He was pathetic. A man like him didn’t deserve someone as lovely as Kaiya. The blood on his hands could never be washed away. Right now, she wanted to live out her fantasies, so he would be that for her. He could fulfill every raunchy, dirty scenario she could dream up, and when it was over, he would walk away knowing she had been the best thing to ever happen to him.
“Gabby—”
“No,” he said. He didn’t need platitudes, promises or hope. “I’ve tried to stay away, but I can’t. And you know why I can’t sleep through the night with her. I can’t control the madness.”
“You’re not mad,” Boone whispered.
The shower turned off. Gabby forced himself to stop looking at Kaiya’s silhouette to stare Boone in the eyes.
“I’ve snapped once,” he said, his voice dead and cold. “There’s no telling when it’ll happen again. It’s imperative we keep her safe.”
Boone sighed and slowly nodded before he rose and reached for his clothes. Gabby left the bedroom, not turning around again. He could never look over his shoulder. Otherwise, he might see all the ghosts ready to drag him to Hell.
* * * *
Sometime later, they walked into the local hardware store together. Gabby held her hand, and Boone followed behind them. She noticed a few stares, but they didn’t bother her. People had been staring at her for her entire life, for one reason or another. She was quite proud to be sandwiched between the two handsome specimens.
They strolled through the aisles, stopping at various places. She knew they talked to each another, because the vibrations of their words rumbled back and forth, but she didn’t bother trying to see what they said. Gabby picked up a bucket, and Boone became captivated by a display of tools just as she saw a sign for the restroom. She tugged on Gabby’s hand and when he turned to her, she signed she had to use it. He gave her a thumbs up, and she finger-waved before heading into the back.
An overhead fluorescent bulb flickered, on the verge of dying, and it cast odd patterns across the floor. As she passed around the corner to where the restrooms were located, a hand grabbed her arm painfully, jerking her to a halt. Her head cracked against the cement blocks when a man pushed her against the wall. Agony sliced through her brain, and she blinked in terror as he waved a gun in her face. It took her a moment to drag her gaze from the deadly weapon to his face, trying to identify him. But she didn’t know the stranger hurting her. He was skinny, bald and wore glasses. If anyone had surveyed her on what an attacker would look like, this man would’ve been the last person she’d ever describe. It took her a moment to realize he was talking to her. She looked at his mouth. Keys? What keys?
“You must have found them by now. I need those keys!”
She shook her head in bewilderment, ignoring the throbbing at the back of her head. Had he mistaken her for someone else? He brought up his fist, as if he meant to backhand her across the face, and her sanity returned. The situation was similar to the one when she’d been kidnapped. Back then, she hadn’t known what to do to save herself. But she’d had special training since then, not wanting to once more be the helpless victim who’d been unable to defend herself. Self-defense was not only about knowing the moves but also about being able to push the fear aside to remember the training. The stranger stood directly in front of her, his legs spread. Swiftly, she brought up her knee and hit him right where it counted most. A tortured expression erupted on his face, his eyes rolled back in his head and he doubled over to protect his dick and balls, releasing her. Kaiya didn’t waste the opportunity. She shoved him, and just as he fell back like a rag doll, she took off running toward the last place she’d seen Gabby. She rounded the corner and smacked into something hard and unyielding. With a frightened cry, she brought her hands up to defend herself before seeing Boone stare down at her in concern. Gabby was next to him.
She pointed behind her and cried out, not caring the least that her voice was distorted and unattractive. “Help! Man!”
Gabby didn’t waste a second. He dropped the bucket he held and dashed the way she’d just run from. He grabbed his gun from the back of his jeans.
“What happened?” Boone signed. He spelled out every word but at least they were able to communicate.
She took a deep breath and signed, “A man grabbed me.”
He nodded and took hold of her hand before following after Gabby. He stayed in front of her, protecting her. Their search led outside, where Gabby studied the passing shoppers. His hand was in his jacket pocket so she suspected that’s where his gun resided as well.
Gabby and Boone talked, but she couldn’t see what they said to each other. Then Gabby turned to her and pulled his hand out of his pocket to sign.
“What happened?”
“A man attacked me. He had a gun.”
The two men exchanged furious glances.
“What did he look like?” he asked with his hands.
“Bald. Thin. Glasses.”
She read his lips when he said Cipher’s name. Bikers did love their gossip, but they knew to keep it in house. Since she could read lips, Kaiya had a knack for learning facts and some of those facts had been about what Romeo had done to the old accountant. The man was supposed to be banished from the state, so why would he come back to the one place he knew could be a death sentence if he was caught?
She tugged on Gabby’s arm. His eyes were wild, angry, and for a moment, she saw the fierce soldier inside him. “I think I should go to my office.”
“Why your office?”
“If that was Cipher, I need to know why he came back for keys,” she signed.
“What do you mean keys?”
“He demanded a set of keys. Said I must have found them. They’ve got to be in the office since it was his too.”
“Slow down,” Gabby said. “You’re signing too fast again. Now, he wanted to keys to what?”
She shrugged. She may not know the answer to that but she was determined to find out.
Gabby glanced over her head and related to Boone what she’d demanded. Boone narrowed his stormy gray eyes.
“You take her back to the compound,” he ordered. “I’m going to try to find that fucker.”
Gabby nodded and took her hand. He led her away from the hardware store toward his bike. Seconds later, they raced out of the parking lot. As they zoomed in the direction of the clubhouse, she couldn’t help but wonder how Cipher had known she was at the hardware store—unless he’d been watching her. A rumble of unease skittered through her at the disturbing thought.
* * * *
Anger burned hotly through Boone. He hoped like fuck to find the asshole so he had an excuse to punch the ever-living shit out of someone. He rode up and down the street, looking for Cipher, determined to finish what Romeo had started. The little shit dared lay a hand on his woman, threaten her, hurt her… The son of a bitch deserved to die.
He went through the old warehouse district, the closed-down area with busted-out windows and graffiti painted everywhere. The Shanks had once used this section for their own personal playground, getting stoned and shooting the glass. Now that they were gone, it seemed like a good hideout for an ex-Brother to hide. Only the place had a ghost town atmosphere about the area as the wind whistled through the hollowed buildings. His instinct told him Cipher wasn’t there, so he throttled away, toward the hardware store. He kept glancing around, hoping he’d find the little prick, but there wasn’t any sign of the bald-headed accountant.
As he headed back to the compound, he couldn’t stop thinking about Kaiya. What the hell had sucker-punched him until all he thought about was her? Was she a damn witch who had put a spell on him? Because ever since he had taken a lick of her cream, he’d been addicted. Even riding his bike was difficult, although that was one adjective he didn’t need to think about right then as he rolled through a turn. His fucking dick was like concrete. It always was when he thought about Kaiya.
He had no idea where the three of them were headed. Hell, he ha
dn’t even thought about a relationship in years. Ever since he and Gabby had gotten out of the Marines, he’d been focused on the club and making sure his best friend didn’t succumb to the demons howling and clawing inside him. Boone refused to let his best friend become just another suicide statistic, and if that meant tying his ass up every night so he wouldn’t hurt himself, then so be it. Of course, Gabby had been acting completely different ever since Kaiya had shown up in their lives, and for that, Boone would be forever grateful. The man might think he had to be emotionless and deny his feelings, but Boone knew it was just a matter of time before Gabby could no longer hide what he felt.
Boone may not know where this relationship was heading, or what the conclusion of it might be, but what he did know was that he needed to protect Kaiya and it burned through his gut. If he got his hands on Cipher, the motherfucker would take his last tortured breath staring into the eyes of the man who had finally brought him down. That Boone vowed to himself.
* * * *
Kaiya didn’t bother to linger in the clubhouse. She burst into her office and ignored the throbbing through her head. Standing in the doorway, she tried to look at the office through new eyes. Where would Cipher have hidden a set of keys? She’d cleaned the place from top to bottom, had gone over it with a fine-toothed comb. Of course, she hadn’t been looking for keys when she’d sorted the trash from the valuables. Something that small could be anywhere.
Why were they so valuable to Cipher? What lock did they open? There wasn’t much in the room, just a desk, a chair, a trashcan, a paper shredder and a bookcase stuffed full of binders, books and papers. All of it cheap furniture she could’ve bought at Wal-Mart. Going with instinct, she went to the desk and sat in the chair. She had already sorted through the drawers, but gave them another search just in case. Nothing. Was it just a misunderstanding? Perhaps the man wasn’t Cipher and had her mixed up with someone else. Maybe the keys meant nothing. She went to slam the top drawer shut and felt the wood resist a little as it slid in. It was very subtle, and she hadn’t given it much thought before, but now she wondered if the slight drag was from something else.
Kneeling, she pulled the drawer out and set it on top of the desk before sliding her arm inside the dark, narrow passage. At first, all she encountered were the tracks that guided the bottom of the drawer. Then her fingertips brushed against something, and she grabbed it before yanking it out. It was a small envelope, and when she opened it, three dull brass keys fell into her palm. She blinked at them, unsure if she was really seeing them. They were short with a wide base and plastic covered their ends. A set of uniform numbers were etched into the metal. Kaiya knew they weren’t house keys so she sat in her chair, replaced the drawer and fired up her laptop.
Searching for the identification of the three keys was flat out tedious, and it didn’t help her headache at all. One key pretty much resembled the next one. Plus she had no idea what she was looking for in the first place, let alone what they could possibly be for. After a while, the dull ache from where her head had slapped against the wall flared from the intensity of staring at the laptop screen. She rubbed her temples, wanting to give up. Without any direction, it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
As she stretched her cramped muscles, she ran her gaze over the new photos on the Internet web search and landed on a photo of a man holding a set of keys in his hand. They looked strikingly similar to the ones on her desk that it suddenly dawned on her what the keys were and she hurried to open up a new website for bus terminals.
Half an hour later, she made her way to Romeo’s office. Boone sat in one seat facing the president of the club and, when she knocked, they both turned to see her. She held up a sign that said, “I need to inform you of something.”
Romeo nodded and said to Boone, “Go get Gabby and Dax.”
Boone gave her a concerned, searching glance before leaving her with Romeo. They had been working closely together for a few weeks and she’d come to know him as funny and caring, but fuck with him and he gave no quarter. He seemed like a fair man, an honorable one to his men, his club and to Chloe. Yet she had no illusions that the switchblade he carried wasn’t strictly for decoration.
It didn’t take long for Boone to collect Gabby and Dax, and the office suddenly seemed too small with all the large male bodies present. When Romeo nodded to her, she held up another handwritten sign that asked, “Did Boone and Gabby tell you about the man who attacked me earlier?”
Romeo nodded.
She laid down the piece of paper. That had been her last sign. She signed to him, angling so that Gabby could read and translate. “I think I know why Cipher came back.”
That had everyone’s attentions. Romeo shared a quick look with Dax.
“Go on,” Boone said.
“Cipher invented his own shorthand, and although I’ll probably never be able to understand it completely, I did manage to figure out his money trail.”
She waited until Gabby told them what she’d said.
“Money trail?” Romeo asked.
“He made two ledgers,” she continued. “You weren’t the only ones he stole from.”
Almost immediately after Gabby related what she said, rage darkened Romeo’s handsome features. He leaned forward in his chair and pinned her with an angry stare. She was very glad she wasn’t the object of his wrath.
“Are you saying he not only fleeced the club, but swindled Shepard as well?” Romeo asked, in what she assumed would be a stone-cold voice.
She nodded.
“So where’s the extra money?”
She laid out the three keys on the table. “In three separate locations.”
All the men stared at her in shock.
Boone tapped her on the shoulder, and she glanced at him.
“Do you know where these locations are?”
She pointed to the first key. “This is a key for the lockers in the Greyhound terminal in Lincoln.” She pushed the second one forward. “This is for the lockers in the Greyhound terminal in Omaha. And the third? It’s located in Sioux City, South Dakota.”
Romeo folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. She could feel the tension and rage boiling just under the surface. “Up Interstate Twenty-Nine.”
“Cipher went on that last meth run with me to Sioux City,” Dax said. “Right before Shepard’s double life was exposed and I missed all the fun.”
“I wish I had killed that fucker now.” Kaiya read Romeo’s lips.
“Well, we have the keys and we know where they money is,” Boone said. “Gabby and I planned on heading to Canada to meet with Red Eye. We can stop at each place and just pick it up.”
Kaiya banged on the table to grab their attention. “I want to go,” she signed. “I need to see how much is there and measure it against his books. Perhaps I can figure out the rest of his shorthand if I have a monetary comparison to look for.”
She watched Romeo’s face as Gabby related her request.
Romeo studied her, then he glanced at Gabby. “Are you going to be able to handle that?”
For a split second, a petrified look crossed through his eyes. If she wasn’t so in tune to watching people, she probably would have missed it. But there was no denying the thought of spending time with her terrified him, and the idea stabbed into her heart.
“Yes,” Gabby said.
She knew he lied and it pissed her off.
Slowly, Romeo nodded. “Very well.” He met her gaze. “This time, Kaiya. All right? Shit, Chloe’s going to skin me for allowing this.”
Irritation at Gabby’s fear spiked through her. It also irked her that Romeo had to approve of her going, that he thought he ruled her. She was free, damn it. Romeo Barrigan would not replace her grandfather’s autocratic rule with his own. Rubbing her forehead, she gathered the three keys and marched away, head down.
Back in her office, she took a deep breath to calm the anger trembling through her body. A hand on her arm made her flinch and she spun
, her fists ready to defend herself. Gabby stood there, watching her with narrowed eyes. He held a can of soda and two white pills.
“Aspirin,” he said.
She grudgingly accepted them, placed them on her tongue and washed them down with the cold drink. The closing of the door caught her attention, and she glanced up at Gabby questioningly. His eyes glittered in the low light.
“Why did you not like what Romeo said?” he signed.
She smacked her hand down on the desk. She might not have been able to hear the bang, but the pain radiating up her arm made her feel a tad better.
“Romeo wasn’t the only one who made me angry,” she signed. “You didn’t like the thought of me being around.”
“Not the way you think,” he said. “I suffer from PTSD. I don’t want to accidentally hurt you.”
Okay, that somewhat eased the ache that had been building in her chest. Still, she stuck her chin up in defiance.
“That first day, I told you I’m free.” There. That was short and precise. No way could he misunderstand that. “I won’t live under anyone’s thumb again. You, Romeo, Boone, none of you can tell me what to do!”
“What he said was for the good of the club.”
“I am club!”
He shook his head. “No, you’re family. Outside the club, Chloe is Romeo’s number one concern and he knows she’s not going to like having you away from her.”
She hated that what he said made sense. “It sounded like a reluctant excuse.”
He cupped her face with one hand and rubbed his thumb over her lips. “You’re being bratty.”
Her mouth fell open, and annoyance flared once again. Bratty? Who did he think he was? Gabby knew nothing about being a prisoner—stuck behind high walls, unable to communicate with the outside world. Slowly dying, day by day as the life was sucked out in minute increments. She reached out and hit him on the chest with a fist. Lightning fast, he spun her around until her back pressed against his front. He held her locked within the circle of his arms, and although she wiggled and fought, he kept a firm grip. It was like trying to break free of iron shackles, and soon she panted from the exertion of going nowhere. He loosened his hold only long enough to turn her so she could read his lips.
Madness Ends Page 5