Red Eyes MC Books 4 - 6
Page 18
I made a face, embarrassed that I had let that slip so easily. “You know, just if Darren continues to be an asshole,” I said, trying to cover my tracks. I could tell that Candice wasn’t convinced that that was the whole story, but she didn’t press me.
We chatted a little longer about things that had happened around here over the course of the week. But eventually, she got to her feet. “I’ve got to get to the bar and get things going,” she said. “Your work schedule will be same as always, but seriously, if you’re feeling too exhausted still to do it, just let me know, and I’m sure I can find someone to cover for you. You look like you need some sleep.”
“Thanks,” I told her, meaning it. Candice always had my back in everything. And I appreciated that more than she would ever know.
Candice gave me another hug. “I’ll see you at work,” she said. Then, she left, and the place was blessedly silent.
Only for a couple minutes, though. Just long enough for me to get comfortable on the couch again. I groaned as there was another knock on the door. Probably just Candice again. She had no doubt forgotten something. I couldn’t see what; there was nothing on the coffee table or anywhere else. But whatever. I was sure it would be quick. And then I could relax again.
When I answered the door, though, it wasn’t Candice at all. Instead, Darren stood there grinning at me, his hands shoved casually into his pockets. “Hey,” he said, as though he had any right to be standing there on my doorstep.
“What the hell are you doing here, Darren?” I asked coldly.
“I just wanted to welcome you home,” he said, moving in for a hug and probably a kiss as well. I automatically took a step away from him. But when I tried to shut the door on him, he put his arm in the way, blocking it, his eyes narrowing at me.
“The guy from the bar,” he said.
“What about him?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest and trying not to let on how much I was panicking at the moment. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, though. I had expected Darren to find out about “the guy from the bar” pretty quickly. I knew that he was watching me when I was in there. But how had he just happened to show up here, at my doorstep, within hours of my return to Las Cruces? Had he been watching the place the whole time that I’d been gone?
The thought of that seriously creeped me out. I was starting to wonder if I’d made a mistake in not taking Braxton up on his offer to head home with him instead. I tried to remind myself that I didn’t think Darren would do anything to hurt me, but his presence here really had me wondering.
“You’re going to quit seeing him,” Darren declared. “Or else.”
I had to fight not to laugh at that at least. God, he sounded like the villain from some terrible movie. “Or else.” Or else what? What does he really think he could do to Braxton?
It was clear that he didn’t have any idea who Braxton really was. That Braxton was part of Red Eyes. Braxton could beat Darren to a pulp, easily, and not only that, but I was sure that Ray and the other guys would back him up if it came to that.
I still didn’t want Braxton to fight Darren, and I was still afraid of what the consequences might be if he did so. But more and more, I was starting to feel like Darren deserved whatever he had coming to him.
I shook my head. “Trust me, you don’t want to mess with Braxton,” I told him. “I told him all about you. How you won’t leave me alone. And let’s just say he wasn’t happy to hear about it.”
Darren sneered at me. “Maybe I should have a chat with him as well,” he said. “Tell him to keep his filthy paws off of you. That you’re mine.”
“I’m not,” I said exasperatedly. “Darren, I don’t know how to say this so that you’ll understand, but we broke up. And we are never getting back together. Ever. It’s over. It was over the second that you cheated on me.”
“Come on, don’t be a bitch,” Darren said, and I could tell that he was getting agitated. I was starting to get worried again. How did I get him to leave? Should I call the police or would that set him off even worse? I just felt so helpless.
It was the worst feeling in the world. After Maggie, I had hoped that I would never feel helpless again. But I had brought this upon myself, and I knew that. I had to deal with the consequences.
Darren reached out and caught my hip, dragging me closer to him, so that I was pressed up against him, his breath hot against my skin. “You’re mine,” he said again. “And you’re going to quit seeing the guy from the bar. He doesn’t deserve you. He could never understand you, not like I do.”
I pushed away from him, and he finally let me go. I stumbled back a few paces, feeling sick.
“Yes,” Darren mused, grinning at me. “I think I’ll go see that boyfriend of yours. Have a little chat with him.” He narrowed his eyes again. “You’re either going to be with me or with no one at all. And don’t you forget it.”
He finally turned and left, and I slammed the door shut, throwing the deadbolt before sinking down to the floor, hugging my knees.
I needed to call Braxton, I realized. I didn’t know what Darren was planning. I knew that Braxton could take him in a fight, but what if Darren didn’t fight fair? He might sneak up on Braxton with a weapon or something like that. I could never bear it if it was my fault that Braxton was injured.
I couldn’t help feeling that something terrible was about to happen. But I hated the idea of calling Braxton over this. What if Darren was bluffing, what if he never actually did anything? Or what if Braxton just felt like this thing with me was more trouble than it was worth and agreed with Darren that he would never see me again?
I didn’t know what I’d do then.
One thing was sure, though. Darren was getting bolder and bolder. I didn’t know how to stop him, though. Someone was going to get hurt; it was bound to happen.
I sat trembling on my hallway floor, trying my best not to cry. I didn’t know what I had done to deserve this, but it was all my fault, and now I had to deal with the consequences. One thing was for sure: I was never giving myself over to someone else again, no matter how good they seemed. It could only end in tragedy.
31
Braxton
I wanted to go after Darren immediately, but I recognized that I was going to have to find his address if I wanted to corner him at his house, and that was going to take at least a little time. So I let myself calm down a little and tried to think of alternative plans. What if I went to Sunshine and kept an eye out for the fucker? Mia had mentioned that he was still coming in there and bothering her frequently. I could sit back and wait and see if he came in.
The added benefit, of course, was that I could keep an eye on Mia either way. And Grant had wanted to meet for drinks anyway.
So on Tuesday, we headed for the bar together and grabbed a few beers. We chatted for a bit about Florida before I turned the conversation back around. “What about here?” I asked. “Any more broken windows?”
“Nah, none of those,” Grant said, shaking his head and taking a sip of beer. “I think maybe our scare tactics worked.” He grinned at me.
I rolled my eyes. “Maybe,” I said, but I couldn’t keep the doubtful note out of my voice.
“Uh-oh,” Grant said. “What’s going on?”
I shook my head. But if I was really going to go after Darren, to be honest, I probably needed some backup. Just in case. Or at least someone that I could ping ideas off, since Landon being in Florida meant that I couldn’t rely on him.
“There’s a reason Ray wanted Mia out of town for a little while,” I said slowly.
“Well yeah, those guys broke her car window,” Grant said, looking confused.
“There’s more to it than that; I found out.” I sighed. I glanced toward the bar, but Mia was busy at work at the moment, making up for lost time, so I wasn’t too worried that she would know we were talking about her. “She has this ex, Darren. I remember seeing him around here a few times before. But apparently, even though they’ve been bro
ken up for a while, he’s still stalking her and threatening her. He’s the real problem, apparently.”
“And he’s not one of the guys that we beat up before?” Grant asked.
“To be honest, I wasn’t really paying attention to who those guys were,” I admitted, grimacing. “You know that trick that your mind plays on you, when you don’t recognize someone outside of the context that you normally see them in? We could definitely have beaten up Darren, and I might just not have noticed. I don’t know. But what I do know is, I’m not going to let him get away with terrorizing Mia.”
“Of course not,” Grant said, as though that were obvious. “So what’s the plan?”
I grinned a little, unable to help it. When we’d first started working together, he’d been so timid, and now it was like he was willing to go along with whatever I was planning. I had to wonder if maybe Ray had been right. That Grant just needed a deeper connection with the rest of the Red Eyes guys to make him see that there was something worth fighting for.
But that was neither here nor there. For now, we needed a plan. “I think the first thing to do is figure out where he lives,” I said. “Ray won’t give me the address because he’s afraid I’ll go beat the guy up.”
“Doesn’t the fucker deserve it?” Grant growled.
“Exactly,” I said. “But you know Ray. He probably wants to talk it out with the dude.”
We both rolled our eyes.
“I’ve got a buddy who has access to the full public records database,” Grant offered, and I looked at him askance. He shrugged. “I used to go to school with him,” he said. “I bet I could get you this guy’s address in a few minutes.”
“Good,” I said. “Why don’t I go get us another round of drinks, and you see if you can get that address?”
Grant nodded, and I headed for the bar. Mia was chatting with some customers at the other end of the bar, though, so it was Candice who ended up bringing me our drinks. “It’s on the house,” she said when I tried to pay.
I raised an eyebrow at her, slowly putting my wallet back in my pocket. “It is?” I asked, wondering what the conditions were.
Candice glanced over her shoulder at Mia and then leaned in close. “Just, thanks for looking out for her. And bringing her back from Florida in one piece. I’ve been worried about her, with this whole Darren thing. It’s good to know that you have her back.”
I looked over at Mia, watching her slim fingers grab a couple glasses and start mixing drinks. “Always,” I promised Candice.
Now, more than ever, I knew that we needed to take care of this Darren guy. Once and for all. I stalked back to the table where Grant was waiting. He grinned at me. “Got it,” he said.
“Good,” I said. “Thanks for doing that.”
“No problem,” Grant said. He had scrawled the address down on a slip of paper, and now he passed it over toward me. It wasn’t the same building that we’d been to before, but it was definitely in the same scummy part of the city.
“Let’s go,” I said, already standing up.
Grant raised an eyebrow at me. “Can we at least finish our beers first?” he asked mildly, startling a laugh out of me. I was so focused on getting over there and beating this guy up that I hadn’t even remembered that I had just brought a round back to the table. And the last thing I wanted was for Mia to get suspicious when we left our full glasses there on the table.
Besides, we probably should figure out more of a plan. I had to know that Grant was on board even if it meant punching this guy out. I had to know that I could trust him to have my back. But before we had a chance to talk about it, Mia came over to the table.
“Hey, guys,” she said, smiling at both of us. “How’s it going?”
“It’s good,” Grant said, smiling up at Mia. “How was your trip?”
I fought the urge to groan. I knew that we didn’t want to look suspicious to Mia because she didn’t want me going after Darren. But at the same time, jeez, we didn’t have to make small talk about the trip to Florida. That was just the kind of guy that Grant was, though, I guess.
Mia smiled at him. “It was really good. Braxton showed me all the best places. But it’s good to be back, too.” She glanced distractedly back over her shoulder and then turned back to me. “So what are you boys up to tonight?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Just hanging out, having a couple beers, getting caught up,” I lied. I felt terrible for lying to her, but I also felt sure that once Darren was no longer her problem, she’d thank me for it. She’d be pissed at first of course. Angry that I felt like she couldn’t handle the problem herself or whatever. But I was sure she would come around once she realized that she didn’t have to be scared of him anymore.
“That’s good,” Mia said, and again, I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was distracted. She narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re not going to see Darren, are you?”
I shook my head. “Nah, we’ve got some work to do tonight, but it’s nothing to do with him.” Again, I hated the lie, but it rolled off my tongue so naturally. I frowned at her. “Are you all right? You seem like you’ve got something on your mind.”
“It’s nothing,” Mia said, shaking her head. But again, her eyes wandered around the bar. “I’m just making sure that I’m not slacking on work,” she said, but I could tell that she was lying. I wondered if Darren had come to see her already since she had been back. If that was why she was so nervous. I wanted to ask her about it, but a group of customers came in the door just then, and I knew she was going to use that as her excuse to get back behind the bar.
Sure enough, she squeezed my shoulder lightly. “I’ll see you later,” she said. “Be careful with your work stuff.”
“Thanks,” I said, but she was already gone.
Grant was staring at me, a puzzled look on his face. “Don’t take this the wrong way, man, but she doesn’t seem like she wants you here,” he said slowly.
I gave him a look. “Stay out of it,” I told him warningly. I was glad that he was getting a little more confident, but he needed to learn not to overstep. I didn’t want his opinions on my relationship with Mia. That was for sure.
Grant shrugged, though, looking unapologetic. “Sorry, it’s just weird,” he said. “Before you guys left, you were all over each other. And now it’s definitely frosty.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Stay out of it,” I repeated. The only thing that kept me from fighting him was the fact that he had gotten Darren’s address for me earlier. That, and the fact that Ray would kill me if I beat up one of the few remaining members of Red Eyes. It was one thing to cross Ray by going after Darren when he had specifically told me not to, but I didn’t need him to be totally pissed off with me.
“Okay, okay,” Grant said, holding up both hands. “So are we still going to do this thing or what?”
“Yeah, we are,” I said, knocking back the rest of my beer. “Let’s get out of here.”
We headed over to Darren’s place in terse silence. When we got there, all the lights were off, and no one answered my knock. I shrugged and kicked the door in. For all we knew, he was lurking somewhere inside there. I had to find the fucker. I had to make him pay.
When we got inside the place and flicked on the lights, I froze. It was obvious that he was still hung up on his ex. Mia’s face stared out at me from all over the apartment, dozens of photographs on the walls and tables and everywhere.
“Jesus,” Grant said under his breath. “This place is like a fucking shrine to her.”
I shook my head but didn’t respond to that. My blood was practically boiling inside of me, anger pulsing hot through my veins. When I found this guy, I was going to tear him limb from limb. Even if it was obvious that he was fucking batshit crazy. What the hell gave him the right to cheat on Mia and then turn around and decide that he was obsessed with her? Asshole.
He was definitely a problem, and I wasn’t going to let him get away with this behavior anymore. Not on my watch.
Grant nodded and moved off to do just that. But we didn’t find Darren anywhere in the apartment, although there were more pictures of Mia everywhere I looked. I was starting to get a sick feeling in my gut, like something was wrong. Like I had overlooked something.
“He’s not here,” Grant finally said.
“I know,” I said.
“You don’t think…” Grant trailed off, and I knew he was thinking exactly what I was thinking.
“We need to get back to the bar,” I said grimly. “He’s probably already there, watching her.”
I was kicking myself for not having thought about that sooner. I had gone to the bar thinking that I might see him there. But when I hadn’t seen him there, I had assumed he must be at home. Just because I didn’t see him, though, didn’t mean he wasn’t there. Especially not since I didn’t totally remember what he looked like.
He could have been lurking there, just out of sight. Maybe that was what had Mia so distracted when she’d been talking to me. She of course wouldn’t have wanted to tell me that was why she was distracted, because she didn’t want me to get involved. But now that I looked back, I felt so stupid.
This guy was clever. He was probably watching me just as much as he was watching Mia. And he was clearly crazy. We didn’t know just what he might do.
I hurried off to Sunshine with Grant trailing after me. I only hoped that we weren’t too late.
32
Mia
I wanted to chat with Braxton more when he was at the bar. But I couldn’t shake the worry that Darren might walk in at any second and see me talking with him. That he might snap, and that he might come after Braxton. I didn’t want Braxton to get hurt or locked up in jail or anything else because of me.