by Tess Oliver
“It’s a good look for me, I agree.”
I pointed to the boy next to him. “This has to be Seth. Wait, let me guess. This really tall boy is the brother who can scare off grizzlies.”
“Yep, that’s Gage, although the grizzly thing might have been a bit of an exaggeration. Mountain lions maybe, but probably not a full-sized grizzly.”
There was one more boy in the picture, and from all that I knew about Luke’s life, I didn’t need to ask who he was. I rubbed my finger over Dex’s picture. “He looks like one of those guys who woke up with a smile and went to bed with one too.”
Luke nodded. “I’d say you nailed it. Even when things were going shitty for him, Dex managed to laugh it off. He had crappy parents, but he never complained or felt pity for himself. And he would have hated it if anyone showed him any sympathy.” He stared down at the picture. “Still can’t believe he’s gone.”
“What about the Bent for Hell guys who did this? Were they ever caught?”
“Yep. They aren’t ever going to cruise along the highway on their bikes again. They’re done.”
“That’s good to hear.” I got up and walked around the room. A lopsided four drawer file cabinet leaned in one corner. Someone had shoved magazines under one end in a futile attempt to straighten it out. The labels were crudely scrawled in blue ink as if someone had written them hastily not wanting to be bothered with the monotonous details of organization. “Was this your dad’s office?”
“Yeah, he was a detective. I guess that was something else I kept from you.”
“It would explain a lot of things, like your talent with a gun. So, you followed in his footsteps?” I walked over to the far wall. A large framed corkboard held a collage of photos and papers that were covered with the same sloppy writing as the file labels.
“Sort of. I went into criminal justice in college. I always thought there was no one as cool as my dad, and I wanted to be like him.”
I peered up at a newspaper article stuck on the board with a red pushpin. The crudely cut strip of newspaper was yellowed by time. The headline read “Staple Gun Murders”. There were several other articles with red push pins that talked about the same grisly case.
Luke came up behind me. “The office might look as if my dad was disorganized, but he had his own primitive way of keeping things in order. Every red push pin on this board is holding something that has to do with the Staple Gun Murders. They were an older couple who had no kids or real relations. Someone came in and shot staples into their faces with a staple gun before strangling them. They found them stapled to the wall by the skin on their hands and fingers.”
I winced at the horrific details. “How awful. How does one human do that to another human? Did they ever find the killer?”
“Nope.” Luke surveyed the board. “When a case was solved, Dad would take down all of the pieces and throw them into a folder and drop them into his metal cabinet. That would leave space for the next case. Everything you see here are the cases that were never solved.”
A pink pushpin held a faded picture of a baby wrapped in a green blanket. “Was this baby killed?”
“No one knows. They never found her. That case haunted my dad a lot. He said no one’s kids were safe when a crazy person was out there waiting to take them. Her parents were wealthy, I think, and the baby was just taken from her crib one night. It was a moonless night, so they called her the Starlight Baby.”
“How sad for those parents.”
“Yeah, I think that’s what was hardest on my dad. Having to constantly face the parents, knowing that he’d failed to find their baby.”
Luke reached up and took several notes and pictures off the board that were held on with white pins. “This case was recently solved. A woman’s body was found stuffed in a trash bin, and they could never figure out who she was. Recently, they discovered she’d been a tourist who’d come here with her husband. He killed her and flew back alone and apparently no one questioned where the wife had been all these years. I think I’ll put it in the file. That’s what Dad would have done.” He walked over to his dad’s filing cabinet. “By the way, I talked to Jericho. He hasn’t had any more unwanted visitors. The doctors said he can be released day after tomorrow. Then the three of us will hop a flight to Bozeman, Montana.”
“I’m excited. I really haven’t ever been out of this area. Sometimes I feel like the most sheltered person on the planet. I was looking at your beautiful bathtub and realized that I’ve only sat in a tub two times, and both times it was in some sleazy motel where I’m certain the tub was questionable. But as a kid who’d never really had the fun of sitting in a bubble bath, it was so cool I can still remember both times perfectly. The first time, my mom sat on the equally questionable motel bed eating chicken from a bucket while I played mermaid until the water grew so cold my teeth were chattering. The second time wasn’t quite as enjoyable because the water had this strange rust color, and the crummy motel hadn’t supplied any of those little shampoo bottles for making suds.”
Luke walked over and put his arms around me. “Well, then my little mermaid, you need to take a bath. My mom had the bathroom remodeled just months before she died. That big tub was her one luxury gift to herself. She’d said ‘a woman living in a house that was overflowing with testosterone needed a bubble bath at least once a week’.”
He took my hand and led me down the hallway to the bathroom. He turned on the spigot and closed the drain. It was a shiny white porcelain tub with silver clawed feet. The basin was deep and sloped in the back, perfect for relaxing.
Luke reached under the sink and brought out a shiny gold box. The scent of roses puffed up from the box. “I can even provide you with bubble bath.” Then he twisted his mouth as if he was trying to find a way out of a corner he’d just painted himself into. “It’s not mine, but I guess you figured that out already.”
I walked over and opened the box. A crystal pink powder that was rich with flowery perfume was piled high in the container, and a tiny gold scoop stuck from the top. “Of course it’s not yours. Anyone can see that you’re more a lavender kind of guy.”
“It’s that obvious, eh?”
I lifted the box. The expiration date was for December of the following year. “I’m going to assume it wasn’t your mom’s either.”
“Let me check the water temperature,” he said.
“It’s all right, Reno. I know you didn’t just pop into existence the day I found you in the desert. I’m sure you’ve had plenty of girlfriends.” I took hold of the box and scooped some soap into the water. Instantly, fluffy mounds of iridescent, rose smelling bubbles rolled across the surface of the water.
I pulled my shirt and bra off and then slid off my shorts and panties. Luke stood in the center of the bathroom and watched my very unimaginative strip tease. Even so, his gaze looked as hungry as if it had been the first time he’d seen me naked.
His arm went around my waist and he lowered his face and pressed his nose against mine. “There might have been other girls, but never did I have someone who invaded my every thought for every second of the day. Never have I had someone who made me so crazy with need that my cock went hard just thinking about her. There’s never been anyone like you, Evangeline.”
He’d discovered how to say my full name with just the right intonation that the sound of it made my knees like jelly. My fingers clutched at his shirt to steady myself. There was something incredibly erotic about standing completely naked in his arms while he was fully clothed.
“Get in the water, Baby. I’m going to give you a bath that puts your mermaid adventure to shame.”
Scented foam tickled my skin and my nose as I lowered myself into the hot bath. I closed my eyes and leaned back. “This is way better than the motel bathtub. Can I stay here for the rest of the afternoon?”
Luke knelt down next to the tub. “Do you want me to leave or do you want me to wash your hair and back?”
“Hmm, let me think, my h
ot hunk of a boyfriend with just a bar of soap and his slightly calloused fingers running through my hair and along my naked skin. Yes, please.” I slid down and plunged beneath the water. I came up laughing. “There’s something you can’t do in a shower. Shit, I don’t miss those mildew stained, spider filled showers at the compound.”
Luke poured some shampoo in his palm. “With all those bubbles on your head, you look like a frosted cupcake. Almost hate to ruin the look.”
“Sorry, pal, there’s no going back on your offer now. Cupcake or not.”
He got up on his knees and massaged my hair and scalp with his strong hands. His completely masculine scent and the confident touch of his fingers sent a tingling sensation through me. I closed my eyes to savor the feel of it. “God, Reno, how is it that you touch one part of me, and it feels as if you’ve stroked my entire body.”
“I guess it’s a gift.”
I opened my eyes, lifted up a palm full of bubbles and blew them at him. They dissolved the second they touched his shirt. I closed my eyes again. “I could definitely get used to this bath thing.”
“Unfortunately, most baths don’t come with a personal hair washer.”
“Too bad. It should be mandatory.”
He kissed my ear, and I startled not expecting it.
“Maybe I can help with that,” he said. “Besides, I’m enjoying this as much as you.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Okay, frosty, let’s get you rinsed out.” He grabbed the shower head and pulled it across the bath. I leaned back on my elbows and the warm water from the shower head trickled over my breasts, clearing the opaque cloud of bubbles from my skin. I peered up at him, and he pretended to look confused. “Oh, you wanted me to rinse your hair? Sorry.” He reached down and ran his thumb over my nipple. My body reacted instantly. “By the way, those look fucking awesome wet.”
“Not dry?”
“Never said that. Now lean back, and I’ll get the shampoo out.”
The water ran through my hair and his fingers combed through it as he rinsed out the soap. He turned off the water rather abruptly and I lifted my head. “It doesn’t seem like you got all—”
He put his finger to his mouth. “Shh.” The only sound was the water lapping along the porcelain of the tub. It echoed off the tile walls. Then I heard it, the distinctive rumble of a Harley. There was more than one, and they were cruising slowly down the street.
Luke grabbed a towel. I stood out of the water, and he wrapped it around me. He stepped into the hallway and glanced back at me. “Lock this bathroom door behind me.”
“But—”
“Do it now, Angel,” he said sharply.
I swung it shut and locked it. I dried quickly and struggled to pull my shorts up over semi-dry legs. I heard the front door open and shut. I finished dressing and stood in the center of the steamy, fragrant bathroom trying to listen for what might be going on outside. My relaxing bath had taken a shocking turn, and now my heart was beating wildly. I no longer had any way of predicting what Dreygon would do or what he was capable of. He wasn’t the same man I’d grown up with.
After a few tense minutes, it seemed as if the motorcycles were driving off, or at least that was what I hoped. I opened the drain on the tub and watched my luxurious bubble bath disappear. I closed the toilet seat and sat down. I was feeling a little more than silly hiding out in the bathroom from my own grandfather and then I realized what a creepy notion that was, having to hide out from your own grandfather. But I hadn’t felt related to him for the last few months. He’d changed too much. I wondered what my mom would have thought about it. She’d always seemed to love the man unconditionally, even when he’d treated her cruelly or done something despicable in the name of the club, she still always looked at him as if he wore the gold robes of a king. And he liked that. The man liked to be thought of as a king, even a tyrannical, brutal king was fine with him, as long as people showed him respect. With Gunner, Cash, Jericho and me leaving his side, he had to be feeling extremely pissed and betrayed. A knock startled me, and I nearly slipped from my porcelain perch.
“Angel, it’s me.” I relaxed at the sound of his voice. I opened the door and stepped out into the hall. Everything seemed to be fine, but the look on his face assured me that that wasn’t the case.
“Was it Dreygon?” I asked.
“Yeah. He was with a few other riders. They were just cruising up and down the street. Had the officers out front pretty tense but then they rode off. Carson has those restraining orders in place, but they only pertain to Dreygon. And knowing the way he does things, he’s not the one we have to worry about.”
“Damn him.” I pressed myself into Luke’s arms.
He held me. “I’m not sure how to stop Dreygon, and I don’t understand why he wants to keep this control of you. But, we have to stop him.”
Chapter 17
Angel
It had been my first time on a plane and after freaking out just a tiny bit on take-off and squeezing the crap out of Luke’s hand, I’d grabbed it again for the descent.
He smiled over at me. “I’m pretty sure the pilot has done this before,” he said. “And flying is a million times safer than riding on the back of a motorcycle.”
“Depends who’s driving the bike,” Jericho said across the aisle. I grabbed his hand too for extra support.
“I’m sitting between my two favorite people in the world. If I have to die in a fiery ball of death, I’m glad it will be with you guys.” The plane touched down and I held my breath until it came to a stop.
“Evie,” Jericho glanced down at our hands, “my fingers are tingling.”
“Oops.” I let go.
Luke pulled out his phone and pressed the key pad. “Hey, you here already? We just landed. All right, see you in a few.” He hung up. “Gage is just pulling into the airport. We should be at the ranch in twenty minutes.”
I smiled over at Jericho. This whole ugly incident had really taken its toll on him. He looked way thinner and much paler than I’d ever seen him. I knew he was worrying about his future. He’d grown up in the club and being without it had made him feel extra alone. I was lucky. I’d had someone waiting for me on the other side of the compound walls. Jericho hadn’t. But now he had Luke and me. I knew that wasn’t enough for him, but after what Dreygon had done, there was no turning back for Jericho now.
We walked into the terminal. My gaze took it all in. I’d seen so little in my life that every new place was like an adventure. The building was shiny and clean, but it had been designed with stones and stained pine to look rustic. A high wood beam ceiling stretched from one end of the vast building to the other.
“Wow, there are a lot of people.”
Luke smiled at me. “Guess you’ve never been to a big city airport. This is nothing.”
None of us had more than a small bag’s worth of personal items, and so we’d been able to carry everything on with us. Jericho was on crutches, and it pained me to see it. He didn’t seem to mind too much. He had already figured out how to use his injury to gain sympathy. One young, completely enamored flight attendant must have asked him a dozen times if there was something she could do to make him more comfortable. And every time she asked, I could see a wicked glint in his eye, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. Fortunately, he’d just answered with a ‘no thank you’ each time.
We stepped outside. The air was so fresh it almost hurt to take a deep breath. There was a crisp hint of early autumn in the air, something we wouldn’t be experiencing at Angel’s Ridge for another month. I zipped up my sweatshirt.
“It’s a lot colder here, but you’ll get used to it. Just be glad it’s not winter.” Luke waved to someone across the way. Gage was taller than both Luke and Jericho and had shoulders that nearly spanned the cab of the truck he was standing in front of.
“I don’t think the grizzly bear thing was an exaggeration at all,” I said.
We walked across the drop o
ff area to the small lot where Gage was parked.
“Yeah, probably not. My mom must have been feeding him extra under the table. I could never figure out why he grew into such a giant.”
Gage was even bigger up close.
“Hey, Gage, this is Angel and this is Jericho.”
“Nice to meet you both.” Gage took hold of my bag. Luke climbed into the front seat and Jericho and I climbed into the back.
Luke looked over at his brother. “Did my little plan go off without a hitch?”
“Yep.”
“What plan?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” Luke said.
We pulled out onto the highway. I pressed my face against the glass to get a view. With the exception of the jagged mountains stretching across it, much of the landscape was flat like back home. But it was much greener. The sagebrush and tumbleweeds had been replaced by coniferous trees and mossy green ferns. It was breathtaking and it seemed an entirely different planet, which made me feel a safe distance away from Dreygon.
“I bought some groceries.” Gage’s profile was as finely chiseled as Luke’s. All three brothers were beautiful.
Luke smiled over at him. “You at the store with a little shopping cart, and no one to snap a damn picture.”
“Yeah, I was a sight. It did feel like everyone was watching me, but I probably reeked of fresh cut timber and my boots were covered in dried mud. I do occasionally buy food that’s not already premade.”
Luke looked at him with a raised brow.
“I said occasionally.”
More than once, I caught Gage watching me in the rearview mirror. His eyes were pale like Luke’s but blue and his coloring fell somewhere between his two twin brothers. He hadn’t said much to me yet, and I wondered what he could be thinking. I was not exactly a conventional type of girlfriend, which was doubly proven by the fact that we were now having to hide out at his ranch.