Carrie nodded, not sure where this was going. She focused on the soft, wet grass beneath her feet, still damp from morning dew. Willow’s beautiful lush lawn. The little house where she’d grown up for most of her formative years. “I like it here.”
“But then, when you bought that bar and decided to settle down, I started to worry for you.” Willow kept walking. “I realized, as much as I wanted to keep you around, there was a reason I kept encouraging kids to get out in the world. Winter Falls isn’t safe.” She cast her eyes in the direction of the compound. “Not while they’re here.” She sighed. “And then there’s the matter of Cage.”
Carrie bit her lip. “Right. Him.” She hoped her blush wasn’t showing, but Willow let out a loud laugh.
“So he’s gotten to you already, has he?” she asked with a grin. “Figures. That boy has been head over heels since he met you.”
“Weird, right?” Carrie said.
Willow stopped and faced her with a fierce expression. “Not weird at all. You’re a beautiful woman, Carrie. Strong, fierce, gentle. He’d be lucky to have you.”
“I’d be lucky to have him,” she said, realizing she meant it, even if he was an Ace at the moment.
Her throat tightened as she realized Willow still might not even know that.
“But if that man wants to marry you and take you away from this place, you go,” Willow said.
“No,” Carrie exclaimed. “I couldn’t. I want to stay and help you with the kids.”
Willow snorted. “I’ve lived my life the way I want to live it. I’ll take care of who I can, and when I’m dead, I won’t regret it. But you deserve to spread your wings, too, girl. I’ll always think of you like a daughter, but I want you to know if you get a chance to go live your life, you take it. Don’t stay here for me.”
“But—” Carrie didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know of any life without Willow.
“Sometimes new things are scary, but they turn out fine in the end,” Willow said. “And you can still come visit.”
“But how will you stay safe?” Carrie asked. “Who will take care of you?”
“A lot of families owe me favors,” Willow said. “Not that I see it that way, but there are a lot that will help. It doesn’t always have to be you.”
“But the bar—”
“I know,” Willow said. “I should have been more clear that you didn’t need to do that. I just thought you were smart and wanted to use your degree. But we’ll be okay, Carrie. I have stuff saved aside.”
“You’re an angel,” Carrie said. “I stand by that. I’ll miss you.” Then she blinked and laughed. “I don’t even know what I’m saying. How can I miss you? Where would we even go?” She kicked at the grass. “Cage hasn’t talked about anything like that.”
“Well, that boy has been gone for ten years. Don’t you think there are probably things we don’t know?”
Carrie nodded.
“A man like that doesn’t go out into the world just to come back to where he’s from. When he comes back to get his woman, it’s to take her to a better place, one he’s made for her.”
Carrie blinked back tears and wasn’t sure why. But it sounded true. It just wasn’t what was happening currently. “That’s what I always thought, too. But Cage isn’t—”
She almost blurted it out there, almost told Willow that Cage was one of the Aces. But then she heard a child’s yell from inside the house, and Willow gave her a reluctant grin. “We’ve been caught. I’m not supposed to keep you to myself. Better go inside.”
Carrie grinned. “All right. But I love you, Willow. Thanks for the help.”
“I love you, too, rascal,” Willow said. “But you shouldn’t stay the night tonight. You should get back to your man.”
Carrie shrugged. “Let him wait. I waited ten years; he can wait a day. Plus, isn’t that supposed to make me more desirable? Hard to get?”
Willow barked out a laugh. “Honey, you couldn’t get more desirable to that boy if you tried.”
Then they went inside, still laughing and confusing the children, who’d completely missed out on the joke.
* * *
Pete waylaid Cage on his way into the compound, when the older man grabbed him by the arm. Cage pulled away with a glare and stared him down, waiting for whatever he had to say.
“Where were you last night?”
“I just gave her the jacket,” Cage said.
“Then bring her to the compound,” Pete said, folding his beefy arms. His red face looked redder under his red hair, and he seemed to be in a mood this morning.
“She isn’t ready. I’m not either.” Cage leaned against the wall and tried to look casual, though his blood was boiling. “I haven’t had the best treatment by the Aces. My ‘brothers’ keep trying to attack me, and I honestly don’t understand your obsession with a civilian bar.” He shrugged his large shoulders. “You have plenty of places to deal out of. You don’t need another one.”
Pete’s eyes went cold as he glanced around him to see if anyone was listening. “Come with me.”
Cage nodded, following with his hands in his jacket pockets. They walked down the hall to Pete’s office. He guessed despite Pete’s gruff demeanor, he trusted Cage more than most, due to being close to his dad, the last president.
Pete sat heavily in his chair and set his booted feet atop his desk. Cage waited in front of him, trying not to eye the computer.
“How much do you know about your mother leaving?” Pete asked.
Cage shrugged, looking nonchalant. “She couldn’t take it here. She hated it. She ran and didn’t look back.”
Pete shook his head. “We think that’s not true. Well, your dad and I did.”
Cage tried not to sneer. Of course they didn’t think she’d run off willingly. What woman would run after being taken in as an old lady of the Aces? “So what, you think something happened to her?”
“No, she definitely left. But she wasn’t some innocent. She took something with her when she went. That night, according to witnesses, she went only two places. That bar and a local gas station, where she caught a cab.”
“I see,” Cage said. He hadn’t known any of this, and he didn’t know how it applied to the Carrie situation.
“We think she hid it somewhere in the bar. The guy who owned it originally was a gun-toting anti-MC nut who wouldn’t let us near it without threatening to call the police. The guy after that didn’t care as much, but we still weren’t able to search the place. Any of the back rooms.”
“What exactly did she take?” Cage asked, raising an eyebrow.
“If I told you that, I’d have to kill you,” Pete said. “But anyway, that’s why we need your girlfriend’s bar.”
Cage nodded. “She has agreed to sell it.” He lied. “But she needs time to talk to the bank.”
“We’ll pay what she needs,” Pete said. “We aren’t absolute monsters.”
But Cage wasn’t sure about that. The Aces, so far, had kept a fairly clean public image. Sure, they were involved in the usual things, weapons, drugs. Some women. But nothing out of the ordinary for a club. But Cage had grown up there and seen flashes of things that were over the line.
He hoped the proof he needed was in Pete’s computer. But how to get rid of Pete?
Luck ended up helping him out in that measure.
“I want you to stay here at the compound today. Hang out with the recruits, let them see you around. I’m going out with the leaders on an important ride. We have people to talk to.”
“Fine,” Cage said.
Pete stood slowly, folding his arms over his massive girth, the leather on his black jacket crinkling. “You’ve had a rough start here, and you need to earn respect. With your lineage, you could run this place one day.”
Oh, I’m going to run it one day, Cage thought. Run it into the ground and dance on its grave.
“That look in your eyes. That mean, dirty look. Reminds me of your dad,” Pete said, spreading h
is lips in a grin that exposed yellowed teeth. “I like it.”
Cage felt slightly sick at that.
“All right, get out of my office,” he said.
And Cage did, standing and swiftly leaving before he could vomit at the thought of being anything like his abusive, horrible dad.
He was nothing like him. He’d spent years serving his country, protecting the innocent, and building a business.
Carrie was right about how dangerous being here was. It was starting to eat at him, starting to wear. With these concrete walls all around him, it was too easy to forget he’d escaped. Too easy to sink back into habits of hate and rage.
He needed to get into that computer as soon as possible.
He walked back to his room, shut the steel door behind him, and opened his phone. He was lucky enough to have a room to himself, though it wasn’t much nicer than a prison cell, with a low, uncomfortable bunk and a desk with an old laptop.
The members didn’t need nice rooms because they never spent any time in them. They were either drinking in common areas or out riding their bikes. Cage’s was parked safely with the rest. His one regret in this situation was his bike might get lost with everything else, but it was a small risk in consideration. Maybe it would even be appropriate giving it up, since he’d be leaving the last of that life behind.
He called Limes as he pulled out the USB he’d been given and looked at it. He wasn’t much good with tech. That’s why they had Limes.
“You sure this is going to work?” he asked in a low voice when Limes picked up. “I just put it in the USB port?”
“Yes,” Limes said in a flat voice. “You doing it now? I need a minute to get ready.”
“He isn’t leaving for an hour or two anyway. Just get in position.”
“Sure,” Limes said.
“There’s a file in particular I’m looking for,” Cage said. “Something about Harry’s bar.”
“That the one they’re trying to take from your lady?” Limes asked. Cage had been keeping them updated.
“Yeah,” Cage said. “But it doesn’t add up that they want it that much.”
“Prime location means a lot,” Limes said.
Cage shook his head, even though Limes couldn’t see him. “It’s something else. Pete even admitted it, though he wouldn’t say much.”
“Shit,” Limes said. “Something you could take in to the police maybe?”
“Sure,” Cage said. “Maybe.”
He heard silence on Limes’s end as he thought. “The more evidence we have the better. I’m suspicious they won’t have much of their illegal activity on any computer. A lot of these places keep them on paper. Easy to get rid of.”
“I know, but I know Pete. There’s something on there we can use, whether it’s threatening to go to the police or the main club.”
He heard Limes exhale, sounding tired. “I don’t know, man. This whole thing, it’s not safe. Even if you stop them, they just go somewhere else. Meanwhile, if they catch you during any of this…” He sighed again. “You know neither Bronson nor I wanted you to take this mission.”
“Limes,” Cage said. “She’s my mate.”
“What? Who? The girl?”
“The girl they’re targeting. She’s my mate. I’ve always known it.”
“You believe that shit Bronson was telling you?” Limes asked, sounding disgusted. “Fated mates and that shit?”
Cage nodded. “I knew about it before he said anything. When you find yours, you’ll know.”
“Don’t plan on it,” Limes said. “All I need is computers.”
Cage chuckled. “Fine. But she means a lot to me. I need these guys out of here, and I need to know they won’t come back.”
Limes grunted. “I know. I made that program. You put it in that computer, and I can remote back up the whole system. Then I can plow through it here with Bronson and see what we find.”
“Well, I can get in there.”
“If it’s that simple, why didn’t you before?”
“I did, remember? He caught me. Anyway, it’s only been a few days. Cool your jets.”
“This company can’t run without you,” Limes muttered. “So you better not let anything happen.”
“I won’t,” Cage said. “You know I can take care of myself.”
“And then some,” Limes said. “Fine. Text when you’re headed in. Bronson and I will be ready.”
“Sounds good,” Cage said, twirling the USB in his hand. He was ready to start putting an end to this.
He hung up the phone and rested back on the bed.
A few minutes later, he got a text from Bronson.
You found your mate? Congrats.
Cage grinned. But he wondered if Bronson would still congratulate him if he knew staying with Carrie might mean never going back to New York and them running the business without him. The thought tore at him, but it was nothing compared to the thought of losing Carrie.
12
An hour later, Cage heard the voices of the Aces as they gathered and got ready to ride out, and he tuned in to make sure Pete was among them. It took them too long to get out of the compound, and his pulse ticked a slow, impatient beat as he waited.
None of this was as dangerous as what he’d done in the army, yet he could tell a part of him was aware he didn’t have his armor, his weapons. Just his brain and his knowledge that this would be over soon and he could be with Carrie.
He looked both ways as he left his room. The first thing he did was walk down to the main bar and take a few drinks with the guys there, just so they’d remember seeing him. They would back him up if Pete had questions.
Then he walked down the hall to Pete’s office. No surprise, the door was unlocked. Pete didn’t think anyone would dare to come in when he was there, and when he wasn’t, he didn’t care. There was nothing the Aces couldn’t see.
He didn’t know Cage wasn’t really an Ace.
Cage shut the door behind him and locked it, hoping no one noticed. It didn’t matter. After this was done, in a couple days at most, this would all be over.
He turned on the computer, and when the login screen came up, he slipped the cap off of Limes’s USB stick and slid it into one of the ports. Then he called Limes and put the phone up to his ear, keeping an eye on the door.
“Got it. I’m in,” Limes said, though Cage couldn’t see anything on the screen. Then he saw a pop-up with random characters generating too fast for Cage to make sense of them.
“What are you doing?”
“Password breaker,” Limes said. Then the pop-up disappeared, and he saw a password appear in the password box, and then they were in.
“You’re a wizard,” Cage said.
“This is child’s play,” Limes said flatly. “Give me something I can sink my teeth into.”
“Always humble,” he heard Bronson say in the background. “Hey, how’s it going, man? We getting you back soon? You and that mate?”
Bronson was always the gregarious one, though he could be a dangerous motherfucker if you messed with him. Cage found himself wanting nothing more than taking Carrie back and going out for a drink with them.
“I don’t know,” Cage said. “Depends on how soon we wrap this up.”
“I’ve already been in touch with the head of the Aces. Turns out we have military buddies in common. He’s ready as soon as you find something against the rules. I gotta say, though, the rules are pretty loose. I don’t know that we’re going to find something.”
“We’ll find something,” Cage said. “I remember Dad joking with Pete about how crooked they are. How screwed they’d be if they were caught. I just don’t remember what the fuck they were talking about. I think I was too young to make sense of it even if I did hear.”
“Okay,” Bronson said. “Limes, you done?”
“Almost,” he said.
Cage could see files being transferred and backed up and emailed. Then he saw Limes opening and clearing caches, any traces
of programs. “Will he have any idea you’ve been here?” Cage asked.
Limes was silent a moment. “There’s always a chance. But I doubt it. I’m pretty thorough. Then again, with these country bumpkins, you don’t really have to be.”
“There’s Limes,” Bronson joked. “All positivity and sunshine.”
“Shut up,” Limes grunted. “You named me Limes for a reason, asshole.”
Cage laughed. He really did miss them. They’d brightened many a tough mission, and it felt like they were with him on this one, even if it were only in spirit.
“Hey, while we’re working on this, you stay safe, okay?” Limes said. “We need you back here. I got a bad feeling about this.”
“You’re welcome to come out here,” Cage joked.
“Hell no. We’d only be implicating you. Let’s just get this done and get you out.”
“Fine,” Cage said. But he had to hope things with Carrie could be wrapped up that quickly. What if she didn’t want to leave with him at all? What would his friends say to him staying?
“I’m done,” Limes said, logging out of the computer. “Shut it down so it looks how you found it. Also, wipe your fingerprints.”
“Sure,” Cage said. “Not that it’ll matter.” He looked at the grimy keyboard.
“Don’t take chances,” Limes said. “I mean it.”
“Okay, sour man,” Cage said. “I won’t.”
“We’ll work on this all night,” Bronson said. “You go boink your woman until she agrees to come back with you.”
Cage grimaced at how easily Bronson had gotten to the truth of it. “I’m not sure boinking is going to do it.”
Bronson’s answer was flat. “Then do it better.”
Cage laughed out loud at that, and to his surprise, even Limes joined in with a dark chuckle. And then his friends hung up, and he was no longer a bear with two bear brothers, but a bear alone.
He dotted his sleeve over the power key to blot out his fingerprints as well as he could without disturbing too much of the grime. Then he stood to leave and walk back to his room.
Or maybe he should drink again.
He seated himself on a stool in the bar and casually unlocked his phone to look for any new texts while he’d been working.
Bear To The Bone (Bear Claw Security 1) Page 12
