Leigh took a seat beside me on the bed. “Did something happen to you that I don’t know about?” Leigh asked carefully.
I quickly shook my head. “No, nothing like that. It’s just, well, Copper is keeping things from me, and I’m not handling it well.”
“What do you mean? What is he keeping from you?”
“He won’t tell me why another club kidnapped me. Also, when Coal found me and brought me back, Copper had a man tied to a chair in a shed behind some dive bar. That man was one of the guards holding me prisoner when my father sold me to human traffickers. When I asked why he was there, Copper told me it was club business.”
Leigh grimaced. “I used to hate when my husband would utter those dreaded words to me. I’ll tell you what he told me when I raised hell about it. It didn’t make it okay with me, but it did help me understand better. So, basically, he said he couldn’t tell me club business for my own safety. For example, let’s say one or more of the guys committed a crime they were later arrested for. If I knew nothing about it, I couldn’t be held accountable for it. Plausible deniability or something like that. On the flip side, it is somewhat of a common rule amongst MC’s to keep their women in the dark. It keeps other MC’s from targeting the women and trying to get information from them.”
“That makes sense, but the difference here is, I was the one kidnapped by the other MC, and I saw the man in the chair. I have no grounds to deny anything, and my safety was already put in jeopardy.”
“I don’t disagree with you. How did you and Copper leave things?”
“He said he wanted to tell me and he eventually would, but he couldn’t right now. I told him to get out and leave me alone until he could tell me.”
She patted my leg and rose to her feet. “Well, sounds to me like you could use some comfort food.” With that, she left the room, leaving her purse on the bed.
I felt a slight tinge of guilt for digging through her personal belongings, but it was my only option. I quickly found her cell phone and did a silent happy dance when I discovered it wasn’t locked with a password. Reaching into my back pocket, I pulled out the card with Luke’s contact information and dialed.
“Luke Johnson,” he answered on the second ring.
“Luke, this is Layla, Layla East. I have some information for you.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Copper
“She okay?” I asked Leigh when she came out of my room.
“She’s rightfully upset. I’m going to make her something to eat and see if I can get her to take a nap,” she said.
“She tell you about what happened?” I asked, desperate to know where her head was.
Leigh shook her head sadly. “Copper, I love you like you were my own son, but I won’t be getting in the middle of your relationship with Layla. What she says to me, stays with me. Same goes for you. If you want answers, go talk to her.”
I nodded and stepped aside so she could continue on to the kitchen. I knew Layla was pissed, and I couldn’t say I blamed her. I wanted to tell her everything, but I couldn’t. Not yet. I couldn’t risk Aim’s secret getting out, thereby putting her and Annabelle, not to mention Aim, in danger. I could only hope she would understand and forgive me once the truth was out.
Needing a distraction, I went to my office to get some work done. Unfortunately, I couldn’t focus on anything as my mind kept straying to thoughts of Layla. I picked up the phone to call Phoenix, hoping he could give me some advice on how to handle the situation, but I quickly canceled the call when I realized I couldn’t talk to him about it either.
Frustrated didn’t even begin to cover how I was feeling, and sitting in my office was doing nothing to help. So, I got my ass up and went to help with repairing the clubhouse. Hopefully, the physical activity would keep my mind busy until I was too exhausted to do anything other than sleep.
***
Pounding on my office door woke me the next morning. “Open up, Prez! It’s urgent!” Judge shouted through the door.
I jumped up and yanked the door open. For Judge to say something was urgent, it was more than fucking urgent. The big bastard barely gave me time to get out of the way before he charged into the room and went straight to the television hanging on the wall in my office. He flipped to a news channel and turned up the volume.
—arrested this morning. He has been linked to the human trafficking operation ran by former Senator Lawrence Hastings and businessman Harold Hensley. Sources tell us he is also the President of a local outlaw motorcycle gang—
“Fuck!” I roared. “How the fuck did that happen?” My own question was answered moments later when the news showed a video clip of a handcuffed Aim walking in front of federal agents, one of which I recognized immediately.
Luke Johnson.
Without another word, I blew past Judge and ran down the hall. Throwing open the door to my room, I found exactly what I expected. No sign of Layla.
My fist hit the wall, over and over, until I was physically restrained. Even then, I fought to rein in my emotions.
It was the sound of a female sobbing that brought me back to the present. I struggled against the hold Tiny and Batta had on me. I needed to know who was crying. Was it Layla?
My eyes frantically darted around the room, scanning and dismissing familiar faces, until my gaze landed on Leigh. She was tucked under Judge’s arm with one hand cupped over her mouth while tears streamed down her face.
I locked eyes with her. “Where is she?” I pleaded, not caring one bit how desperate I sounded.
She shook her head. “I don’t know, Copper. I didn’t know she was gone until just now.”
I twisted and jerked my shoulders. “Let me go,” I demanded.
The two fuckers holding me back looked to Judge for approval, and I almost lost it again. “I am your President. Let me fucking go, NOW!”
Tiny and Batta released me, and Judge stepped in front of his mother. “Are you serious right now? Do you actually think I would hurt her?”
Judge didn’t hesitate to respond. “No, I don’t think you’d intentionally hurt her, but you weren’t exactly in your right mind just now.”
“When was the last time you saw her, Leigh?”
“Last night around nine o’clock. She said she was ready to go to bed, so I left her and went to Judge’s room,” Leigh said.
“All right. Judge, check the camera feed. We need to know if she left on her own or if she was taken.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and shook my head. This couldn’t be happening.
“Hey, Prez, did you see this?” Batta asked, pointing at something on the nightstand.
I walked over to find a business card with Luke’s contact information on it. “Well,” I sighed, “I guess we know who told him about Aim.”
Without hesitation, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed the number on the card.
“Johnson,” he answered gruffly.
“Where the fuck is she?” I demanded.
He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. You’ll have to be a little more specific.”
“Cut the shit, Luke. Tell me where Layla is.”
“Ah, Copper. I’ve been expecting your call. I’m not telling you where she is, though.”
“And why the fuck not?” I growled.
“Because I’m not at liberty to share any details related to an active case,” he replied automatically.
My grip tightened around my phone, causing the plastic to creak. “Luke,” I warned.
“Look, man, she’s safe, and that’s all I can tell you. I’ve gotta go,” he said and disconnected the call.
Judge returned to the room. “Looks like she voluntarily left around midnight. She walked to the gate carrying a bag and got into a black SUV.”
I held my phone up and shook it. “Yeah, I just got off the phone with Luke. He knows where she is. The fucker won’t tell me shit, but he says she’s safe.”
“Whatcha want us to do, Prez?”
I shook my
head. “There’s nothing we can do, not about her anyway. Let’s get back to work on finishing the repairs. We’ll also need to stay extra-vigilant now that Asp doesn’t have anyone to answer to.”
I left the room and walked back to my office. I needed a few minutes alone to process what had just happened and to get my anger under control. Closing the door behind me, I turned and stopped dead in my tracks.
“Have a seat, little cousin. I think you and I need to have a chat,” Phoenix said from the chair behind my desk.
Fuck me. He was obviously pissed, but I didn’t know if it was about Coal, Layla, Aim, or something else. I took a seat and carefully studied his face. Unfortunately, his expression was giving nothing away, other than irritation. I crossed my arms over my chest and asked, “What’s this about?”
Phoenix straightened in my chair and glared at me. “You really want to play dumb? Fine. I don’t have time for this bullshit back and forth, so I’ll lay it out for you. It’s about you keeping shit from your President, your brothers, and your family. I know about Layla’s kidnapping, and I know she called Luke for help. Hell, I even know where she is right now.” I opened my mouth to interrupt, but he held up his hand, and the look on his face told me it would be in my best interest to let him finish. “I know all about Aim—his real name, his fake name, his undercover work, everything. And, I know about Coal asking you to patch over. What I don’t know is why you kept all that from me?”
I looked to my feet and took in a deep breath before I started explaining. “Let’s start with Coal. I didn’t tell you because that’s not how we do things, which is exactly what I told him. I said I understood why he came to me first, but I told him he had to talk to you, get your approval, and then ask me. He said he would speak to you as soon as he got back to Croftridge. I don’t really see how you have a problem with that.”
“Never said I had a problem with it. Keep going,” he said gesturing with his hands.
“I didn’t tell you about Layla, because I haven’t had a chance to. Honestly, I just found out she called Luke and asked for his help before I walked in here. I didn’t intentionally keep the kidnapping from you, but it was one thing after another from the moment we found out she was taken. Now, Aim, yeah, I did intentionally keep that from you. I didn’t want to, but he argued a good point. I did it for Annabelle’s and Layla’s safety. He said they would be in serious danger if Asp found out they were his sisters. He said—”
I was cut off when Phoenix got to his feet with a roar and cleared the top of my desk with a sweep of his hands. “The fuck did you just say?”
“Uh, he’s their half brother, younger than Annabelle, older than Layla,” I said carefully. I thought he said he knew everything. “You didn’t know?”
“No, I didn’t fucking know! I was talking about his involvement in the undercover operation. How do you know that’s true?”
“I don’t know for sure. It’s not like he had the documents on him to prove it, though he did claim to have that documentation, but I didn’t think he was lying. He was livid when he found out Asp had taken Layla, and he was genuinely concerned about her well-being, Annabelle’s, too,” I explained. “No one besides me knows he’s their brother, and only my officers know he is working undercover.”
“That’s not entirely true anymore. I know, as well as my officers. And Luke will know in the very near future if he doesn’t already.”
“What? How did you even find out?”
Phoenix smirked. “Did you bother to ask who he was working with?”
I shook my head. “No, I didn’t ask. He mentioned it wasn’t the FBI and it wasn’t local law enforcement—”
“He’s working with a team that hired Wave as an independent consultant. He called me when he heard about the arrest.” Fuck. I should’ve known Wave was somehow involved. He used to run an independent special operations team, for lack of a better description, that was contracted out for particularly difficult cases. He retired years ago, but still did some independent consulting on cases from time to time. Coincidentally, Luke used to be on his team.
“Did Luke know Aim was working with the good guys?” I asked.
“No, he didn’t, and he’s beyond pissed about it.”
I dropped my head and blew out a slow breath. “So, what do we do now?”
“Huh, I thought you’d be demanding to know where Layla is,” Phoenix mumbled.
I raised my head and met his eyes. “You wouldn’t be sitting here right now if you knew she wasn’t safe. Do I want to know where she is? Yes. Do I think you’ll tell me? No. All that matters right now is that she’s out of harm’s way.”
Phoenix studied me for a few moments before he nodded and answered my previous question. “There’s not a whole lot you can do. Aim can’t be released without his cover being blown. You can’t go after the club because the feds will be watching their every move. At this point, your hands are tied.”
Well, wasn’t that just fan-fucking-tastic? I had to sit idly by while a psycho, who was now in charge of an outlaw motorcycle club, ran around free, planning to do who knows what. All while my girl was hidden away in an unknown location, probably thinking the worst of me.
Not knowing where her head was at was killing me. Did she think I didn’t care about what happened to her? Did she think I was okay with human trafficking? Did she know that I was in love with her?
There was no way I could sit around twiddling my thumbs waiting for something to happen, for someone else to take care of the problem. No, I needed to come up with a plan so I could get my woman back.
Chapter Thirty
Layla
A knock at the door had me jumping three feet in the air and screaming bloody murder. Supposedly, only two people knew my whereabouts, and they both had keys. No one should be knocking. And since I screamed like a banshee, I couldn’t pretend no one was home. That didn’t mean I had to open the door, though.
I tiptoed through the living room and peeked through the blinds to see who was knocking on the door. A man I had never seen before was standing on the front porch. A huge man. And he was looking right at me. I jolted away from the window, tripped on the rug, and fell on my ass.
He knocked again. “Open up, Layla! I know you’re in there.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuckity fuck. How did he know my name?
“No fucking way, man. I’m going to give you five seconds to get off my porch before I start shooting through the door,” I yelled. Did I have a gun? No, but he didn’t know that.
He responded with a chuckle, which unnerved me even more. I ran back to the kitchen and grabbed the biggest knife I could find while frantically trying to think of a place to hide. This was a safe house, for fuck’s sake. How did it not have a panic room?
I darted around the corner and headed for the stairs when arms wrapped around my chest from behind and halted my forward momentum. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Says the man who just broke into my house!” I screamed and moved my arm forward, preparing to plunge the knife into his side. Before I could swing my arm back, I flew across the room and hit the wall with a thud, the knife clattering to the floor.
“Fuck! Shit! Are you okay? I didn’t mean to push you that hard, but fuck if I was going to let you stab me,” the man said from the other side of the room. What the hell was going on?
He held his hands up in front of him, but didn’t try to approach me. “I’m Phoenix. Phoenix Black. Did Copper tell you about me?”
I straightened myself and glared at him. “Yes, he did. I can see being an asshole runs in the family.”
He had the decency to look embarrassed. “I’m truly sorry. I know you’re a runner, and I didn’t want you to take off before I had a chance to talk to you.”
“I’ve ran because I had to, not because it’s a compulsive habit,” I spat.
“Fair enough. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. What is it you need to talk to me about?”
�
��Can we sit?”
“Hell, no. You stay right where you are and start talking.”
He sighed and rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger, just like I’d seen Copper do numerous times. “The man Copper had tied up in the shed, the guard who let you get away from the stables, was working undercover to bring down an outlaw motorcycle club, the same one that took you. He’s also your half brother.”
“WHAT?!” I shrieked and placed my hand over my chest. He was lying. He had to be. There was no way my own brother would have held me hostage while waiting for me to be sold. Who was I kidding? Of course, he would. My own fucking father sold me. It would stand to reason his son would help.
“He’s the reason nothing happened to you while you were there. He’s also the reason you were able to escape. Did you really think your little trick with the hay would keep a grown man from chasing after you?”
Actually, I did, until he said that. “I-I…” I had no words. My mind was a whirlwind of activity, yet my mouth refused to work.
“He told Copper who he was that day in the shed, and he made Copper promise not to tell anyone. He didn’t want the men in his club finding out about you and Annabelle and coming after either one of you. Copper didn’t want to do it, but he agreed to go against his morals and his club to protect you and your sister.”
What had I done? I should have trusted Copper. He said he would tell me what was going on when he could, but I didn’t believe him. Too many men who supposedly cared about me had betrayed me, and I was determined not to let it happen again. But instead, I was the one who betrayed him. I covered my mouth with my hand and bent at the waist as a pain like no other hit my chest and a sob erupted from the very depths of my soul.
“Hey, you’re not to blame. You didn’t know, and you did what you had to do to keep yourself safe.” I continued to cry and refused to look at him. “He’s not mad at you. He’s worried about you, but he understands.”
That had me looking up. “He’s not mad?” How could he not be mad?
Copper (Blackwings MC - Devils Springs Book 1) Page 17