by Tia Siren
Chapter 18
Alexa
Another week passed with no news, nothing that would move Luke’s little investigation forward. It had been almost a full month now since Dalton had died. The note had been a scare, but since then nothing had gone wrong and I had stopped being worried that I was in danger, too.
I couldn’t say the same for others. It had been more than a week since Sam had disappeared. We had no leads. I was worried about Sam. Dalton was dead, and I mourned him every day, but at least he was out of danger.
Sam wasn’t, not if he was still alive. I hoped he was.
During my lunch break, I called Luke.
“Have you heard anything from Sam?” I asked. I asked Luke this every time we spoke, which was often. We had grown closer and closer since Dalton’s death, and even though I didn’t feel I needed to be protected or consoled all the time anymore, Luke still checked in. He was a great guy.
“I haven’t,” he said with a sigh. “I hate to say that to you every time.”
“And I hate to hear it,” I said. “I really hope he’s okay.”
Luke was silent for a while. We spoke about Dalton’s death less and less, and I was starting to wonder if he was giving up on figuring out what was going on. Part of me wanted him to keep going because I needed that closure, and he wouldn’t let me get involved, so I relied on him for it. Part of me hoped he’d given up because that would mean he was safe.
“Don’t you think we should go to the police?” I asked.
Luke sighed. “I can’t do that to him, Lex. If he’s still alive, then we should work to keep him safe. It’s still too risky.”
“But he can be a missing person now.”
“Rather missing than dead,” Luke said, and I knew he was right.
“I just feel like our hands are tied,” I said. “We can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
“That’s all we can do,” Luke said. “Getting involved is too risky, calling the cops isn’t a good idea, and I don’t want to do anything else. I’m not going to get more involved than that. We have to look out for ourselves, too.”
He was right again. Luke thought with his brain about all of this while I always thought with my heart. I just didn’t like that we were so restricted.
“I have to get going,” Luke said. “I’ll see you soon?”
“We’ll make a plan,” I said. “Thanks for letting me know.”
“Anytime. If I know, Lex, you’ll know. I promise.”
We ended the conversation. There was no way I could argue with Luke about the approach he wanted to take regarding Sam. Sam was missing, and we didn’t want to get the guy into more trouble than he was already in. I didn’t know if he was alive, but like Luke said, better missing than dead.
Unless we heard otherwise, we both chose to believe that he had gotten away, that something had come up and he hadn’t been able to make it to his meeting with Luke but he’d still gotten away and created a new life for himself.
It was so much better than considering the alternative, that something might have happened to him and he’d ended up dead. I didn’t want to lose anyone else. Even though I didn’t know Sam personally, Luke knew him, and any life was worth something. Also, he had information about Dalton, and even though I would prefer him safe, I was curious about what he had to say. I wanted to know.
If Sam was missing, we wouldn’t find out.
Unless I spoke to someone else who might know what was going on.
I knew someone who had fallen in with the Samurai. We’d studied together, and even though we’d never gotten along, I knew she was someone I could ask. Maybe she could tell me what Sam had wanted to tell us.
I wasn’t going to fish for too much. I just needed to know something.
Sherry Drake was on my social media, and her number wasn’t hidden from public view. I dialed her number, and she answered almost right away.
“Yeah?” she said. She sounded just as prissy as she had when she’d been at college with me.
“Sherry, it’s Alexa,” I said.
Her hesitation told me she couldn’t exactly remember me. Big surprise. She only remembered what she saw in the mirror and whoever was attached to the dick she wanted to land on next.
I made a bit of small talk, asking her how she’d been, what she was doing now. She wasn’t worried about mentioning that she hung around the Samurai club a lot, which was exactly what I was after. Not that I was going to tell her, of course.
“Do you want to meet up for coffee sometime?” I asked. “It’d be nice to catch up, get to see each other again, you know?”
“Sure,” she said and squealed. “There are way too many men around me these days and no one to gossip with.”
I set a time with her for Thursday and pretended to be as excited as she sounded. I didn’t believe that she felt she was surrounded by too many men. I imagined her being happiest while buried under a pile of male bodies. Sherry wasn’t my favorite person, but I would bite the bullet if it meant I could find out something about Sam or the information he’d had for Luke about my brother.
I went to Luke’s place after work. We made a habit of having supper together once a week, no matter what our weeks looked like. Even though I saw him a lot and we spoke every day, having supper together was something I looked forward to.
When Luke opened the door, he looked great. He wore a sky-blue shirt that made his eyes look electric, and it hugged his biceps just right.
“I was wondering when you’d get off,” he said with a smile and hugged me.
“Yeah, sorry. I had to do a last-minute check on a project for a deadline. Nightmare.”
Luke walked into his place, and I followed him.
“You cooked?” I asked. On the counter he’d laid out food: salad and veggies and a roast chicken that smelled delicious.
Luke shook his head. “You know I can’t cook. I bought ready meals and put everything on dishes so that it looked like I cooked.”
I laughed. “You’re not supposed to tell me your secrets.”
“I don’t lie to you,” he said, and I grinned. I loved that he was sincere and so honest with me.
We served ourselves plates and walked to the couch. Luke didn’t have a dining room table, but the couches would do. When we sat down, Luke sighed.
“I forgot the salad dressing,” he said. Reaching forward, he put his plate on the coffee table. His shirt pulled up, and I glimpsed the bottom of a tattoo that looked very familiar.
“I’ll be right back,” Luke said, and I watched him walk to his kitchen. That tattoo was the same as the one that had peeked out of Hunter’s shirt.
Either that was a strange coincidence or Luke was Hunter.
It didn’t make sense. How could that be?
Luke came back with the salad dressing and sat down before picking up his plate. His shirt pulled up again, and I was sure this time. I saw the bottom of it, and it was the same. I remembered that night in acute detail.
I watched Luke as he ate and made small talk, trying to see if I could picture him with a mask as Hunter. It looked more and more possible.
The more I realized it was possible, the angrier I became. Hadn’t he just told me that he didn’t lie to me? Well, it turned out he did. Wasn’t that just a great thing to know.
But it didn’t make sense. Why would he lie about who he was and be sexual with me? I didn’t understand.
How could I find out if it was him? Either I could confront him and he would probably deny everything, or I could get try to get that mask off. For that, I would have to go back to the club and get him to go there with me.
How easy would that be? Was that how it had worked the last time? I couldn’t tell him directly, but I’d never told him before and he’d been there anyway.
What the fuck was going on?
“You’ll be proud to know that I’m going out on Wednesday,” I said. “I’m not becoming a hermit.”
Luke chuckled. “You’re not a hermit
if we keep hanging out, but that’s good. I’m glad you’re going out. Where are you going?”
I shrugged. “A girl’s thing again. I don’t know for sure yet.”
I glanced at him. He nodded, taking a bite of chicken.
“Will you let me know where you’re going?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I’ll probably only know just before. You don’t have to worry about it.”
He glanced up at me, and I couldn’t read his expression. I didn’t know what he was thinking. The only way I was going to figure it out was if I went back to Blush and saw if he came, too.
I’d been meaning to go again. After the time I’d had with Hunter—Luke?—I’d wanted to do it again, maybe follow through and fulfill my fantasy this time. But things had gotten so busy, and there had been more emotional things to worry about. The last time I’d been to Blush was when I’d met Hunter.
“Are you going out?” I asked.
Luke shrugged. “Maybe. I’ll see. Maybe it would be better just to spend the night in. My days are long lately.”
I nodded, pretending to agree. I still had no idea if he was going to go to Blush. I had a hunch that Hunter was Luke, but Hunter had been dominant, strong and take-charge, and Luke didn’t seem like that. He was an alpha male all right, but a dom? I wasn’t sure.
And Hunter had darker hair. Right? What color had his eyes been? I couldn’t remember. But that tattoo…
This was going to drive me crazy. I had to find out sooner rather than later if Luke really was lying to me about who he was, about that aspect of my life. I hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with him about wanting to be a sub, but I hadn’t lied about who I was. It was two different things.
I was going to get to the bottom of this. If I couldn’t control what was happening with our investigation of Sam’s disappearance and Dalton’s death, I could control this part of my life. It was something at least.
And if it turned out it was Luke? I had no idea how I would react. I’d be angry, of course, but imagining it was him… No. I wouldn’t do this to myself. Not yet. If I was wrong, I would have built a fantasy that he wouldn’t fit into. And if I was right, I might be furious. Nothing about this made sense, and I had to figure out what the hell was going on first.
I had to find out if Luke was lying to me, and if he was, I had to find out why.
Chapter 19
Luke
We still hadn’t heard from Sam. I kept hoping he would call and tell me he’d been forced to run but was safe and just couldn’t make it to talk to me. I was starting to doubt that phone call would ever come.
I wanted information on Dalton, of course, but I wanted Sam to be alive more. I didn’t want any more lives to be ruined.
I knew the motorcycle gangs were hard, that life wasn’t valued the way it should have been and that many people died. I hadn’t realized how serious it was until now. I hadn’t realized how much danger Dalton had been in from the start.
If I’d known, maybe I would have tried harder to talk him out of it. Maybe I would have tried to do something about it.
But that wouldn’t have been possible. Dalton was just as stubborn as his sister. He’d decided it was the life he’d wanted to lead. Still, I would have known how serious he was when he’d told me that he was in danger and he thought someone was after him.
I didn’t want to admit this to myself, but when he’d asked me to look after Alexa, deep down inside I hadn’t thought there was a reason for him to ask me.
How naïve I’d been.
I stopped at a gas station on the way back home from work and filled up my car. I stood with the pump in my hand, waiting, watching the numbers tick up when someone came up behind me.
I felt his presence before he cleared his throat.
Koby Mason was in his fifties, with hair graying at his temples and dark beady eyes that missed nothing. He had a nasty look on his face. The scar that ran from just below his left eye in a hook to the corner of his mouth didn’t make him look any friendlier. He wore faded jeans that were a little torn on one knee, a leather vest with no T-shirt underneath, and one of those leather caps.
“Yeah?” I asked. I wasn’t in the mood for shit. Today was a bad day to mess with me. I’d lost my best friend, someone who was helping me had gone missing, the girl I wanted was looking for a stranger to dominate her, and the fucking gas prices had gone up again.
“I’m Koby Mason,” he said, “president of the Samurai.”
“I know who you are,” I said. I’d seen his ugly face before. It had been a while ago. I’d been out with Dalton, and Dalton had pointed him out. I didn’t need a refresher to know what Koby Mason looked like. That scar was a dead giveaway.
“Good,” Mason said. “Then we’re already off on the right foot. I make a point of having people understand who I am.”
I didn’t answer him. I wasn’t in the mood, but I wasn’t ready for conflict, either. I knew Mason was a dangerous man, and I didn’t want to get killed.
“Word has it you’ve been hanging around with Sam Thomas,” he said.
“Really. Do you keep track of all my friends?”
Mason smiled at me, but it wasn’t a friendly smile. “You think you’re cute,” he said. “Do you know what happens to people with smart mouths?”
I shook my head.
“No one does,” Mason said. “They disappear.”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I was smarting off to him, but I was under no illusion that Mason wasn’t dangerous. If I pushed my luck, I didn’t doubt he could take me out right now. Yes, he was scary as fuck, and I didn’t feel like being next on his hit list.
When I didn’t answer, Mason carried on. He seemed satisfied with the established pecking order.
“Speaking of people disappearing,” he said. “Have you heard from Sam?”
I shook my head. “We haven’t spoken since last week.”
Mason nodded slowly. “What did you meet him for?” he asked. The question was too straightforward for my liking.
“We had lunch together,” I said. “You know, to catch up. Life gets so busy you tend to drift apart. Damn shame.”
Mason chuckled without emotion, but he didn’t challenge me on my facts. I’d gone out to lunch with Sam a few times before, where we really did just catch up, and I knew that a few people who mattered had seen us. That was enough to back my lie for now.
“Did he mention anything?” Mason asked.
I sighed. “You’ll have to be more specific. We talked about a lot of things.”
“Anything of importance,” Mason said. I didn’t like his calm demeanor. People who were calm and collected could shoot you at point-blank range and not blink an eye.
“Nothing that I remember,” I said. “Unless you consider the Yankees’ score important. Personally, I thought it was a disgrace.”
Mason’s beady eyes drained of life, and it wasn’t hard to imagine him pulling the trigger on someone without remorse. Or did they do something else to kill people? I shivered and pushed the thought away.
“You better watch your mouth, son,” Mason said me. I shrugged off the pet name because it was not a good time to get cocky about that, too. “I want to know what Sam told you.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“He didn’t tell me anything we don’t usually talk about.”
There, that was a safe comment. We’d spoken about the same thing the last two times now, but my sentence made it sound like we had just spent time talking shit. Point for me.
Mason narrowed his eyes at me, and I thought he might push the topic.
“If you see or hear anything, if Sam contacts you at all, I need you to contact me. I have urgent business with the man, and I don’t appreciate being stood up.”
When he said those words, my stomach clenched. Did he know something?
I had to calm down. “Sure. How do I get in touch with you?”
I had no intention of ratting Sam out if he sho
wed up again, but I might as well pretend to be on Mason’s side.
“Take my card,” Mason said, handing me a business card. It was professionally printed with the club name and everything, as if he were a businessman. Looking at his fucked-up face and his intimidating way of talking, it was hard to imagine him being professional about anything.
“Yeah,” I said, tucking the card into my shirt pocket. “You’ll hear from me if I hear from Sam. Or if I find anything worth reporting.”
Mason walked toward me until he was face to face with me. I hated it when people got right up in my grill. I didn’t back down. Mason smelled like cigarette smoke, overpowering cologne, and an undertone of sweat. In any other situation, I would have punched him in the face for getting this close, but this was not the time for that. Mason needed to believe he’d successfully intimidated me. If I went at him now, I might win, but I would lose in the long run.
“I don’t think you understand what I want you to do,” he said. “You’re not going to call me when you find anything worth reporting. You’re going to call me when you find something I think you should be reporting. Do you understand me?”
His voice was low, and I nodded, swallowing.
“I would hate to have to take care of a problem that doesn’t need to exist. Are you going to be a problem?”
I shook my head.
“Good,” he said, clapping me on the back much harder than was necessary, knocking the wind out of me a little. I breathed in through my nose when he stepped away and turned around. He was showing me his back. He wasn’t scared of what I would do to him when he turned around.
That was because there was nothing I could do to him. He’d threatened me, and I was sure he could dish out pain. A lot of pain. If it was just me I was looking out for, I might have stood up to him differently. But Alexa was in my life, and I needed to keep her safe. And if they did find Sam, I didn’t want them to punish him for what I was doing, either.
There were no rules in this game, and I was in way over my head—a featherweight in a heavyweight match. What had started out as me being cocky had turned into me realizing that playing with fire would only come back to burn me.