by A. M. Myers
I laugh, imagining that big man freaking out over two little babies.
“Although, I did tell him I’m going to tase him during each contraction for doing this to me because that part is going to suck.”
“You guys certainly have an interesting relationship,” I answer with a laugh, remembering Kodiak’s comments about tasers at my house, and she flashes me a devious grin as we walk outside.
“Oh, you have no idea. We should grab lunch sometime and I’ll tell you all about it.”
I nod. “Deal.”
Her phone starts ringing and she rolls her eyes as she pulls it out of her pocket and checks the screen before flashing it at me.
“I gotta go before the caveman decides to ride down here to get me.”
I nod as I check my phone again, my heart dropping when I still don’t have any new messages. “Yeah, I gotta go find my husband.”
“Good luck with that,” she answers with a laugh as she walks to her car and waves good-bye. I stare at my phone for another second before dialing Wyatt’s number. It rings in my ear endlessly before his voice mail picks up and tears sting my eyes as I disconnect the call and shove my phone in my pocket.
“He’s okay,” I whisper, squeezing my eyes shut as my heart races. “He’s okay.”
“Hey,” a voice says and I open my eyes, glancing to my side as Lillian offers me a smile. “You feel like grabbing some coffee with me or something?”
I shake my head. “I really wish I could, Lil, but I’ve got to get home.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” I answer before shaking my head. “I don’t know… It’s probably nothing but Wyatt hasn’t answered me back for a while now and I’m just worried.”
I close my eyes again, trying not to let the panic take over but all I can see is Wyatt hurt, a mangled bike and blood everywhere before the image of Wyatt with bullet holes all over his body pops into my mind. It doesn’t linger, there and gone in a flash but it’s enough to make me feel like I’m going to crumble.
“Hey,” Lillian says, her voice firm. “Look at me.”
I open my eyes and she grabs my shoulders, holding me steady.
“Take a breath.”
With my heart hammering into my ribs, I take a deep breath and keep my gaze locked with hers as a little bit of calm descends over me. She nods and I do it again, telling myself not to panic, that he is okay as my pulse starts to slow and my head feels clearer.
“You good?” she asks, eyeing me warily and I nod. Releasing me, she blows out a breath and shakes her head.
“Listen, Pip… I know you’re happy being with Wyatt again but I just want you to be careful… I don’t want to see you go backward because of him and if he’s not taking your needs into account, maybe this isn’t for the best.”
I shake my head. “It’s not like that, Lil. Wyatt has been amazing but I can’t expect him to be at my beck and call at all times just because I worry. I’ll talk to Dr. Brewer about ways to deal with it.”
“Promise me you’ll be careful and not rush things?” she asks and I can’t help but think that it’s a little too late for that. My friends know about Wyatt and me being back together and buying the house together but they don’t know about us trying to have a baby. I nod.
“I’ll be careful. I promise.”
She sighs. “Okay. Well, I guess I’m going to head home, then.”
“You should call Eden. I’m sure she would love to go grab a coffee with you.”
“Right,” she answers with a smirk. “I think you meant to say cocktail.”
I laugh because she is spot on and I give her a little shrug. “I think bars serve coffee, too, so then you’ll both be happy.”
“You know what, maybe I will give her a call.” She turns to her car as she pulls her phone out of her bag. “Have a good night and let me know that everything is okay once you find Wyatt.”
I nod as I watch her walk to her car. “I will.”
As soon as she pulls out of the parking lot, my stomach twists into knots again and I grip my phone tightly as I walk to my car and unlock it. Slipping behind the wheel, I dial Wyatt’s number again and it rings in my ear as my pulse picks up.
“Answer the damn phone, baby.”
When his voice mail picks up again, I end the call and toss it into the passenger seat before starting the engine. I peel out of the parking lot a little too fast but I can’t even bring myself to care right now. The most important thing is making sure Wyatt is okay. I’ll start at the house and if he’s not there, I’ll go to the clubhouse.
What if he’s not there either?
Shaking my head, I push the thought from my mind and focus on the road in front of me. I refuse to jump to conclusions and freak out before I know anything else. One thing is for sure, when I do find him, we need to talk. Not that I know what we are going to talk about but I also feel like he can’t just ghost me like this. I’ve never seen the man go anywhere without his phone so why isn’t he answering my calls? I remember what I told Lillian about not expecting Wyatt to be at my beck and call. What I told her is true and I know it’s not fair to him that I freak out at the littlest sign of trouble but I also need him to be a little considerate of what I’ll go through when he goes MIA. Sighing, I pull down down our street.
God, I am a fucking mess.
When I do find him, maybe I should ask him if he’s sure he wants to be with someone as crazy as me. Though, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know the answer.
As I pull up in front of the house, my heart climbs into my throat. The Bronco is here but his bike isn’t which means neither is Wyatt. I grip the wheel tighter and suck in a breath as I nod to myself.
“Don’t freak out yet.”
The roar of an engine cuts through my thoughts and I gasp. My head jerks up just as Wyatt pulls into the driveway on his bike. My body deflates and I release a breath as a wave of relief rushes through me. I put the car in park and fall back into my seat as tears well up in my eyes and all I can think about is being his arms. I don’t think I’ll be able to take a full breath until I can feel him. When I glance up again, Wyatt is marching over to my car, a look I can’t decipher on his face but it makes my heart skip a beat. He reaches my door and yanks it open, his eyes intense as he stares down at me.
“Turn off the car.”
I reach forward and turn the key as I study his face. “What’s wrong?”
As soon as the car is off, he leans in and unbuckles my seat belt before gently pulling me out of the car and into his arms. A flood of calm settles over me at his touch but there is this nagging thought in the back of my mind that something is very, very wrong. Holding me so close that it’s difficult to breathe, he buries his face in my neck and releases a breath. I can feel the tension in his body and it seeps into me as my mind spins with possibilities as I wrap my arms around his neck, my chest feeling tight.
“What happened, baby?” I whisper and he shakes his head. His lips press to my neck like he needs the kiss more than I do and my stomach twists as fear snakes down my spine. “Please talk to me, Wyatt.”
He pulls back and looks down the street before meeting my eyes. The haunted look dancing in his eyes makes my heart race and my hands shake as tears sting my eyes. “Let’s go inside.”
“Okay. Just let me grab my things.”
Without another word, he releases me, grabs my hand, and reaches into the car, grabbing my purse and my phone out of the passenger seat before pulling me into his side and slamming the door shut. He holds me close as we walk up the front walk, his eyes flicking around the neighborhood like he’s waiting for someone to ambush us. My heart crashes against my rib cage and tears fill my eyes as the hair on my arms raises.
I swear I can feel someone’s eyes on me…
As soon as we get in the house, Wyatt shuts the door and makes sure it’s locked before he runs into the kitchen. I follow him, my hands shaking and watch as he does the same to the back door.
“Wyatt,” I call as he walks past me into the hallway and he holds one finger up before disappearing into our room. When he comes out again, he has a pistol in his hand and he goes to the window, pulling the new curtains I just put up yesterday back to peek outside.
“What is going on?” I yell, desperate as panic claws at my insides and the tears start slipping down my face. His head jerks to me. The need to keep watch wars with his need to comfort me on his face and after a second, he sets the gun on the dining room table before closing the distance between us and pulling me into his arms. A sob shakes my body as I grip his t-shirt and I can’t tell if it’s fear or comfort taking over my body as he presses his lips to the top of my head.
“I’m sorry, Pip.”
I shake my head as I pull back to look up at him, wiping my face. “Don’t apologize. Just tell me what is going on.”
“Okay,” he answers with a sigh as he runs his fingers through his hair and nods. His mind is spinning, I can see it plain as day on his face and I know something serious is going on but I can’t even come up with a single reason to explain his behavior. Wyatt isn’t the one who gets scared, I am. So what is it that has him so freaked? He sighs again like he’s working up the courage to tell me and nods.
“The guys and I were working at the charity carnival this afternoon and when we went back to the clubhouse, someone had broken in. They plastered pictures of these girls who were killed all over the walls…”
“Wait… what the hell are you saying?” I ask as I struggle to process the words coming out of his mouth. A break-in at the clubhouse and dead girls? Why does the club have anything to do with dead girls? He grabs my shoulders and meets my gaze, keeping me steady.
“You know what the club does, right?”
I nod. He explained it to me the other night but I still don’t see the connection.
“Three girls that we have helped are dead now and up until this afternoon, I was the only one who thought they were connected. Someone is coming after the club and they have been for a while now.”
My knees feel weak as my heartbeat thunders in my ears. “You’re scaring me, Wyatt.”
“I know,” he whispers, a tortured look on his face. “And I hate every second of it but I need you to be scared, baby. Fuck, I’m scared.”
“Who is doing this? Are we really in that much danger?”
He shakes his head and releases me. “I don’t know…”
I open my mouth to try and ask him another question but he turns and heads for the front door, unlocking it and ripping it open before marching outside.
“Wyatt?!”
Frozen in the middle of my living room, I stare at the open door, my heart racing out of control as I try to take deep breaths to calm myself but it’s not working anymore.
What the hell is going on?
He runs back into the room with three folders full of papers in his hand and slams the door behind him, locking it again before he walks over to the dining room table and slaps them down.
“These are the girls. The club helped each one of them and shortly afterward, they were murdered. At first, we thought it was their boyfriends or husband or whoever we helped them get away from until this last girl…” He flips open a folder. “…Sammy was found dead. The guy we helped her get away from is dead so he couldn’t have been the one to kill her. That’s when I started looking into the cases but no one else believed that it was anything more than bad luck. With the work we do, it’s not impossible that a girl would go back to her man, you know? Abusive relationships and the emotions that go along with them are complicated.”
I nod, my mind starting to piece it all together. “And what happened today?”
“We came back from the carnival and their autopsy pictures were blown up and pasted on every wall in the clubhouse like some kind of demented wallpaper with a note that said, ‘I am winning’.”
“Winning?” I breathe, the implications crashing down on me. “Winning what?”
“The game? Fuck, I don’t know, Pip… Apparently we really pissed someone off and he’s been planning his revenge for a while.”
“Who is he?”
He throw his hands up. “I don’t know, that’s the problem. I have no fucking clue. For months I’ve been looking into these cases and I can’t find any evidence for who this guy is.”
“He’s a ghost,” I murmur, my mind reeling back to the night my parents died and the memory of the man who killed them that has been haunting me for years. Reality crashes down around my feet and I shake my head as tears well up in my eyes again. “Oh, God.”
Meeting Wyatt’s eyes across the room, I shake my head.
“What are we going to do?”
He abandons the files and walks over to me, pulling me close like he needs the security just as much as I do. “We are working on it, okay? The whole club is on board now and all of the guys are going to be pouring over these cases but in the meantime, we all need to be more careful. You feel me?”
I nod, trying to come to terms with everything but my mind is stuck on the fact that once again, a monster is coming for the ones I love. Only this time, I know it and I have to live everyday with that knowledge. The brothers and their wives pop into my mind as my chest starts to ache. They already feel like family to me and I can’t imagine losing any of them. And if something happens to Wyatt…
“I’ll drive you to work and I will pick you up at the end of the day,” he says, interrupting my thoughts as my heart climbs into my throat. “I don’t want you at the studio alone and I want the door locked at all times. You can let clients in and out but other than that, it needs to be locked.”
“Okay,” I breathe, not even bothering to argue with him. There is a part of me that wants to fall apart but there is another part that feels a little bit stronger with a plan to focus on. I’ll follow his rules and I’ll do what it takes to keep us safe. I meet his gaze. “Have you talked to the cops?”
He nods. “We work with one of the detectives on a regular basis and the second woman killed was his girlfriend so he’s already looped in. Blaze called him after we discovered the photos.”
“Good.” My voice is weak and unsure as I nod my head and drop my gaze to the floor.
Oh, God, this is so crazy. How am I supposed to deal with this on top of all my other shit?
I’m not strong enough.
I’m going to fall apart and then Wyatt will see how truly weak I am.
“Hey,” Wyatt says, pulling my gaze back up to his. “Lean on me, baby. I’ve got you and I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
I nod, feeling a little more secure in the knowledge that I’m not going through this alone. “You’ve already got so much on your plate. You don’t need to be constantly worried about my mental state, Wyatt.”
“I am your husband and I love you. None of this means anything without you so whether you let me help you or not, I’m going to worry.”
I shake my head, wishing I could be a strength for him in this crazy time, too.
But could I handle it?
Sucking in a breath, I look up. “You shouldn’t have to shoulder this alone. You can lean on me, too.”
“No, I won’t do that to you. It’s my job to protect you and take care of you and I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to you. No one is going to hurt you, not even yourself. Do you hear me, baby?”
“Wyatt,” I whisper, shaking my head but before I can say anything else he slams his lips on mine, his kiss desperate and full of the fear coursing through his body. I wrap my arms around him, pulling him closer. I don’t care what it takes or what I have to do. I’m determined to be the same unwavering support system to him that he is for me without letting my demons consume me. Wyatt and I have a life to live and I won’t let this stop us.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Wyatt
Jumping in the Bronco, I slam the door behind me before leaning my head back and blowing out a breath as I scrub my hand over
my face. My heart pounds hard in my chest and I focus on my breathing, trying to calm myself down but it’s not working. Church just let out and despite the fact that every single one of my brothers and I have been looking into these cases for the last three days, we have absolutely nothing and I feel like I’m going to lose my goddamn mind. Right after we discovered the photos, Blaze ordered us to look into every single person we’ve had contact with since Dina was killed two years ago, every single guy we’ve rescued someone from, every single P.I. client we’ve had and anyone else we could think of that might have a connection to the club but we still have nothing. We’re still in exactly the same spot I was and it’s killing me.
“Fuzz,” someone says from outside my window and I jerk up as my eyes fly open. Kodiak holds his hands up in surrender and I release a breath as I relax back into the seat. “Sorry, man. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
I shake my head. “What’s up?”
“Fuck,” he breathes, crossing his arms over his chest and dropping his eyes to the ground for a second before he meets my gaze. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry… about not believing you. I didn’t want it to be true and…”
“Forget it, man. I understand. You have no fucking idea how much I wish I had been wrong right about now.”
He nods as he runs a hand through his hair. “With Tate pregnant, all I can think about is the worst case scenarios…”
“Kodiak, if anyone can protect themselves, it’s Tate,” I tell him with a smile I don’t quite feel and he nods, giving me a faux chuckle.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Silence descends over us, awkward and tense, as we both struggle with something else to say but there is nothing. This situation… it’s uncharted territory for us and with almost all of us in serious relationships with the women we love, we all have a hell of a lot to lose. A memory of Piper telling me to lean on her, too, pops into my mind and I sigh. She’s right. This mess we’ve found ourselves in sucks and there is nothing we can do about that but we can lean on each other, be the family that we’re supposed to be.