by Debra Kayn
A low vibration started and stopped. She set the glass down and looked around the kitchen and found Thad's phone on the table at the same time it vibrated again and quit. Picking up the cell, she glanced at the screen. He'd missed six calls.
"Hey, Thad?" she called, walking toward the stairs, planning to take the phone to him, and met him coming down the steps. "Your phone is going crazy."
He kissed her before he looked at his cell and gave a non-committable hmm.
"Something wrong?" she asked, following him back into the kitchen.
"Tina and George need help moving." His thumb scrolled on the phone. "And, Jessie, a woman in the office at Port Loaders, wants me to come over with my truck and remove her hot water heater."
"You'll be leaving?" She opened the fridge, removed the jug, and poured him a glass, knowing he drank whole milk most of the time instead of water. Passing the drink to him, she said, "My offer is still open. I could have Gomez come here to talk with me. I wouldn't be alone. That way you can help your friends out."
His brows lowered as he looked at the screen and he drank some milk. "No, that's okay. They can find someone else to help them. Wayne also left a message that he wants us to come over earlier. Apparently, there's been more information on the drifter case."
She rubbed his back. "That's good news, right?"
He nodded, setting down the glass on the counter. "I'll call Gomez and have him meet you at Wayne's house in an hour. You can talk to him while I meet with Notus. When we're done, we can swing by Vavoom's and have dinner. Do you want to eat there or take out?"
"Take out," she said, always preferring her own company—and now Thad's—to that of being in public. That was also why she enjoyed her job. Besides those she worked with, the only communication she had with the public was by telephone. Emergencies became non-issues because she couldn't see the tragedies, the crimes, the disasters. It was all about following the rules and answering the right way to pass the call on to the appropriate channel.
"Okay, Gomez will meet with you in an hour." He slid his phone into his vest pocket.
She looked down at her jersey shirt, jeans, and bare feet. "I'll finish dressing."
His phone vibrated again, he read the screen. "Shit," he mumbled. "Josh locked his keys in the car. I'll text Chuck and see if he has the time to run over to Josh's house and get the spare."
"You're in high-demand," she said walking out of the room.
She had no idea who any of these people were in Thad's life. Assuming they were his friends, she wondered how long it would be until he tires of her and misses hanging with the people who wanted to be in his life.
Thad followed her upstairs. She grabbed a pair of socks out of her bag and sat on the bed, looking up at him. The reminder of Thad's generous friend circle leveled out her mood. He had his life. She had hers.
"Hey." He sat down beside her. "I'm not going to leave you to go help everyone. I can find others to lend a hand."
She patted his thigh. "No, you misunderstood. I don't mind if you help your friends out. In fact, I don't want you to rearrange your life because I'm staying here."
His brows lowered. "But I'm going to because that's what I want to do."
"That's silly, Thad." Softening her opinion, she kissed him and then concentrated on putting on her socks. "You have an active social life and need to keep that up. That's what friends do for each other. I work twelve-hour shifts, four days a week, and will be going home eventually. Our time together will shrink, so don't lose contact with your friends for my sake, just because I'm staying here."
He continued frowning. She put on her shoes, double knotting the laces. Thad kept staring at her. He should be relieved. She had no designs on tying him down.
She put her foot on the floor. Turning to Thad, she caught him watching and said, "What?"
"When someone is in my life, I will always be there for them," he said.
"That's what makes you special. But, I don't expect to take up all your free time. You have your club, your missing person cases, your day job, your family, your friends. We'll work everything out, and I'll be happy about spending time with you when it's convenient." She nudged her shoulder against his, and when he refused to reply, she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Especially, if we have sex like we did today. I liked that."
His body straightened. She let go of him. He reached behind him, took out his wallet, and removed a picture. She caught a glimpse of a girl smiling into the camera. From the look of the photo, it was one that everyone gets when they're enrolled in public school.
Thad handed her the picture. "That's my sister, Thalia. She's eighteen in that picture. It was her senior year. A year later, she was abducted, raped, and killed. I was supposed to pick her up after work and her boss, for some reason, let her off an hour early. Thalia called the house to let me know the change of plans, but I wasn't home. I was out riding with Notus. Thalia..." He exhaled harshly. "Decided to walk the two miles home instead of waiting for me. Her and Rich, a Notus member, planned to get together that night and knowing my sister, she wanted more time with him. She never made it home. If she had, maybe I'd be a different person. Maybe Rich would still be an active member, instead of fucking riding away from St. John's. We don't know if he's alive or he just doesn't give a shit anymore about the MC. If I would've been home to help out my sister, Thalia would still be alive. So, when I say you are part of my life, that means we're going to be close, Lena. It means I'm going to be here for you. It means nothing will happen to you."
She closed her eyes at the pain vibrating in Thad's voice. The husky, fragile quality that came from painful memories that refused to go away.
She opened her eyes and pulled his head down and kissed him. "I understand."
"Yeah?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
She recognized the scars of the past that remained for a lifetime. The changes he'd made in his life to protect what he holds dear. While she bore different scars, she understood the driving determination not to repeat the past.
Chapter 15
Lieutenant Gomez spoke with Thad in Wayne's garage. Lena's attention wandered from the conversation going on between Clara and Gracie, Clara's twin sister, and Ingrid, Glen's wife. She'd only met Clara once before, briefly at Vavoom's Bar, and already understood the women all belonged to Notus Motorcycle Club.
While they'd welcomed her into their tight circle at the house—the beer she held in her hand had broken the ice— her inability to adapt to other people's friendships had her standing off to the side.
"You must have nerves of steel, Lena." Ingrid, cute and small, owned her spunky hairdo. "I'd go home from work every night broken hearted hearing all the emergency calls if I was a dispatcher. Probably freak out right along with them if they called in hysterics."
She plastered on a fake smile. "They train us to disassociate with the caller's emotions and focus on the emergency. It's not as bad as it sounds."
"Have you ever talked someone through delivering a baby?" Clara grabbed two dirty glasses off the desk and the empty candy bar wrappers off the surface, dumping everything into the garbage can.
"Once." She relaxed. "The woman was a mile away from the hospital, trying to drive herself because her husband was out of town. The officer who arrived delivered the baby. It was also his first."
"Ah, that is so cool. I bet those kinds of calls make your day." Clara brushed off her hands.
She nodded, finding it easier to act like others expected. Her main goal at her job was making sure she successfully followed the rules for each call, so the policemen, firefighters, and paramedics weren't harmed and people promptly received help. They depended on her, and one mistake could cost them their life. She'd seen other dispatchers on the other end of making a big mistake and getting yelled at, and it wasn't pretty. She only wanted to do her job and receive a paycheck.
"What's the deal with you staying with Thad?" asked Gracie, who wore her hair in a braid, which was the on
ly reason Lena could tell her apart from her twin sister.
Clara slapped Gracie's arm. "Rude."
"It's okay." Lena glanced over at Thad, he'd grown serious in his private conversation with the lieutenant, considering Lieutenant Gomez came to talk to her and still hadn't. "We see each other, and I'm staying with him because I received a couple threats made against me by a known gang in the area."
Gracie smiled, transforming her serious expression to joy. "I'm so happy for Thad...and you, of course."
"Wait. You're in danger?" Ingrid's eyes narrowed. "Why haven't I heard anything about this? Is anything being done?"
"Yes, that's why Lieutenant Gomez is here." She smiled, seeing her break into the conversation. "I should go find out what is happening. Excuse me."
Lena set down the beer on the table, walked over to Thad's side, looked up at him and was rewarded with him putting his arm around her shoulders. "What's up?"
"There's been some information that came in over the last twenty-four hours." Lieutenant Gomez adjusted the sunglasses sitting on the top of his head. "Yvonne and Shannon also had bandana's placed near their homes. Gabi had one tied to her truck in the parking lot of the P.D. overnight."
Her pulse raced, and she put her hand on Thad's stomach. "Are they all okay?"
Gomez nodded. "We believe it's not a warning to the individuals, but a mark on the territory."
"That's what we were discussing. Your house and the police department are in Tigres territory," said Thad.
The lines around his eyes deepened. Lena turned toward him. He wasn't saying something. The news should've relieved him of any duty to protect her. If Gomez was right and it wasn't a personal threat against her or the others now, she had nothing to worry about.
"Thad's not wrong, but if the other gangs are trying to encroach on streets that are currently being run by Tigres, they will mark to reinstate the areas they do possess to stop any turf wars from breaking out." Lieutenant Gomez mouth hardened. "Anyone caught encroaching knows Tigres will come after them."
"I remember the 911 calls several years ago during Rose Festival." She looked up at Thad. "There were four murders resulting from turf wars, and it happened with a huge crowd celebrating down at the waterfront."
"Right," he mumbled, his arm tightening around her.
She studied him. The news was good, and yet he appeared irritated.
Lieutenant Gomez's radio squawked, and Lena recognized the tone for an informational call. "I need to call in, but I wanted to update you. I thought it'd bring you some relief."
"Thanks for coming by and letting us know," said Lena. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Lena waited until the lieutenant was out of sight and then pivoted until she stood in front of Thad. Tension rolled off him. He continued to look across the room in thought.
"Hey," she whispered.
"What?"
"Why are you mad? This is a good thing. I can go back home. You can come over when you want, and I can go to you if I want. I won't be interrupting your life as much. You won't have to see me with my hair all messy and no makeup. I can show you my sexy lingerie," she said, trying to tease him into a better mood.
His eyebrow twitched. "We'll talk about this after I discuss the drifter case with the guys."
She kissed him. "I'll go sit outside and wait for you."
"No need. The other women are visiting and what we have to go over isn't classified. You can join them and wait for me." He patted her ass.
She turned away and sighed. Her need to go home and chill outweighed her desire for chitchat. Approaching the table where the women now sat, she pointed at a chair and received a welcome to join them.
Chips and salsa sat in the middle of the table. She barely got her ass planted in the chair, and Clara passed her the can of beer she hadn't yet taken a sip of.
"Thanks," said Lena.
"Have some chips, too." Ingrid dipped and popped one in her mouth. "Gracie brought the salsa. It's made with peaches, which sounds disgusting, but is totally addicting."
She scooped and took a bite. The sweet mixed with a mild hotness was surprisingly good, and she reached for another chip bringing laughter out in the women. She rolled her eyes and swallowed. "You need to sell this."
"We do." Gracie grinned. "At Vavoom's."
"Okay, then I'm going to become a regular." She wasn't lying. The dip was great. Calculating how many extra miles she'd need to run if she stopped by the bar on her way home from work once or twice a week, she brushed her hands off and sipped her beer.
The men's conversation grew louder. Clara leaned toward her and whispered, "We sell them by the pint. I'll put a couple aside for you...on the house. Thad likes it, too."
"Thanks." She smiled, enjoying the perks of being Thad's girlfriend.
Ingrid talked in a low voice, filling the others in on her dad's condition. Lena leaned back in her chair, unsure of what was wrong with her father. Whatever medical problems plagued Ingrid's dad, it took all of Ingrid's family's attention.
Instead, she strained to hear the conversation taking place on the other side of the garage.
"Jack found another picture of his sister. Apparently, he went to the library and looked through a stack of yearbooks and found one from her senior year," said Wayne.
Chuck leaned back and latched his hands behind his shaved head. "That'd make her eighteen years old. Not a huge jump from the picture we already have. Now, say, he sent one of her when she was thirty, we'd have something to help us."
"Let me see the new photo," said Glen.
Wayne exhaled. "I don't have it yet. He's going to email it tomorrow. Yearbooks can't be checked out of the library, and he was in a hurry or some bullshit."
"This is why we called a meeting?" Thad shook his head. "Anything else?"
Lena looked away from the men. She couldn't understand Thad's sudden bad mood. Everything was fine when they'd left his house, and Lieutenant Gomez's news was good.
"Chuck wants to visit Lane County and search the database for a name change. While that rarely helps, because records can be sealed. Our best hope is she's gotten married or divorced in the last sixteen years. That would make the trail a little easier to follow," said Wayne.
"I also found a Swift Mart outside of Eugene where Lena Grayson worked two years after she left home. I'd like to talk to the manager and see how far back I can trace employee records," said Chuck.
The beer bottle slipped from Lena's hand. The glass shattered on the concrete floor of the garage. Blood rushed through her veins deafening her to Clara jumping up from her chair and Ingrid talking to her. She stared at the spilled liquid.
Jack.
Lena Grayson.
Strong hands grabbed her arms and pulled her away from the table. "Are you okay?" said Thad.
Oh, God.
She couldn't breathe.
She couldn't think.
She couldn't move.
The woman Thad was searching for was her.
Chapter 16
Lena kissed Thad goodbye and shut the front door of her house, locking it. She had no idea how she'd talked him into taking her home or how she'd convinced him to sleep in his own bed tonight after her bizarre behavior at Wayne's house over the news that she was the drifter case he worked on with his club. Her need to be alone and go over everything she'd heard had made her determined. She refused to take no for an answer.
She walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch. Her brother was looking for her? Her baby brother?
When Wayne mentioned a man by the name of Jack, she'd thought nothing of it. She knew three Jack's through work. Two firemen and one paramedic. It was a common name.
It wasn't until she'd heard her birth name spoken that she realized the case Notus Motorcycle Club worked on involved her.
The last time she'd seen her brother, he was eight years old, and already poisoned against her by their mother. They had no relationship because she wasn't allowed to talk, play, or p
rotect him like a big sister should.
There was no logical reason why he'd seek her out. He probably couldn't even remember her. Even when she was living under the same roof, she rarely came out of her bedroom. With a ten-year age gap, there was nothing between them to create a bond.
She closed her eyes and groaned. Soon, Thad would find out she was the woman he was looking for. It wasn't as if she was hiding. One name change, for her benefit, but she had wiped the slate clean and become a new person. She wasn't pretending to be someone else. She was someone else. Nobody had a reason to look for her because she'd left her past behind, for good.
Except, now Jack hired Notus to find her. Why would he do that?
If Thad had any doubt that her rules were placed in their relationship for a real reason, knowing her life story would push him away. She'd done her best to protect him and tried to keep their arrangement simple. Then, Tigres threatened her and Thad took care of her, and she found herself slipping.
"Damnit," she muttered, hitting her fist against the couch and opening her stinging eyes. Thad would walk away in anger and hate her. She never wanted that to happen. She'd done everything she could think of to make sure he could never be disappointed in her.
Her chest constricted, leaving her tearless. She wished crying would bring relief. From experience, she knew it would only bring a pounding headache. Tears never fixed anything. At least not her problems. Problems she thought she'd left behind.
She stood. Her legs shook, and she sat back down. It'd been easier living on her own. No guilt. No regret. No second thoughts. She had no desire to revisit her childhood. Just the reminder of the toxicity of those years had a way of stripping her of everything she'd earned on her own.
She took pride in being a 911 dispatcher.
She owned her own home. Or, the bank did. She made her monthly payments on time, paid her taxes, and had insurance.
