“What do you mean?”
“You’re tense, edgy, distracted. And you keep looking at that damn phone. What the hell is goin’ on?” Denise demanded.
Pasting on a happy smile, Meredith shook her head. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t use your reporter face on me. Seriously, is something wrong with you?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell Denise everything. She wanted to badly. The two of them had confided in one another over so many things since their rough beginnings of friendship. But she just couldn’t do it. Not with this. It would put this woman right dead center in the middle of whatever was happening.
“I had a nightmare last night. My first one in a long time.” That part was at least true.
Immediately the look on Denise’s face softened. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I thought you were moving past that. I really hate to hear it.”
“I thought I was to, but maybe some things are just gonna take a little while longer to get over.”
Especially the fact that the man who would be your father-in-law may have had me raped. She thought to herself.
“Enough about me, tell me about you. What are your plans now that you’re preggers? I know that you had talked about wanting to find a job.”
The heat effectively off her, Meredith did her best to concentrate on what her friend said.
“You’re right. Now Liam doesn’t want me to work. He wants me to stay home in case I have any more complications. He doesn’t want me doing anything more strenuous than housework, and that’s even debatable.”
Meredith cocked a brow. “Lemme guess. You’re debating it, and he says it isn’t even up for discussion?”
“You know us so well,” Denise laughed.
There was a lull in the conversation. It wasn’t uncomfortable really, just a lull.
“So does Tyler look as good naked as I imagine he does?”
Meredith spit out the drink of water she had just taken. “What?”
“Oh come on. It’s written all your face that you got laid last night. I have pregnancy hormones racing through my body already. Let me live a little.”
Touching her chin to mop up the water that had dribbled there, Meredith wondered. Could people really tell she and Tyler had done the dirty? Was it written all over her face? That made her a little uncomfortable and a little proud all at the same time.
“Better,” she giggled. “He looks so much better than you think without his clothes on.”
Denise joined in the giggling as the two of them settled in for an afternoon full of girl talk.
Tyler almost growled. He was beginning to get very frustrated. He had searched the rooms of Jagger and Layne and come up empty handed. He didn’t want to jump to conclusions. In this club, in this life, jumping to conclusions could get a person killed. But he was really beginning to think that his president had something to do with what had happened to his woman.
“Travis,” he yelled as he went into the main area where they kept their computers.
“Yeah?” the computer guru asked, coming out from under a group of them, a lollipop hanging from his mouth.
“What were you doing?” Tyler asked as he saw him roll out with the apparatus they normally used to check under cars.
“Really techy shit. Trust me, you don’t wanna know. What can I help you with?”
He was so going to hell for this. “William asked me to come get his phone. He’s stuck at the shop, and he told me that you were putting a new blocking device on it.”
In all actuality, Tyler had heard this news in passing a few days ago when he’d been at the shop. It was William’s personal cell phone, and as such he didn’t want anyone to be able to track him unless he wanted them to.
“Yeah, here ya go,” Travis reached over to a box that held a ton of cell phones and pulled one in particular out. “Tell him that he’ll need to reset his passcode. I had to change it in order to make the necessary changes to the phone.”
Tyler grinned. “Will do.”
He walked out of the clubhouse normal as could be, hopped on his bike, and drove it a few miles down the road before pulling over to the side. A stand of trees provided him a little bit of privacy as he began scrolling through calls made and texts. There were a few numbers that he called more often than others. He quickly transferred those numbers to his phone, along with a few names and a few email addresses. He realized very quickly that everything older than a few days was gone from the phone. It was obvious William kept his phone clean.
Changing the passcode to something he could remember, he started up his bike and drove towards the shop. The ride to get there seemed to take forever. He hated suspecting someone that he respected so much of something so heinous as rape. Even if he had ordered it, that wasn’t how Heaven Hill worked. As he pulled into the parking lot, he saw William’s bike there. Parking his and shutting it off, he made his way into one of the bays that housed the cars they worked on.
“Hey pres, got somethin’ for ya.”
William looked up from where he was changing spark plugs on a late model car. “What’s that?”
Tyler held up the cell phone and flashed him a smile. “I saw Travis at the clubhouse. He asked me to bring your finished phone to you. He had to put a new passcode on it to download the information. I wrote it down for you and stuck it in your case,” he explained.
Grabbing it, William nodded a thank you and went back to his work, never questioning why Tyler had it.
Walking back over to his bike, Tyler had a seat on it and stared straight ahead. His mind worked a million miles an hour. Since he had the passcode, he could look in that phone at any time. In days, the answer to what had happened to Meredith could be theirs. Now, however, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the truth anymore.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“That must be either Liam or Tyler,” Meredith commented.
She and Denise had taken up their favorite spots in the house. Out back on the screened in porch. Being November it was a little cool, but Liam had outfitted a space heater for the area and blankets kept them plenty warm. It was beautiful, especially with night falling.
“Could be both,” Denise yawned, covering her mouth with her hand.
When the front door opened, they heard a virtual stampede of feet on the hardwood.
“We’re back here,” Denise yelled.
In an instant two teenagers and two bikers were also in the back room.
“Hey, baby,” Liam greeted. He leaned down to give Denise a kiss. With a soft touch, he caressed her abdomen before straightening to his full height. “So I was tellin’ Tyler that it would be a good night to cook out with everybody here.”
“Oh that would be fun,” Meredith smiled.
The kids seemed to be in agreement as well.
“Why don’t you two do your homework real quick and take your showers. I can smell you from over here Andrew,” Denise laughed. The young man had football practice every day, and it was obvious in the way he’d bulked up how hard he worked.
“I know mama, I can smell myself.”
“Tyler and I will go fire up the grill.”
Meredith got up from where she sat. “I’ll go make the sides. You just stay right there little mama.”
Denise pouted. “Can I at least come sit and talk to you?”
“Sure, but you aren’t lifting a finger.”
“I gotta talk to you about something,” Tyler said, his voice low as the two of them started grilling hamburgers and hot dogs.
“Sure, what is it?”
Tyler had grappled with whether he should tell his friend what was going on or not. It could put them all in a bad situation, but Liam was his oldest friend. He and his father had never seen eye to eye and Tyler knew that the two of them were more like family to each other than any blood relations they ever had.
“I hate to tell you this,” Tyler sighed, running a hand through his hair.
It was obvious h
is friend was struggling. “Whatever it is, man, just spit it out. The two of us have been through some shit. There ain’t nothin’ we can’t tell each other.”
“But I don’t want to tell you this.”
“Ty, when have we ever lied to each other?”
He knew the answer to that. Never. That’s why they were such great friends. That was why they trusted each other so explicitly. In this life, you had to have that one person who would look out for you no matter what the cost. They were that person to each other.
“I think William ordered the rape on Meredith.”
Liam’s head visibly kicked back as if he’d been smacked in the face. “Wow. You sure?” His mind went back to the events weeks ago, when William had made Meredith public enemy number one as far as the club was concerned. It wouldn’t be that far of a stretch if he had ordered it, but it still didn’t feel good to think it was the truth.
“All signs are pointing to yes. Do I want it to be true? Fuck no.”
Liam knew that Tyler would never make an accusation like that without at least having some information as to why it would be true. Tyler had always been honest and fair, almost to a fault.
“You know whatever it is, true or not, I’ll stand behind you.”
That meant the world to Tyler. “I’d understand if you didn’t. That’s your dad.”
“But you’re the one who’s always been there for me. No matter what. Family is family, and blood don’t make you family.”
Tyler pulled the other man into a hug. “That means a lot to hear you say that. You know I don’t have loyalty to many and I don’t trust many. I value you and your opinion on anything and everything. Later on tonight, I’d like to talk to you about what I’m thinking. I just don’t want the ladies to be involved. This can’t come back on them.”
“Agreed, brother, agreed.”
“How was football practice?” Tyler asked Andrew as they all sat around eating dinner.
“Hard,” he admitted as he swallowed a bite of hamburger.
“You’re on the JV team right? That’s pretty good for an eighth grader.”
Andrew couldn’t keep the happiness off his face at the praise of the other man. “Yeah, they say I’m big enough.”
“I did the same thing in middle school. I had to drop out of high school in tenth grade, but I was a beast on the football field. You need to start bulking up a little bit. You don’t wanna be a lanky guy like him over here,” Tyler grinned over at Liam.
“Fuck you, man. Not everybody can look like they came out of Muscle Magazine.”
Denise whistled. “Hey, language. We’re gonna have to watch that with the new baby.”
Tyler cleared his throat, a grin on his face. “Anyway, Drew if you feel like it, you can come work out with me sometime. I work out at night, but I can do it in the morning if that would be better for you. You’ve got the height, you need the muscle mass.”
“That’s what coach said, and I asked Liam if he’d come work out with me, but he said he really doesn’t,” Andrew rolled his eyes.
“Hey, at least I’m not lyin’ to you. About the only working out I do is workin’ on the cars and riding my bike.”
“Yet you somehow seem to be blessed with a bangin’ body,” Denise stage whispered.
“Mooommm,” Mandy groaned.
“If you don’t mind, I’d love to come work out with you,” Drew effectively ignored everything else at the table.
“Alright, you wanna go in the morning or at night?”
“Morning. I have practice every afternoon, and I don’t think I can give it 100% after practice.”
Tyler smiled at the boy. “That’s a damn good attitude to have. I’ll meet you tomorrow morning at 5 am. If we run late, I’ll take you to school.”
Meredith watched the exchange, something soft and sweet in her eyes. This man was so much more than she had ever imagined. He had so many facets to his personality. Many that she was sure she hadn’t even witnessed yet. It made her want to witness them. It also caused her mind to wonder. Would this be what he was like when they had a teenage boy to raise?
Later on, after the kids had gone to bed, they all sat in the living room talking like couples do. When there was a lull in the conversation, Tyler made eye contact with Liam and motioned towards outside.
“You wanna go take a smoke?” Tyler asked.
“Yeah, let’s go. Ladies, it’s a bit chilly out there. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Once outside, they had a seat on the front porch, each lighting up their respective vice.
“So tell me what you know so far.”
“Fuck man, I’m not even sure where to start. There’s so much shit going around in my brain right now.”
Liam blew out a steady stream of smoke from his mouth. “Just start at the beginning.”
So he did, explaining to Liam about the envelopes with the pictures and the fact that the person would have to have unprecedented access to the club. “That’s when I automatically thought Layne or Jagger. They are new and we don’t know a whole lot about them, I figured it would be easiest to suspect them. I searched their rooms, but couldn’t find shit. That’s when I thought about William.”
“Let’s think about this. What would he have to gain by getting back at Meredith?”
“Motive. She was getting awfully damn close to breaking open all our secrets before she was attacked. I mean we all said that she was like a dog with a bone. All of us avoided her, and let’s be truthful, even we don’t know about the skeletons in this club’s closet from way back when. Your dad is the last remaining of the first five. He can manipulate anything that he wants.”
“You do have a point there. A damn good one. So what have you done?”
“I got his phone’s passcode. I took down a few numbers, and I’m going to see if Meredith recognizes them. I have a feeling one of them might be one of her informants for the other clubs from her reporter days. I’m going to try to get into his network and download his old messages too. He may have a sim card somewhere. You never know.”
“You know this could mean death, right brother?”
Tyler swallowed hard. “I’ve never feared it before. Why start now?”
“You’ve got someone who depends on you now.”
“If I don’t get to the bottom of this, I will never forgive myself. If I do and it kills me, then I will gladly go as a martyr. I just hope that you’ll take care of her if something does happen to me.”
That thought caused Liam’s stomach to churn. There was no way he wanted to think of that, but he of all people knew the life they led. “You don’t even have to ask. She’s in good hands if this all goes south. I’ll give my own life for that.”
That was all Tyler needed to hear. Now he wouldn’t rest until he found out the truth and God help the person that stood in his way.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Do you recognize any of these numbers?”
Meredith looked at the numbers that Tyler had written down on a piece of paper the next day, trying to remember the numbers she had used in her investigation. She pointed at one. “This one looks vaguely familiar. They were all disposable prepaids, I’m sure. I had them written down in one of my notebooks. It would be in my desk if I remember correctly.”
They went to the room that housed her stuff. She made a beeline for the desk and reached into the bottom drawer, pulling it out of the wood structure. Reaching inside, she engaged a lever and a false bottom opened, revealing some paper work.
“That’s pretty hot that your desk drawer has a false bottom,” Tyler grinned. “Means you’re mysterious and dangerous.”
“If only,” she giggled.
Going through all the information she had, she pulled out a small black book. “This has all the phone numbers I used. Let’s see.”
She went through them as he looked over her shoulder. “There,” he pointed. “That one is the same. Who was that to?”
He watched as she s
wallowed loudly. “That was my contact for the Vojnik. The one who didn’t show up that night.” Her face became deathly pale, as she mentioned the European MC in town, and she ran for the bathroom, throwing up everything she had in her stomach.
Tyler was torn between following her and trying to decide if he should leave her alone. Wanting to be near her won out, and he ambled into the bathroom, wetting a washcloth for her. He sat next to her on the floor, pressing the coolness to her forehead.
“You okay?”
“No,” she whispered, her voice shaky. “I’ve lived here in this clubhouse with that man for months. He’s smiled at me and told me he thought I was better.” Tears came to her eyes, and she angrily pushed them away with violent strokes of her fingertips. “This whole time…he knew.”
An anger that Tyler had never felt before washed over him in waves. He wasn’t sure how to control this anger. Earlier in life, he would have gone out and found a fight, beating another man until he almost died. At this point, he was ready to admit, he was too old for that.
“I don’t want to stay in this clubhouse with him anymore,” she declared, holding her arms across her stomach.
“I don’t either,” he admitted.
That was the bitch of the whole thing. If he wanted to prove that William was behind this, he would have to stay. He would have to collect evidence and keep his head down. Maybe they would have luck for once and the man who raped her would appear. Now that they knew who ordered it, Tyler knew the guy had to still be around. William demanded loyalty and ease of access. If this man had done this once, William would require him to do something equally heinous again.
“What do you want to do?” Tyler asked, his voice hoarse. It felt like she was leaving him, and his breath came in great gasps. His hands shook and he felt sick to his stomach.
“I don’t want to leave you,” she cried.
Heaven Hill Series - Complete Series Page 31
