Maggie gave Julie a half-hearted smile. In that moment she felt she deserved neither Jase’s forgiveness, nor Julie’s. “Seeing you here today made me realize I’m just a shitty person, Julie. I run and let people behind me clean up my mess,” said Maggie, staring at the ground. “I’m sorry I left my mess for you in Eagleton. I was scared and stupid. I didn’t think.”
“Honey, the fact that you ran back to your daddy and your lost love—that are both, apparently, super-tough badass bikers, thanks for telling me—means that you were running from something much bigger than a few knick-knacks in your apartment or your old friend from work. It’s really okay. I’m just glad you got help, whether or not it was from me,” said Julie. She had her hands on Maggie’s shoulders and gave them a soothing squeeze.
Maggie couldn’t look her friend in the eyes. “I wasn’t running from danger when I left LeBeau the first time; when I left Jase.”
Julie sighed and rubbed her arms. “It’s not too late to heal all that, Maggie. They still love you. You know that. You’re their family.”
Maggie finally looked up with teary eyes to meet her friend’s gaze. Julie gave her a hopeful smile and then pulled her into a sweet hug.
From outside came the sudden squeal of tires as someone rounded the corner going far too fast. Brakes slammed as soon as the sound of the engine passed in front of Maggie’s house.
The world erupted into the sudden, thunderous fury of automatic gunfire. Bullets blasted the glass out of the windows in the living room and Maggie’s bedroom. Both women screamed and collapsed flat to the floor. Maggie pulled at Julie to follow her into the windowless hallway, crawling over broken glass and shattered house debris.
The gunfire seemed endless. Maggie sat tucked with her knees to her chest, arms wrapped around her ears, trying to block out the deafening noise. Then the spray stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Outside, tires screeched as the car pulled away at violent speeds.
Her hearing was muffled, ears ringing, heart pounding. Through the din, she could hear the low, fuzzy wail of Julie’s frightened crying, and instinctively Maggie wrapped her arms around her shaking friend.
Jase’s voice bellowed her name, but it seemed so far away, like he was calling to her from across a wide valley. Even then, she could hear the edge of fear to it. He burst into the hallway, his face drained of blood. When he saw the women on the floor, he dropped to his hands and knees and scrambled over to them.
Julie cried, but Maggie and Jase said nothing. They stared at each other from either side of Julie as she wept into her own arms. The silence that filled the house was somehow more deafening than the gunfire.
~ EIGHT ~
Jase stared at the wall of Maggie’s bedroom. He couldn’t have counted all the bullet holes if he had wanted to. A few of them even made it through the thinner parts of the exterior wall, spilling dappled sunshine into the room. Jase stuck his finger in one of them, and then turned away, distracted.
The floor under his boots was covered with drywall and glass and other debris. Even the bed had been hit a few times. If Maggie and Julie hadn’t gotten into the hallway, they would both probably be dead. If he had been in the living room instead of the backyard, he’d probably be dead, too.
Jase had been in a few small shoot-outs in his time, but he’d never been in a drive-by. It had most likely been ten, twenty seconds at the most, yet the memories burned into his brain seemed like they lasted days. He had rushed in the house as soon as he heard the brakes squeal out front. Pinned down behind the kitchen counter once the shooting started, he couldn’t do a damn thing during the chaos to help Maggie. All he could do was sit there and listen to her scream, and pray it wasn’t because she had been hit. When he saw her huddled in the hallway with no wounds, he thought his heart might stop altogether.
His instincts fought between two responses: call and wait for backup, or get the women to the clubhouse for safety immediately. He picked the latter, worried the gunmen might swing back around to finish the job. During the drive, it felt like every car was a tail stalking them, waiting to open fire. As soon as they arrived, Beck deployed a group of men to investigate and clean up. Maggie took Julie into one of the clubhouse bedrooms to allow them time to calm down. Jase waited for Henry to finish checking on his daughter, smoking cigarettes and pacing in front of the clubhouse. Adrenaline pumped through his veins like unholy fire.
Henry looked furious when he emerged from the clubhouse. As he stalked over, Jase braced for a lashing—and not just a verbal one. He felt like he had failed again, letting lives get endangered and gaining zero information on their enemy.
But Henry just stopped in front of him and said, “I’m glad you’re okay. You did good getting them over here so quickly.”
Surprised, Jase said nothing, only nodded.
“We’ll bring her stuff over and have her stay in the clubhouse from now on. Obviously we underestimated the situation.”
“That was a daylight attack, Prez. What the fuck are these guys after?”
“I don’t know. Something don’t feel right. The way they’re coming so hard and fast, it makes no sense with the info we’ve got. We’re missin’ something,” said Henry. The pit at the bottom of Jase’s stomach agreed, and he said so.
Henry said, “Do you think that friend of hers is a part of this? That’s some timing.”
“Julie walked right up to the clubhouse like she didn’t know what she was going to find. She was in the house with Maggie when it happened, could have easily died. That doesn’t add up to me,” said Jase. “I think whoever’s behind this has already been here for a time. Maybe the failure at Tamales is making them desperate.”
“Desperate for what?” said Henry. “That’s what don’t make sense, Jase. All this risk, just to get back at Maggie for ghosting?”
“I know. Something’s up. But I’m confident it isn’t Julie or Maggie hiding it.”
Henry let out a big sigh and nodded. “I trust your judgment. But we need to get to the bottom of this immediately.”
A few scattered members were arriving as the news of the drive-by spread. Drake stopped on his way inside and asked Henry if he should work on getting Maggie another place to stay.
“I can find something closer to the clubhouse,” said Drake.
“No, she’s staying here until this is over. They’d be suicidal to attack us here directly. She’s clearly not safe anywhere else,” said Henry.
Drake nodded and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He gave Jase a small salute and headed into the clubhouse. Jase waited until Will arrived, then the two headed over on their bikes to meet up the members already at Maggie’s house investigating.
While Will picked his way through the house slowly, Jase collected Maggie’s meager belongings. He became distracted by the constellation of bullet holes now in residence in Maggie’s bedroom. Some part of his imagination, intent on torturing him, played out the attack in a parallel universe where Maggie hadn’t gotten out of the bedroom in time. He could almost see the blood splatter tossed on the walls as if by some deranged artist. He could see her lifeless body dusted in paint flecks and speckled glass glitter. Killed by some asshole that had hurt her; a coward who had laid his hands on her, and hunted her down for trying to escape.
Christ. Jase tried to physically shake the thoughts from his head. His stomach felt ice cold. Will found him leaning his hand on the grated wall, eyes closed, as he tried to regain composure.
“Hey,” said Will with a tap on his shoulder. “Are you alright?”
Jase turned to look at him. He swallowed a wave of nausea. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just didn’t sleep well last night, and now all this.”
“This is warfare,” said Will. “There’s no shame in admitting it’s taking a toll. That’s its job, to terrorize.”
“Not to kill?” said Jase with some edge of dark sarcasm.
“This wasn’t to kill you,” said Will. He carefully stepped through the room to admire the wall alongside J
ase. “I mean, had any of you died, it would have been a plus for them. But I think this was terrorism. They are trying to scare Maggie, and by extension us.”
“She’s plenty scared,” said Jase.
“If they were just out to kill you, they could do it quieter than this, is all I’m saying. Not to undermine what you guys have just been through… but tactically, this is a bark, not a bite.”
Jase wasn’t sure if Will was right or wrong. It was hard to look at all those bullet holes and give the gunmen credit for anything more than homicidal rage. He realized he was in no state of mind to assess anything. He sighed heavily. “Can you—“
“Yeah, man. Go catch some sleep, I’ve got this under control,” said Will. He gave Jase a lop-sided grin, and then headed out of the room. Jase closed his eyes and took a deep, thankful breath.
He waved off a bunch of the guys as he hopped on his bike and started down the street. The police barricade let him pass without a hassle, and in a few minutes he was parking at the clubhouse. The den buzzed with activity, as expected. Henry and Beck were both on phone calls, and Drake pounded away at his own touch screen in the corner. Other members looked over papers, maps, and had their own talks. Jase didn’t bother to interrupt anyone. Truth told, he didn’t want anyone knowing he was here.
Jase carefully checked the bedrooms one at a time, knocking softly, before cracking the door open for a small peek. Julie and Maggie were set up in the second one he tried, the one with a larger queen-sized bed. Both of them had fallen asleep. He left them where they lay and took up residence in the full-sized bed in the room next door. The full weight of the last few days began to hit him as soon as he sat down and he almost didn’t have the energy to even get his boots off.
As he lay staring at the ceiling, the imagined image of Maggie’s lifeless body kept popping up in the back of his mind, keeping sleep at bay. He told himself over and over that she was right here. She was right next door. She’s right here. She’s right here.
He didn’t remember falling asleep.
~ NINE ~
Jase woke to find the last hours of daylight slowly melting down the bedroom window. His sleep had been a deep dive into the abyss of exhaustion, and he surfaced from it feeling better, and grateful that he felt better. Some of his muscle aches still remained, but now they were minor nuisances instead of nagging distraction. He could hear the quiet talk of a few people in the den. They must not have uncovered anything earth-shattering while he was napping or someone would have woken him up.
Jase took a few moments to stretch and use the small half-bath to splash some cold water on his face. He ran a big hand through the wild black mane that was his hair, screwed up from sleep, and decided he didn’t care. He just smoothed it down a bit before heading out into the hallway.
Warm light spilled from the direction of the den, but Jase turned right instead, towards the other bedrooms. He put an ear to the door he knew Maggie was behind, listening. When he heard nothing, he raised a fist to knock, but the door swung open in front of him before he could.
Maggie started, clearly not expecting the doorway obstruction. She was still blinking sleep out of her eyes when she looked up at him, squinting. “Oh. Hi.”
“Are you okay?” he said. His voice came out dry and cracked.
“Huh?” said Maggie. “Oh, yeah. Yeah we’re okay. Julie wants to go home.”
Shit, thought Jase. An unexpected concern. He leaned an arm on the doorway and spoke quietly. “We have to check with Henry before she goes anywhere.”
Maggie gave him a fed-up look. “She’s a grown woman, Jase. I’ve explained the risks to her. I’m not letting the MC keep her prisoner. It’s me they want.” Her eyes focused on something distant. “Away from me is the safest place she could go.”
“If she’s a danger to this operation, she’s not going anywhere,” said Jase, standing up straight.
Maggie glared at him, very obviously loading up the gun in her mouth to fire off a shot straight between his eyes. Her jaw clenched a few times. She gave a little shake of her head and turned back towards the room. “Go, ask your king. Pass the rule onto us peasants if it’s not too much trouble.” Then she closed the door in his face.
Jase rolled his eyes, instantly infuriated. He couldn’t understand how he could be so worried about the life of a woman who, half the time, he wanted to strangle himself. It’s not that he didn’t understand where she was coming from, but did she understand his world? Did she understand the things she asked him to risk? That she had always asked him to risk?
That you always risk for her, regardless of her understanding.
He waved a hand at the closed door as he turned toward the hallway, determined to blow the feelings off. He returned to his bedroom and called Henry on his now-charged phone. As suspected, Henry was somewhere with the sheriff; Jase could always tell by the feel of the clubhouse when its master was away.
“Maggie’s friend wants to head home.”
“No,” said Henry immediately. “She’s safer here.”
Jase rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I agree.” He paused, scolding himself internally for his next words. “But…”
“But what?”
“Look, the more civilians around here we have to babysit, the trickier this all gets. Her car wasn’t at the house for the gunmen to identify or follow home. And we have no reason to think she has anything to do with this.”
“If she gets attacked on the highway between here and Eagleton, her blood would be on our hands, Jase,” said Henry.
Jase bit his lip, thinking. “We can make sure she understands that. She’s just a scared woman, Prez, and unlike Maggie, she doesn’t belong here. If she wants to go, we should let her.” He could see Maggie’s face in his mind, smirking at him. He rolled his eyes and ran a hand over his face.
Henry was silent on the other end for so long, Jase checked the screen of his phone to make sure the call hadn’t dropped. Finally he spoke. “Get her a handgun. Send two of the rookies to escort her at least as far as North Haverbrook. They should make a pit stop there, and if they feel confident they haven’t been tailed, they can let her go the rest of the way alone.”
Jase nodded. “Thanks, boss. I’ll take care of it. Any updates?”
“Nothing concrete yet, I’ll keep you posted.” Then Henry cut the call.
Jase waited in the den with a few of the other boys, drinking coffee, until Maggie and Julie came out of their own accord. Julie’s face was swollen and red, but she appeared much calmer than she had been. Tommy immediately set them up with cups of coffee and put a sweet hand on Julie’s when she sat down. That kid’s heart was too big for his own good. Maggie sat next to Jase at the short bar, but didn’t look at him.
Jase thought about how angry he had been at her yesterday. He couldn’t conjure that anger now, even when he thought about the punk blonde kid at the roadhouse with his hands all over her. The memory of that bullet-riddled wall acted like a pressure valve on his rage. It was only luck that had her sitting here next to him now, and his gratitude overpowered his anger. The sensation of it felt strange.
After she had finished half her first cup, Jase said, “Julie can go, if she takes a gun and an escort. Final offer.”
He didn’t look over at Maggie. From his peripheral, though, he saw that she didn’t right away look over at him, either. She was thinking first.
She said, “Is that so?”
“Yep.”
Maggie licked her lips. He could hear it softly. “Well, tell Henry thanks for being reasonable for once.” She emphasized the name, signaling to them both that she knew damn well what he had done—and that the jab was for him.
Jase didn’t rise to her bait. He sipped his coffee and then arranged for the terms of Julie’s departure, putting his two favorite rookies on her escort detail. Julie was grateful but still shaken to her core. She had a fiancé and mother who were waiting for her, and all she wanted was to get back to them. Jase watched their goodby
e in the sinking darkness from the porch, smoking a cigarette. He gave Julie a stoic wave when she called goodbye to him, then watched Maggie as she herself watched Julie’s SUV pull out of the long drive, tailed by the rookies on their bikes.
Maggie stayed still, arms crossed, staring at the empty darkness of the driveway. Jase walked up behind her slowly. He had a passing realization that his first instinct was to wrap his arms around her, like he would have done once upon a time in this situation. He decided they were both in need of a distraction.
“Grab a shower, and then we have a date,” he said to her before he took a drag.
Maggie scoffed, and only half-turned her head to look at him. “Is that right?”
“Yep. You have twenty minutes, don’t be late,” he said as he flicked the cigarette past her out into the drive. Then he turned back for the clubhouse without another word. He returned to the bedroom and took a short shower himself, trying to ignore the sound of the shower running in Maggie’s room, just on the other side of the wall. He was determined to focus today. He wasn’t going to let that nightmare delusion of Maggie’s death become real.
Jase was waiting when she finally emerged. The jeans looked the same, but she had found a more cheerful green shirt to replace the gray one she had been wearing since she arrived. The dampness in her curls somehow didn’t affect their charm. Jase hadn’t noticed it before, but there was something different about Maggie that he suddenly became aware of—something in her eyes, on the edges of her face. Maybe it was just stress, but it seemed to him signs of her growing up. Those strange scars that only existed as ghosts, floating around people, not to be seen or touched, never to really be chased away; the same type of invisible scars he knew he carried.
Unplugged: A Bad Boy Rockstar Romance Page 23
