by Wilder, L.
Before I could say anything more, she ended the call and the line went dead. I tossed my phone down on the counter as I shouted, “Dammit!”
“Marlow?” I was in such a state of confusion, I hadn’t noticed that my front door had opened and Eric was standing in my doorway. “Are you okay?”
“Eric?” I gasped, startled by his intrusion. “What are you doing here? Kate left hours ago.”
“I’m not here for Kate.”
I was still in a state of shock as I watched him step inside and close the door. An eerie feeling washed over me as I asked, “Then, what are you doing here?”
“I came to see you.”
There was something about the menacing look on his face that gave me the feeling my bad day was about to get worse—much, much worse.
Chapter 15
Rafe
“Damn, brother. You look like hell.”
“Yeah, I feel like hell, too.” I walked over and sat down on the stool next to Country as I told him, “Just been one of those days.”
“What the fuck is going on?”
“Just Kate and more of her bullshit.” I motioned over to Lisa, letting her know I needed a beer, then said, “I know she’s Marlowe’s sister and all, but I wish the chick never came to town.”
“Yeah, I could tell just by looking at her last night she was one of those stuck-up bitches who thinks her shit don’t stink.” Country shook his head. “Yeah, bitches like that are like hemorrhoids. Always a pain in the ass when they’re around and such a relief when they’re gone.”
I knew he was just trying to make light of the situation, but I wasn’t in the mood. My girl was upset, which put me in no mood for jokes. There was no reason for me to take out my frustration on my brother, so I just nodded and said, “Yeah, she’s nothing like her sister. That’s for sure.”
“So, what’d she do?”
“It’s a long story, brother, and not mine to tell.”
“I hear ya.” He reached over and gave me a pat on the shoulder. “You know I’m here if either of you need anything.”
“I do, and I appreciate that.” Hoping to change the topic of conversation, I asked, “How’s it going with Gladys and Ada?”
“As far as I can tell, they’re getting along like two peas in a pod, which may not be a good thing. Hell, those two got enough stories in ’em to keep ’em busy from now until the cows come home.”
“I’m sure they do. Glad to hear they’re doing all right.”
Lisa came over, and as she placed my beer on the counter, she asked, “Everything okay with Marlowe?”
“Yeah. She just needed a night to sort some things. She’ll be back tomorrow,” I assured her.
“Tell her to take all the time she needs. I’ve got things covered here.”
“Thanks, Lisa. I’ll be sure to let her know.”
As soon as she turned and walked away, Country leaned over to me and said, “On a side note, I think Menace has made some headway with Stark.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Not sure about all the details. Just overheard him telling Viper that he might’ve found his location.”
“Menace here?”
“Yeah, he’s holed up in his office.”
“And nothing more has been said?”
“Nope.” Country shrugged. “Not sure when they’re planning on letting us all in on that.”
“Well, I’ve never been known as patient man.” I took a quick pull of my beer, then placed it on the counter and stood. “I’ll go see what I can find out.”
“Get at it, brother.”
I gave him a nod, then headed for Menace’s office. When I walked in, he was working away on his laptop, and like many times before, he wasn’t aware I’d walked in the room. Menace was always overly organized. Everything had to be in its place, so I was surprised to find his office in such a disheveled mess. Receipts were piled high on his desk along with various folders and papers, and again, Menace looked like an exhausted wreck. I sat down in the chair in front of his desk. “Hey, brother. How’s it going?”
“Ain’t gonna lie.” Menace turned to face me as he admitted, “It’s been better.”
“You look wiped, man.”
“That’s because I am.” He motioned his hand over his desk as he complained, “Hell, look at this shit. Even with all the help you guys have been giving me, I’m still fucking covered up.”
“You can’t keep burning it at both ends like this, brother.”
“I know, but I think all this is finally starting to pay off.”
Hoping he might let me in on what he’d uncovered, I pushed, “How’s that?”
“We got Stark.” He cocked his head as he corrected himself, “Or make that, we got Stark’s location.”
“How’d you manage that?”
“After I finally broke through that godforsaken firewall on those encrypted emails, I was able to track down the server address to a place outside of San Antonio.”
“That’s awesome. I knew you could pin him down.”
“Don’t know about that just yet.” He raked his fingers through his already disheveled hair as he explained, “Viper sent one of the brothers from the Texas chapter over to check the place out, and it was just an old, abandoned office complex.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah, it’s fucked up for sure.” He reached into one of his folders and pulled out several photographs. As he offered them to me, he said, “Not so much as an office chair left in the place.”
I looked through the different images, and Menace wasn’t exaggerating. With all the tall grass and litter scattered around the parking lot, the place looked like it had been vacant for months. “Damn, brother. You think our guy knew we were coming.”
“Can’t say for sure. All I know is the last email sent between him and Schommer led me to that fucking address, and it was sent three weeks ago.”
“So, another dead end?”
“I wouldn’t say that. I’m going to do some research on the property and see what I can find out.”
“What about getting Schommer to send out another email? See if he can make some kind of contact?”
“This guy’s slick, brother. He proved that with all the damn firewalls. A guy like that will know if the email isn’t coming from Schommer’s office.”
“Then, we take him to the office.”
“Can’t do that, Rafe. With the cops investigating his disappearance, they’ll be watching that office and that’s not a risk we can take.”
He was right. Days after we’d taken Schommer, the media had the guy’s face plastered all over the news. Seemed everyone was up in arms about what had happened to the college’s beloved professor, but thankfully, there was nothing being said about the daughter being taken. Apparently, she’d heeded Viper’s warning and kept her mouth shut—not that she had anything to tell. Menace had sedated and blindfolded her before bringing her to the clubhouse. Her presence had done the trick, and after Schommer finally started talking, we sedated her again. We got her back to her apartment, put her in bed, and when she finally came around, there was a good chance she thought the whole damn thing was a fucking dream. Unfortunately, we hadn’t had the same luck with her father. I wasn’t ready to give up on Schommer, so I suggested, “We could have him make up some excuse. Give this Stark guy a reason why he’s been off grid and see if he takes the bait.”
“We’ll need to run the idea by Viper and see what he thinks, but before I can do that, I gotta take a minute to get caught up here.” He looked down at all the bar’s paperwork and sighed. “I think it’s time we got ourselves a fucking bookkeeper.”
“I could give you a hand.”
“You sure?” He cocked his eyebrow as he taunted, “I figured you’d want to keep an eye on your girl, Marlowe.”
“She’s not here tonight. I had her take the night off.”
“Why’s that?”
“You know that bit in the background check where you f
ound out she was adopted.” I reached over and picked up a stack of receipts as I told him, “Well, it turns out Marlowe didn’t know anything about it until her sister broke the news to her earlier today, and from the state I found Marlowe in, I’d say Kate wasn’t exactly gentle about divulging the information. Seems she was pretty cutthroat about it.”
“What a fucking twat. Why’d she go and do that?”
“Wish I knew.” I started sifting through the different time markings on the receipts as I continued, “If I didn’t know better, I’d say she’s jealous of Marlowe and everything she’d done for herself here and wanted to do something to pull the rug out from underneath her.”
“Well, if that’s the case, it sounds like she accomplished her goal.”
“I’ll admit, it shook her. Hell, it would’ve shaken anyone to find that shit out like that, but it’s gonna take a lot more than Kate and all her bullshit to get Marlowe down.” I could see Menace’s exhaustion wearing on him as we sat there talking. I knew he needed a break, so I told him, “I’ll get this done and entered into the computer.”
“Ah, man. You’ve already done more than your share.”
“You kidding me? I haven’t done a fraction of the work you have, and you know it.” I nodded my head towards the door as I pushed, “You look like hell, brother. Get on out of here. Go talk to Viper about Schommer, then try to get some damn shuteye. All of this will be waiting for you when you get back.”
“I’ll talk to Viper. See what he has to say and maybe grab a couple of hours of sleep, but I’ll be back before close.”
“I’ll be here.”
He stood, and as he started towards the door, he placed his hand on my shoulder and said, “Thanks, Rafe. I owe you one.”
“Don’t mention it.” As he walked out, I told him, “Be sure to let me know what Viper thinks about Schommer and the email.”
“You know I will.”
Once he was gone, I turned my focus to getting the receipts logged into the computer, being careful to do each one exactly like Menace would do. I was double checking every entry to make sure I didn’t fuck anything up when Country and Lynch appeared in the doorway. I could see by the looks in their eyes they were up to something, and I wasn’t having any part of it.
“No.” I turned my attention back to the computer, but neither of them moved. “I don’t care what it is. The answer is no.”
“Sorry, brother, but this is one time we can’t take no for an answer.” Lynch motioned his head behind him as he said, “Trust me, you’re gonna wanna see this.”
Curious to see what had gotten them both so wound up, I stood up and grumbled, “This better be good.”
“Oh, it is,” Country assured me.
I followed them both out into the main bar. Neither of them spoke as they stopped and stood there staring out into the crowd with goofy-assed grins on their faces. At first, I had no idea who or what they were gawking at. To me, everything seemed to be on point. The girls were up on the stage dancing, and the crowds seemed to be enjoying the show. I was just about to lean over and ask them what had them so enthused when I notice Kate leaning over the center stage. She was all dolled up in a little black dress with a plunging neckline and high heels, and she was barely able to keep her balance as she tucked a bill in the band of Candy’s thong. Even though I was standing clear across the room, it was obvious the chick was drunk out of her gourd. I nudged Lynch with my elbow as I asked, “How’d she end up like this?”
“Tequila.” Lynch chuckled as he repeated, “Lots and lots of tequila.”
“Gonna need more than that, brother.”
“Don’t know much, just that she came in about forty-five minutes ago looking for her boyfriend. Said they were supposed to meet up here, but so far, the guy’s been a no-show.”
“Surprised they didn’t change plans after her fallout with Marlowe.”
“Yeah, Kate was going on about them going at it while she was sitting at the bar. Had herself a few tequila shots and started jabbering to whoever would listen.” His eyes remained on Kate as he continued, “Hell, I don’t even know what all she was saying. Didn’t fucking care. Just know she ended up making her way over to the stage, and she’s been there ever since.”
For someone who’d snubbed her nose at the whole strip club scene, Kate was having herself a hell of a time. As I stood there watching her fawn all over Candy, I became angrier and angrier. With her callous mouth and attitude, this girl had wrecked Marlowe, and from the looks of it, she couldn’t have cared less. When Candy extended her hand and helped Kate on the stage, Country snickered. “Ah, hell. Things are about to get interesting now.”
“Looks like Marlowe’s sister has herself a bit of a wild side, or it could be she just can’t handle her booze,” Lynch mocked.
“I got a feeling it’s the latter.”
Kate was making quite a spectacle of herself, grinding up on Candy like she was her next big conquest, and the crowd was enjoying every second of it. It wasn’t the first time one of the girls brought someone up on the stage with them. It was a way of changing things up and drawing more attention, and tonight was no different. The way Candy and Kate were carrying on was definitely drawing attention. As much as I wanted to say ‘fuck it’ and let the show continue, I couldn’t do that. Even if she was a royal bitch, she was Marlowe’s sister, and I needed to get her the hell out of there. When I started towards the stage, Country called out to me, “Hey, man. Whatcha gonna do?”
“I’m gonna put an end to this shit.”
“Why?” he pouted. “It’s just getting good!”
Ignoring him, I continued forward, weaving between all the tables and made my way over to Kate. By the time I actually got to her, Kate was reaching for the pole and was about to take a twirl. “Kate!”
She stopped and turned to see who’d called her name. As soon as she saw it was me, her lips curled into a provocative smile and she purred. “Umm, Rafe. Hello there, handsome.”
“It’s time to go.”
“What? Why?” she slurred. “We’re having such a good time.”
“I see that, but the party’s over. It’s time to get you home.”
I motioned my hand for her to come towards me, but she didn’t budge. Instead, she grabbed ahold of the pole and took a quick spin, making sure to lean back far enough for everyone to get a peek at her cleavage.
I quickly turned my attention to Candy and nodded my head, letting her know I was done with the bullshit. Not wanting to make a bad situation worse, Candy inched over to Kate and coaxed her over to me. The second she was in reach, I grabbed her by the waist and tossed her over my shoulder, then immediately charged towards the front door. All the while, Kate was giggling and calling out to Candy, “Do your thang, girl! Shake what your momma gave ya.”
Once we were outside, I dropped Kate to her feet and started searching for a cab. I was just about to start hailing one over when Kate stumbled over to me, plastering her chest against mine as she batted her eyelashes at me and slurred, “My, my, my. Handsome and strong like an ox. I can see why Marlie is in love with you.”
I knew it was just the booze talking, so I eased her off me and held her forearm until she got her balance. “You should really take it easy on the tequila next time.”
“Won’t be a next time.” She straightened her stance, trying her best to hide how wasted she was as she announced, “I’m done with this damn city, and I’m done with Marlowe too.”
“What’s the issue with your sister anyway?”
“Oh, haven’t you heard? She’s not really my sister. She’s adopted.” Before I could respond, she drunk giggled. “She had no idea. I mean really. For a girl who’s supposed to be so smart, she can be so dumb.”
“I just don’t get it. Why the hostility towards you sister? What’s she ever done to you?”
“She left and never looked back.” For a split second, Kate looked almost vulnerable as she muttered, “I’ve dreamed of doing that for yea
rs but never had her strength. Marlie was always so independent, so strong. She didn’t need ... Forget it. None of it matters now. We’ve both moved on.”
If I hadn’t known better, I would’ve thought the prissy, overly confident bitch was actually just an unsure, insecure brat who was jealous of her adopted sister—so much so, she set out to make her life hell. I was tempted to call her out on it, but unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance. Before I could form the words, a cab pulled up to the curb, and the driver called out, “Where to?”
“The Omni on Fifth,” Kate answered.
“You going to be able to make it back on your own?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” I opened the door, and as I helped her inside, Kate looked up at me and said, “I’m sorry if I caused you any trouble in there.”
“Not me you need to be worried about, Kate.”
“Marlowe will be fine. She always is.”
With that, she closed the door, and the cab sped away. I was standing there watching as the taxi’s lights disappeared into traffic when Lynch and Country came barreling out the front door of the strip club. I could hear them bantering back and forth, laughing and carrying on as they made their way over to me, and had no doubt they were both about to give me a hard time. Before either of them had a chance to speak, I turned and said, “Party’s over, boys.”
“Yeah, no thanks to you,” Country taunted.
“I got no time for bullshit, brother. I gotta get things wrapped up for Menace, so I can head over to check in on Marlowe.”
“About that.” Lynch scratched his beard with a grimace. “Marlowe just called Lisa and left a message for you.”
“What’d she say?”
“I didn’t catch it all. Just know she was blowing you off.” The second Lynch saw the change of my expression, he smiled and said, “I’m just fucking with ya, brother. She told Lisa she had a migraine or some shit and was calling it a night. Said she’d catch up with you tomorrow.”
“Damn, this night just keeps getting better and better.”
Chapter 16