by Eve R. Hart
Little did I know that this was just the beginning of the crazy shit.
I honestly didn’t know what to say when later on I got a call from Diesel. A shiver literally ran down my spine as he asked about the cabin that I had no idea was connected to the club. Things were starting to come together but I wasn’t exactly sure how. My mind was spinning and I told him that the job was on me. That the club didn’t need to worry about it. And though he didn’t ask anything about how I knew and why it had already been handled, I could tell there was a suspicious tension in the air.
“This have something to do with your psychic?” he grunted.
“Yeah,” I answered on a sigh. Right now, I hated that I’d told him that a while ago. She was mine and maybe I didn’t want to share.
“How the fuck am I supposed to explain that to Cal?” he asked and it was a legitimate question. One that I didn’t have a good answer for.
“You’ll figure it out.”
“Do you trust this person or whatever?”
“Yes,” I said and I meant it. “You don’t need to worry.”
“Than that’s all I need to know.” And what he didn’t say was that he trusted me. That kinda had me smiling a little on the inside.
“Things work out?” I asked because I hadn’t really had a chance to sit down and talk to him since that last conversation when I laid down my wise words.
“Yeah. Got a daughter. She’s…the most amazing thing, man. And an old lady, believe it or not. I love them.”
And the inward smile grew. I was happy for him because he fucking deserved so much more from life. I was glad he’d finally found it.
“Congratulations.”
“You’ll get there,” he said all weird like and I didn’t even want to go into it then. Or ever. I knew what kind of there he was talking about but I didn’t want to tell him that it wasn’t in the cards for me. That I was fine with the way things were.
It didn’t matter if I wanted to say anything else because he ended the call before I could even open my mouth. I was surprised, though I shouldn’t have been. And damn if I didn’t smile the rest of the drive.
-11-
Shit Just Got Real
Lucy
Is it weird to miss someone even though you don’t really know them?
Well, I did.
Because somehow I’d become addicted to hearing his voice. I felt a bone-chilling cold wash over me every time I hung up. I felt a hole in my heart when I thought about just calling him for no reason other than to talk.
But I never did. I couldn’t let myself cross that line and it confused the hell out of me.
Why?
I’d asked myself that every time. There was a need to keep it on some sort of professional level. I knew if I broke out of that then I’d never go back. I couldn’t afford for him to become a bigger distraction. Not now. Maybe not ever.
I was so close to everything finally being right and I couldn’t screw that up now. I had to stay focused. I had to push when there were doubts. I had to turn my heart off when I felt I was getting soft.
What the hell was I going to do with myself?
I didn’t have any kind of answers for that.
I was itching to hear from Nadya. I hoped that she had made it to Gray Fort and that she and Tank were alright. I slightly worried about sending her there with how on edge the Steel Paragons were right now. They were on high alert due to the Savage shit that had been slung their way. But I also knew that they wouldn’t hurt her unless they really thought she was a threat. At most, they’d question her for hours on end.
I kept trying to call her, but most of the time it went to voicemail. Then someone picked up and I hung up real quick. I tried not to panic. After all, Nadya was a trained killer and I knew she’d be able to get herself out if she needed to.
Finally, my phone rang. I looked at the number and saw that it was the one that she’d called me from before. I answered, but stayed silent until I heard her voice on the other end.
Thank fuck!
She was alright.
I didn’t even hesitate to tell her that I worried about her. She was honestly the closest thing I had to a friend. Hell, at this point, she was like a best friend.
“Noah’s fine,” she told me and I closed my eyes and nodded a grateful thanks to the powers that be. “They had me locked away in the basement for a while, which I can’t even blame them for. I told them everything and I don’t know how much longer I’ll be here…I get the feeling I’m not welcome here.”
I could hear the sadness in her voice. I, myself, was damn shocked that she would leave him. And I said so. Well, I phrased it as more of a shocked question.
“You’re going to leave him?”
I barely held back the gasp of horror, because how could she? It was obvious she had feelings for the guy and, yeah, sure, I’d never really been in a position like she was, but I couldn’t imagine just walking away. I’d never been in love and I’d never had to make a decision on what was best for the other person. I knew this would be hard for her, even if she’d never admit it.
“Yeah, if I have to.” I could hear the sigh of resignation in her voice. “I just have to make it back to my bike.”
She had already started planning for what was next. I shouldn’t have been surprised, she was like that.
It kicked me in the gut right then—the fact that I knew things that she didn’t. I opened my mouth and let the lines blur so much that I knew they’d never be the same again.
“Um…his son is alive,” I whispered over a dry throat.
There was no way that I wasn’t going to tell her. I knew it the moment I found out.
There was a lingering silence and I wondered if I’d lost her. Or worse, pissed her off.
“Did you hear me?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she snapped. “You sure? You better be fucking sure about that!”
I felt myself wince and had the urge to cower like a frightened dog.
She was pissed and that was an understatement.
“Yeah, I am,” I rushed to say. “I wouldn’t mess with you or him like that.”
Then I told her that I basically didn’t know much, which was the truth. I filled her in on what it was that I did know. That the kid had been rescued and was in a safe house with his aunt.
“Where?” she asked in a seething tone.
“I can’t…” I couldn’t tell her because I didn’t really know.
“You fucking will,” she barked lowly.
I nodded, knowing she couldn’t see it. I had driven a wedge between us and I was determined to fix it. Her tone and anger left no room for questions on how she felt about the big lug. I could tell right then and there if it came down to having to choose between me and him, I would come out the loser. I should have been hurt but for some reason it made me feel a sting of happiness for her. And maybe a stab of loneliness for myself.
“I’ll get it and let you know,” I promised and left her with an unnecessary warning to make sure she wouldn’t be followed when she headed there.
I hated to call Harrison again. Not because I didn’t want to get the information for Nadya, but because I felt like I was bothering them at this point. I heard the huffed sigh even before he picked up the phone. I was prepared to beg, grovel, plead, and toss out every favor owed in order to get the information I needed.
“Why am I not surprised that you are somehow tied up in this too?” he asked and I could have sworn I heard a hint of amusement in his tone.
“The guy,” I hesitated because I hadn’t felt like I’d earned the right to used his name, but forged ahead anyway, “Noah, or Tank as he’s known to his club, he deserves to know that his son is alive. What if it were you? What if it were your child that you thought was dead? I’ve seen this man with his son and I can tell you that his little boy is his world. Noah is the perfect example of how a dad should be.”
I could admit that I sounded desperate as I pleaded my case, but that d
idn’t make anything that I’d said less true. That man had been there for his son at every turn. I may not have been there to witness it in person but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t feel the love that he had for his boy. And I’d seen how it wrecked him after he thought he’d lost his kid. I watched for far too long as Tank teetered on the edge. He was a shell. A man daring death to come in and take him already. I couldn’t even imagine how all of this might have ended if it wasn’t for Nadya. She’d somehow not only fell in love with her target, but brought the man back to the side of the living as well. But with this new information, I could help make his world whole again. And I desperately needed to do that for him.
“Lucy,” he said with a deep, long, drawn-out sigh. “This goes against everything I do. I’m here to keep my men safe and leaking this information to you most certainly doesn’t follow that. My gut tells me that I should help you out here. That I can trust you, and since you trust these people it should be good enough for me. Still, it doesn’t mean that I’m not hesitant about just giving up a safe house.”
“I understand that,” I said. I got it, I really did. “I would never do anything to put your men in danger.”
“I know. Hell, sometimes it feels like you’re part of the team. I can’t thank you for everything you’ve done over the years, all the cases you brought to our attention. The lives that we’ve saved because of you.”
I didn’t say anything because I couldn’t. I knew they appreciated me, but I didn’t know that he thought of me like that. I wanted to smile, only everything was so heavy at the moment it was threatening to crush me.
“Grant is watching over the boy and his aunt,” he said and then gave me an address along with very specific instructions on how to get there as well as what to say when they arrived. He told me he’d get in touch with Grant and give him the heads up so my people wouldn’t get shot. Which was good, because I really didn’t want that to happen.
I didn’t know this Grant guy but I could hear the high regard that Harrison had for him in his voice. I sensed he wasn’t new, but I also had been introduced to everyone on Harrison’s team. I knew Ashburn Security had multiple teams spread out all over the US, so it was possible that this guy was from another team. I could have asked, but I chose to just hold on to the trust I had in Harrison and not make any more waves.
I didn’t send Nadya the information right away. First, I did some digging and searching to make sure that if she needed backup, I’d be able to do something. What that something was, well, I had no clue. I didn’t doubt for one second that she could handle herself, but that didn’t mean that I wouldn’t have her back if she should ever need it.
It was late into the night when I finally sent her phone a text with the location and everything she’d need to know to get there. Then I sat back and tried to shake the feeling that something was coming.
After that things got oddly quiet for almost two weeks.
Nadya had ended up leaving the big guy in the middle of the night, thinking it was best for him. However, she somehow ended up staying at the safe house with his son. I could have tried to explain it to her but I knew it wouldn’t do any good. It seemed that her mind was determined to keep her in Tank’s life in one way or another. I figured it was best to just let her ride it out and figure it out for herself.
I had been sitting there, pulling my hair out and contemplating my next move, when something caught my attention. More like a name.
Allison Callahan.
It wasn’t right but there was something about it that clicked. Allison’s last name was Whittemore, sure. But mine happened to be Callahan. That was when I got real interested in what Bocca from the Steel Paragons MC was looking into. And more importantly, figure out why.
Because I had this feeling in my gut. Like I just knew it was her.
He had been searching for information about someone with that name. It seemed he wasn’t able to find much that suited his curiosity, so as expected, he continued to dig. He was looking for someone named Allison that was twenty-four. Which happened to be the right age for her. He slowed down his search when he came across a few articles about a missing girl named Allison Whittemore. It seemed he had found something that satisfied him. But why? Was she there? Had they caught sight of her? How did he know about Allison? It didn’t surprise me when he continued to dig. He wasn’t the type of person to leave anything out and he wanted to make sure he had all the information to bring to his President. After all, there was a lot riding on his shoulders. If he missed just one thing, it could cost the club a lot. So he was always thorough and I wouldn’t have expected anything different this time.
I looked over so I could watch his face and I made sure the sound was on. I wanted to hear what was going on and if he was talking to anyone. I hoped that maybe it would help me figure out what was going on.
“Why are you here?” he mumbled I assumed to himself.
Which felt very familiar because I often found myself doing the same thing.
But I didn’t have time to linger on why we both did that.
Was Allison there?
It certainly sounded like she was?
I thought back to the bits and pieces of chatter I’d heard recently from out of them. I had been able to catch little snippets of conversation. There was a lot going on and the one big thing was that they were gearing up to attempt to take out Savage. And I had been so focused on listening into those plans that I hadn’t really paid much attention to the other things going on.
Like the girl that had shown up there and was being watched by one of the club members. Closely, too, from what I’d gathered. And that was when it hit me. A young woman and a child. A child. Burke had told me that she had a kid.
Shit!
Had I really been so focused that I missed it all this time?
And why the hell would Burke send her there, into the Steel Paragons’ territory? Wouldn’t that be more dangerous for her especially if they found out where she came from? Burke hadn’t taken her out of the situation, he’d just moved her around in it? My mind went haywire trying to figure out the reason behind his thoughts on this. I couldn’t come up with anything and it bugged the crap out of me.
That was when I went frantic, flipping through their many cameras to see if I could get eyes on her. If she was there, she might even be at the clubhouse. I just had to see her. I didn’t think I’d feel like it was real until I did. But there was nothing other than the same faces I expected to see there.
Then things went dark.
Without so much as a warning.
As in alarms going off and camera feeds from within the compound shutting down. It seemed that Bocca had figured me out and I was curious as hell how he had.
Took him long enough, was my first thought. Followed by, shit, shit, shit! while my fingers worked frantically to keep him from backtracking and finding me out. I had things in place for this sort of situation, but you just never really knew how good someone was.
I was able to keep myself hidden but I wasn’t able to reconnect. The bomb had been dropped and they weren’t going to be caught off guard again. So I lost my in with them. Then slowly over the next few hours, I lost my connection with all the Steel Paragon chapters.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, they reached out to clubs that they were close to. Over the next several days my world began to grow darker and darker. It seemed like a third of the people I watched had gotten wind that something might be amiss, and they quickly went into shutdown mode. Some of them I knew I wouldn’t have trouble getting back up if I really wanted to, but it seemed like there was something bigger at play and I was starting to think that it might be a waste of time at this point.
I turned my attention to finding Savage. Burke had said he had it under control but I had to be sure. The thing was, I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing. I needed to know where Allison was and I needed to know that she was safe.
It had been a while since I’d called my cleaner but I
honestly had been too busy to think about it. Okay, so I thought about it a little. There was chaos even though I’d practically gone blind. I wasn’t worried, because it wasn’t like he depended on me to send him places. I imagined that his life had gone on much how it would have before I had pushed myself into the picture.
My anxiety skyrocketed. The more I searched and the less I found the further down I fell. The anxiety quickly turned into depression and I was struggling to force my way through it. I might have been aware of what was going on with me but that didn’t mean I was able to escape it. It didn’t mean that I was able to fix it or move it to the side and deal with it later. It made things harder, having a boulder sitting on top of the weight that I already had on my shoulders. That feeling, well, I would say I didn’t like it at all.
In the middle of everything, I got an alert about a bunch of girls that had gone missing in one area. I shifted my focus, saying that I would work to figure it out as quickly as possible then get back to my mission. Only, this too had kind of become my mission over the years. There was no way that I could turn a blind eye to this.
So, once I had all the details that I could gather, I picked up my phone. I was sure that they’d think I was calling to bug them about the Burke and Allison situation again, but I felt that I’d used up all my free cards as far as that was concerned so I had stopped calling.
“Ashburn Security,” Tristan answered, but there was something strained and fake behind his perky tone.
“Hey, Trissy,” I said and tried to pull all my inner strength together not to sound as tired as I felt.
“Hey, Lulee,” he replied and I could tell that I hadn’t fooled him in the slightest. “You doing okay?”
I let out a sad laugh because I had to cover up the fact that I wasn’t. It was almost like one of those short laughs that people do sarcastically right before they became a blubbering, weeping, snot-pouring mess. But don’t worry, I wasn’t going to crack just yet. I saw it was around the corner and so I took in a shaky breath and regained myself.
