desperately want to turn away but, no matter how hard I try, I can’t force my eyes from her face, my heart pounding and my entire body rigid. My ribs feel tight and Travis wraps me up in his arms, pulling me firmly against his body as he buries his face in my hair and presses his lips to my head. His body is impossibly tense and he’s shaking, too, pulling on every last one of my heart strings as I turn into him and wrap my arms around his waist. We back away from the group a little, needing a private moment as we both try to wrap our heads around everything that has just happened but as far as I can tell, it’s senseless.
Who could do something like this?
As soon as the thought pops into my head, I want to roll my eyes at my own idiocy. Every person in this room knows who did this. The question is why? But as I run it through it in my mind, it doesn’t take long to come up with an answer. Tawny told us everything she knew so she was no longer of any use to Warren and with her able to identify him, she had to go. It’s as simple and sick as that and as an added bonus, he could send us this part of her to one, ruin what was supposed to be a happy day but two, let us know exactly what he’s capable of.
“This is my fault,” Travis whispers and I jerk back, looking up at him but he won’t meet my eyes, his face contorted into a grimace.
“What are you talking about? This isn’t your fault. This could never be your fault.”
He shakes his head and his eyes finally find mine before he closes them and takes a deep breath. “I went to talk to her about Warren and now she’s dead. How is this not my fault?”
“No,” I whisper, cupping his face as pain floods my chest. His eyes pop open and his pain filled gaze meets mine, stealing the air from my lungs. “This is all Warren and you’re reacting exactly the way he wants you to. You couldn’t have known he would do this.”
“I should have,” he hisses, gritting his teeth as his gaze goes back to Tawny. He blows out a breath again but it doesn’t seem to calm him in the slightest as he drags his eyes back to mine. The pain shining back at me feels like a knife to my chest and my heart cracks wide open as I try to think of anything I can say or do to ease his suffering right now. “I should have fucking known, Rowan. I should have known.”
I lean up on my toes and press a kiss to his lips, feeling every ounce of his pain as he holds me tighter and kisses me like I am the air he breathes. I don’t know if it’s doing any good but any other time he’s been too stressed to function with all this Warren stuff, distracting him with a kiss has helped. And more than anything, I just want to help him release this guilt he feels right now. When we finally part, I meet his eyes again and hope he can see my sincerity. “You’ve done everything you could think of to find this monster and his actions do not reflect on you, do you hear me? He is the only one responsible for this and I will not listen to you talk about yourself like that when you are one of the most sincere, genuine men I’ve ever met.”
“Rowan,” he whispers, his voice cracking as he shakes his head.
“Is that another note?” Carly asks before he can say anything else and we turn back to the group as she points inside the box where a little envelope is tucked on the side. Storm takes a deep breath as he reaches in and grabs it. We all stare at him, the air in the room thick with fear, as he pulls out the little card and hisses a curse.
“What does it say?” Tate asks, her expression fierce and her gun in her hand as my brother wraps an arm around her, pulling her into his side. Storm scrubs his hand down his face and shakes his head.
“One down, four to go.”
Chapter Seventeen
Travis
“Mmm,” Rowan groans as she throws her arms above her head in a stretch and I glance down at her. She arches her back, pressing her body against mine before she relaxes and opens her eyes, blinking up at me. Flashing me a sleepy smile, she snuggles closer and shuts her eyes again. “Morning.”
I pull her closer and release a sigh. “Morning.”
She pulls back, scowling up at me as she cups my cheeks and inspects my face. “Did you get any sleep last night, Travis?”
“I’m fine,” I tell her, pulling her back into my body. I’m fucking not fine but I would have been a hell of a lot worse if she hadn’t been here by my side. Fuck. I don’t even want to imagine the spiral I would have fallen into if I didn’t have her grounding me all night long.
“That’s not what I asked you,” she shoots back, arching a brow and I sigh. From the moment Piper opened that box and we all realized what was inside, Rowan has been my fucking rock and she spent hours last night, just lying in bed with me and telling me that what happened to Tawny wasn’t my fault. It was sweet of her to try and take the blame from where it belongs, firmly on my shoulders, but I know the truth and, according to the package we received last night, so does Warren.
After we read the second note from Warren, the one that made it clear he was gunning for certain members of the club, Blaze called Rodriguez. As soon as he showed up and took one look inside the box, he called in a whole damn team of people, including the medical examiner who took the head away to inspect it. If I didn’t know her death was my fault before, I sure as hell did after Rodriguez told us that Tawny’s tongue had been removed and in its place was the business card I had given her the morning Rowan and I stopped by her apartment.
I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do about all of this.
A part of me feels like Warren wants me looking for him. It feels like he has singled me out for some reason and he enjoys the game we’re playing as well as my growing frustration but sending Tawny’s head the way he did, feels like a clear fucking warning to stop looking into him
and I would be stupid to ignore it. But how can I just abandon my club like that?
“Travis,” Rowan sighs, pulling my attention back to her and I shake my head.
“I’m fine.”
She lets out a huff of annoyance. “Again, not what I asked.”
“Sorry, Princess,” I tell her, sighing as I stare up at the ceiling and pull her into my body again and sigh, her presence once again comforting me. “My head is just all messed up.”
“Yeah, that tends to happen when you don’t get any sleep and can’t think clearly.”
I shake my head. “I’m fine, Rowan.”
“I swear to God,” she growls, swinging her leg over my body and climbing on top of me as she plants her hands on my chest and pins me with a glare. “If you tell me you’re fine when you’re so clearly not one more time, I’m going to kick your ass.”
“Yeah? What are you going to do?” I ask, fighting back a grin despite my somber mood. She scoffs.
“Like I’m gonna tell you my game plan.”
I grip her hips, loving the feeling of her skin underneath my fingers. “That sounds like the talk of someone who most definitely doesn’t have a plan.”
“Just try me, Broussard. I have to imagine that some of my pole moves would work just as well to take down a person.”
Well, fuck me.
“Now I’m intrigued.”
She grins. “You know what else you are?”
“What?” I ask, arching a brow as I search her face. She grins and leans down, letting her lips hover above mine and every cell in my body is screaming at me to close the distance between us. So I do. Thrusting my hand into her long, dark hair, I pull her down to me and seal my lips to hers. Sighing, she melts into my body and I resist the urge to fist pump in victory as my chest puffs out with pride. In my head, I’m the only fucking man who has ever made her feel like this and I’m a goddamn king as she wiggles her hips, rubbing against my cock. When she pulls away, her eyes meet mine, gray pools of desire, and she flashes me an indulgent little smile. “You were saying?”
Shaking her head, she crawls off of me and stands up next to the bed. “I think I made my point.”
“And what point is that?” I reach out and play with the bottom of her t-shirt, trying to lift it up to get a peek of the black lace panties she’s wearing and she swats my hand away.
“Don’t start something you can’t finish.”
My gaze snaps to hers and I narrow my eyes. “I always finish, Princess, and so do you… multiple times.”
“Oh, I know,” she whispers, color staining her cheeks as she grabs her jeans off of the floor. “But we don’t have time right now. People will be waking up soon.”
“Who cares? Everyone already knows so just stay.”
She shakes her head. “Not everyone knows. You ready to tell my brother about us?”
“Are you?” I ask, arching a brow and she shrugs.
“Look, he won’t like it but he’ll just have to get over it. I’m tired of sneaking around like we’re doing something wrong.”
I nod, toying with the idea. “I agree… but then again, I like my body in one piece.”
“Oh, stop it.” She laughs as she sits on the edge of the bed. “Lincoln is just a big teddy bear.”
“Only if a teddy bear could rip you apart with his bare fucking hands and has an inclination to do just that,” I shoot back, my eyes widening as she laughs again.
“You’re being ridiculous.”
I shake my head. “I’m not and I can promise you that if we tell Kodiak about us, he will probably rip off your favorite part of my body.”
“I think you’re thinking of your favorite part.”
“All right, woman,” I growl, grabbing her and pinning her to the mattress as I climb over her. “Do you need a reminder?”
She arches a brow in challenge. “Of what?”
“Of how much you love it, too,” I answer, thrusting into her and her breath catches in her throat, her eyes fluttering closed for a second before she opens them again. Downstairs, a door slams and I sigh as I turn toward the door.
“Told ya.”
“Fine,” I grumble, kissing her again before flopping down onto the bed next to her with all of the pent-up sexual frustration I feel. “But come find me later so we can continue this.”
Climbing out of the bed, she shakes her head. “So bossy.”
“Sweetheart, if you meant that to be a bad thing, you have to get that “fuck me” look out of your eyes first,” I tell her and she rolls her eyes, fighting back a smile as she backs away toward the door. “I’m serious about later, by the way.”
She shrugs. “We’ll see.”
“Don’t tease me, Princess.”
“Why not?” she asks as she opens the door and stops to pin me to the bed with a look full of defiance. “What are you going to do about it?”
She winks and walks out before I can say anything else and I stare at the door, the thought of going after her consuming me. I jump up to do just that, grabbing my jeans off the floor and slipping them on before I walk to the door, yanking it open. Piper blinks up at me from the other side, her hand raised like she was just about to knock and I arch a brow.
“Something I can do for you, darlin’?”
She nods. “Yeah, I need your help with something. If you have time…”
“Sure,” I answer, my gaze flicking over her shoulder to where Rowan stands at the other end of the hallway, smirking at me. I shoot her a look that lets her know it’s fucking on as soon as I wrap up whatever this is and she shrugs before starting down the stairs. Stepping aside, I let Piper into my room and leave the door open as I go over to my desk and sink into my chair, pointing the other one for her. She sits down and takes a deep breath, wringing her hands together in her lap. “You doing okay this morning?”
“Um… I don’t know…”
I nod because I’m sure her head is just as scrabbled as mine. “I get that. What is it that you need from me?”
“Well,” she answers, taking a deep breath before looking up at me. “I’m not even really sure that I want to know the answer to this but it’s been bugging me for days so I just thought…”
“Okay, what is it?”
“My therapist, Dr. Brewer, made a comment to me that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about… it was about Lillian,” she whispers and I lean back in my chair, scowling as I watch her. Lillian was a friend of hers who thought they could be more but I have no clue where she could be going with this. “She said that shortly before everything went down, Lillian had met someone who was encouraging her to go after what she wanted. At the time, Dr. Brewer didn’t know what they meant but in light of everything that has been going on… do you think it’s possible that this person she met was Warren?”
Her question suck punches me and the events of last night come flooding back into my mind as I blow out a breath and shake my head.
“Piper, I think where Warren is concerned, anything is possible.”
She nods like she already knew the answer. “That’s what I thought. Do you… think you could look into it for me?”
The last fucking thing I want to do today is anything to do with Warren but how can I say no to her? She clearly needs this and who fucking knows, maybe I’ll actually find something this time. Sucking in a breath, I nod.
“Sure. I’ll look into it.”
She releases a breath. “Oh, thank you. I… um, I actually got a call from the man who managed her apartment building. She didn’t have any family and all of her stuff was sold or given away except for this box that he didn’t feel right throwing out. Apparently, there were some of her diaries in there and I thought they might give us some insight but I haven’t been brave enough to read them by myself. Will you help me?”
“You already have them?”
“Yeah,” she answers, nodding, and I study her for a second before sighing. I don’t want to even fucking think of Warren at this point but I can�
��t deny her the help she needs. I’m not expecting anything, though. If Warren did have something to do with her friend going all psycho, I’m sure he hid all his tracks very well. It’s been the same damn story since this investigation started and I don’t expect it to change anytime soon. “Still down to help?”
I nod. “Yeah. Go get ‘em.”
She thanks me before practically running out of my room and as soon as she’s gone, I lean back in my chair, running my hand down my face as my mind drifts to Warren’s note last night.
One down, four to go.
Honestly, it scares the shit out of me and maybe it’s me just being fucking full of myself but I can’t help but think this is just another way to torture me. I’ll go down the rabbit hole trying to figure out which four of us he’s specifically targeting and it will, undoubtedly, make me lose my mind. Which is what he wants.
Fuck.
Am I on his list?
Piper walks back in with a box of stuff before plopping it down at my feet and I arch a brow as she sits back down and I push the thoughts of Warren’s threat from my mind. Glancing down, I sigh. The box is full of personal stuff, little trinkets and several thick notebooks that I can only assume are Lillian’s diaries.
“First, I gotta ask, does your husband know about this?”
Shaking her head, she leans over and starts digging through the box. “No. He doesn’t want me thinking about her or what she did anymore… he thinks it’s not good for me but I need to know.”
Shit.
Why are all these damn women asking me to do shit that will most definitely end up with me getting my ass kicked by one of my brothers?
“Okay,” I sigh before nodding. “I’ll do this but you gotta tell Fuzz right after. Deal?”
“Deal.”
She grabs one of the notebooks and hands it to me before grabbing another for herself and we start flipping through them. Most of the entries are bland, talking about her day and shit like that but occasionally, one pops up that makes my eyebrows shoot up. Not that they have anything to do with Warren but Lillian was cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs and it fucking shows on these pages.