Lion

by Jessie Cooke

  Lion cocked an eyebrow. “A relationship? You’re not saying she was…” God, he couldn’t even imagine his Me Maw in a romantic relationship. “They weren’t like, sleeping together, were they?”

  Kyle smiled at his discomfort and said, “Honestly, I don’t know that. I talked to Bob Greer, the guy that used to own Greer’s Rifles. It was just routine, trying to track down information about Luger. Bob was his dad’s boss for over fifteen years. So anyways, he starts telling me about Norman coming in to work with bruises and bumps all the time. He told Bob he was ‘clumsy’ but Bob had suspicions that the kid was beating him up. He said that Norman O’Leary was a mousy little man and Lincoln was a punk. He came right out and asked Norman about it once and Luger’s old man denied it. But what bothered him the most was one time after Norman came in with a black eye, he broke down and told Bob that his wife thought he was having an affair with Kate Lawson.” Lion cringed both inwardly and out. A man doesn’t want to think of his grandmother in that way…especially since she had to be twenty years Norman O’Leary’s senior.

  “So was he?”

  Kyle chuckled again and said, “Bob says he denied it. But then he said your grandma was helping him with a ‘sexual’ issue and his wife found out about it. She was talking about taking the boy and leaving him. Bob said he thought Norman would be better off, but O’Leary was crushed by it…or he seemed to be.”

  “When did all that happen?”

  “Just a month or so before the fire, and then Norman O’Leary disappeared.”

  Lion frowned. “What do you mean he disappeared? I remember when I was about seventeen, they had a memorial service for him. He’d died in a car accident or something.”

  “That was the story, but Bob said one day he just stopped coming to work and when he asked the old lady, she said he’d left them. Bob was so worried he actually talked to the police about it, but I guess they found evidence that he had bailed…his car was gone and he’d left a note. Then about six months later, this car accident supposedly happened in Philly.”

  “Supposedly?”

  “Yeah…thing is that an insurance policy was taken out on old Norman, after he left her and the kid. Once she paid premiums on it for a few months they were all of a sudden telling people he’d been in a car accident. So I tried to track down evidence of that, since I had an approximate date. No one named Norman O’Leary died in Philly in a car accident that entire year.”

  “Wouldn’t they have to have a body to collect life insurance though?”

  Kyle nodded. “I found the death certificate. It is filed in Philadelphia. The cause of death was blunt force trauma…and get this, the body was actually found in an open field and he’d been dead for months when they found him. The Philly police still have the case open, but the body was sent home and the life insurance was paid…and for whatever reason, the family never told that story to anyone.”

  “That’s fucking suspicious.”

  Kyle was nodding. “Yeah. The timing all seems too much to be a coincidence. Anyways, as far as the night your place was torn up recently, I haven’t been able to find one person at the ranch who saw either of them that night. The bartender Amy remembers him leaving after you got onto him that day, with Walt, and neither of them were seen coming back. Of course, Walt lives alone and Luger with his mother, so nothing’s to say they didn’t go home.”

  “Yeah, but I doubt it.”

  “Me too,” Kyle said.

  “So bottom line is we won’t ever be able to prove they did it.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. What I’ve found out about Walt so far is that his IQ sits somewhere below triple digits, and he does whatever Luger tells him to do. He’s definitely the weaker link.”

  “Then let’s go talk to him.”

  Kyle smiled. “Patience. I’d like to dig a little deeper into Norman O’Leary’s disappearance and death. I’m convinced something fishy is up there and I don’t doubt Luger had something to do with it. If we can’t get him on the fire and vandalism, maybe we can get him on something to do with his own father’s death.”

  Lion kept his face neutral. He wanted to trust Kyle, since Dax obviously did. But the truth was that Lion didn’t want to give the police or anyone else anything to “get” Luger on. If he killed Lion’s Me Maw, and Lion was more and more convinced that he did…all he was going to “get” was six feet under. But he’d promised Dax he’d be patient, at least for a while, so he nodded and said, “Okay, keep me posted.”

  After wrapping up lunch with Kyle, Lion headed to the ranch. He was hoping Madison could steal a few minutes away to see him; he was craving her in a way he’d never craved any woman before. He stopped at the clubhouse first, in the hopes she was in her room, but Harley was there and told him she’d been staying with Hawk. She probably didn’t want him out of her sight, for fear he’d do something stupid again, and Lion didn’t blame her…but he had really been hoping to just see her and not her old man. Deciding it was better than not seeing her at all, he headed over to Hawk’s trailer.

  Madison came outside when she heard him drive up. Seeing her standing on the wooden steps and wearing a green sundress with spaghetti straps, one that showed off her toned calves, sent a rush of adrenaline through his veins. She still had on the cast and a boot the hospital had sent her home in, but on her, even that looked good.

  “Hi. I wasn’t expecting you.”

  He pulled off his helmet and shook out his hair as he walked toward her. “I’m sorry for not calling. I was on my way home from a meeting and I…” He hesitated. He’d never told a woman he “needed” to see her. He was suddenly afraid she’d find that too much.

  “You…? Missed me?”

  He smiled. “Yeah, I missed you.” Madison stepped down and Lion wrapped her up in his arms. He kissed her and she wrapped her arms up around his neck and kissed him back, hard. Lion’s hands had started to roam when they were both startled by the sound of someone banging on one of the windows inside the trailer.

  “Knock that shit off! Sick people here!” Lion glared at the sight of Hawk in the window and Madison laughed. He slowly raised the middle finger of the hand he had resting on her back and he saw Hawk smile. “I’m hungry, baby girl. What’s for lunch?”

  She pressed her head into Lion’s chest and he felt her body shake with laughter. “Fucker,” he said, out loud.

  She giggled and looked up at him. “He’s just really needy right now, like a kid.”

  Lion rolled his eyes. “He’s taking advantage of you.”

  “No, he’s really been sweet to me. This is all for show, for you.”

  “Great. I guess I should go. I don’t want to make things hard on you.”

  “Hey,” she put her hands up on his face and she let her thumbs rake through his beard. “He told me what you said the other day, at the hospital.”

  Lion was surprised. It wasn’t like Hawk to repeat anything he wasn’t specifically told to. “What did he tell you, exactly?”

  She smiled. “He said you told him you loved me and you wanted to be with me.”

  “And?”

  She laughed. “Why do you always sound like you’re geared up for a fight? This isn’t a fight, it’s a talk, a sweet one. It made me happy. It would make me happier if you told me and not my old man.”

  Lion had the feelings coursing through his veins, and he could see vivid colors in his head that were never there before, but saying the words was still hard, and he didn’t know why. Even when she was standing in front of him, saying that it made her happy, part of him was still afraid she was going to leave. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath and feeling like he was about to have a root canal he said, “I meant what I told him. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. I’m in love with you, Madison…but I have to be honest and tell you that it scares the fuck out of me.”

  She was smiling but tears were swimming in her pretty eyes. “I’m in love with you too, and it scares me too.”

  “Becau
se I’m so weird?”

  She threw her head back and laughed. “Yeah, partly,” she said with a giggle. “Silly. Being in love is a lot of things and one of them is scary. It feels like you’re handing someone your heart and saying, here ya go, be careful with it…and then you stand back and watch them juggle it.”

  “I’m not going to hurt you, Madison. But I’m going to need a lot of…” He didn’t know what the word was he was looking for.

  “Direction?” she said with another beautiful smile. He liked that she understood him so well. She knew he had no idea what he was doing, but that didn’t seem to matter to her.

  “Yeah, a lot of direction for sure. I’ve never been in a relationship before. I don’t know how to do it.”

  “Tell ya a secret…I haven’t been in many myself and since none of them worked out, I might not even know how to do it myself. I think, though, at least from watching my mom and her husband, that the figuring it out comes with a lot of practice. As long as you have the love and respect, the rest will work itself out.”

  He sucked in another shaky breath and said, “So…is this a relationship?”

  She rose up on her toes and kissed him softly. “I hope so.”

  “Jesus! A man could fucking starve to death in here!” They both laughed and Lion shook his head.

  “Go feed the animal. I’ll call you in a while.”

  She nodded and kissed him again. “Can you come back, tonight? I could sneak up to the clubhouse after he goes to sleep.”

  “I’ll be here. I love you, Madison.”

  “I love you too, Lion.”

  “You know my real name is Ridge. You can call me that, if you want.”

  “Nah, I like Lion. It suits you.” Lion looked back up at the window Hawk was still staring out of and nodded.

  “Yeah, I guess it does.”

  28

  Madison watched Lion leave, already missing him as he did. Once he disappeared behind the clubhouse, she turned and went inside. “You’re like a spoiled two-year-old,” she told Hawk as soon as she walked in.

  “I’m sick,” he said, trying to look pathetic. Madison rolled her eyes.

  “And you’re suddenly milking it for all you can get. Two weeks ago you didn’t even want to admit to me that you were sick.”

  He shrugged. “Oh well, the cat’s out of the bag now, I may as well work it.”

  She laughed. “What do you want for lunch?”

  “You going to marry that boy?”

  “Excuse me? I think it’s a little soon to think about that.”

  “What about your college degree and your interest in plants and shit?”

  She laughed again. “It’s botany, Dad. And why would I have to choose one or the other?”

  “I don’t want you to get lost in him, Maddie. You have so much going for you…hell, you shouldn’t even be wasting your time here with me.”

  “Dad, I’m thirty-five years old. If I am ever going to get married and have a family, I really should be doing that now. I don’t plan on losing myself in Lion or any other man, but I’d love to have a partner in life to experience everything with me. I’d love for that to be Lion…someday. For now, we’re still just figuring things out. I would think that my choosing someone you already love and respect would be a good thing.” He rolled his eyes, but he didn’t deny it. It wouldn’t have mattered. Madison could see and feel just how he felt about Lion, and if she was right, his feelings for “the boy” were almost exactly what he felt for her…blood or not.

  Thankfully, Hawk let that subject go and she made him lunch and sat with him while he ate it. Afterwards while she cleaned up, he took a long nap and Madison had a good cry. She’d been ecstatic when the doctor told her he could go home…she’d been hopeful. But he’d taken her aside and told her Hawk had months, maybe less to live, even if he stuck to his diet, took his insulin, and went to his dialysis appointments like clockwork. His kidney wasn’t doing anything, it was dead, and because he had been so hard on his body, the rest of his organs were slowly failing as well. She’d asked the doctor not to tell him, and they’d been in such a hurry to get rid of him, the doctor hadn’t balked at that. She knew it wasn’t fair…but she was afraid if Hawk knew he was on borrowed time, he’d give up, and stop fighting. She didn’t want him to suffer, but she still wasn’t ready to lose him.

  By the time he woke up, she had cleaned up her face and was ready for another few rounds of cards with him. After she made his dinner and he ate, he sat in his recliner and dozed off and on until it was time to take his handfuls of medications. She waited until he was good and asleep and then she texted Levi, who had volunteered to sit with him if she ever needed some time for herself. He was on the doorstep in less than an hour and Madison was ready to see Lion…more than ready.

  Levi offered to drive her up to the club, but it was a beautiful evening and even though she still had on the annoying boot, she felt in the mood for a walk. She texted Lion when she left the trailer and he texted back that he was on his way. She was smiling and she didn’t see a thing when something suddenly slammed into her head…and she was out like a light.

  Lion had already eaten, showered, and cleaned up, hours before Madison called. All he’d been able to think about since he’d seen her earlier was holding her in his arms. As soon as she texted, he was on his bike and racing toward the ranch. It would take him a little over half an hour to get there, and Madison said she’d be waiting in the room upstairs.

  He was glad when he saw there weren’t many bikes at the club when he got there. It was a weekday night and most of the guys were home with their families, or resting up after a long day of work on the ranch. When he walked in, a few of the older guys were playing pool, and one of the prospects was behind the bar; otherwise the place was quiet. Lion said hello to the prospect, whose name he couldn’t remember, and gave the older guys a chin nod. They mumbled hellos, not paying much attention to him as he went straight for the stairs. His excitement grew with each step and when he got to the room at the end of the hall, his hand was shaking as he lifted it to knock. He waited, and after there was no answer for a full minute, he knocked again. That time when there was no response and not even a sound from inside, a tickle of worry began to scratch at his belly. “Madison?” He pressed his face against the door and called out her name. Still no answer. Taking the knob in his hand, he tried turning it, but it was locked. Fuck. “Madison!” Still nothing. Lion turned and ran down the stairs, ignoring the looks of the old men and the young prospect as he raced into the back room behind the kitchen and grabbed the extra key to that door. He ran back up the stairs and unlocked the room…it was empty, and it didn’t look like she’d been there any time recently. He was already on the move when he got his phone out of his pocket and dialed her number. He had it pressed to his ear, listening to it ring as he was running out the back door of the clubhouse. He tried to convince himself as he jogged past the vegetable garden and the greenhouse that he was overreacting. She’d probably just gotten tied up with Hawk, but she’d told him in her text that she’d already left the house. The phone went to voicemail and he felt like throwing it across the dirt field he was now running through. By the time he reached the trailer he was frantic and when Levi answered his knock, he knew instantly that something was really wrong.

  “Where’s Madison?”

  “She was on her way to the clubhouse a while ago.”

  “Fuck!” Lion slammed his fists into the door.

  “What the hell is going on out there?” Hawk was awake. Lion wasn’t about to tell him anything, at least not yet.

  “I have to go find her. Call Dax and tell him she’s missing. Tell him she’s missing for real this time.” Levi nodded.

  “Yeah, man, for sure.” Hawk yelled again and Levi said, “What should I tell him?”

  “Nothing. Don’t tell him anything,” Lion said, knowing it was going to be a hell of a lot easier said than done. He took off running again, wishing he’d brought
his bike with him the first time. When he reached the club he took the phone back out and called Kyle. When Kyle picked up, he was getting on his bike. “Were you watching Luger tonight?”

  “Yeah, I’m outside of his house right now. He hasn’t left since he came home from the ranch earlier.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “The place has two doors, one in front and one on the side of the house. I can see both of them. He hasn’t come out of either one.”

  “Fuck! What about Walt?”

  “I haven’t been watching that one. What happened?”

  Lion didn’t answer him. He hung up and dialed Dax’s number. Dax answered on the first ring and said, “We’re locking the ranch down and I’m sending Cody and Jimmy out to look for her. I’ll round up a few more men as fast as I can.”

  “Kyle says that Luger’s at home. Dax, I think it’s Walt who took her. I’m headed over there now.”

  “Lion, be careful…”

  “I will.” He hung up before Dax could tell him not to do something that he was probably going to do. At least he wouldn’t be disobeying any orders. When he got to the front gate he stopped and as the kid in the booth was about to open the gate he said, “Have you seen Walt, or Luger?” He trusted that Kyle had eyes on Luger, but not enough to risk Madison on his word alone. Maybe the son of a bitch knew he was being watched and went out a fucking window.

  “Not Luger today. Walt came through earlier, maybe an hour ago. I just told Dax that too, he called up and asked.”

  “Walt came in…but he didn’t go back out?”

  “No. He hasn’t passed back through.”

  Fuck. Lion wondered if that meant he had her on the ranch somewhere. There was a back gate that they didn’t keep manned unless they were on lockdown, though, and he thought it more likely that Walt used that gate than he would try to keep her hidden out on the ranch. They had video eyes on it, but it would take time to pull the tape and look at it. Lion was sure that Luger wanted to be there when they did whatever they had planned for Madison, which meant there was an almost one hundred percent chance they’d taken her somewhere else. He thanked the prospect and headed out. It would take him about twenty minutes to get to Walt’s place and every minute, and every mile, would be pure torture, trapped inside of his head thinking about all of the things they could be doing to Madison before he got there.