1001 Dark Nights: Bundle Fourteen

by Kristen Ashley

  “That’s Hannah and Heath,” I said quickly. “Um, she’s not really going to like the fact that you’re here. You should go before she gets pissed.”

  “Answer one question,” Shade said quietly. “This thing you’re lying to me about—are you in danger?”

  “No,” I said firmly, shaking my head. “Callie just had a bad dream.”

  “She said something about her dad and keeping secrets. You freaked the fuck out and dropped the phone. That doesn’t sound like a bad dream to me.”

  The front door opened and Hannah stepped through, followed by her deputy. There was instant tension in the air as Heath took in the situation—obviously not a big fan of the Reapers.

  The feeling was mutual, and the two men stared each other down, two alpha dogs just poised to attack. I shared a look with Hannah, willing her to play along, even though I knew she was probably pissed to find a man here. We had a strict no-sleepovers policy. I was supposed to be babysitting the kids, not fucking around with some biker.

  “Did you have a good time?” I asked brightly, hoping any residual puffiness from the crying was gone.

  “Great time,” Heath said, his voice a lazy drawl. He wrapped an arm around Hannah possessively. “We appreciate you watching the girls.”

  “They were fantastic,” I said, my voice unnaturally perky. “And Shade was just heading out, weren’t you?”

  I turned to him, begging with my eyes. Leave. Just leave. Don’t drag Heath Andrews into this.

  “Sure,” he said, standing. He walked over and pulled me into his arms for a long, slow kiss that probably looked sexy as hell. I felt the coiled tension in his arms, though, and when his tongue plunged deep into my mouth it was more threat than caress. Hannah coughed behind us and I could practically feel the anger coming off her in waves.

  Shade ended the kiss, dropping his mouth to my ear.

  “I’m not dropping this,” he whispered. “You need to tell me what happened here.”

  “There’s nothing to tell,” I whispered back. “Just go. Leave me alone.”

  He pulled away, raising a finger and running it along the side of my cheek, down my neck and into my cleavage. The gesture might’ve been flirtatious, but his eyes were cold as ice.

  Then Shade turned and sauntered toward the door. When he reached Heath, the deputy didn’t step out of his way immediately. They shared another unreadable look before Heath moved closer to Hannah, wrapping an arm around her neck in a clear message of possession. Shade nodded toward the deputy then went outside, closing the door quietly behind him.

  The room fell silent. My stomach churned. I took a deep breath, praying I wouldn’t puke or something.

  “Did the girls do okay?” Hannah asked awkwardly. Heath studied me without speaking, his face thoughtful. Suspicious? I couldn’t tell.

  You’re probably being paranoid, Wonder Woman whispered. Play it through. You can do this.

  “Yeah, they were great,” I said. “So tell me all about it. Where did you guys go?”

  “I want to check on the kids first,” Hannah said pointedly, narrowing her eyes at me. “Come with me.”

  Way to be subtle, butthead. I nodded, smiling at Heath like a dumb bunny before following her into the girls’ room. Hannah’s body stilled as she realized Callie wasn’t in her bed. Turning on me, she shut the door.

  “She’s in your room,” I whispered quickly.

  Hannah’s mouth tightened.

  “No, wait—before you get all pissy, you need to listen to me and listen carefully. Not only that, you need to not freak out or show anything on your face when you go back out there and see Heath. You’re going to laugh or smile or whatever it takes to keep him happy because this is very, very important.”

  “What happened?” she whispered, and I could taste her sudden fear.

  “Callie found a bag of meth in the bathroom,” I replied. “She said that it was Randy’s, and that he’d told her it was a secret. She told me a bunch more stuff, too. Real bad stuff, Hannah. Shade and I were talking on the phone and he overheard some of it, so he came over, demanding answers. I managed to hide the drugs in the fridge—I’m about 90 percent sure he didn’t see anything. He’s suspicious as hell, though. I was trying to get rid of him when you got home.”

  My sister’s mouth dropped and she swallowed.

  “Oh my God…” she whispered. “I—”

  “We’re going to take care of it,” I said, reaching out to catch her shoulders, giving her a reassuring squeeze. “You and me. We always take care of things. The first step is getting rid of Heath. Then we can deal with Randy.”

  “I hate him. I hate that fucking asshole so much. How could he do this to his own kids? What if she’d decided to eat it or something? That could kill her.”

  “But it didn’t and it won’t. Now go out there and do what you have to do. Once he’s gone, we can figure out our next step.”

  Hannah took a deep breath and nodded. We walked out of the bedroom and I stopped, frozen. Heath Andrews was standing in front of the open fridge. He glanced over toward us.

  “I was looking for something to drink,” he said, pulling out a beer. “I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all,” Hannah said quickly, her voice almost hysterical. She started toward him, trying to smile. I couldn’t breathe—my chest felt tight. Had he seen what was in there?

  If he had, I’d take the fall. I couldn’t let Hannah get in trouble for this. Trevor had lied his ass off back in Missoula, making me out to be the mastermind behind his crimes. If they came for us, I’d lie, too. I’d say the drugs were mine and make damned sure they believed me.

  Going back to jail would be a small price to pay to keep the girls out of foster care.

  Heath came back into the living room, taking a drink of his beer.

  “I think I’ll head to bed—give you guys some privacy,” I said, catching Hannah’s eye and glancing toward the couch. Hopefully she’d get the hint and find some way to distract him.

  Heath looked between us, his eyes speculative.

  Fuck.

  I really, really wanted to drop this one in Future Me’s lap, but for once that wasn’t going to cut it. Hannah and I were going to have to figure something out, and figure it out fast.

  In the bedroom, Callie was sleeping soundly, her small thumb tucked into her mouth. She gave soft, snuffly snores. She’d worn herself out crying, poor baby. I’d do anything for her. Anything at all. We’d get her through this. I didn’t care what I had to do, who I had to hurt. She and the twins were all that mattered.

  After about twenty minutes, I heard the front door open and then close again, followed by the sound of a car pulling away. Slipping out of the bedroom, I went to find Hannah standing with her back to the front door, as if trying to hold out the world.

  “Tell me everything,” she said, her eyes haunted.

  Two hours later we sat next to each other, leaning back against the couch. First I’d explained everything to her, and then we’d torn the trailer apart. In the process we’d collected another baggie of meth, some pot, three pipes, and fifty bucks in cash. Now Randy’s stash sat in front of us on the battered coffee table like an accusation.

  “I did this,” Hannah said, rubbing her temples despairingly. “I did this to us.”

  “No, Randy did it.”

  “I fell in love with him, though. And then I stayed with him, even when I started to suspect about the drugs. There were rumors. I just didn’t want to hear them, just like I didn’t want to hear about him cheating on me.”

  “Well, at least you were alert enough to notice the rumors,” I told her, feeling utterly exhausted and wrung out. “I was oblivious with Trevor. I mean, I knew he was drinking a lot, but I honestly didn’t figure out the rest until the defense attorney told me.”

  “It’s one thing to be stupid and screw yourself over, but to expose your kids? I’m a mother. I can’t afford mistakes like this, Mandy. What are we going to do? That is a shit
load of drugs, and meth is poisonous. The girls could’ve died. How will we ever know if the place is safe again?”

  I reached down, catching her hand and giving it a squeeze.

  “It is what it is,” I said steadily. “So don’t waste time beating yourself up. We have to focus on the next step.”

  “We need to leave town,” Hannah said abruptly.

  “What? I thought maybe we could rent an apartment—”

  “No,” she continued. “You don’t know Randy. In his mind, he owns these kids and he owns me. He won’t leave us alone. He’ll never leave us alone. I thought I could handle it, but I can’t. Not if I have to worry about them finding poison in their bedroom. The girls will never be safe in Violetta.”

  “What about Heath?” I asked, my voice low. “Maybe he could help you.”

  She shook her head slowly. “Randy has rights, you know. And his family doesn’t have much money, but they’ve lived in this town for a hundred years. His parents may like me fine, but at the end of the day I’m just white trash who slept with their son. And Heath? Sure, he’s a nice guy… I’m not the kind of girl someone like him sticks with, though, and you know it. Neither of us are.”

  She held my gaze steadily and I swallowed, because she was right. We weren’t the kind of girls who had happy endings. We were the kind of girls who worked shit jobs to support shit men, and when we got arrested, everyone talked about how they’d seen it coming.

  “Okay. With the five hundred bucks Bone is holding onto for me, I have six hundred and twenty total. I won’t get another check until next week, but if I tell him it’s a family emergency, he might cash me out early. Sara can give us a ride to Cranston and we can catch a bus from there. We’re strong, Hannah. We’ve survived worse.”

  “You can’t come with us,” she said. “It’s a violation of your probation.”

  “Okay, then you and the kids go. Maybe Sara will let me crash with her. Or Bone. I’ll finish probation and then join you. That might be better anyway— I can keep working and send you money.”

  She rolled her head toward me, sighing.

  “This is really happening, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, it’s really happening. Unless…” I swallowed, trying to wrap my head around it. “Unless you want to try talking to Heath, Hannah. Maybe you’re wrong. He might be willing to help. He likes you a lot.”

  “I like him a lot, too,” she said slowly, and from the pain in her eyes I knew it was true. “I might even love him. But I don’t know him well enough to be sure, and once we talk to him then it’s all on the record. He’s a straight and narrow kind of guy. Takes his job seriously. Even if he believes us, I don’t know if the prosecutor would take our side. I could lose the girls.”

  I sighed, my head starting to throb.

  “Not only that, you’d probably have to testify against Randy,” I admitted. “Assuming they believed you. Which they totally should, but…you’re right. We’re not the kind of girls people listen to.”

  “I wouldn’t mind testifying against Randy,” she said quietly. “But they’d ask me about the others, too, and they threatened Callie. I suppose we could try the Reapers. Do you think Shade would help you?”

  “I have no idea,” I replied. “I mean, he helped with Rebel. Sort of. But he also said he didn’t do it because of me—it was about the fact that Rebel tried to cheat the club. I’m not sure this falls into the same category.”

  “I can’t think anymore,” Hannah said softly. “I think we need to sleep on this. Maybe tomorrow we’ll have a better idea of what to do.”

  “Things will look better in the morning,” I agreed. “In the meantime, we should probably do something with all this shit.”

  I gestured to the pile of drugs and paraphernalia, wondering how the hell we’d been so clueless.

  “We could flush it,” she said. “There may be more we haven’t found, but we can get rid of this, at least. So long as it’s here, we’re technically in possession.”

  “It’s as good a plan as any,” I said, sighing. “Tonight I’ll sleep in with the twins. That way if they wake up, I’ll be right there to keep an eye on them. I don’t feel like this trailer is safe anymore.”

  “Neither do I,” Hannah admitted. “Sucks. All of it. And of course it happens right when I’ve finally met someone I like. We had a good thing started.”

  “Look on the bright side,” I told her. “Maybe he’s a closet serial killer. For all we know, this is saving your life.”

  Hannah laughed and bumped me with her shoulder. I rolled my eyes, then pushed myself up from the floor, reaching down to give her a hand.

  We’d get through this.

  We had to.

  Chapter Sixteen

  That night I had a bizarre dream that a leprechaun came to the house and peed in our milk, turning it green. Hannah laid out sticky glue traps and caught him. Then the girls tickled him with feathers until he was screaming for mercy.

  He granted us three wishes.

  We wished that Randy and his druggy friends would disappear, that we’d get a new house, and that they’d put in a fountain full of green milk down at the city park, because dreams are weird.

  Sadly, when I woke up I was still living in a shithole that was probably drug contaminated. On the bright side, we were out of milk and had to drink hot chocolate for breakfast.

  I decided to count that as a win.

  After eating, Hannah and I sat on the porch and pretended nothing was wrong while we talked things over in hushed whispers. The girls played on the swing set, oblivious. When the little old lady who lived across the street came out to water her flowers, we gave her the usual smiles and waves—just like perfectly normal people living perfectly normal lives.

  Unfortunately, we weren’t perfectly normal people and the leprechaun’s wishes had only been a dream. No matter how we looked at the situation, there were no easy answers. I had to stay put for the next four weeks or risk violating my probation. I could apply for a move, of course, but that meant finding a new place to live and a job ahead of time—not to mention coming up with an explanation that the Department of Corrections wouldn’t find suspicious. That would take time, planning and money.

  Hannah and the girls would have to go without me.

  We had some friends up north who’d probably take them in, at least for a while. I could stay here and take my chances. Sara wouldn’t mind me crashing on her couch for a few days.

  “I’ll ride down to the bar,” I told Hannah. “Pick up that cash and talk to Bone. Ask him about an advance on my paycheck. He might be able to help.”

  “Okay,” she said, looking as defeated as I felt. “You know, I hate this trailer and I hate Randy, but I’m really going to miss Violetta. I liked my job.”

  “And Heath,” I added softly. “I know it’s a new thing with him, but he obviously makes you happy. What are you going to tell him?”

  She shrugged, her face sad. “I’ll think of something. It probably wouldn’t have worked out anyway. I have three kids—what man wants to take that on?”

  I squeezed her shoulder, wishing I could fix it. Then I fetched my little backpack purse, grabbed my bike and started pedaling toward the bar. Two minutes later I hit the railroad tracks wrong and nearly crashed, skidding across the gravel.

  Even the roads in this place sucked.

  Unlike Hannah, I couldn’t wait to put Violetta behind me. I wasn’t even sure where I wanted to go when I left. In some ways, I didn’t care. I just wanted to be free to enjoy life for a while, without constantly looking over my shoulder.

  I’d passed through town and was nearly to the Pit when I heard the sound of a motorcycle in the distance. Then it drew closer, turning around the corner toward me, and I realized there were actually two of them.

  Shade and his faithful companion, Dopey the Giant.

  Dopey fell back as Shade veered across the road, blocking me. For an instant I considered trying to go around him. Pointless. Instead, I cru
ised to a stop as he cut his engine, because a confrontation was the last thing I needed.

  “Where are you going? We need to finish our talk from last night.”

  “I needed to run by the bar,” I told him, focusing my gaze on the patches listing his name and office. All of the Reapers wore patches on their leather vests. According to Bone, they were part of the code the bikers used to communicate with each other. Some of them were simple—names and towns. Others held secret meanings I’d never been able to figure out.

  “Why?” he asked, and I could tell he was digging in for a fight. Crap. I didn’t have time for this.

  “Some dumbass left five hundred dollars there. Figured I might as well go pick it up.”

  Shade didn’t smile, cocking his head to look at me, his stare piercing.

  “What the fuck happened last night?” he demanded.

  “Nothing,” I told him, wishing it was the truth. “But I’m in a hurry. Get out of my way.”

  He shook his head slowly. “Leave the bicycle here. You’re coming with me so we can talk.”

  “Someone will steal it.”

  “Not in this town. Stop fucking around, Mandy.”

  “Shade, I’m not—” My phone rang, interrupting us. I glance down to see Hannah’s number. We usually texted each other, and she knew I was riding.

  Something must’ve happened.

  “I have to take this,” I said, putting down my kickstand as I swung off the bicycle. I swiped my finger across the phone, walking away from Shade so I could answer.

  “We have to leave now,” Hannah said, her voice frantic. “Like, right now. All of us.”

  “Calm down,” I told her in a low voice, glancing back toward Shade. He’d gotten off his own bike and was walking toward me. I turned and started walking faster. “Tell me what happened.”

  “Three guys showed up right after you left,” Hannah said. “I recognized one of them—he used to come around and talk to Randy sometimes. The other two were strangers. They said Randy owes them money. They… Mandy, they grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back. Really hard. I thought it was going to break. Then the bastard told me that Randy needs to pay up or they’ll hurt the girls. One of the other guys was staring at Callie and it wasn’t right. Like, I think he’s into her. Wants to… Mandy, I think he wants to do things to her. I’m so scared. I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared in my life.”