It also meant my own name was going to be everywhere. I needed somewhere to go before the press started stalking me. “I’ll drive you back to Creswell Springs and then take a flight to Mexico from there,” I told him as I shoved everything into the backpack I’d taken out of my trunk. “But first, I need to stop at the internet café around the block.”
“Why the hell are you talking about Mexico?” he demanded in frustration.
“It’s better for everyone if I disappear for a while.” Zipping up the backpack, I tossed my key on top of the safety deposit box and headed for the door. “If I’m not around, the press shouldn’t bother you or Quinn or the MC at all.”
“You’re not fucking leaving me,” he bellowed as he followed me out of the vault.
Ten different pairs of eyes jerked to us, but I kept walking, head held high. “You have no say in what I do,” I reminded him as I walked through the revolving front door and hurried toward the nearby internet café.
“The fuck, I don’t. I’m not just going to let you walk away, Kell.” His long strides kept up with me effortlessly. “Whatever happens, we can face it together. The club can help me protect you.”
I stopped outside the café’s entrance and faced him. “The club isn’t going to protect me, Colt. They won’t want anything to do with the circus show that will be following me around after this. I know you. I know where your loyalties lie. If you have to choose between them and me, I know I’m not going to come out victorious in that battle. It’s okay. I understand. All I’m saying is that it’s better for everyone if I’m not around you and your people right now.”
“Why do you think I would choose them?” he asked, his voice lowering as he stepped closer. “Why would you say that?”
I scoffed at his ridiculousness. “Really? You need to ask me that, when you’ve already shown me plain as day that the club is the most important aspect of your life?” Shaking my head, I tried to smile, but I knew it didn’t come across. “I’m realistic. No one has ever picked me first in my entire life, and I don’t bet on it changing now—or ever.”
“Kelli—”
“I don’t have time to argue with you right now, Colt! This is important.” Pushing past him, I walked into the café and uploaded the files to send to the direct email for the editor. Ten minutes later, I breathed a sigh of relief as I got the text from the man saying he would make sure the money would be donated in my mother’s name that evening.
My life had officially turned around, but I wasn’t sure if it was for the better.
Definitely for the worse for Calvin, though.
And that was all that really mattered to me in that moment.
Chapter 20
Colt
With each mile that took us back to Creswell Springs, the urge to grab Kelli and pull her across my knee to spank those stupid ideas right out of her only grew. She was out of her fucking mind if she thought I was just going to let her walk away. No matter what happened with what she just did, I wasn’t letting her go.
“Where will you go?” I demanded as we neared the Trinity County line. I’d argued with her until I was blue in the face, but she hadn’t argued back. Not one smartass word out of her luscious mouth. Which was totally unlike Kelli. It was like she wasn’t even hearing me, and it was making my palms sweat.
“What?” she asked distractedly.
“Where will you go?” I repeated frustratedly. “You mentioned Mexico. What’s your plan for once you get there?”
She shrugged as she used her signal to turn. “I’ll wing it.”
“Baby, don’t go. Let me protect you.” I wasn’t above pleading with her, begging on my knees if I had to. She was so damn stubborn, but she was also fragile. She needed me just as much as I needed her—maybe even more. I wanted to take care of her, protect her, fight the fucking world and her father for her.
“You can’t protect me,” she replied in a small voice. “I’ve made my choices, Colt. Stop trying to change my mind. It won’t work.”
I gritted my teeth, racking my mind for the words that would sway her without having to use bodily force to keep her with me. But my head was blank of everything except the growing panic at the idea of the woman I loved running away without me to protect her.
Swallowing my curses, I looked out the side window, watching the familiar scenery pass by as we got closer to Creswell Springs.
“Who the hell is that?” she muttered half under her breath.
“Who is what?” I groused, glancing at her.
Her gaze was on the rearview mirror, her brow pinched as she watched whatever was behind us. I turned my head, curious as to what she was seeing. All I saw was a nondescript black SUV that was slightly smaller than my sister’s. “Who’s where, babe?”
“That SUV was behind us on the interstate. It’s been keeping its distance, but I swear it’s the same one that was behind us the whole time.” She made an unnecessary turn, keeping her cool as she watched the road in front of her without speeding.
I kept my eyes on the rear window, and sure enough, the SUV made the same turn but still kept a good distance between us. “Turn left up ahead, then make another left and a right,” I commanded as I pulled my cell from my pocket.
Bash answered on the first ring. “Yeah?” he asked distractedly.
“Got a tail, brother. Don’t want to bring them back to the clubhouse, but I’m gonna need some backup.”
“Where are you?” I heard a door slam and then distant voices in the background. “Let’s go,” he ordered to someone.
“We will be downtown. If these fuckers want to make a scene, they can do it in front of Jenkins’s office.”
“Fuck. Keep safe until we get there.”
Dropping my phone into the cupholder, I took Kelli’s hand. It was cold, but it didn’t shake as she drove like we weren’t currently being followed. It could have been anyone. The damn Italians might have been following us this whole time. Or fuck, it could have even been someone working for the freaking senator for all I knew. At this point, I was clueless as to who the occupants of the SUV were, but I wasn’t going to take any risks.
“By any chance have you started stocking the car with an arsenal like Raven and Willa?”
Kelli snorted. “Nope, sorry. The only thing I have is the baseball bat on the floor in the back.”
Reaching behind us, I wrapped my fingers around it and pulled it into the front. “When you pull up in front of Jenks’s office, I want you to go inside. Act normal. Don’t even look their way,” I told her as she took the next right and drove onto Main Street.
“I’m not leaving you out here alone,” she argued as she pulled into a spot right in front of Jenkins’s law office. “I’m staying with you until the others get here.”
“Do as I say, Kell. Get your fucking ass in the office.” I got out of the car, the bat in my hand, and walked around to the driver’s side. Kelli glared at me through the window, and I opened the door. Taking her arm, I pulled her out and over to the front door of the lawyer’s office. “Go in there and wait for me. If Gracie is in there, then wait in her office with her. For the love of God and all that’s holy, woman, do not bring her out here.”
She tugged her arm free, glaring up at me mutinously. “I can help you.”
“You can help by staying out of trouble.” I dropped a quick, hard kiss on her lips then opened the door. “Go.”
She started to argue, but behind us, the SUV was pulling into a free spot on the other side of the street. My fingers tightened around the bat, and I wished for a gun. In the distance, I heard the distinct rumble of several motorcycles and pushed Kelli forward. Once she was inside, I pushed the door closed and stood with my back against it so she couldn’t come out.
From across the street, I watched the SUV. No one got out; no one moved around inside. I counted three heads, two in the front, one in the middle of the back seat. The tags on the back were California, but that didn
’t mean anything. Both Santino and Samson were California state residents.
As Bash and the others came into view, I crossed the street and pounded my fist on the hood. The tinted driver’s window lowered slowly, and I stared down the stranger behind the wheel. His dark-blond hair was on the shaggy side with sideburns. His nose was wide and flat, his lower lip pouched out. Definitely not Italian, not one of Santino’s men that I’d ever met. “What the fuck do you want?”
“What do you mean?” he asked, brows lifted in confusion. “You’re the one who came up to me, beating on my vehicle, man.”
I glanced past him to the guy in the passenger’s seat. I could see a resemblance to the driver, probably a brother. The same dark-blond hair was cropped short everywhere but on top. His nose was just as flat but not nearly as wide. A nasty, jagged scar that looked like his lip had been mauled by a dog stretched all the way to his chin. I would have remembered him if I’d ever seen him anywhere.
“Who the fuck are you, and why did you follow me and my girl all the way back here?”
“Look, guy, I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. We’re in town visiting family.”
Bash stopped and parked right behind the SUV, causing the driver and his brother to tense. Jet, Hawk, and Spider did the same, and the three of them got off their bikes. My brothers came up beside me, while Spider and Bash took the passenger’s side.
Putting his hand on top of the car, Jet leaned in, his eyes cold as he locked gazes with the driver. “What’s the problem, boys?”
“No problem. We’re just waiting on our friends to meet us. This dickhead is the one bothering us.”
“Tsk, tsk.” Hawk’s voice rumbled as he leaned in around me and Jet. “Name-calling isn’t nice. You should apologize before my little brother gets pissed.”
The passenger’s window rolled down when Bash tapped on the glass. “What?” the guy snarled, not nearly as calm as his brother.
Ignoring the menace in the man’s voice, Bash leaned in and opened the glove compartment. Grabbing the small handful of documents, he stepped back, flipping through the papers. “Cage is registered to Hank Badcock.” Spider and Jet snickered at the guy’s last name.
“Fuck, I wouldn’t have wanted to grow up with that name,” Spider laughed.
Bash’s lips twitched in shared amusement, but he didn’t grin as he leaned back in to look at the two in the front. “Which one of you is Hank?” They remained silent. “Neither of you? Did you steal this vehicle? Maybe I should let the sheriff know he’s got a stolen cage just running around his town.”
From the back seat, I heard a low voice, but I couldn’t make out what the guy said. Whatever it was had the driver lifting his eyes to the rearview mirror. Turning my head, I saw both Kelli and Gracie walking across the street toward us. I nudged Hawk with my elbow, nodding my head in the direction of his ol’ lady.
Seeing her, my brother bit out a curse. “For fuck’s sake. What are you doing?” he demanded, grabbing her hand as soon as she came up beside us. “Get your ass back in your office.”
She smiled sweetly up at him. “I’m just checking to see what all the fuss is about. Kelli said she and Colt brought friends back with them.”
I grasped Kelli’s hand and tucked her behind me when I noticed both the driver and the guy in the passenger’s seat watching her like hungry predators.
“What do you want with my sister-in-law?” Jet demanded, noticing where their focus was trained. Kelli made an indiscernible sound, but no one paid her any attention. “She owe you money or something?”
“I can ask my own questions,” Kelli grumbled, trying to move around me and in between my brothers.
“Actually, I’ll ask the questions,” Gracie informed everyone as she rested her elbows on the open driver’s window. Her pretty eyes changed in an instant, and she was no longer the sweet girl we’d all come to love over the years. She became the badass little lawyer Jenkins had turned her into. “What brings you to Creswell Springs, gentlemen?”
“Friends,” the driver answered, still trying to get a glimpse of Kelli, whom I kept firmly behind me.
“Thought you said you were here to visit family?” I reminded him.
“Family and friends,” he was quick to clarify. “Does it matter? You the cops, lady?”
“No, but I am the lawyer for these guys. If there’s going to be trouble, I’d like to get ahead of it so I can start on my arguments to keep bail at a minimum.” She leaned in, her eyes going toward the back seat. “And what’s your name, sir?”
“Gracie,” Hawk rumbled. He caught her by the waist and lifted her a foot off the ground. Turning, he deposited her behind us. “Stay out of this. Get your ass back into the office and stay there until I come get you.”
“No way,” she started to argue.
“I said now, Gracie. Do you really want to take any chances right now?”
To my surprise, her mouth snapped shut, stopping whatever argument she was planning on blasting him with. After a small hesitation, she sighed, frustrated, and stomped back across the street, leaving me and the other guys blinking in astonishment. The glass door trembled as it slammed behind her.
If only Kelli would listen like that, I would be a happy man.
Instead, she used the advantage of Hawk moving out of the way to slide around me and reaching inside the SUV. She grabbed the driver by his shirt and pulled him toward the window, hard. He was caught by surprise, and his head connected with the top of the doorframe, his brow puckering in pain.
“Fuck, lady, what’s your problem?” he snapped.
“You and your dumb-ass friends are my problem,” she spat. “Now tell me who you are and why you’re following me around like the sleazy creepers you are.”
The back window slowly lowered, giving us a look at the man in the back seat for the first time. Like the other two, this guy was a stranger to me, but Kelli inhaled sharply and released her hold on the driver instantly, stepping backward until her back connected with my front.
Taking a closer look at the man, I thought maybe I might have seen him before, but I couldn’t place him. He was a thin man with short hair that was almost completely gray. There were deep and fine lines around his eyes and mouth. The suit he wore looked expensive, but there was something in the set of his shoulders that suggested he hadn’t always worn such fine material.
“What do you want?” she asked, her voice losing all the steam from just moments ago. Hearing how weak she sounded now that she was face-to-face with this man, I put my free hand on her hip so I could get her out of the way should anything happen suddenly.
“I heard about your mother’s death,” the man told her, his voice deep but oddly sympathetic. “I was concerned about you.”
“You shouldn’t have expended that kind of energy,” Kelli told him, her voice growing a little stronger as she stared the old man down.
“It took bigger balls than Samson could ever claim to have to go to the press like you did. The story broke about an hour and a half ago. It’s all over the talk radio channels, and it’s the number one trending topic on all the social media sites.” The old man’s lips lifted into a half smile, half grimace. “I always wondered if you knew what he was up to, but I never really worried enough to find out.”
“You didn’t think I would actually do it? Knowing how much I hate him, you should have probably considered it. I don’t want to fight with you, Uncle Hank.”
Uncle? The realization that I knew next to nothing about Kelli’s family and past was glaringly obvious. But was Hank her biological uncle or an honorary one?
“So, you’re Badcock,” Jet chuckled.
“Shut up, Jet. You don’t want him as an enemy,” Kelli hissed.
That only had me and the others snorting. “Babe, we aren’t worried about some guy we’ve never even heard of before today.”
“I hear Vito is happy with your protection runs for him,” Badcock
commented, making us all stiffen. It wasn’t public knowledge who we worked for, but if this guy knew it, then he must be connected to Vito in some way. And that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. “I might call him, see if he would recommend you boys to do a little work for me when you’re not helping him out.”
Fuck.
Chapter 21
Kelli
With Colt’s hand firmly on my hip, I watched Hank as he spoke to the bikers. The threat in his voice was subtle, but still cocked and loaded. My skin itched, feeling stretched and tight over muscle and bones. There was no mistaking how nervous this man made me, and Colt and his people needed to take him a hell of a lot more seriously than they currently were.
Hank Badcock was the devil. However bad they might consider Vito Vitucci, they needed to multiply it by ten and maybe—just maybe—they would come close to how dangerous this man was.
I only knew the man for less than a year when I was twelve, but that was all the time I needed to conclude I never wanted to get on his bad side. For one all-too-brief moment, Mom had said goodbye to Calvin, and Hank became a constant in our lives. It wasn’t until later that I realized Mom only hooked up with Hank to piss off Calvin, but during the time they were together, she had seemed genuinely happy.
Hank treated my mom like gold. For the months they were together, I got a taste of what it felt like to have a family. To have a dad. He became Uncle Hank, and for the first time in my life, I had a man care about what happened to me. He took care of me like I was his own, and in my innocence, I even wished he really was my father.
Then I got a glimpse of his world. It was dark and dirty and more disturbing than anything I ever could have imagined.
Yet…
Yet, I’d still wanted to be his daughter.
Then Mom dumped him, and he disappeared from our lives. For months afterward, I looked for him, hoping he would come back. I hadn’t seen him again until now.
I didn’t know whether to be pissed that he’d walked away from Mom and me so easily, without so much as a backward glance, or apologetic for how she broke his heart. I didn’t know what happened between them, but one day Hank lived with us, and the next Calvin was back in Mom’s bed.
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