Whiskey & Honey: Crimes of Crimson Valley: Book One

by A. Mae. Cooper

  I couldn’t afford to panic. I needed information and fast. I shifted over to the desk and logged into the computer. I didn’t expect much considering it wasn’t even password protected. My hope was fading, rapidly. Sighing softly, I shook off my disappointment and opened up the files. I searched for Locke first and found very little. Just a family history. A family tree and our crest and listing of properties. I ran through the properties in my head and there was one missing.

  It was missing our small cabin near Crimson Lake. How could that have been missed? It had been in our family for decades. I looked through the rest of my family’s information and found nothing of importance. I looked at the King’s next and it was the same thing. Just a brief family history, crest, and property listing. It was the same for all of the founding families. Looks like we’re back to the drawing board. Fuck. Putting everything back to order, I let Erik know I’m coming out and to make sure it’s clear. “You’re good, boss. Come on out.” Sighing in relief, I leave the office and make my way back to the service door and make sure I lock it before I close it behind me.

  I quickly make my way back to where Desmond is waiting anxiously along with Erik. I give Erik back the communications device and he parts ways from us. I turn to Des and sigh, “We’re fucked. We have to go back to the drawing board. There is absolutely no vital information on my family in the town hall files. There is nothing on any of the founding families. Just a family history, crest insignias, and property listings.” Des looks at me with wide and surprised eyes as I begin to drive away back towards the Locke Manor. “What the hell does that mean? Where are they keeping all of the actual Order records?” I didn’t respond. I didn’t want to voice my answer to that question.

  The King’s Manor was looking entirely too suspicious nowadays.

  An incredibly annoying ringing sound wakes me up out of a dead sleep and I growl obscenities under my breath as I bury my head under my pillow and ignore it. It cuts off, thank fuck, and I snuggle down under the sheets belly down. Not even a full ten seconds later, it starts up again.

  “What the actual fuck.” I snarl as I bolt upright in a plank position and squint my eyes at my bedside table. It was nearly three in the goddamn morning and I knew for a fact that I didn’t set any alarms to get up this early. Actually, I don’t set alarms at all. As a rich heir to a proverbial throne, I didn’t need a job nor would I want one. I preferred to occupy all my time with Honey Rose Locke.

  The ringing stops again and I glance over at my phone which was lit up on the bedside table beside the basic black alarm clock. The ringing had come from my phone. I really only had the guys as contacts in my phone so it had to be one of them and if they were calling me at this ungodly hour, it was because it was important.

  Panic grips my heart and I scramble my naked ass across the king-sized bed and snatch up my phone and yank it off the charger. Just as I am picking it up to unlock it with my thumb, the shrill ringing starts up again and Gabe’s name flashes across my screen. A million dreadful thoughts about what he could possibly be calling about flashed in my mind as I slid my thumb across the screen to answer it and bring it to my ear.

  “Gabe.” I bark down the line and he is quick to answer me.

  “Meeting in the bunker. Now.” He says his voice hard with an emotion I couldn’t quite read. Anger? Worry? I could never be sure with Gabriel Finelli, especially over the phone. He was about as emotional as a cucumber face to face and it was nearly impossible to hear his emotions through a phone call, especially seeing how I just woke up and my brain was in panic mode.

  “What is it? Honey?” I could hear my own panic and concern in my voice and he sighs through the receiver.

  “Just get down here. You know how I feel about phones and important conversations.”

  Then, the line goes dead. Gritting my teeth, I barely stop myself from hurling my phone at the wall and smashing it to pieces. I didn’t handle my emotions very well, especially when it came to Honey. The fact that Gabe didn’t want to talk about this over the phone was a dead giveaway. The subject matter was Honey and anything concerning her was always sensitive.

  He was right. Phones could be tapped and if this had to do with Honey, we couldn’t risk any information shared through our phone calls about her to get back to anyone. Especially my mother. Bending down, I snag my earlier discarded jeans off the ground and slip them on, sans boxers, and stuff my phone in my pocket. Striding over to my walk-in closet, I snag a plain gray sweater off a hook and slip it on over my head.

  Taking a split second to think about how I would slip out of my house unnoticed while I put my black boots on, I decided to just go out the window to the left of my bed that would lead out into the back of King Estate. It was unfortunate that my parents were actually home tonight, otherwise I would have been able to just disable the alarm on the front door and left out that way before resetting it, but if I did that while they were home, my mother would get a notification sent straight to her phone when the alarm was disabled.

  It would definitely look rather suspicious that I was leaving the house at nearly three in the morning and my mother was the nosiest bitch of all. She would hound me until I gave her some sort of excuse that she believed and that was a hard feat in and of itself. Rebecca King was a suspicious woman and she never believed anything out of my mouth.

  Quickly, I open the window and, as fast as I can, I reach out and press my thumb hard down on the very thin wire that runs along the seam on the window ledge where the window seals. Another failsafe security measure my mother had put in a few years back after she discovered me sneaking out. She didn’t think I knew about it.

  It was a pressure censored trip line that will send an alert straight to my mother's phone whenever the pressure is released off the line and the window is opened. I found through trial and error that if I put pressure exactly right on the line quick enough when I open the window that it tricks the system into thinking the window is still shut until I can slip out and shut it again.

  I slip through the open window, one hand holding the window up and the other with my thumb still pressed into the line, I land on my feet just below in an annoying rose bush my mother also planted to just get on my nerves. Shifting around, I quickly take my thumb off the line and close my window in the next second.

  I wasn’t worried about failing, I have done it enough times that I am pretty much a pro at it. Turning I move swiftly across the grounds to the back of the property where I have a little hole I created in the perimeter fence that would lead me out into the Blood Woods that surrounded all of our properties. At least a little thrilled that it wasn’t raining or too chilly to freeze everything over, I made quick work of slipping into the Blood Woods through the opening in the fence.

  Another quarter mile straight from there, I come upon the two vehicles I have stashed on a plain dirt road that runs between all five of our properties and leads straight into the heart of the town. I wasn’t even sure if my mother even knew about it and I couldn’t be bothered to bring it up with her, especially seeing how this was where I stashed my getaway vehicles.

  Against my better judgement, I move to my Ducati Panigale V4 in all sleek black with accents of chrome sitting and calling my name. I grin a stupid boyish grin as I run my hand over the shiny bike and then I snatch up my helmet and slide it on my head before mounting. I reach down and unzip a pocket velcroid on the side of the bike by my right knee and pull out the keys.

  Uncaring if the roaring of the engine was too loud for this time of night, I cranked the beautiful bike on and allowed myself to rev it up a few times before I tore down the dirt road to head to the Reds secret underground bunker within walking distance of Crimson Lake.

  Pulling my bike up next to Kass’ cherry red Ferrari 488 Pista, he rolls his eyes at me as I cut the engine on my bike and tug my helmet off to hang it on the left handlebar and then stuff the keys into my hoodie pocket.

  “It’s freezing out tonight, bro. Are your balls frozen
to the seat of that thing?” He laughs at the face I pull and I scowl.

  “My balls are none of your concern, Kassim. Is Gabe seriously not here yet?” I ask as I glance around at the empty gravel car lot that borders Crimson Lake. No one actually comes out here anymore, especially seeing how it was below thirty-eight degrees here this time of the year. Close to freezing, but not quite. It was nothing compared to the cold of winter here.

  Kass doesn’t get to answer my question as a black Bentley comes barreling up the dirt road that leads back towards town and comes to a skidding dead stop on the other side of my bike from Kass’ flashy ride. Hawk pops out of the driver's seat, a black and gold beanie pulled down over his unruly hair and he grins as he rubs his leather gloved hands together like some kind of kid in a candy store. Gabe slides smoothly out of the passenger seat and my brows shoot up in surprise that he hadn’t driven his own personal ride.

  “It’s too early in the morning for you to look that awake.” I glare at Hawk and he just smiles brighter but that is Hawk Rhodes for you. He was always the most lighthearted one out of the four of us. It was what had drawn Honey to him so much. Turning my glare on Gabe I say, “When you called, I had assumed you would have already been here.”

  “Well, you assumed wrong. Come. We have much to discuss.” Gabe flicks his light hazel eyes over me before he seems to dismiss me all together and turns to head towards the trail we created long ago that would lead us directly to our bunker. Crimson Lake was bordered by the Blood Woods like much of Crimson Valley and it had been the perfect place to build our secret hideout when we were kids. We’ve been coming here ever since. It had been the same bunker we came to the night we… Shaking my head to clear the bad memories of that night, I stomp after Gabe and ignore the small light laugh from Hawk as he and Kass follow after.

  It’s about a half mile trek down the man-made trail from the gravel parking lot and then another quarter mile off the beaten path to the left. There is a copse of young pine trees we planted a few years back to mark the space. It kind of stood out to the untrained eye considering the trees that made up the Blood Woods were all towering Sugar Maple trees that turn a brilliant blood red this time of the year, hence the name for the woods. However, no one usually went traipsing through the Blood Woods around here enough to even notice our markers so we never worried about it.

  Still in a sour mood, I help Gabe brush off the pine needles and branches laid inconspicuously on top of the hatch that would lead down to our bunker. If it weren’t for the fact that I was worried about the elements getting to it, I would have put a biometric scanner into the hatch to keep anyone out if they happened to find this place, but the seasons in Crimson Valley were always brutal and the electronics of a biometric scanner wouldn’t hold up above ground like this.

  In silence, we haul up the hatch that reveals a set of short steps built out of the earth that led down to a solid iron door. I go down first and pull a key out of the back pocket of my jeans and open the door at the bottom of the stairs. Building underground bunkers was expensive to say the least so we really had the bare minimum in here. We may all be rich heirs to the Order of Red, but it was hard to access that money when your parents controlled most of it until we were of age to ascend our proverbial thrones, age twenty-four.

  Directly to the right of the entrance was a small section we set up with a three-seater sofa and two extra-large leather armchairs that face a simple 48-inch TV on a solid oak entertainment center set with all the latest gaming systems and half of the entertainment center was full of movies and the other half was full of books courtesy of Hawk. Directly to the left was a small kitchenette with a simple basin and a simple but small island counter of sorts with two bar stools beneath it.

  Beside the Kitchenette was an ice box, a non-electrical one we pack full of dry ice to keep drinks and simple foods cool, and a few five-gallon jugs of water for the basin in the kitchenette when we need to wash things. Directly to the back is an exceedingly small simple room we managed to shove a twin bed in just in case one of us needed time away and decided to crash here.

  We had no bathroom, electricity, or running water down here yet as adding those things is extremely hard and awfully expensive. We built most of the bunker on our own so that our parents wouldn’t find out about it. Everything we have in here is old stuff from around our houses that our parents had thrown out over the years.

  It wasn’t much, but it was a sanctuary away from hell.

  The guys enter behind me and Hawk immediately goes to the ice box and opens it to tug out four beers for all of us. I wasn’t sure if it was entirely appropriate to be drinking beer at three in the morning, but I was sure that whatever Gabe had called us down here to talk about was going to need it to take the edge off. I definitely needed it to calm to roiling pit of dread in my stomach. Gabe’s expression was already putting me on edge.

  Kass takes his from Hawk and goes and plops down in one of the oversized armchairs while Gabe declines his and sits on the sofa. Hawk returns one to the ice box and then hands me one as he passes and takes up the other armchair. I decide to stay standing but I make my way over to the mini den and stand in the middle of the furniture in front of the tv as I crack open my beer and take a long swig.

  “We need to seriously talk about Honey and what our plans are for helping her because that girl is going to get herself in serious trouble if we don’t start taking more active roles in this.” Gabe begins, sighing heavily and scrubbing a hand over the rough stubble on his sharp jawline. This causes me to stiffen and I squeeze my fist around the neck of the bottle of beer.

  “We’ve discussed this many times, Gabe. We all agreed we weren’t going to get in her way or ever betray her again.” I hedge, unsure what this is all about but it can’t be good judging by the grim expression on my best friend's face. Gabe never looked like that. I’ve only ever seen him look like that once before and that was before and after that night…

  “That was before she broke into the Town Hall and the records room a few hours ago. She’s fucking serious about her plans for the Order since she was willing to risk breaking into a highly secure building to snoop around for evidence.” If my muscles were even capable of tightening up any more than they already were, it happened at his confession and Hawk cursed as he sat forward in his armchair.

  “Our girl has got some serious balls of steel.” Kass mutters under his breath and it should be funny, but I can’t laugh right now when there are so many emotions raging inside of me. Anger that she still didn’t trust us enough to help but understanding that she had major reasons why she shouldn’t, and fear. Fear being the more predominant emotion. What if she got caught? What if there was nothing I could do to save her? The air inside the small space we were in seemed to thicken with tension and a dozen other different conflicting emotions pouring off all four of us. It felt hard to breathe.

  “She’s lucky the alerts go to my tablet when the alarms are tripped for the town hall. Of course, she wouldn’t have known about the alarms anyway because they aren’t included in whatever blueprints Desmond Williams was able to steal for her, but she’s incredibly reckless, nonetheless.” Gabe points out, ever the voice of reason.

  “Desperation often breeds reckless behavior.” Kass says solemnly and we all know the hidden meaning behind his words all too well.

  “She should have come to us for help.” I grit out between clenched teeth but I knew how wrong my words sounded. I couldn't help it. Part of me was desperate to make Honey see reason. See that we were better off fighting the Order together, as a family, than we were divided.

  “We can’t really fault her for her actions. For fucks sake, guys. We beat that girl within an inch of her life all because we were cowards and refused to stand up to our parents. We gained a thirteen-year-old girls love, trust, and respect and then ripped it all away by making one stupid life-altering decision. I don’t blame her for what she did. I fucking hate myself still to this day for the pawn I became fo
r my sick parents.”

  Hawks face twists in honest disgust as he spills out his guts to us and I can’t help but feel the same way. So much pain and regret clogged the air even more then and it became stifling, making me want to punch something while also simultaneously marching my ass to Honey’s house right now and demanding why she had been so incredibly reckless. I knew why, more than the others perhaps.

  Her anger and determination stemmed from that one foolish and cowardly act we brought against her all those years ago. It was going to take more than just space and time to earn Honey’s trust back enough for her to allow us to help her if we were even capable of that. Honey might have been able to forgive the other three for the part they played in that night, but I doubt she would ever fully forgive or trust me again and I couldn’t really blame her for it no matter how much I hated it.

  “That’s part of the reason I called us all here first to discuss this instead of just confronting her head on. Honey’s trust issues are going to become a problem if we don’t start taking more active roles in ensuring that she can achieve her goals in taking down the Order. With that, I just wanted to say that none of us are going to bring this up with her or confront her about her little covert mission to break into town hall. I made sure she was able to do her search in the records room as easily as I could from my end by unlocking the computer and disabling the alarms. That is my first step in helping her and earning her trust back. You three need to decide whose side you are on. The Order’s or Honey’s. I will always choose Honey.”

  Gabe sits back then after his long speech and crosses his arms over his massive chest, staring around at the three of us expectantly. Fuck. He was right. Honey’s trust issues were most definitely going to become a problem for her if we didn’t step up more, but I wasn’t sure what more I could even do. She could hardly stand to be in my presence and I had already promised her at her parents wake last week that I would give her the time and space she needed to heal and move on from the past so we could hopefully move forward. If I took an active approach to help her and I came off as too demanding and confrontational, it will crumble everything I am trying to build with her.