Every Little Thing: MC Romance (Bayou Devils MC Book 7)

by A. M. Myers

  When we turn toward the house, Gretchen and August are walking toward us and Gretchen has tears in her eyes, her gaze locked on me. Before I can say anything or even start to explain, she pulls me into her arms and hugs me so tight that I can barely breathe.

  “I’m so sorry,” I whisper to her and she shakes her head, pulling back to look at me.

  “Sweet girl, you have nothing to be sorry for and just between us girls, I always knew you’d be back. The two of you were made for each other.”

  A sob bubbles out of me as I hug her back, an intense relief that can only come with being home washing over me. “I missed y’all so much.”

  “We missed you, too, honey,” she says as she releases me. Wyatt grins as he pulls me back into his arms with a shrug.

  “Oh, yeah… I guess I already told them everything. Oops.”

  “You son of a bitch,” I growl, smacking his stomach with the back of my hand as relief rushes through me and a smile stretches across my face. August and Gretchen are the closest thing I have to parents now and I don’t know what I would have done if they had hated me for what I did to Wyatt. August wraps his arms around my shoulders, sandwiching me between him and Wyatt as we all start walking back to the house and another little piece of home and family slides into place for me. It’s not the same as having my own parents back but my heart still mends a little bit all the same.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Wyatt

  Walking into the house, I toss my keys on the dining room table and turn toward the kitchen to grab a beer as my mind drifts to last night at my parents’ house and how nervous Piper was to see them again after all these years. Grinning, I take a beer out of the fridge and pop the top off. Right after we got back from Charleston and Piper agreed to give this relationship a shot again, I called them and told them the whole story. My mother was not pleased, at first, but after she found out the truth, her heart hurt for Piper just as much as mine did and Dad felt guilty that he didn’t look for her after he went to North Carolina and found the house empty. Both echoed the sentiment that they should have known better. Piper has been a part of their lives for so long and they know what kind of person she is but more importantly, what kind of person she isn’t. What we have is special and there is no way in hell she would intentionally do anything to damage it.

  Releasing a breath, I smile at the sense of calm I feel today compared to the storm of turmoil I’ve been walking around in for the last week. I don’t think I realized just how bad it had gotten until I woke up this morning in my childhood bedroom and it didn’t feel like there was a dark cloud hanging over me. Last night was exactly what I needed to clear my head and stop losing my shit at every turn and I’m so fucking grateful that Piper knew what to do to help me. I was so close to cracking up and I hate to think what could happen to her if I am not on top of my game with this maniac running around. I need to be focused no matter how nice it was to just relax yesterday.

  We spent all day with my parents, sharing memories and laughing before Mom made a huge dinner to celebrate Piper and I renewing our vows. She also pestered us about when we would be giving her a grandchild but Piper doesn’t want to tell anyone until she actually gets pregnant so all we could say is that it will happen when it happens as we shared a secret smile. After dessert, Piper took me out to the woods behind the house where I kissed her for the first time and we made out like a couple of teenagers before going to sleep in my old room. The full-sized mattress wasn’t the greatest but it did mean I got to hold Piper all night long. When I dropped her off at the studio this morning, we both had smiles on our faces and it feels like I can breathe for the first time in a week.

  Of course, I had to go to the clubhouse and temporarily ruin it. Even with all of us digging into these cases now, we’re not finding anything new and I'm beginning to echo Streak’s sentiment when we found the photos on the wall.

  This guy is good.

  But after the craziness, whoever is doing this has only made the club’s bond stronger. Where we were bickering and arguing before, we are united and ready to face down whoever this is. We won't let him win and while we can't find any evidence to go on, we have come up with a plan of attack for the next time this guy strikes and each of our women are thoroughly protected. Blaze tasked Storm and Chance with calling all of the women we’ve helped in the past three years also to warn them of the threat and remind them that they could reach out to us at anytime so hopefully, we won’t have a new death to look into anytime soon. But it feels naive to have so much hope when we have nothing to go on.

  Walking back out to the dining room, I sigh and take a sip of my beer before setting it down on the table. I turn to sit down but before I can, the phone rings on the wall behind me. I turn and pick it up.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi. This is Diane at the Hyatt Regency Lake Washington. I’m looking for Piper Landry.”

  I scowl as I turn around. “I’m sorry. Where?”

  “The Hyatt Regency in Seattle, sir. May I speak to Miss Landry, please?”

  Why in the hell would a hotel in Seattle be calling Piper?

  “She’s not here right now but this is her husband. Can I help you?”

  “Oh, yes! We received your reservation this morning but there was a problem with the credit card your wife provided so we just need an updated payment method.”

  “What?” I ask, my thoughts screeching to a halt as I run my fingers through my hair. “What reservation?”

  “Um… it says here that you will be getting in tomorrow night and staying for six days… oh, wait… I guess it is just your wife on the reservation… were you planning on joining her? I can add your name here in the system.”

  I shake my head and stumble to the table before sinking into a chair. My chest feels tight as I run my hand through my hair again. “And you said that reservation was made this morning?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  My knee bounces. “What time?”

  “Um… looks like ten-twenty-six a.m.”

  No.

  No.

  No.

  This can’t be right…

  That was just after I dropped Piper off at work for her first session so why would she be making hotel reservations? And why all the way in Seattle? Everyone we know is here in Baton Rouge and if we’re taking some kind of vacation, I have other places at the top of my list. I release a heavy sigh and drop my face into my hand as I shake my head, trying to make sense of all this. My heart feels like it’s going to explode and I can’t stop my damn leg from shaking.

  What is happening?

  Why the hell would Piper be going to Seattle?

  “Sir?” the woman says on the other end of the phone and I glance up like I can somehow find the answers I need somewhere in this house. My gaze lands on our wedding picture and I shake my head again like I can somehow shake some damn answers into my head. Piper just put that photo up on the wall the other day along with a bunch of others. She said it made our house a real home.

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you have another credit card you would like to use or is there a better number I could reach your wife on?”

  I shake my head. “No. Just cancel it.”

  “Cancel the reservation?” she asks like I’m speaking fucking French over here and I nod, my heart hammering so hard, it’s a wonder one of my ribs hasn’t cracked.

  “Yes. Cancel the reservation.”

  Silence greets me for a moment. “Are you sure? We only have a couple of rooms left and if I cancel this now, I’m not sure you’ll be able to make another reservation.”

  “Just cancel it!” I yell, my stomach twisting as the possibilities start ticking through my mind.

  Is Piper leaving me?

  Did I scare her last night?

  Push her too far by asking her to renew our vows?

  Is the fear getting to her?

  Making her see things again?

  She seemed so happy all day yesterday and in th
e truck, cuddled up by my side this morning but maybe once she got to work, the panic started to set in and she felt like she needed to run. Maybe she is slipping away from me. The time in my life that I spent without Piper flickers through my brain and I shudder as the memory of that hollow ache in my chest haunts me. My mind drifts to that little fucker James and the shit he said the other night as I hear the woman on the other end of the line start typing.

  I’ll only stay away if Piper wants me to…

  Is she with him? Has this all just been one big joke since the start?

  I shake my head again.

  No.

  There is no way she is with that little piece of shit.

  Right?

  “No,” I whisper, pulling the phone away from my ear as I shake my head and try to reassure myself that Piper wouldn’t do this to me. “No, no, no. She wouldn’t…”

  She just told me yesterday that she would never cheat on me. Could she really lie right to my face? Is she so cold that she would string me along and agree to marry me again when all along she was planning to run away with her ex?

  I press the phone to my ear again as my stomach flips.

  “Okay, sir. The reservation has been canceled,” Diane says, her tone guarded. It is fucking rude but I don’t even care. Doesn’t she realize that my whole life is falling apart right now?

  “Thanks.”

  I hang up without waiting for her reply and toss the phone across the table before dropping my head into my hands as my vision blurs.

  Fuck.

  What the hell is going on? I go over the last two days in excruciating detail, looking for any sign that Piper was freaking out about anything but nothing stands out. Have I been so lost in my own shit that I just missed it? Is she fed up with me and thought it would be easier to run than confront me? God, I wouldn’t fucking blame her with all this drama in our lives right now. What kind of crazy person would hang around with such a blatant threat to their lives?

  Shoving the chair back, I stand up and stare into the living room, looking for a clue but there is nothing. It’s the same as when we left yesterday. Running my hand through my hair, I turn and march down the hallway to our bedroom before staring at the space but everything looks exactly the same as it did the last time I was in here two days ago. I turn back to the wall and place both of my hands on it before squeezing my eyes shut and blowing out a breath.

  You know what…

  It doesn't matter why Piper is running. I made her a promise last night and there is no way in hell I’m going to let her walk away from me again. Over my dead fucking body. She is my wife and I refuse to live another second of my life without her in it. Done it before and I’ll be damned if I let it happen again. Grabbing my phone out of my pocket, I pull up the GPS and release a sigh when it blinks, showing her location at the studio. With renewed determination, I walk back out to the dining room and grab my keys off of the table as I stare at the screen.

  “Go ahead and run, baby,” I whisper as I walk out to my truck, my mission clear to me and a wave of calm washes over me. “I’ll be right behind you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Piper

  “Okay,” Dr. Brewer says, her voice chipper like we all haven’t been describing the worst experiences of our lives for the past hour as she gazes around the group. Her eyes land on Lillian in the chair next to me and she smiles. “I think we have time for one more, Lillian, and it’s been a while since you shared anything with the group. Why don’t you go?”

  Lillian shakes her head, her gaze firmly rooted to her lap. “No, I’m good.”

  “I know it can be hard to talk about but you’ll never get better if you don’t push yourself a little bit and this is a safe space. Isn’t that why you come to these meetings? To overcome the trauma in your past?”

  Every eye in the room is trained on Lillian, waiting for her answer and my heart aches fiercely for her. My friend is sweet and soft-spoken but I know her quiet nature harbors more pain than she knows what to do with. It’s hard to get up and talk about your past under normal circumstances but when you are put on the spot like this, it feels impossible and all you want to do is go back to being invisible. When she still doesn’t say anything, I nudge her arm with my elbow and as she peeks over at me, I flash her an encouraging smile.

  “You’ve got this.”

  She stares at me for a second before sucking in a nervous breath and wringing her hands together in her lap. “My fiancé was killed three years ago.”

  “How?” Dr. Brewer asks, her face pinched in concentration as she focuses on Lillian and I’m mentally cheering her on in my mind, hoping that she can find the courage to speak her truth. I know Lillian needs to talk about this, needs get it all out, and I get the feeling that she doesn’t talk much during her regular appointments with Dr. Brewer so she has no other way to try and help her.

  “It was summertime and we were driving to get dinner with his parents to tell them the news. He had just proposed to me two days before.”

  Dr. Brewer nods. “And how did he die?”

  “Someone ran us off the road,” she answers, her voice cracking as tears shine in her eyes.

  Come on, Lil.

  You can do this.

  “What do you remember from the accident?”

  Lillian shakes her head. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

  “I know you can do this, Lillian,” Dr. Brewer says, encouraging her with an eager expression on her face. “Is there anything you’d like to share about that night? Anything at all? It doesn’t matter how little or insignificant it seems.”

  Lillian clamps her mouth shut, her lips pressing into a thin line as she shakes her head and refuses to look up. After a second, Dr. Brewer sighs.

  “All right. I think that is all for this evening. I’ll see you all next week.”

  As everyone else starts standing up and taking their chairs to the wall, I nudge Lillian again and she meets my eyes.

  “You okay?”

  She shakes her head and stands up. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  As she walks away from me, I turn and watch her practically run out of the building. Worry eating away at me, I stand up and gather both of our chairs before taking them over to the wall. I glance over at the door Lillian just marched out of. I can’t help but remember when I was in her position and thought things would never change. It feels like an endless black hole but I just hope she will keep fighting. I prop our chairs up against the wall and turn when I hear a growl behind me. Tate is staring down at her phone with a look that honestly scares me a little but I’m quickly learning that’s just Tate. She’s passionate and intense but I have no doubt, she would jump in front of a bullet for the ones she loves.

  “Everything okay?” I ask her and her head pops up. Her snarl falls away as her eyes land on me and she nods, glancing back down at her phone as she starts typing so fast that I swear her fingers blur.

  “Yeah. I’m just about to murder my husband if he doesn’t back the fuck off.”

  I laugh as we start walking toward the door. “Oh, him, too, huh?”

  “Girl,” she quips, meeting my gaze as she tucks her phone into her pocket. “All of them. Like I get it, the club is under attack and all that but Lincoln damn well knows that I’m capable of defending myself.”

  I nod as we step outside and stop to talk. “Yeah. Wyatt bought me a gun.”

  “Shit, is that all? Then, you’re lucky. Storm has been following Ali around like a puppy and then, if anyone looks at her too long, he turns into a damn pit bull. She threatened to cut his junk clean off if he didn’t let her breathe.”

  “Goddamn,” I whisper with a laugh and she nods, smiling.

  “You know what we should do, we should teach these damn boys a lesson.”

  I nod, crossing my arms over my chest. “Uh-huh and how do you suggest we do that?”

  “I don’t know yet. Let me think on it,” she says and we turn to walk out to
our cars. We reach the end of the sidewalk and she reaches out, grabbing my arm. “Hey, you feel like going to get ice cream or something? I need to calm down before I go home or I’ll end up shooting that man again.”

  “I’m sorry… did you just say that you’ve shot your husband before?”

  She shrugs. “It was a misunderstanding.”

  “And he forgave you?” I ask, my gaze flicking to her in disbelief. I have a hard time imagining Wyatt just letting it go if I shot him. She flashes me a grin and shakes her head.

  “Oh, no, he groveled a whole hell of a lot. I was not the one who needed forgiveness.”

  I shake my head, fighting back a smile. “Ah, so it was like that, then.”

  “It was,” she says, her grin growing. “So, how ‘bout it? Ice cream?”

  “Ohh, you know what I’ve been craving for like two days? Cheesecake with cherries and chocolate syrup on top.”

  She arches a brow. “What are you, pregnant?”

  I stop in my tracks, staring out at the parking lot with wide eyes.

  Holy shit.

  Could I be pregnant already?

  Shaking my head, I turn to her. “No… it’s too soon. Wyatt and I have only been back together…”

  “For a freaking month, Piper. You totally could be pregnant… do you want to be?”

  I nod, trying not to get my hopes up but my heart races as I think about the possibility. “We’ve been trying.”

  “Okay,” she says, grabbing my hand and pulling me to her car. “We have more important things to do than get ice cream.”

  She stops next to the passenger side door and releases my hand to yank it open before bending down and digging through the glove box. When she stands up again, she has a box of pregnancy tests in her hand and I start laughing.

  “Tate, why the hell do you have pregnancy tests in your car?”

  She shrugs as she pulls one out of the box and hands it to me. “Because when Lincoln and I were trying, I stashed these things everywhere so that no matter where I was, I could pee on a stick and find out.”