Restraint (Heaven Hill Generations Book 5)

by Laramie Briscoe

SAM 100.7 – We have breaking news this morning about a murder occurring in the fifteen hundred block of Adams and Clay Street in the early morning or late evening hours of yesterday. Authorities say Alec Tinsdale is wanted for questioning in the death investigation of Pearl Van Hampton. He is considered armed and dangerous. If you know where he is, please contact the Warren County Sherriff’s Office or Bowling Green Police Department. Again, he is considered armed and dangerous, do not be a hero.

  “Damn,” I mumble as I move around to the back of the law office and park in one of our assigned spaces, thankful that Caelin was able to convince the assholes next door to stop hogging them. “Good luck to y’all,” I giggle as I turn my car off, grab my lunch, and head inside.

  “I’m glad you made it in okay,” Mom says as she comes to the back door, helping me inside. “I didn’t realize they’d be using this area as a meeting point for all the investigators, although I guess it makes sense.”

  “It’s a shame about Pearl,” Mandy says, her voice sad. “I didn’t know her well, but I saw her sometimes at Wet Wanda’s. She was a nice girl who had a rough life. Have they issued how she died, or what exactly happened?”

  “No.” Mom taps her fingers on the wall. “But I bet Caelin would be able to find out for us. Let me text him.”

  There’s something weird about my mom being able to text Caelin as easily as I’m able to. I guess it makes sense, since he is the go-between with the club and anything technical, but it reminds me of just how close we are in the six degrees of Kevin Bacon way. Which is not the thing you want to be remembering after the night we had together at CRISIS.

  “Disconcerting when your parents can be all up in your business within five minutes, right?” Mandy hits at my shoulder.

  “How did you deal with this?”

  “Wasn’t easy. I mean I did the best I could, but I never knew what was going to get back to them, and then I didn’t know who was going to tell on me. Nine times out of ten it was Drew though, just because he wanted to get back at me for something.”

  “Brothers are annoying,” I agree. “If I hadn’t been moved out already, there’s no telling what Will would be telling both of them.”

  “How is he doing?” Mandy asks. “I haven’t seen him in a while.”

  “I haven’t either.” I cringe. “I should make time to go see him, but it’s so hard. There’s always something else dragging me away.”

  “You mean someone else. You’re in that honeymoon stage of your and Caelin’s relationship. Which means you wanna be around each other all the time.”

  There’s no lying in her words. I do want to be around him all the time, but there’s something that’s bothering me. Something I haven’t said to anyone else. Mandy is the closest person to the type of situation I’m in at this point, and I know without a doubt that she understands. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “You can always ask me anything. You know that.”

  “How long did it take Dalton to tell you he loved you?”

  It’s been bothering me since I told Caelin those three little words. He hasn’t said them back, and while I don’t need them for validation, I feel as if I’ve revealed a piece of myself and he hasn’t reciprocated.

  “A long time.” She smiles sadly. “We’ve always kind of been at different points in our lives, even up until a few years ago. Just because he doesn’t say them often, though, doesn’t mean it isn’t true. He tells me in a million little ways all the time. He gets up and makes my coffee, I don’t have to ask him to do stuff around the house. When he knows I’ve had a bad day, he’s waiting at home for me with a beer and wings. There’s so much more someone can do to tell you they love you than say the words. Caelin is a lot like Dalton was. Keep with it. Anyone who sees the way he’s looked at you for years knows he loves you.”

  I pluck at my lips, realizing she’s probably right. I show him I love him in other ways that don’t tie back to the words.

  “Caelin got back to me,” Mom says, holding her cell phone up. “It’s disgusting.”

  My stomach cramps for Pearl. I didn’t know her well either, but like Mandy, I saw her around and she seemed like a sweet woman.

  “Apparently there was a fight of some sort that led to an altercation. Alec hit her over the head with a heavy object - they think a concrete block, and then he fled. She could’ve been saved. She died by bleeding out. At some point there was a sexual assault and a tattoo she had of Alec’s name was attempted to be removed from her skin.”

  “Removed?” I gasp. “How?”

  Mom swallows roughly, sympathy in her eyes. “Burned.”

  “He’s a son of a bitch,” Mandy rages. “We tried to help her so many times. Why didn’t she accept it? She didn’t have to live her life like that.”

  “The same reason so many don’t leave.” Mom inhales shakily. “They’re scared.”

  “But fuck that.” I hit my fist on the desk. “Obviously she was going to die staying, or trying to leave. Why didn’t she fight?”

  “Not everyone is like you, Justice.” Mom puts her hand on my arm. “They’ve been beaten down and their self-esteem is gone. Usually the abuser isolates them and they don’t have a support system. We’re lucky in the fact we have that support system for each other.”

  “It seems like such a waste.” Some tears fall from my eyes and I reach up, wiping under them. “She was a nice person and there were plenty of people who would’ve helped her if she’d only asked.”

  “Maybe that’s the lesson we learn from this.” Mandy’s voice of reason is sad, with a finality I’m not sure any of us are ready for. “We don’t wait for someone to ask for help. If we see it going on around us, we just do it. If it’s received badly, then we know we’ve done all we can. There are no questions on what we could’ve done as a community afterward.”

  “I think that’s a good idea,” Mom says, lifting her cell phone up. “I’m gonna text Meredith and see what we can do to get that implemented. Maybe some sort of non-profit like CRISIS. I know a lot of people around here would be willing to help.”

  Walking back around to my side of the office, I have a seat at my desk. Thankful again that I had a supportive family and others who were willing to help. This is just another reminder of how I could’ve turned out if I’d been born into another life.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Caelin

  “I got a text from Charity.” I let the guys know as we sit in one of the bays at the garage. All of us have heard the news about Alec, and none of us think it’s good.

  “What’s my wife doing texting you?” Drew shoots me a look that makes me all kind of uncomfortable.

  “She wants to know how Pearl died, and what the cops found.”

  “Aww hell, that means her and the girls are talking. Which is the last thing we need. I’m already nervous for them because of him being here a little while ago. Who’s to say he won’t decide to fuck with one of them?”

  That thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. Sure he’s an asshole, but he typically stays in his own section of town. Which doesn’t include anything having to do with Heaven Hill. “Nah, I mean why?”

  “Easy.” Dalton gets up from where he sits. “He knows we’ll pay attention. The cops, they want his head on a platter. If he needs to get out of town or has what he thinks is a way to get what he needs, he’ll use whatever leverage he can. And I mean, we’ve pissed him off the past few times he’s come here.”

  “Then we need to go get them.” Drew makes the decision.

  “What if they don’t want us to get them?” I ask, knowing that Justice only likes me to take charge in certain situations.

  “This is one of those times when we know better than they do,” Dalton confirms.

  I’m not entirely sure that’s the truth, but since I’m the youngest, I do my best to go with the flow. Switching contacts in my phone, I pull up Justice.

  C: Your dad and Dalton think it’s a good idea for us to come and get y’all. I prom
ise I had nothing to do with it, and when they come in guns blazing, know it was their idea and not mine.

  J: Oh that’s cute, you trying to prepare me.

  C: I don’t want to offend you by pretending you can’t take care of yourself.

  J: I see you’re starting to learn.

  C: Took long enough, huh? But at least I got it now.

  J: LOL! I’ll warn the girls here, that way they can act appreciative when the guys show up.

  C: See you in a few.

  J: See ya, and thank you.

  C: Anytime.

  “Are we ready to go?” Jagger asks, standing up in front of the group.

  “You don’t even have anyone to go and get?” I form my statement in a question. I’m not sure why he’s involved in this.

  “He’s always up for going to save damsels in distress.” Wild rolls his eyes. “It makes good stories for when he’s on stage.”

  “They aren’t stories,” Jagger argues. “That’s my real life you’re talkin’ about.

  “Only because you put yourself into those types of situations,” Wild argues back. “If you let shit happen organically in your life, you wouldn’t have shit to talk about.”

  “Nobody asked you,” he accuses. “I’m helping the members of my club. I don’t need your permission for that.”

  “While you two keep arguing, I’m going to go get Justice.”

  Jagger almost kills himself getting up. “Not without me, you won’t.”

  “He has to be able to tell the crowd about how he went down Louisville Road, the wind against his face, the sound of his tailpipes echoing through the air as he raced toward Charity’s law office.”

  The group laughs as Jagger’s face gets red. “Fuck you, man.”

  “There it is,” Wild chuckles.

  “Alright, alright.” Drew comes out of his office. “Let’s get the hell outta here.”

  Best news I’ve heard all day.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Justice

  “I swear to God, I will be fine. If we don’t get these filed, we’re in contempt,” I remind my mom as I pack up the bag of shit I need to go file at the courthouse. Again their portal is down.

  “Right now I’m willing to be in contempt, Justice. I think it’s dangerous.”

  I don’t know what comes over me, but for the first time in my life, I explode. All the questions I’ve always had about why my parents and everyone else treat me and Harley differently comes rising to the surface and I can’t push them back down. “Oh, screw you, would you be telling Harley you think it’s dangerous?”

  She looks at me, her mouth agape.

  “No,” I answer. “You’d send her on her way without even a ‘Be careful’.”

  “That’s not true,” she argues.

  “Isn’t it? Since the night of what happened with Travis, I’ve lived with all of you telling me to be careful all the time. Not to let myself get into a situation I can’t get out of, and to take extra precautions. Recently, I started asking Harley if you said the same thing to her. And guess what? You don’t. I bet you don’t even say the same shit to Will.”

  Mom opens her mouth, closes it, and then opens it again.

  “What? You have nothing to say? Because it’s true. You all have to start letting me live my life the way I see fit. Getting into a situation that’s dangerous is sometimes the only way we can live life. I can’t spend every day second-guessing all my decisions because they might be dangerous. It’s just not how it works, Mom. Sometimes I’m going to have to put myself in places that are uncomfortable and you’re doing me a disservice by trying to save me from it.”

  I take a huge breath as I get done. I feel better than I have in years, but at the same time scared I’ve hurt her feelings. Especially when I see the tears spring to her eyes.

  “I didn’t mean to make you cry,” I whisper as I rush forward to hug her.

  That’s another part of my personality, always wanting to fix the problems and right things that are wrong. Just like I can’t keep myself out of situations that could possibly be dangerous, I will hurt feelings sometimes. It’s a hard situation to be in, and I would never wish it upon anyone else.

  “No, no. You’re not making me cry because you’ve hurt me.” She wipes under her eyes. “I’m crying because I’m so proud of you. You’re right. We’ve coddled you for years, and then never expected you to grow up. That must have been hard for you. Harder for you than for us, if I’m trying to imagine the truth. I’m sorry.”

  “No, don’t be sorry. I don’t want you to be sorry, I just want you to realize what you’re doing and treat me like an equal to Harley. Or treat her like an equal to me. I don’t want to be the person who has to worry about the big, bad world out there because I was hurt as a kid. I want to be the person who says fuck that big, bad world because I was hurt as a kid.”

  Mandy starts sniffling and I do my best not to make a big deal out of it. If I acknowledge it, I might start crying too, and that’s the last thing I want.

  “If you’re okay with taking the risk…”

  I can tell it almost causes Mom physical pain to say those words to me.

  “Then please go ahead and file those briefs. If there’s something in you telling you not to do it, then that’s fine too. Either way, I want you to make the decision without being influenced by me.”

  So this is what it feels like? To be trusted with your own feelings and decisions. I started getting at taste from Caelin, but now to have that respect from my mom and aunt? It’s a big day for me, and one I wasn’t sure would ever come. “I want to.”

  “Then please go.”

  Quickly, I grab my stuff up, putting it in my bag, and on second thought take my laptop. I might need her today. As I leave the office, I do it with my head held high, and a tingling in my stomach.

  I’m unsure of what it means, but I do my best not to notice all the cop cars around, along with the deputies casually standing on the sidewalk. In all my years I’m not sure I’ve ever been around this many, even at our clubhouse. One of them smokes, throwing his cigarette on the ground and crushing it with his boot. A weird thing to pay attention to, but it strikes me as important. Just a normal person doing normal things, on a not-so-normal day.

  My phone buzzes in my hand, an alert going across that they’ve captured Alec and he’s been booked into jail, and is now being brought to go before the judge.

  For just a moment, I wonder if what I’m doing is the right thing, but I realize life isn’t always going to be safe and perfect – which is what I’ve been trying to tell everyone around me for years.

  I wonder which cop car brought Alec to the courthouse, who transported him from the jail. Did they feel like all eyes were on them? I definitely feel as if I have a target on my back right now. I’m not sure from whom, but it’s heavy.

  Taking the steps as measured as possible, I see Fogel. “How’s it going?”

  “Been a tough one today, Justice. Not sure how this is gonna end up.”

  “Is he being arraigned?”

  Fogel really shouldn’t tell me anything, but we’re way past that point in our relationship. “Yeah, so be careful. This doesn’t have a good vibe about it. Everyone’s walking around here like they’re waiting for something to pop off. I can’t put my finger on it, but I’m feeling the tension.”

  “It’s so thick you can cut it with a knife in here,” I whisper.

  “Yeah, exactly what I was thinking. Like I said, be careful up there.”

  Him telling me to be careful warms my chest. It shows the type of friendship we have, and I consider him as trustworthy as my family. It’s scary admitting that to myself, but it is what it is. “I will.” I hold my bag closer to me, using it almost as a shield to protect myself from the bad vibes I’m getting.

  “Go on up.”

  It’s the longest wait for the elevator after I’ve pressed the button. And when it finally arrives to the floor I’m on, I quickly get in, breathing d
eeply as the doors close. I’m beginning to wonder if maybe I shouldn’t have been so excited about standing up for myself. But as Drew Walker says, “You live and you learn.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Justice

  Just as I’m closing out of the system, a loud buzzing signals over the intercom, and there’s a commotion of people running. “What the hell’s going on?” I ask, grabbing my documents up, trying to save them from whatever’s happening.

  Judy yells from where she sits. “You have to get out of here! We can’t let you back here with us.”

  What does she mean she can’t let me back there with them? It’s then that gates start closing around the area they’re in, leaving me out in the hallway. I run to the elevator, but it doesn’t work.

  Has there been a fire?

  But then I start thinking, why would they be closed in if there were a fire. They would want to be kept out, instead of in. Which means there must be something happening inside the courthouse. My bag on my shoulder, I look around for a place to take refuge, but everything here is locked down tighter than the clubhouse.

  To the left I see the stairwell, and I decide it’s probably better to move down, closer to the street-level, than it is to stay up here. My heart pounding, I slowly open the door, listening for sounds of struggle or some sort of idea about what’s happening. When I don’t hear anything, I push the door the whole way and cross over the threshold. Reaching out, I hold it so that it doesn’t close with a loud bang, and then I stop for a moment to get my bearings. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s in situations of stress, we have to keep our head about us and make informed decisions.

  Spur off the moment ones are what get people killed. There’s one thing I do know. I want to walk out of here, not be carried out in a body bag. Since I don’t hear anything, I decide to move down a floor. If I remember correctly, there’s a law library one or two floors below this. Quickly and as silently as possible, I start making my way down. When I see the door, announcing a different floor number, I’m bummed to see there’s no map. So I take a chance and peer through the window.