Demon’s face tightens as he repeats the actions I’d first done, swiping from one photo to the next, then going back through the series again.
“When were these taken?” he asks, as if holding out hope they are old ones.
Pyro leaves no room for misunderstanding. “This past weekend.”
Demon uses his own phone. “Cad. Get in here now.” That’s all he says.
The computer guy’s there in a moment. Well, his office is only next door. He views the photos much the same as anyone else, using finger and thumb to enlarge the clearest.
“There’s no fuckin’ doubt,” he announces at last.
There’s not. There’s the giveaway scar running through his left eyebrow that’s clear when you zoom in.
“Where did you get these, Mel?” Cad unsurprisingly wants all the information he can get.
Knowing it’s hard for me to speak, Pyro replies for me. “Friend from her work was in Vegas this weekend. She took them there.”
“How would she know it was Skull?” Again, it’s Cad who queries me.
“She, er, she met him a few times,” I manage to get out.
“Can you give me her number, Mel?”
I’m sure Beth wouldn’t mind under the circumstances. “Yeees,” I stammer out. “But I d-d-d-don’t think there’s anything more she can tell you. She wasn’t c-c-c-certain of course, so didn’t approach him.”
The computer man’s eyes flick to Pyro then to Demon. “I’d like to know her impression. Did he look like a resident or a visitor? See this bag he’s holding? It’s got a grocery store logo on it. Might mean nothing at all, but if it’s grocery shit, he could be a local.”
“Or self-catering at an Airbnb,” Demon suggests.
“I’d still like to talk to her. There’s a way people tend to look when they’re tourists. Interested, looking around all the time. Locals tend to be more focused. Any clue we might prompt her to remember would help.”
“If he’s a local, he’d be easier to find?”
The conversation has been going on over my head. Suddenly those words hammer home and I interrupt, “I don’t know if I want you to find him.” All three men look astonished, so I try to offer an explanation. “I loved him; thought I still did. Mourned him as though he was dead. Spent months trying to cope living with his memory rather than the man himself.” That’s not news to them. “This,” I point to my phone lying forlorn on the desk. “This proves he left me without a second thought. He knew I’d believe the worst, yet still he left. He could have called, told me he wasn’t coming back, but he didn’t. He left me to think…”
I sob, and this time it’s Pyro who hands the tissue to me.
“He left the club too,” Demon reminds me through gritted teeth. “Another couple of months we’d have held a wake. Didn’t hold it sooner because of you, but that was in my mind. He let us think he was dead too, Mel.”
“I want to find him. Make him wish he was fuckin’ dead,” Pyro snarls.
“I want to kill him myself.”
I’m not sure whether Demon is joking.
“I’m pregnant,” I say, hurriedly. “That man, in those pictures. That man is this baby’s father.” My voice drops and becomes a whisper. “What if he wants custody when he finds out? Or at least, to exercise his parental rights?”
Pyro’s eyes have gone wide. “Motherfucker walked off and left you, Mel. He didn’t know you were pregnant, but there was a chance. Parental fuckin’ rights?” He snorts. “Man like that who doesn’t want or deserve a baby, shouldn’t fuckin’ be entitled to anything.”
Demon’s eyes flare. “I hear what you’re saying, Ro, but I hear Mel too. Wasn’t too far back Vi was faced with a custody battle with Theo’s sperm donor. There’s going to be a risk Skull will decide he wants to be a dad in a few years’ time, even if he doesn’t right now. There’s no saying the courts might not find in his favour.”
“What are you suggesting we do, Prez?”
“Kill him?” Cad offers almost hopefully.
“Make him realise at the very least that it’s not in his best interests to have anything to do with the kid. Before we do anything… drastic, we get him to sign away his parental rights.”
Which means I’ll have to do the one thing I don’t think I’ll ever be ready for. “I’ll have to face him.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Pyro
Mel’s realisation that she’ll have to come face-to-face with the man who’d walked out on her without a backward glance at her most vulnerable time hits her hard.
She’d been holding it together well, but it was just a dam waiting for the right moment to break. One sob comes, followed by another then more. As tears stream down her face, Demon catches my eye and jerks his head.
It’s not that the prez can’t deal with a crying woman, he and I both know now she needs comfort and support.
I half lead, half carry her up to my room. While I’d like to be ranting, raving, and working out a plan with Prez and Cad, I know they’ll think of everything I could probably put in. It’s Mel who needs me now, so I’ll leave the next steps to them. Sure thing I know is that we will be taking them.
If that means I’ll be putting bullets in my gun and going to Vegas armed with a shovel, that’s what I’ll do. Right at the moment, anything less wouldn’t satisfy me.
Always knew that man was an idiot and a fool to walk out on Mel, but I always thought he hadn’t returned because he couldn’t. Never once dreamed it had been by choice. Who’d leave such an amazing woman as her without a backward glance?
He hurt her once. Now he’s gone and fucking hurt her all over again. How much can one woman take?
I’d hoped I’d one day be lying on my bed with her in my arms but had never expected it would be under these circumstances.
She’s wailing, and in between her cries, saying over and over again, “I hate him, I hate him, Ro.”
I’m pleased as fuck when her tears eventually dry out, worried as hell what all her distress is doing to the baby. It can’t be good for him.
Still, I rock her gently in my arms, then eventually, in a small voice she asks, “Am I such a terrible woman, Pyro? I should be glad he’s alive. Should be happy that my baby will have a man he can call dad. But I can’t be.”
“It’s the shock,” I tell her. “You can’t expect to think straight or make decisions right now. Your initial reaction might change.” I hope to fuck it doesn’t. When Skull hears about the baby, if he wants to go back to her, would she let him? Over my fucking dead body.
Club won’t have him back, that’s for certain. He’ll be out bad for sure. Never able to ride with the Devils again, nor any of the clubs we have relations with. No excuse on earth would be good enough for Demon to give him another chance. In the unlikely event she ends up forgiving and wanting him to play house with her, it will be without the cut on his back. That’s if we leave him breathing.
Time passes, I couldn’t say how long, but as the sun moves position and removes its beams from my room, I’d guess it was late afternoon when a knock comes on the door. Mel’s fallen into a restless sleep, so I ease away from her gently, and quietly cross the room. Opening the door, I step outside, pulling it closed behind me.
“How is she?” Vi looks cross, and I guess it’s on Mel’s behalf.
“Shattered. She’s sleeping now.”
“D wants to see you, Ro. I’ll sit with her while you’re gone.”
I’m torn. While I want to hear any news, I don’t want to leave Mel.
Vi raises her chin. “I know something of what she’s going through because of all that business with Angel, when he wanted my son.”
“She doesn’t need to hear that, Vi,” I warn.
“I know that. But her emotions, those I can understand. Being pregnant too, been there, done that. If she needs you, you’re only downstairs.”
If anyone has to sit with Mel, the best is probably Vi. Satisfied that she understands Mel shouldn�
��t be upset any more than she already is, I leave her in the hands of the prez’s old lady and descend to Demon’s office.
It’s empty.
“Church!” Karl yells out, pausing his prospect duties cleaning the bar.
Waving my hand as my thanks, I go to our meeting room.
I can hear it before I open the door. Shouts, exclamations, hands slamming onto the wooden table. My entrance causes a brief lull.
“How’s she doing, Ro?”
I shake my head. “Fuckin’ terrible, Prez.” It’s the truth.
“Woman does not deserve this!” Beef snarls.
Prez bangs the gavel. “Pyro, sit down. I was waiting for you, and the rest of you fuckers, shut up. We all feel the same, now we’ve got to decide what to do.”
“Fuckin’ end his miserable life,” Thunder snarls.
“Think that’s what we’d all like, Brother. But first we’ve got to find the motherfucker. Cad, over to you.”
Cad looks serious as all eyes turn his way. “We know he was in Vegas on Saturday, that’s when the pictures were taken. I’ve spoken to Beth, Mel’s friend. She was helpful and tried to remember everything she could. The photos were taken in a back street off the strip. Mel’s friend was staying at one of the cheaper hotels and was going back to it at the time.”
“You think he lives there?”
“If he was acting like a tourist on the strip, I’d say no. Can’t tell either way, but Beth said he looked like he knew the area from what she could tell—she, herself, was using an app on her phone to find her hotel.”
“He’s still not using his bank account?”
Cad shakes his head at Ink’s question, and resumes, “No, but it could be he’s living off this woman he was with, or he’s got cash. I’ve been in touch with Mouse, who’s called on Cara’s help.”
My eyes crease, and so do those of a lot of people.
Cad sees and explains. “Long story how they first met, but the long and short of it is, if Mouse needs to get into databases he can’t, Cara helps out.”
Beef’s nodding. “She helped find info on Steph when we needed her to.”
“She’s a sheikh’s wife and some sort of royalty where she lives, so doesn’t often get involved for political reasons. But she sometimes will. Mel’s story tugged at her heart, so she’s willing to do what she can.”
“What’s she found out?” Mace prompts, like me more interested in the information than where it came from.
“It’s more what she hasn’t,” Cad resumes. “First, no Kris Cox owns or rents property in Vegas. He has no vehicle registered to him in Nevada.”
“So, he’s a tourist.” I grimace. Fuck knows where his home base could be. And already, by now, the trail might have gone dry.
“Maybe. Her searches on hotels and rental properties haven’t pulled up anything as yet. She checked the airlines, and no one of that name has flown in or out of Vegas.”
This Cara can certainly get into a database or two. I’m impressed, though disappointed. “He could have driven in from anywhere.”
“He could,” Cad agrees.
“If a man doesn’t want to be found, he could be using an assumed name,” Paladin suggests.
“What I was coming to,” says Cad. “Only lead we got is that he was seen in Vegas.”
Prez takes over. “This doesn’t sound like it will be easy. We could accept he’s alive, pass his details to other chapters and friendly clubs, but for now, leave him in the wind. Or we take proactive steps to find him.”
“Find him.” Hellfire slams his hand on the table. “Man has to get what’s coming to him for walking out on the club. Big disrespect right there.”
“He’d have gotten a beatdown if he turned in his patch,” Bomber observes mildly. “Skull knows what that entails, he’d been through it before. Can’t blame a man for not wanting to go through that pain again.”
“Because of that,” Demon is shaking his head, “if he’d been upfront, come to us and said he’d wanted to leave, we’d have gone easy on him, and possibly not beaten on him at all. Nah, I read it as he didn’t give a damn about the club, nor the woman he left, and just walked away.”
“Doesn’t make sense.” Lizard looks confused. “We weren’t into anything shady, neither Pal nor Pyro were working him too hard. He didn’t give any indication that he was bored, or the life wasn’t for him. What if he came off his bike, hit his head too hard, and forgot who he was?”
“Bit of a stretch there, Brother. But you know, that makes about as much sense as anything else.” Prez raises his hand to stop anyone else butting in. “But it seems we’re not going to rest easy until we find him and get answers.” He nods at me. “Cleanest way for Mel too. She doesn’t need to have a cloud full of paternity issues hanging over her head.” As I raise my chin back, he continues, “Here’s what I propose we do. I’ll get onto Red and send him the photos Mel’s friend took. Get him to get his boys to keep an eye open, maybe do a few sweeps in the area where he was seen.”
Murmurs of agreement go around the table. I’m nodding too. Red is the president of the Las Vegas chapter of the Satan’s Devils MC. We’ve got brothers in the locality, so why the fuck not use them?
“I want to go,” Judge growls. “Got scores to settle with that man.” When eyes go to the bottom of the table, Wills looks eager as well.
“We,” Wills points to Judge and himself, “we prospected alongside Skull. That man was so eager to get his patch, can’t understand how he could just walk away. Can’t believe he thought so little of the club he tried so hard to get into.”
“I want to ask him to his fuckin’ face,” Judge agrees.
“With my fuckin’ fist,” Wills suggests.
Prez nods. “Makes sense some of us go there. Anyone else want a trip to Vegas?”
“Expenses paid?” Lizard raises his hand.
“You’ll stay at the clubhouse if Red’s agreeable. And no, Liz, you’re not getting extra to lose at the slots.”
“Shucks,” says Lizard with a shrug. “Just thought Skull might be playing the tables.”
“I’ll go,” says Sparky, our road captain. “These fuckers will need someone to show them the way.” Someone throws a piece of wadded up paper at him.
Prez looks around. “Liz, need you here to keep the tattoo parlour going. Rusty, same with you and the bowling alley. Pyro?”
“The shop would do fine without me, but I need to be here for Mel.” I’d rather be seeking out Skull to kill him, but don’t want to leave her alone.
Prez resumes, “Judge, Wills and Sparky. You can ride down there tomorrow. Assuming Red’s cool with the idea.”
Wills starts rubbing his hands together and banging one fist into the other palm.
“Whoever,” Demon begins with a glare, “finds him, assuming we’re successful, whether it’s Red’s men or you, you’re to take him back to the clubhouse. I personally want words with that motherfucker and want him able to form words when I do, you hear me?”
“Can’t we get any shots in?” Sparky moans.
“Just be careful,” Prez warns. “Leave him able to speak.”
“Man was hurt once because of a mistake, Prez,” Beef comments. “I can’t see there’s any acceptable excuse he could offer, but I do agree you need to speak to him first. Before anyone lets their fists fly.”
Hellfire coughs then raises his eyebrows, I return my attention to the head of the table. Demon’s looking at Beef, considering his words, then nods. “Okay, slight change of plans. Get hold of him but it’s hands off until I get there. Then,” an evil grin covers his face, “we’ll make him hurt so he’ll think last time was a picnic.”
There are thumps on the table with fists and stomps of feet after that pronouncement.
Mel’s awake when I return. She’s sitting up, talking to Vi. I’m pleased to see there’s a plate of half-eaten food beside her. At least it appears she’s had some sustenance.
“Am I interrupting?”
“How are you feeling?” Stepping into the room I take in the sight of Mel’s sore looking red and puffy eyes, suggesting she’s been crying again. If it was down to me, I’d spend my life making sure she never had cause to shed tears.
“I’ll be off now. It’s nearly Theo’s bedtime and I need to take him home,” Vi explains. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Thanks Vi.” Mel manages a half-smile for her friend.
She waits until Vi’s closed the door behind her, then turns to me. As she takes a shuddering breath, I notice she’s smiling no more. “Pyro, can we talk?”
“Of course.” As I take Vi’s place sitting beside her, I note she hasn’t answered my question, but I can work the answer out for myself. She’s hurting.
“I want to go to Vegas.” Her jaw is set.
That wasn’t what I’d expected. “Mel, what’s Vi been saying?”
Her hands wave dismissively. “Not on Vi. In fact, she tried to dissuade me. But I think it’s the best idea. If I can find him, I can confront him.”
I rub my hands down my face. “Darlin’, there must be a couple of million people living in and around Vegas, and fuck knows how many tourists at any one time. How the fuck do you think you can find him?”
“Beth managed to,” she challenges.
“Coincidence Mel. Even she probably wouldn’t be able to come across him again.” I decide to let her in on some club business. “You know there’s a Satan’s Devils’ Vegas Chapter, don’t you? Well, Demon’s going to ask the Vegas prez to get his boys keeping an eye out for Skull. They’re locals, they’re more likely to know where to start looking. Sparky, Judge and Wills are going to go down there as well. If, and it’s a big if, if he’s still there and wasn’t just visiting, they have more chance of finding him.”
“When they do,” she ignores the if, “I need to speak to him.”
I’d been working out ways of her not having to face him. “You don’t have to.”
“This is something I’ll have to do, if only to get the paperwork filled out.”
Devil's Dilemma: Satan's Devils MC Colorado Chapter #4 Page 18
