Fault Lines

by K. C. Stewart

  He doubted that very much. Surprisingly enough though, he had heard of the group before. Mitch couldn’t say where he had heard the name but it was recently, since he’d been in Andora.

  “What interest do we share?”

  “The James sisters.”

  Well, that did surprise and excite Mitch. It meant he was on to something with Sadie. “What about them?”

  “Not important at the moment. What I need you to do is to continue on with your friendship with Miranda. Grow and tend to it like you would any other. Try to work on having her trust you.”

  It wasn’t what he was expecting. Mitch wasn’t sure what to make of the man and his request. “Why should I do that? What exactly is it you want from Mira James?”

  He had made no noise but a soft, annoyed sigh blew past his lips. “When the time comes and you have done your part you will find out. Until then, befriend her. It is a simple task, Mr. Riley.”

  The way he said Mitch’s name made him feel like he was the most incompetent fool in the state of New York. He was a successful lawyer, fool was not in his description and he didn’t appreciate any one insinuating that he was.

  “What do I get in return?”

  “Ah, compensation,” Mr. Jones grinned. “You all are always about payment and the dues you deserve, aren’t you? Very well, I’m sure you have come to the conclusion by now that your little hunt for evidence against Sadie James is coming up barren. Don’t pout. It was a useless endeavor and a waste of time.”

  Mitch’s hands fisted beside him. One of his knuckles cracked. Mr. Jones looked down at his hands and raised an amused eyebrow. “Down tiger. Now, as I was saying. You will never find enough evidence to be able to clear your brother’s name. I however, have a consolation prize. Sadie’s destruction.”

  He wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. Her death? Her downfall? “What do you have against the James sisters?”

  With a thoughtful look he clasped his hands on his lap. “We don’t have anything against them, per say, just the people they take up with.” Mr. Jones twisted his wrist and looked at the time. “I fear our time has come to an end Mr. Riley. Remember your goals and continue on as you were. I will be in contact with you shortly with the next step.”

  “What is the next step?” Or even the entire plan would be nice.

  He stood, not bothering to answer his question. So he asked it again. “What’s the next step, Mr. Jones?”

  Mitch’s stomach coiled at the hard, ice stare Mr. Jones pinned him with. “It’s not your concern. Just do your part and be thankful that you were chosen in this.”

  *****

  Mira had just sunk down into her bed when someone knocked on her door. She had a vision of getting up and bludgeoning the person to death with the chair that sat by the door. Of course she’d break the chair first and then use the leg. Alas, with her luck it would be a girl scout with an extra box of Samoas that she was giving away. Instead of bludgeoning the imaginary Girl Scout, Mira just yelled, “Go away!” and hoped that would do the trick.

  It didn’t.

  “I’ve got chocolate fudge pop tarts,” Zach replied.

  Mira opened the door with a smile on her face and love in her heart. “There’s my favorite person in the entire world,” she cooed.

  Zach had his arms crossed over his chest and wasn’t having any of it. “Liar. If you want the treats you have to play Goldeneye with me for at least an hour.”

  She didn’t bother with an answer and just walked past him into his room. Sleep could wait. She had her childhood to relive. Zach chuckled behind her and closed her door before joining her. Mira was already seated on the ground with the box of pop tarts opened. Over her shoulder she gave Zach a hard look.

  “I feel as if I was brought here under false pretenses. You failed to mention that they are not pop tarts but in fact toaster pastries made by some generic brand.” This was deception of the highest kind. And here she thought they were friends.

  Not fazed by her antics, Zach stepped over her and snagged the box from her lap as he sat. “And yet you are still eating them.”

  “This is blasphemy,” she said around a mouthful. In all honesty they were no better or worse than the name brand. But there was a point to be made here.

  “Mmmhmm.” He handed her a controller. She took it wordlessly and for the next forty-five minutes they sat in near silence as they hunted each other on a boat.

  After kicking his ass twice in a row, Mira put down her controller and rubbed the back of her neck. Zach had grown tired of her winning so he was changing the game. There was something on his mind tonight. During the whole game he kept looking at her as if to say something but then she would throw a grenade at him and he would sink back against the bed, muttering about unfair warfare tactics.

  A loud “Get. Over. Here. You. Fuck.” was followed quickly by a crash. Zach backed out of his closet with a plastic bongo drum set under each arm and a grin that was equal parts trouble and exuberant happiness.

  She found her grin complimented his. “Are those what I think they are?”

  He nodded, all proud of himself. “Donkey Konga.”

  Mira already had her game face on. “Let do this.”

  She had to give Zach credit for his colorful and inventive insults. When he called her a baloney pony she missed a good ten beats before getting back into the groove of Rock Lobster. During intermission, Mira went to his mini fridge and pulled out two sodas for them. She had forgotten how much of a workout that game could be.

  “I have to ask, even though I fear for your answer. Where do you get those names from? Baloney Pony hit me out of nowhere and what did you say yesterday? Man chowder soup?” She gagged. “The visual on that one is just wrong.”

  “It’s a gift,” he said as if being complimented on his insults were a daily occurrence.

  Mira smacked him upside the head.

  “Ouch,” he whined. Mira raised her hand again in mock threat. He rolled his eyes. “I have a whole bunch of them just revolving in my head waiting to come out at the perfect moment. Love muscle, Meat thermometer, Tonsil Tickler, One-eyed yogurt slinger-”

  She had to stop him there. She physically had to stop him before her innocence was destroyed. With a hand clasped tightly over his mouth she pleaded, “Please, for the love of bad tequila, please stop.”

  Under her hand she felt him grin.

  “Promise me you will never speak of those again.”

  Zach nodded and she let him go. They didn’t start the game again, both having lost interest. Instead they sat in a companionable silence on his floor. After a few minutes, Mira felt her eyelids begin to droop. It had been one long ass day and she was ready for it to end. The heaviness grew deeper until she could barely keep her eyes open.

  This, of course, was the moment Zach decided it would be a good time to talk.

  “What do you know about that guy downstairs?”

  “Hmmm, who?” she mumbled.

  “The guy,” he said as if that was any more helpful than the first time. “I saw you talking to him.”

  “Mitch?” He was the only guy downstairs she could think of.

  Zach grunted from his spot on the floor beside her.

  “He’s here for research or something. To be honest I wasn’t really paying attention when I met him. Why?”

  It took him a moment to say anything more. Mira was on her way back to dreamland before he woke her up again.

  “Stay away from him.”

  “Who?” God, she was tired.

  He sighed and sat up. “The guy downstairs! Mitch or whatever. Stay away from him Mira. There is something weird about him. My gut’s been telling me that he’s bad news.”

  His gut. Second time today someone told her about listening to their gut. Owen’s olive skinned, smiling face filled the void behind her eyes. Now that was a vision she could get behind.

  “What are you doing?” Zach asked, breaking her concentration on Owen. His face frowning before dis
sipating completely.

  “Nothing,” she sighed.

  “You had a stupid smile on your face,” he pointed out.

  Mira kept her eyes closed in hopes Zach would make his point so Owen would come back into focus. “So?”

  “Was that because of Mitch? You aren’t attracted to him, are you?”

  She groaned. She was way too tired to keep up. “What’s wrong with Mitch?” Besides being completely boring and a bit of a creeper.

  Zach’s voice got serious again. This guy must really be bothering him. “I don’t think he is who he says he is. He’s been here for weeks and the first time I saw him show any kind of interaction with anyone was with you. He has an agenda, something to do with a Peter.”

  Now that got her attention. Mira’s eyes flipped open and she sat straight up. “Did you say Peter?” Geez, was she really that blind? She had thought he looked familiar but couldn’t place him. She hadn’t bothered to think it through because Peter was the very last person on her mind lately. But Mitch was at Sadie’s trial. He was a…lawyer. Yes! Lawyer.

  Oh fuck.

  He was Peter’s brother.

  Mira was wide awake now. She doubted she would sleep at all now. Kent had warned them that his brother was looking into things. He had told them and after a few weeks of no new news, they had all cast it aside. She’d have to talk to Sadie…unless she already knew. That hit Mira in the gut. At this point, Sadie hiding anything from her wasn’t that hard to believe. Sisterly bond my ass. Regardless, she had to tell Sadie on the off chance she hadn’t recognized him either.

  “Zach, I need you to tell me everything you remember about him since the first time you saw him.”

  Chapter Eight

  Mira had stayed up half the night going over every detail with Zach. After a little explanation on her end, he had poured open with his observations, opinions and feelings over Mitch like he was Niagara Falls. He was so adamant about going over every encounter with the man, Mira had to beg him to shut up so she could get some sleep. It was sweet, in an over protective older brother kind of way.

  Besides telling her about Mitch, Zach had his uses. He knew the schedules of all The Wick staff. Sadie usually came in around eight when she would begin baking that day’s desserts. Tyson always accompanied her and took the time to drink his coffee and talk with Chuck. Mira had waited impatiently till seven fifty before heading downstairs. She didn’t want to bombard them when they came in but her nerves were getting the better of her. Four cups of coffee hadn’t soothed her anxiety either.

  As it was, luck was on her side. Praise the powers that be for small miracles. Sadie had just walked in the front door as Tyson locked it behind her. Her hands were full of grocery bags, probably for the sweets she was about to make. Mira startled both of them when she yelled out.

  “Mira,” Sadie said surprised. She shared a look with Tyson who shrugged ever so slightly. “What’s wrong?”

  Well, they might be at odds at the moment but their sister sense was still intact. Again, small miracles.

  “I need to talk to you.” The urgency in her voice was alarming even to her. She needed to rein it in. Freaking out now would not help anyone. “Both of you actually. It’s about Peter.”

  It was clear that neither of them had been expecting to hear that name. Sadie paled so much that Mira began directing her to a chair. Tyson disappeared behind the bar and brought back a glass of ice water for her. After a moment and a few shaky sips, color began to heat her cheeks again. Mira knew, without a doubt, that Sadie had no idea Mitch was snooping around here. Satisfaction settled in her chest. Putting her issues aside to tell her about Mitch had been the right move.

  “Ok. I’m ok,” Sadie told them both as they hovered. “The name just took me off guard. Tell me about Peter, Mira.”

  Tyson flipped a chair around and straddled it. Blindly their hands found each other and held tight. For a split second, Mira let herself be envious. Loneliness knotted her stomach. She used to have that support. Up until a week ago she had someone to hold on to when passing through the hard parts of life. For the first time, the loss of Sophia was really hitting her hard.

  “Mira?”

  S“Yeah, um.” she had to focus and not dwell on things that were over and done with. “Peter’s brother Mitch is here. He has been here for a few weeks now.”

  “What?” Sadie asked thoroughly shocked. “But…” She looked over to Tyson whose concern and unmitigated devotion spoke plainly through every movement, every look, and every breath he took. She knew, without a doubt, that this man would protect her. It made her feel better about what she was going to say next.

  “When I say he is here, I mean he is here. As in, right upstairs, right now.”

  All three of them looked to the stairwell that led to the rooms above like he was going to appear.

  “How do you know all this?” Tyson asked after a moment.

  “Zach—the guy living across from me—was asking me what I knew about him because Mitch has approached me twice now. He told me he was here for research. I figured he was a writer or something. He looked familiar but I couldn’t place him.”

  Sadie took another sip of water. “Mom had said he was digging everything up again. I should call Kent.”

  Mira was ashamed she hadn’t thought about that last night. Kent should have been her very first call.

  “You said he approached you,” Tyson prompted her.

  She nodded. “Yeah yesterday I ran into him on my way downstairs and again last night in the bar.”

  “Did anything strike you as strange? Think hard. It could be about him, or the way you met him.”

  No. Well, maybe. “Last night, I had been with Owen. We had a drink together and he walked me over to the stairs. He wasn’t gone two seconds before Mitch came over. It’s not strange I guess, just well planned.”

  “Good,” Tyson encouraged, “that’s good. Is there anything else?”

  The way he looked at her, Mira almost wanted to cry. She had been a horrid bitch to him and still he looked at her with the same fierce protectiveness that he did Sadie. Mira couldn’t speak. She just shook her head.

  “That’s ok, Mira. You did the right thing by telling us. If you think of anything, please don’t be afraid to tell me.”

  Sadie mouthed a silent “thank you” to him.

  And that’s when Tyson ruined the entire moment by opening his mouth.

  “It’s my fault; I had thought I scared him off weeks ago.”

  Sadie and Mira both looked at him in horrified bewilderment.

  “Weeks ago?”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  They rattled questions off at him with machine gun ferocity.

  “How could you not tell me about this?”

  “You saw him?”

  “What did you do?”

  “Does Owen know?”

  “LADIES,” he yelled over them. “Enough!”

  It’s like an invisible hand reached out and clapped a hand over her mouth. Mira couldn’t have spoken if she wanted too. Her phone began to buzz in her back pocket. The ringing started up a split second later. Out of habit more than anything Mira pulled it out to answer. Sadie was still yelling at Tyson. At the same time he was trying to talk over her, explaining himself. Mira put a finger in her ear so she could hear and turned her back on the domestic drama.

  “Hello?”

  *****

  “Good morning, Rabbit.”

  It was early, probably too early to be socially acceptable. But Owen, as promised, had a day planned out. Breakfast at the hole in the wall dinner one town over, followed by a hike up Jacobie Mountain that had, in his opinion, the best views of the area. They would stop at the summit for lunch, which Chuck was providing. Then after they hiked down he would take her to the pack house where she would have her choice of enchiladas or chicken piccata, humbly made by Owen. It wasn’t the finest date he had ever shown a woman but his Rabbit had a spark in her eye that
told him if he pushed too hard she might just bolt. So a day that could be done between friends or romantic partners was perfect.

  “I have a day all planned for…who’s that?” Muffled in the line he could hear two people arguing. Quite loudly in fact.

  “Hey. It’s Sadie and Tyson. Dude, you are not helping yourself with that argument,” she mumbled. “Crap. Sorry. I’m distracted.”

  Apparently. Owen tried to listen to the fighting too but it was hard through the phone. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing.” Deciding that he wouldn’t accept that as an answer she added, “It’s a family issue. Look, I have to go.”

  The line went dead in his hand. Her excuse meant nothing to him. He was family too. And if nothing else, he was Alpha. The phone grew heavy in his hand. Owen could call Tyson or Sadie but if they were in the middle of something heated it was almost a guarantee they wouldn’t pick up. The ten minute drive would just have to be shortened to six. He had already been on his way down from the third floor of his house. Picking up his pace down the steps, Owen ignored the hellos and good mornings of those wolves that stayed on the lower levels. His house was the pack’s house. Any and all were welcome to the rooms when the need arose. But that didn’t mean he had to play nice when a storm was brewing.

  His truck was parked in the multi car garage he kept off the side of the house. Pack house or not, he still had his own toys. Under him, the engine roared to life. A few wolves came to the door to watch him speed away. He could see the questions crossing their lips and would have to figure something to tell them later. At the moment he had a relatively new wolf arguing with a mentally unstable wolf in a public place. Carnage could ensue if he didn’t get there fast.

  *****

  “Babe, I am not apologizing for this. I did what I needed to,” Tyson said from his side of the table.

  “You didn’t think I had a right to know? Geez, this is my life. Peter was the asshole in my life. Not yours. This was my problem before I met you.”

  “And it’s not your problem anymore. It’s mine.”

  Mira tucked her phone back in her pants pocket. She just wanted to cover the idiot’s mouth and tell him that if had any interest in her sister then he better shut the hell up before he ruined everything.