“Yes. I’ve done nothing illegal.”
That’s what I expected. “Is it permanent, or temporary?”
“Hopefully just for a few months.”
“Way I see it, sweetheart, is that it would be hard for you to relocate unless you have Max fit and well with you. That may not be for another three months. Any chance you can be assigned a new dog?”
Her lips purse as though she’s not really taken that in. She’s quiet. I give her space. “A new dog is out of the question. Even if I could come out into the open, there’s a waiting list, then you have a month’s training to pair you up with the right dog and learn how to interact with each other.” She sighs. “Yeah, you’re right. I’ve got dependent on having him with me. Some people manage with a white stick or have friends who can help. But I can’t go anywhere that I know someone. Can’t go to a place that’s familiar. It’s important I don’t stick out. Max allowed me to explore and stopped me from making a fool of myself, by falling over curbs or crashing into obstacles.”
“If whoever wants to silence you has found you and was behind the car almost running you down, then they’re going to make another move. My feeling is it will be soon. First thing they’ll expect is that you’ll run, and this time they may lose you for good. I reckon if anyone wants to make another attempt on your life, that it will happen before you, or whoever’s helping you, has time to make new arrangements.”
“You’re not exactly helping me feel better.”
“That’s not what I’m trying to do. I want you to face up to what I think’s happening. Get ready to fight it head on.”
“I can’t fight…”
“You can with me beside you.” Stupidly I indicate the business card which had dropped from her hand onto the floor. “Won’t lie and tell you this isn’t my first assignment, but I was telling you the truth. Satan’s Devils have a security company, and I’m now on their payroll.”
“You’re suggesting I employ you and pay you? As what? A bodyguard?”
“That could work.”
Her lips press together. “And just how much will this cost?”
If I say nothing, she won’t believe me. Which will mean I lose the opportunity to learn who’s after her, and who may now have the club in their sights. “We can work out the details later, but it won’t be at full cost. I’m doing this on a trial basis myself.”
“I’m a test? You keep me alive and they’ll take you on permanently?” she scoffs.
I chuckle. “Something like that.”
Another woman might have turned toward me, her expression trying to read mine to see whether I was serious. I only notice that’s missing when she doesn’t. If she could see, her gaze would be fixed at a point on the floor.
Another woman might be in hysterics. Her dog is fighting to be able to walk again if not for its life, and I’ve just forced her to face up to the fact, whatever she’s running from may have caught up with her. But then she’s faced more adversity and challenges than most other people I’ve met in my life. I suppose she’s had years to get used to it, but that she doesn’t berate how much she’s lost makes me admire her.
“You got a good family?”
Now she smiles. “The best, yes.”
“Well let me help you get back to them in one piece, yeah?”
“How can I trust you? And what help can you provide?”
“Well,” reminiscent of the position I’d take in Demon’s office, my elbows go back on my knees and my chin rests on my clasped hands, “have I done you wrong, so far?”
“What if you were working with them? What if you’re trying to trick me? Getting on my right side, sucking me in. Then… hurting me? You were there right at the time the car ran me down.” Her mouth twists as if she’s tasting something unpleasant. “You’ve quickly reached the assumption I’m not who I say I am. How did you do that, Beef? Or did you already know?”
As the thought hits her, she shudders. Her visionless eyes search for my face.
Quickly I rush to reassure her. “Once I pieced everything together it was obvious. I picked up on the clues you let slip. Maybe someone else wouldn’t have put it all together. I assure you, Stevie, I have no idea of this ‘them’ you think I might be working with. I have no idea of your real name or what you’re involved with.” She doesn’t seem convinced, so I try to explain. “Think about it, babe. Think about how we met. Sure, I was there when you had your accident. I always hang around to watch women being run over with my bike loaded up with all my clothes. Oh, and don’t forget, immediately coming up with a plan to worm my way into your good books by looking after your dog. Kinda proves I’m not just muscle, doesn’t it babe?”
Fuck me, she giggles. Down, fella, I instruct my cock.
Chapter Fourteen
After the brief moment of mirth, she stands as though she’s uncomfortable. It’s hard to accept she can’t see a fucking thing as she confidently walks from one side of the room to the other, and then back. Then she does it again. I can well appreciate her warning about not moving furniture. If that stool, for example, was put in her path she’d end up flat on her face. She needs a moment, I give it to her, watching the fleeting expressions come and go as they rearrange her features. Her brow furrows, then smooths, her lips press together. Her mouth twists as though she’s remembering something that’s painful.
Several minutes pass before she turns her face in my direction. “I was warned not to tell anybody anything. They impressed on me just one careless word could lead them to me.”
I’m hanging onto every clue here. She’s referred to them a few times. That rules out an ex. I know she’d told me that herself, but it’s good to have confirmation.
It’s not easy for just anyone to set up a new identity, so I’m pretty certain we’re on the right track thinking she’s in witness protection. If there wasn’t a mystery surrounding her, I could have written off that car as just an accident as we first thought. Now I know more, it seems unlikely to be a coincidence. I’d bet good money, someone has got the information about where she is, and that that someone shouldn’t have. I can do nothing to help her unless I know who that is.
“Who knows where you are, babe? Your family? Have you had any contact with them? Could someone have let anything slip?”
“Don’t you think I’d love to talk to my mom? To my dad? My sisters? Have you any idea how hard it is to be so far away and unable to even pick up the phone?”
I don’t. Sure, I’ve left my family to come to Pueblo, but I can call, go back to visit, hell, go home for good if that’s what I wanted. Drummer would probably give my Tucson patch back in a flash if I explained staying away was too hard. To be so alone, unable to hear a friendly voice when she wants to. I can’t imagine that. My respect for her increases yet again.
My brow furrows in sympathy. “Did you know how hard it would be?”
“I knew.” Her head dips and rises. “I just had to harden myself. I have to do what is right. It’s just for a few months, then I’ll be able to pick up my old life again.”
“You sure about that, babe?”
“Beef,” she suddenly cries, “I’m not sure of anything. I’m not the one who did anything wrong, yet I’m the one being punished for it.” She paces again, then stops. “I was in danger, I couldn’t have stayed. Not when it wasn’t just me, they threatened my family too.”
I try to join the dots and come up with a likely explanation. “You’re going to testify against someone.” It seems obvious now. She’s being kept off the radar until the court case. Then she’ll resurface, give her testimony, and hopefully put whoever it is away, and it will be safe for her to return. Will it be that easy? To be given a new identity, to be moved, from what I’ve picked up, halfway across the country means it isn’t a small case of shoplifting. Corporate crime? That seems likely, it can’t have been something she could have seen, so something she knows, perhaps. Through her work? Maybe.
She hasn’t replied. How can I get her to
trust me? “You got a beer, babe?”
“Sure, yes.”
“It’s okay, I’ll go.” Getting to my feet I go into her kitchen and get two beers. Returning, I put one into her hand. “Come sit by me.”
I’m pleased when she does. She takes a drink and then places her bottle on the coffee table.
“I’m running too, babe,” I start to tell her.
“From the law?”
I laugh, then grow serious. “Babe, sometimes I think that would be easier. You want to hear a story?”
“Stops me from worrying about mine.”
I nod at her reply. “One of my brothers met a woman. She’d got involved with a crooked politician. She had shit on him that could have put him away, well, let’s just say her life was in danger.”
Her head is tilted toward me. Her mouth is open. “What happened? And one of your brothers? How many do you have?”
Dozens. I grin. “Not a blood brother, one in the MC. In many ways, we’re closer than blood.”
“The woman?” she prompts.
“Blade, my brother, well, he was an ass. But once he got his head screwed on, he, us, well, we took down that piece of scum.”
“You killed him?” Her voice squeaks.
“Nah. He’s going away for a very long time. We got the evidence he’d committed murder to clear his way through for the nomination.” I hear the sigh of relief.
“Are you telling me you’re the good guys?”
“Like to think we are, but that’s not why I’m telling you this.” I’m going to bare my soul to her, so I take a few sips of beer to prepare. “Man had a wife. They were separated as he’d used his fists on her once too often. But, politician that he was, he’d do anything to make himself appear to be the right candidate, and that included bringing his wife back to his side.”
“He hurt her again?”
I won’t go into everything. But yeah. “He kinda did.”
“I hope she’s divorced his ass.”
“It’s just been made final, babe. He didn’t contest it,” we might have had a hand in that, “so it was a formality. Went through quickly. Sally, that’s her name. She stayed at the club when she was hiding out from the press. There was quite a lot of coverage.”
“I can imagine there would be. What does this have to do with you being in Pueblo?”
“My brothers in Tucson, well, a lot of them have found their ol’ ladies. Wives,” I quickly explain, seeing the look on her face. “I sort of wanted me some of that. A biker’s not short of a woman when he needs one, but someone to come home to every night? Having a partner, someone to be on your side, well, that was starting to look very attractive. My brothers, they seemed so happy.”
“So you got together with this Sally? She’s what, your old lady now?” A flicker of something crosses her face that I can’t comprehend. I wonder if it’s disappointment. Wishful thinking perhaps.
Not going there even if it is. I realise I should reply. “Yes and no. It’s complicated.”
“Relationships often are.”
“Sally, well… Sally, she’s not a strong person. She’s been told what to do all her life, by her parents who’d pushed her into the marriage, then by her husband who picked up where they left off. Thought I was getting her out of that situation, giving her space to start thinking for herself. Fact is,” I check to see she still looks interested and I’m not boring her, seems I’m not so I continue, “Sally needs that, needs someone to give her instructions on every part of her life. I’m not that man, couldn’t be what she wanted.”
“So you left her?”
“Not proud of what I’ve done, babe. But, yeah. My prez saw I’d got myself into something that was hard to extricate myself from. So he made me a nomad—that’s a biker with no affiliation to any particular chapter, and goes where there’s a problem. That’s why I’m in Pueblo, to sort some shit out. Sally equates that with working away.”
“But you’re not going back to her?”
“Makes me sound an asshole, but what I’m doing is giving her space to realise she can exist on her own. That she doesn’t need a man to complete her. But no, I’m not going back. To Tucson, yeah, but not to her. I’m hoping she’ll come to that realisation herself.”
She’s quiet for a moment. “I can’t work out if you’re a big softy or an utter asshole, Beef.”
I chuckle. “I think I’m a bit of both.”
“This came about because you thought you needed a woman to complete you, Beef. Not much difference between Sally and you from what you’ve said.”
“World of difference, babe,” I refute. “I wanted the dream, which was what I didn’t get. What you’ve got to understand is that my brothers seemed to come across that one special woman much the same way as Sally came into my life. Thought that was a sign, read it wrong. Nah, I don’t need a woman, especially now. It’s a trap I won’t fall into again.” I don’t explain the club whores are there to take care of my sexual needs, or that there’s no problem being a single man in an MC. “The Pueblo chapter is completely different from Tucson. There, men are dropping like flies into the ol’ lady trap. Here? Most are like me, single.”
“But you’re not. Not while this woman thinks there’s a chance you can get back together.”
She’s not wrong. I swear my cock’s starting to shrivel through lack of action. Even before I’d left town it had been weeks since I’d last made polite love to Sally. If I don’t get back in the game soon, I might forget how to use it. “I’m going to cut her loose. Soon as I can do it without hurting her.”
Her hand hovers in the air. It seems like an invitation to take it. As soon as I do, her fingers tighten around mine, well, circling my big paw with her tiny one as much as she can. “She’ll hurt, Beef. May be kinder to pull off that band-aid rather than letting futile hope fester.”
I’d come clean with her to try and get her to trust me. By laying my own soul bare, thought I could get her to reciprocate, or start that in motion at least. I didn’t expect to find talking to another woman so helpful, giving me a clarity which hadn’t been there before. “I’ve done this all wrong, haven’t I? Should have been honest as soon as things started going wrong.”
“How long have you been with her?”
“I’ve known her four months, lived with her two. Not very long.”
She squeezes again. “Beef, I might not be able to see you, but I’m a fair judge of character for all that. You’ve told me you and your brothers were on the right side of the law when you took down that politician. You’re here because you hate letting someone down. If I had someone like you in my life, I probably wouldn’t want to lose them either.”
“I’m not a good man,” I warn her.
“I think you are.” She bites her lip. “I’m in witness protection.”
Jesus H Christ. It worked. “You gonna tell me enough so I can help you?”
Her expression isn’t what I expected. Her head swivels on her neck, but not in my direction, she’s focused on something behind me.
“What…?”
“Shush,” she says fast and quietly. Her brow creases. “I heard something. At the back door.”
Her hearing must be acute. There’s nothing wrong with mine, but her ears are definitely sharper, I’d heard no sound at all.
Not doubting her for one minute, I stand. She does too. “Stay here. I’ll go check.”
Seeing she clearly has no intention of obeying me, I half wish she’d be more like Sally and just do what she was told. But too eager to find it’s a cat foraging so I can put her mind at ease, I slide my gun out of my cut—just in case—and waste no time heading into the kitchen. The view afforded by the window, looking out onto a backyard shows nothing of any concern. The door has frosted glass in the top panel, I’d be able to see a shape if anyone was there.
“Stay here,” I use a sharper tone. “I’m going outside to check. Lock the door behind me, okay?”
She nods. “Yes.”
&n
bsp; I place my hand on the handle and pull. The door doesn’t budge. I glance up and down, there are bolts, but she hasn’t slid them. There’s a key in the lock. Fucking idiot, Beef. I turn it. The door though, gives a fraction, but won’t open.
“You got problems with this, babe?”
“What? No.”
Someone’s already tried to kill her. My brain computes facts fast as my body is already surrounding her, pushing her back as a blast comes from the front of the house.
My ears are ringing, my nostrils suddenly fill with acrid smoke coming through from the living room. Someone’s thrown a bomb into her house and locked the back door, so she couldn’t get out.
“Beef!” she screams.
“Stand still.” I turn back and kick the door. It won’t budge, not even with all my strength directed at it. “We’ve got to get out of here,” I spit at her. One glance into the living room where the fire has already taken hold shows me there’s no way we’re getting passed that and to the front door. I grab hold of her hand. The window might have a good view, but it’s too small for us to use to get out. I’ve got to find one that’s bigger. Yanking her along behind me, I’m pulled up by her oomph of pain. Fucking idiot that I am, I forgot she couldn’t see.
I sweep her up into my arms, kicking doors open. The bathroom’s no good. Ah, her bedroom. Yeah, we can get out of that. I open the window.
Is someone waiting outside? But that’s the least of my worries, I already feel heat at my back, we’ll have to chance it. Thank fuck the window opens easily. In other circumstances I’d make sure she’s out before me, but if anyone’s waiting to stop her escaping, I’d rather him deal with me first.
“I’m going out. You come after.”
She’s shaking with fear and the smoke’s making her choke. But like everything, she takes the destruction of her house and her need to escape in stride. Within seconds I’m in the fresh air, taking a moment to survey my surroundings. No one in sight.
Satan's Devils MC Colorado Boxset 1 Books 1 - 3 Page 83