“So, what now?” Crash snarled.
“Now, we finish this and go our separate ways. You take the information Kayla has back to your club and do whatever you do, and I disappear. You find my sister and stash her somewhere safe and sound until it’s okay for her to live her life again.”
“So all that matters is Kayla?”
“Shit, seriously?” Braya laughed again. “She’s all that’s mattered this entire time. To you and me both, to your club, her father, the people following us. You wouldn’t even be standing here right now if it wasn’t for her. Don’t act like it’s different now just because you read a little about my past, or fucked me.”
“Is that what you really want? Because I got to tell you, princess, I’ve been watching you, and what you call smoke and mirrors is more like looking through a plate-glass window. You don’t know what the fuck you’re doing and have no idea how to handle the people coming after you. You’re smoke and mirrors. This brave front you're putting out is all bullshit. You're scared to fucking death.”
“Thanks for the observation, but I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one. The only thing I’m hoping for right now is my sister being found safe and sound. I didn’t know about the letters, I didn’t know about you, so I’m hoping like hell there’s something else in that box that will tell us where she is or at least a lead to who has her.”
Braya plopped back down on the bed, looking worn out and defeated. Pulling her legs up until they reached her chest, she laid her head down on them.
“This isn’t doing either us any good. You know it, and I know it,” she said quietly.
Crash was still pissed but looking at her now, he backed down. He knew he was right, this woman sitting on the bed right now was the real Braya. Sure, a little of the spit and vinegar Braya was in there too, but she had been fighting for so long, she didn’t know any other way to do it. Crash respected her for that, in awe of all that she had been through and was still fighting and loyal as hell to her sister. They were traits he admired and held himself. As much as he wanted to just say fuck it and give her a break, there was still more he needed to know.
“What did you find?” Crash asked.
Braya never lifted her head but tilted it to the side to look at him.
“There was a girl, same age as Kayla, same build and coloring who was taken first. It was a mistake. What I got were recordings of phone conversations between the MC that took her and Duncan Stewart. Apparently, even outlaws like to protect their asses.” The joke fell short, and Crash felt a lump forming in his throat.
“Duncan was pissed, demanded the MC do their job and gave them information on where Kayla would be. It was all covert and said in a way that could be misconstrued if ever brought to a court of law, but when I tracked down the girl, and the dates lined up, I knew we had him. Kayla did too.”
“Who was the girl?” The words barely croaked out of his mouth.
“Evelyn St. John.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Fucking hell!!” Crash stood up from the chair he was sitting in and kicked it across the room, not paying attention to where it went, Still raging, he slammed his fist into the table and shattered it. This couldn’t be right, it had to be a setup. No way a fucking preschool teacher could find the information he, a trained professional, couldn’t uncover. That his club and friends couldn’t find.
“Oh my God!! Crash, who is Evelyn St. John?” Braya tried to approach him, but he held his hands out and turned around. He had never hurt a woman, and he didn’t plan on starting now. This wasn’t her fault, or she was a good fucking actress. At the moment, he was out of control, and he knew one thing for sure. He needed to get the fuck away from her.
“Evelyn St. John, or Evie as she liked to go by, was my sister, and your sister knows it. We talked about her, what happened to her, and what I did to the people who hurt her. I was supposed to find her, not Kayla, in that fucking club. I was supposed to save my own damn sister, not yours,” he growled. “How long have you known, how long have you had that name?” Crash demanded.
Braya stepped back from him, her legs hitting against the bed, stopping her. He could see she was scared—scared of him. Good, she should be right now.
“It’s been over six months. Crash, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know. I didn’t look into the girl, only what happened. I didn’t know, and I should have thought about your last name, but… I can’t believe Kayla wouldn’t have told you, you’re her friend. I swear I didn’t know, I wouldn’t have told you like this, I wouldn’t have kept this from you, I can’t believe…”
So many things crashed through his brain. All the conversations he had with Kayla since they reconnected. How many times had Kayla said he needed to move on, to forgive himself for what had happened to his sister? Yet she had known for six months her Father was responsible and never once utter a single word about it.
“What? That your precious sister used me like she used you?”
“Crash, I’m so sorry, I didn’t think,” Braya stammered, and he could see tears in her eyes, but he had no sympathy for her at the moment.
“That she, like you, learned well from her daddy and played a little game of chess with both our lives? Keeping information away from me, only to do something dramatic like disappear and lead me right to it with you? I wonder why that is? Hell, maybe you’re both just really fucking good actresses because she played me like a fucking fool.”
Opening the door, he walked out, slamming it behind him. His thoughts were on nothing but getting the fuck away from Braya and all she had just revealed. He got on his bike, started it up, and peeled out of the parking lot. He didn’t have the first fucking clue where he was going, just as long as it was a long way away from there and Braya.
It took him miles to calm down enough to think straight, to realize that Braya didn’t have the first clue as to who she was talking about when she so abruptly blurted out his sister’s name. Pulling over on the side of the road, he picked up his phone and dialed Axel. The other man picked up on the first ring.
“I need you to get Braya to El Paso. I’ll meet you there.”
He didn’t know if Axel had overheard their conversation or heard the tone of his voice to know he was pissed and dealing with something. Crash was thankful all he said was, “Understood.” Crash hung up and dialed another number. Tuck picked up immediately.
“Report.”
Crash was all business. He didn’t want to get into any of this right now, not even with Tuck.
“Things have taken a turn. Axel is going to get Braya to the bank and El Paso, and I’ll meet them there, but I’m no longer escorting the subject.” Fuck, calling Braya the subject didn’t feel right, but he needed to distance himself. His anger was too close to the surface. Rationally, he knew none of this was her fault, she didn’t know the implications of her statement, but Kayla wasn’t anywhere to be found.
Crash was going to hang up but stopped.
“I need everything you have on Duncan Stewart, get Kit on it if you have to.” This was the first time Crash had ever issued an order to his President. It wasn’t how things worked in the club, but he was too far gone to care at the moment. He had proven his loyalty to the RBMC and Tuck himself. He just hoped the other man kept that in mind instead of beating his ass or denying his request. Crash started to think of different ways to get the information he needed just in case, but for once Tuck didn’t question or pry, he was all business.
“You’ll have his full file within a few hours. Do I need to send reinforcements?”
“No, the target should be safe until she and Axel reach El Paso and the bank.” Shit, Braya was a target, he knew it. They all did, but saying the word in reference to her did something to his chest. He couldn’t stop his hand from going to his chest and rubbing away the pain. Then in a move entirely unlike himself he said, “Kayla knew about my sister, Tuck, knew who was responsible for her death and didn’t say a word to any of us.”
“Fuck, brother, there aren’t any words I can say right now to help. That mission was messed up from start to finish. We have both had questions and looked into things but came up short. This seems a little too convenient for added information to come out now if you know what I mean. Are you sure, or do you think this is just a way to throw you off track? I hate to say it, brother, but anyone who knows anything about you, all it would take is a little digging to figure out Evie is your Achilles heel. You went off the rails for a while after her death. Not all of it is on the downlow.”
Crash was silent and actually thought about that for a second. It was true Evie’s death could throw him over the edge faster than anything else he was confronted with, but what would be the point now? Kayla had set it up so he and Braya needed to be at the fucking bank together to get her information. It wouldn’t make sense to separate them now because the information would just sit there. That was, of course, assuming anyone besides Braya and Kayla knew about the requirement. People were bought and sold every single day, so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities. But an outside force hadn’t told him about his sister, it was Braya. She had absolutely nothing to gain from telling him, she actually had more to lose.
“I don’t think so, but I need the space to figure it out,” he answered Tuck. “She’ll be safe with Axel and his boys.”
“Do you need anything else, brother?”
“Nothing unless you can make Kayla Stewart or her father appear in front of me right now,” he clipped.
“Sorry, brother, I left my magic wand at home, but I’ll look into how to make that happen for you in the near future.”
Yeah, if Tuck couldn’t, he sure as fuck would. He heard a bike coming up the road and turned slightly, knowing precisely who it was. Cursing, he said goodbye to Tuck and put his phone away. Getting back on his bike, he waited for her to pull up alongside him. This was another complication he didn’t need right now. This bitch, he would hit.
When she turned off her machine, Crash said, ”Jewell, I don’t need your shit right now.”
"We need to talk," Jewell ordered.
“I think we’ve said all that needs to be said to each other,” he countered.
“Yeah, that’s where you're wrong. You want to blame me for what happened to Evie. I get that, have accepted it for all these years, but seeing you with those women, fuck you, Crash! Can’t you see the fucking writing on the wall? Evie was like a sister to me. I loved her, we were best friends, and if she hadn’t been taken, we would have been sisters, and you and I would be married right now. So, no, I don’t think we’ve said all that needs to be said. You owe me.”
“I don’t owe you shit, Jewell. I put a ring on your finger, and we made promises to each other, each and every one you broke. The bitch of it is, because of some fucked-up jealousy, you took my sister along for the ride. I know it, and you know it too.”
“Yeah, let me tell you a few other things I know, Crash. I was jealous, didn’t want another woman, even your sister, competing with me for your already divided attention, but I didn’t set out to get Evie hurt.”
“No you set out to hurt me,” Crash laughed, “and she was just collateral damage. The bitch of it, I never cared enough about you to give a shit, Jewell. You were easy, convenient, and familiar.”
“I’m never going to change your mind about that, but you need to wake the fuck up and look around. Kayla, that woman, the one you saved instead of Evie, the one you care so much about, don’t you think it was just a little too convenient? Haven’t you ever questioned why the two of them, who looked so much alike, were taken by the same people within weeks of each other? Why it took so long to find Evie’s body after that woman’s rescue? But yet the rich girl, was found alive, slightly fucked-up, and Evie killed?”
He had thought about those things, but nothing ever checked out. There was never a ransom demand. There was no paper trail linking the two. Then there was the fact every one of those fuckers he tortured and questioned responded with the same story—it was just random bit of fun for the club. There hadn’t been a single shred of evidence to point him in another direction. But he had never questioned Jewell. She had offered information, but he had been so angry, he dismissed her. Now that he knew, now that Braya had confirmed his sister’s death was all part of a bigger plot. He wanted, needed to know more, to figure out how in the hell he had been so wrong.
“What happened that night, the night she was taken?”
Jewell looked shocked he actually asked a question, instead of berating her once again, but she quickly recovered.
“It never made sense. We went to Jimmy Bean’s, same as every other time. We had a few drinks and danced. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary going on. Evie met up with a few guys she was having fun with, and I got distracted, took my eyes off of her for only a few minutes.”
Yeah, Crash knew exactly what Jewell had gotten distracted with—dick. Looking at her now, he couldn’t believe he once thought he loved this woman. Their relationship had been doomed from its inception. They had been a part of each other’s lives since they were in diapers. The three of them, him, Jewell and Evie were always together. When he went into the service, after his first deployment, getting hurt bad enough to be sent home on leave, Crash had been feeling off-centered. Jewell was there, offering up that piece of home he needed at the time. They hooked up, and after a while, it felt only right to put a ring on it and start a life together.
He had ignored all the signs it was a bad move because he wanted that anchor, home and hearth or some shit. The truth was, he never loved her as he should have. Just having someone there to welcome him home was enough, at that point. The easy no-holds-barred sex also added to his attraction. He’d always been a cold bastard, didn’t deny it for a second. It wasn’t like he’d been a choir boy during their relationship either, he made his own mistakes. Shaking his head, he stopped those thoughts and listened.
“When I realized she wasn’t at the bar any longer, I went looking for her. She knew not to leave without letting me know, Crash, and she had never once broken that promise.” She cleared her throat again and looked down. “We had a pact; if either of us were going to leave with someone,” Jewell stammered quietly, her cheeks heating with a red tinge of embarrassment, but she finished the statement without looking at him, “we told the other and made sure whoever the guy was the other knew him, or at least how to hunt him down. We were careful.”
She stopped talking, waiting as if he would say something, but he hadn’t given a shit about Jewell's extracurricular activities in a long fucking time, so he didn’t say a word.
“That didn’t happen, she was just gone, Crash. She wouldn’t have done that. You might think I’m a bitch, but I looked out for Evie, regardless of everything else.”
All he said was a simple, “I know.” It was true. Jewell was and could be a bitch, but if she considered you family, she looked out.
“The guys she’d been talking to weren’t regulars. At the time, I didn’t think much of it, Jimmy Bean’s was a safe place for us to party and let loose. She could have called out to anyone if she felt like she was in trouble or even if something just felt off. We knew half the people in the bar. It always bothered me she didn’t. It was like one minute she was there, and the next, she was gone.”
Crash knew some of this from the report he read, so it wasn’t anything new.
“The guy I was with disappeared shortly after I started looking for Evie. It wasn’t until the news report about the woman you saved came up, I put it all together. When the pictures of the guys in the MC that took her were plastered all over the news, I recognized them and the guy I was with. It had been a set up. I tried to call you to tell you, left messages, and even contacted the police, but nothing happened. Then I saw that woman; she and Evie could have been sisters. Crash they looked so much alike, it couldn’t have been random.”
Crash having heard all he needed to started up his bike, but didn’t rev it and
pull away.
“It wasn’t, it also wasn’t your fault, Jewell. I’ve blamed you for a long time. I still don’t like you or what you did, but it wasn’t your fault, and you couldn’t have stopped what happened to Evie if you tried.”
He pulled away, only looking back once to see Jewell sitting on her bike, shoulders slumped. He offered the best thing he could for her—absolution. She’d needed to hear he didn’t blame her for a long time, just as much as he needed to say it. And now that he knew who was behind it, his blame and fury could go to the place it needed to be. Right on Duncan Stewart's head!
Chapter Sixteen
Braya was in shock. There wasn’t any other explanation for what she was feeling right at that moment. Crash had said some things that really hit home for her, but none so much as realizing Kayla had truly set them both up, brought the other stuff up so much. How could sweet, caring Kayla do that to them? Do that to him?
He had been right about so many things. Hell, most of her life was an act, just to get on to the next day. She vacillated between roles to fake it until she made it to the next step, the next moment. Strong and brave one minute, shy and demure the next, anything that worked. She was definitely a product of her upbringing, no question about it. Braya was really starting to wonder who the fuck she really was.
The devastation and anger on Crash’s face had gutted her. After saying the name and looking at him, her mind had started to put things together, but it was already too late. The damage had been done and done so callously it made her sick. She was pissed at herself and at Kayla. Her mind couldn’t process how Kayla could have kept that information from Crash. Braya herself had only known the man for a day, and she would have told him, handed over the audio files, whatever he needed. That girl was his family. His sister.
Shit, she should have looked into it further, looked into the family of the victim, Evie, but she hadn’t, she trusted Kayla to do the right thing. That was the problem right there in a nutshell. Every single fucking time Braya trusted someone, they proved just how misplaced that trust was. Now, she didn’t know what to do. She was pissed off at Kayla, but she still wanted her found. The only way to do that was to get to that goddamn bank and hope it wasn’t just another fucking ploy. That there would be something there to point her in the right direction, instead of setting her up to do the dirty work Kayla obviously hadn’t wanted to do.
Crash: Ruthless Bastards (RBMC Book 9) Page 11