Roman

by K. J. Dahlen

  “I was grown up enough to know what I wanted,” Deke countered. “I didn’t want him to shove his ideas down my throat. I had a brain. I could think for myself.”

  “You were a dumb kid who thought picking up a gun was more important than going to school,” Raine reminded him. “I was there remember? He wanted more for you than prison or having someone else tell you what to do, even if that person was him. He wanted you to have a chance he never got until he joined the service. The military taught that man more about life than he ever got from his own parents. They were too damned stoned all the time to worry about him or his little brother. Sam did all the worrying about Benny. It was Sam that worried about feeding the two of them and Sam that took him to school every day. It was Sam that protected Benny the best way he could but it wasn’t enough.”

  “Who the fuck is Benny?” Deke frowned.

  “Benny was Sam’s baby brother,” Raine informed him.

  “Was?” Iceman asked.

  Raine turned to look at the other man. “Benny died one night when Sam was seventeen. He picked up a gun and confronted a man three times his size and three times meaner than he was. When he shot Benny right in front of Sam, Sam picked up that gun Benny dropped and killed the man that shot his brother. Then he held Benny in his arms and watched his brother die. Benny was only fourteen when he died. The next day, Sam got out of Quincy and joined the service. He had to lie about his age to get in but he never went back. He said he had nothing to go back to or for.”

  “Why didn’t he ever tell me about this?”

  “Would you have listened?” Raine asked.

  Deke shrugged. “Maybe but he never gave me the chance, did he?”

  “All I’m asking is that you give him a chance now. Don’t shut him out again. He is a good man and I think it’s time the two of you got to know each other. Maybe you can relate better now as grown men rather than father and son.”

  Deke shrugged and watched as Raine turned and walked out. He looked at Iceman and shrugged again.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Deke got Zipper on the phone and had him run some names. He wanted info on Donny Rearden, Flynn Rearden, Ben Tory and Sam Tory. He asked for anything and everything Zipper could find.

  Deke got Gator, Deacon, Wiley and Iceman together in his office and laid out a plan of action. “Okay, we have a new problem. My father is going to be a pain in the ass. By that, I mean he’s staying in town for a while and that could cause any number of problems for us. He’s going to try and stick his nose into our business. Not that we have anything to hide but we don’t want to advertise it either. The only ones that need to know our business is us. We also need to keep an eye on Cassie, Peaches and Paige as well as our other women. There might be a new threat out there, we didn’t know about until today. Seems Cassie’s old man Flynn has a brother that may or may not be out of prison yet, but if he is, he might be looking for Flynn or Flynn’s daughters. We all know how much Peaches means to Cassie. Calderone is aware of the threat as well but we don’t want to put Peaches, Paige or Cassie in line with this guy.” Deke looked at Gator. “I don’t want Reva or Marnie in his sights either. I don’t know much about him yet, but I’ve got Zipper looking into it. Calderone also has his men looking in to him as well. He’s promised to share info on this guy and if he’s a threat to us or our women we will find the bastard and take him out.”

  “We can put some of the men on guard duty,” Wiley suggested.

  Deke nodded. “Do it but keep it on the down low. We also don’t want the women to know about him either.” Turning to Gator he said, “I want some of our guys over at Redemption House for protection there as well. If anything happens to put those people in danger, the city will shut it down and that would about kill Cassie.” He got to his feet. “For now, we all stay alert and pray like hell, Donny Rearden is still behind bars. If he’s out, we have to find him fast.”

  “Are you gonna tell the guys at Redemption House about this guy?” Gator asked.

  Deke nodded. “I’ll go and talk to Amos and he can pass the word.

  ~* * * *~

  Cassie turned from one side to the other and then back again. After four days in bed, she was going crazy. She was rested and felt fine and she was extremely bored. Bored with a capital B. She had never in her life lounged around in bed all day before. Looking at the window, she could tell it was getting dark outside. She’d eaten supper a while ago now. She knew it was almost bedtime and still, she was wide awake.

  Since she had hooked up with Deke, her life hadn’t been her own and she wasn’t sure if she liked it that way or not. She did love the man and she was having his babies but that was beside the point. She’d started something she could finally call her own, Redemption House and she wanted to be the one to present it to the world.

  She felt cheated that it wouldn’t be her doing the walk through with the city council members and it wouldn’t be her standing there the day they opened the doors to the public. She knew she shouldn’t feel this way, she should instead be proud that so many others wanted to help, but this was her dream not theirs.

  Then she felt ashamed of her thoughts. Redemption House was her dream but it was their dream as well. She wasn’t doing this for her benefit but for everyone who needed it. It was supposed to be for everyone who needed a safe place to rest and get a second chance to make a good life for themselves, not just for her glory.

  Sighing, she laid back on her pillow and whispered, “Thanks Mom. I love you too.” Cassie knew her mother was whispering the reasons why to her from the other side and Cassie had learned to listen. With a huff, she couldn’t stand it anymore she sat up and flung the covers back. Swinging her feet over the edge of the bed, she looked up in time to see the bedroom door open and Deke walked in.

  “Just where do you think you’re going?” he asked.

  Cassie sighed and laid back down. “Nowhere. I’m going nowhere,” she whined.

  “That’s right, you aren’t,” Deke scolded her. He came over to the bed and handed her a large flat box.

  Cassie frowned. “What is this?”

  “Open it and find out.”

  Cassie made a face and opened the box. Inside was a new laptop computer. She looked at Deke and said, “I have one of these.”

  “Not like this one you don’t.” Deke smiled. “This one is newer than yours, and has a lot of new programs. Including Skype, so you can be connected anytime you want to be with Redemption House. It also has my work address in it, so you and I can skype me too.”

  Cassie’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

  Deke chuckled. “Honey, I know this is hard for you and I know giving control over to other people is killing you. But I want you and our babies to be okay and that means sacrifice. You have to give up the next two weeks and hopefully, that will be all you have to give up. I just want to make it as easy as I can for you.”

  Cassie wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you.”

  “Thank Zipper, he set the computer up. I don’t really know that much about them. He said he could show you how to use the programs if you wanted some help.”

  “I’d like to try on my own first. I used to be pretty good on one of these things.”

  “Well, the offer is still there anytime you need it. He said to tell you he copied everything that was on your laptop and updated everything.”

  “Does he still have the old laptop?”

  “I’m sure he does.”

  “Good, I’d like to keep it.” Cassie lightly touched his chest. “Are you coming to bed soon?” she asked. It had been a day or two since he joined her in this bed and she wanted to cuddle tonight. She knew they wouldn’t make love but just to lay in his arms and listen to his heartbeat as he slept would have been good enough for her.

  Deke grabbed her hand and set it aside. “Umm, not just yet. I have some paperwork to finish. That damn stuff piles up if you aren’t there to take care of it.” He kissed the top of her head and got off the bed.

>   Cassie watched him all the way to the door. Before she could say a word, he was gone. She was surprised. She had felt him pulling away from her since her kidnapping and she wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t anything big but her insecurities were telling her something. She just never knew what that something was. Before this, she never wanted anyone to get too close but now that Deke had, she didn’t want to lose him.

  She opened the laptop and while she waited for it to fire up, she saw an icon she didn’t recognize. When the computer was ready, she clicked on the icon and found herself on a search page. Clicking in the box, she found the name Donavan Rearden. “Who the heck was Donavan Rearden?” Shaking her head, she clicked on the name and waited for the information to come up.

  Her eyes widened when it did. It was the news report of a murder twenty years ago. Page after page was filled with news articles of the murder of Roman Rearden. His own son Donavan committed the beating death and was sentenced to twenty to life. The date he was sent to prison was almost twenty one years ago.

  Cassie was stunned. One of the articles mentioned a younger brother Flynn. Her hands began to shake when she realized her father had an older brother and she couldn’t help but wonder what this meant to her. With shaking hands, she dialed Deke’s number on her phone. When it went to voicemail, she groaned. She waited and dialed again. When it went to voicemail a second time, she wanted to throw the phone against the wall but she didn’t. Instead, she dialed Zipper’s number.

  “What?” Zipper’s voice was questioning.

  “Zipper, this is Cassie, can you come and see me?”

  “I’m a little busy right now, can it wait till morning?”

  “No it can’t,” Cassie insisted. “If you can’t come to me, I’ll come to you. Ten minutes.”

  “You can’t,” he insisted. “You’re on bed rest.”

  “I won’t be if I have to come to you,” she told him and hung up the phone. Her thoughts were driving her crazy. Was this the reason why Deke was pulling away from her? What exactly did this man have to do with her? Was she in danger? Her hands covered her belly and she rubbed her stomach.

  A few minutes later, Zipper joined her. When he sat on the edge of her bed, she flipped the laptop around to him.

  He frowned when he saw the page she was looking at. “Where did you find that?”

  “Apparently, when you copied the programs over, you copied your latest searches,” Cassie informed him. “Who is this guy?’ She tapped the screen.

  Zipper closed his eyes for a moment and muttered under his breath, “Deke is gonna kill me.”

  “If he doesn’t, I will,” Cassie threatened. “Who is he?”

  “He’s your dad’s brother,” Zipper finally told her. “He might be coming after you or Paige to find out what happened to his brother.”

  “And why did Deke not tell me this?”

  Zipper shrugged. “You’ll have to ask him.”

  Cassie growled. “Why? He won’t tell me the truth and I’d rather he didn’t lie to me. Not about this.”

  “Why would you think he would lie to you?” Zipper asked.

  “A lie by omission is still a lie.” Cassie shrugged. “He wouldn’t want to worry me.”

  “What are you going to do?” Zipper asked.

  “Is Donavan out of prison?”

  “We don’t know yet,” he admitted. “We also don’t know what he’s going to do about Flynn.” He shrugged. “Hell, we didn’t know he existed until Sam told us about him.”

  “How the hell did Sam even know him?”

  “Sam grew up in Quincy. He knew Flynn and your mother, he also knew about Donavan. And from what I read in the newspapers, Donavan is not a nice guy. He beat the hell out of his father because his father was beating on Flynn.”

  “Flynn’s entire family are nuts. There wasn’t one of them worth a damn.”

  “Well, that’s true enough but Donavan just spent the last twenty years behind bars. If he’s out he’s gonna be looking for his brother. We don’t know if Flynn kept in touch with Donny or not but if he did, he might have told him about you and Paige. If Donny can’t find Flynn, he might come after one of you girls to find out what happened to his brother.”

  Cassie snorted. “I don’t go by Flynn’s name and if he knows my name is Ryan he’ll figure I call myself Josette. He won’t be looking for Cassie Ryan.”

  “But he might know Flynn gave Paige away and to whom. He could be looking for Max and Peggy.”

  Cassie began to sweat. “You have to warn them to stay here. They can’t go home.”

  “Deke said he would talk to Max.”

  “Did you warn Peaches’ father as well?” Cassie wanted to know. “If Donavan gets the word Flynn is dead and by whose hand, he’ll go after Calderone.”

  “Deke told him to look out for Donny.” He shrugged. “We don’t even know if Donny is out of jail yet.”

  “Calderone can get that information,” Cassie told him.

  “Yeah, well right now, we don’t have much information on the guy. Sam might have more but he’s not exactly on speaking terms with us.”

  “What about Max?” Cassie suggested. “He grew up there too. Wouldn’t he know Donny and Sam?”

  Zipper sat up straighter. “He just might. I don’t know if Deke would have realized that or not.”

  Cassie moved around a bit to get to a more comfortable position. “So, I have an uncle out there somewhere that might be looking to kill me, ain’t that grand?”

  “Why would he be looking to kill you?” Zipper frowned.

  “I ratted my father out to Calderone,” Cassie admitted. “The night Peaches found her father again, I found mine too. He was working for Calderone under the name Theo Billini. He warned me not to say anything but I wouldn’t keep quiet. I let Calderone know exactly who brought Peaches to Janelle’s house and why. Calderone didn’t take too kindly to the news and he made Flynn pay with his life.”

  “Flynn kidnapped Peaches and took her to Janelle’s house?” Zipper repeated.

  “Yeah, he did. He also caused the accident that killed her mom. Calderone was not a happy guy when he ordered Flynn to be taken away.”

  “Why did you rat him out?” Zipper was curious.

  “My father took away everything in my life that meant anything to me, my mother, my sister and me. He threw us all away like garbage and for what? He didn’t give a shit about us, only himself. He couldn’t face the world without drugs or booze. No one has any idea what my life was like because of him. I went through hell but I survived. I think I survived because I wanted to track the bastard down and see him on his way to hell before I gave up on life. When Calderone dragged him away that night, Flynn was begging for mercy and I knew in my heart Calderone would have none and Flynn didn’t really deserve any. I was more than happy to see the fear in his eyes that night.”

  Zipper sighed heavily. “I’d better let Deke know about this.”

  “Yeah, you do that.” Cassie scoffed. “He knows most of it already.”

  “Are you okay?” Zipper asked.

  “No I don’t think I am. I expected him to be honest with me. This isn’t being honest. I know he doesn’t want me to worry but I don’t like lies and he lied to me. He can pretend he didn’t, but he did.”

  Zipper got to his feet. “He just didn’t want you to fuss about something that probably won’t happen anyway.”

  “I had the right to know,” she whispered.

  Zipper leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “Right now, all you have to worry about is those babies in your belly. Deke and the rest of us will worry about anything that threatens them and you.”

  Cassie narrowed her eyes and stared at him. “I can take care of myself. I have been doing it for a long time now and I will continue to do it. I’m not some wilting violet that needs some big strong man to hold me in the dark, you know.”

  “I know that. Why do you think Gator named you Spitfire?” Zipper nodded. “I will tell you one thing
though, those are Deke’s babies too and he will protect his family same as me and the rest of the guys would. You aren’t alone anymore Cassie. You have us for a family and we care about what happens to you. Maybe you should think about that for a while and realize just what it means.” He turned and left the room.

  Cassie sighed and laid back. Her babies moved inside her but Cassie paid them no mind. She was too busy thinking about what Zipper just said.

  ~* * * *~

  Deke and the other sat in his office and planned. They hadn’t found any information and Donavan Rearden yet and that bothered him. When his phone rang, he answered it and listened to what Zipper had to say. When he hung up, he stared at Deacon and Iceman and he wasn’t happy at all. “Cassie found out about Donavan. She isn’t happy about it but she suggested that Max might know about him.”

  “He might at that,” Deacon agreed. “He knew about Flynn, he might know about Donny too.” Shrugging he continued, “I didn’t know Donny myself, Flynn never really talked about him, and I was just a kid anyway. He was gone by the time Flynn and Jemmia got together.”

  “We have to keep Max and Peggy here under our protection. If Donny is out and looking for his brother, he might go to old school friends.”

  “Too bad there isn’t a way to find out who Donny hung with before he went to prison,” Iceman suggested.

  “Maybe Max would know,” Deke suggested reaching for the phone. “We’d better find him and ask while we can.”

  “Did Zipper say anything else?” Deacon wanted to know.

  Deke nodded. “Yeah, he said Cassie wasn’t happy about us lying to her about this mess.”

  “You didn’t want her to worry about it right now,” Iceman reminded him.

  “It’s still a lie according to her and I can’t blame her for being mad about it.” Deke shook his head. When Max answered the phone Deke asked him to come over, they needed to talk.

  Just then, Nash, one of Iceman’s men came to the door. “Iceman, can I talk to you man?”