by A. M. Myers
I nod. “I will.”
He stands up and slaps my shoulder before walking out of the room like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders and I whisper a curse as I turn back to my computer and turn the screen off. I’ll keep digging into everything, just like he asked, as soon as I get some goddamn sleep. Grabbing my phone off of the desk, I unlock it to text Rowan and see if she wants to come take a nap with me when it starts ringing. A familiar number pops up on the screen and I grit my teeth as I press the green button.
“Warren.”
“You remembered me this time,” he answers, the sound of the smile in his voice grating on my nerves. God, what a cocky motherfucker. “I’m so honored, Travis.”
I scoff. “Don’t be.”
“Don’t be like that. I just wanted to call to catch up… and I heard you guys had an unexpected visitor last night,” he prompts and I press my lips into a thin line, my blood boiling. It’s all the confirmation I need that I was right - Warren was behind the police raid and the video but knowing that doesn’t really do me any good since I can’t prove it. “But then again, I suppose you’re used to late night police raids, aren’t you?”
“Shut the fuck up,” I snarl. There is a pounding in my ears and just like the last time Warren called, all I can think about is putting my fist through a fucking wall. He knows what he’s doing and his words hit the exact bullseye he wanted them to but knowing that doesn’t lessen my anger. In fact, it only amplifies it. The memories that have been haunting me all damn night, the memories I’ve been shoving back down, rise to the surface, resurrected by his words and I’m drowning in pain I’ve been ignoring for as long as I can remember.
“Or what? Face it… you don’t have a fucking leg to stand on. Tell me, how does it feel to know that you can’t stop me? To know that all you can do is sit back and watch as I tear this club apart?”
“I’m not going to let that happen, you fucking monster,” I shoot back but it only makes him laugh. It’s fucking condescending and infuriating. Raking my shaking hand through my hair, I blow out a breath as lights flash in my vision and the room spins. I fucking hate this. I’m never out of control, never this unstable, and all I want is to go back to the way things were before Warren ever walked into our lives, whenever that was.
“Funny thing about monsters, Travis, is that they are made, not born but then you already knew that, too, didn’t you? Your momma made your daddy what he was and your club has created me. You have no one to blame but yourselves for the pain and destruction that is coming.”
My heart hammers in my chest and it’s hard to breathe as the memories flood my mind again, pulling me down with the current and there is only one person in the world that can help me right now. Rowan’s face pops into my mind and just her memory soothes a part of me like the princess taming the dragon in all those stupid books my mom used to read me but it’s not enough. I need her. Opening my desk drawer, I grab my burner phone and punch in Rowan’s number, saving it in my contacts before I start typing out a text to her to ask her to come up to my room.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Warren says, the warning clear in his voice and I pause halfway through typing my message, the hair on the back of my neck standing on end.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
He scoffs. “How dumb do you think I am? I’m talking about the second phone in your fucking hand that you’re trying to text someone on. Put it away… or I will take some of this anger I’ve been keeping a tight lid on and let it out. Didn’t I promise to pay a little visit to Rowan?”
“Don’t you even fucking mention her, you son of a bitch,” I growl, every single muscle in my body tightening as I think about him coming near my girl and he laughs, overjoyed by my outburst.
Fucking cool it, asshole.
You’re giving him what he wants.
“Again, I have to ask… or what? Are you going to stop me, Travis?” He scoffs. “I don’t think so. I’ve got you chasing your fucking tail and when I don’t… Rowan certainly does.”
I grit my teeth at the mention of her again as I imagine plunging a knife into this fucker’s chest, anything to keep him away from her, to keep her safe. My hands shake as other images enter my mind, images I thought I’d burned from my memory but this time, it’s Rowan in the center of it all – bruised, broken, and bloody.
No.
No.
No.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I try to force the horrific scene from my thoughts but the more I try to make it leave, the more prominent it seems to become, looming over me and taunting me with a collision of my past and my future and looking a whole lot like destiny
“I must say, it’s been entertaining to watch the two of you together,” he muses but his voice is just background noise now as the pictures in my head taunt me with the possibilities. Possibilities that make me want to throw up and rage all at the same time. “She certainly is talented, isn’t she? Think she’ll show me some of those moves she’s always promising you?”
Fuck no.
Those are our thing, you fucker.
Taking a deep breath, I shove the images back enough to gain a little bit of control but my knee still bounces as I look around the room, wondering how the hell he has been keeping tabs on me, how he knows so much about Rowan and me. I would have noticed new cameras around the clubhouse and there is no way in hell he got into my system so how the fuck is he doing it?
“No thoughts on us sharing sweet little Rowan, Travis?” Warren asks, his voice full of a sick glee that makes my stomach turn and a wave of heat rushes over me as I clench my fists again.
“Over my dead body.”
“Oh, that can be arranged, my friend,” he answers, laughing to himself. “In fact, I like that idea a whole lot. Want to know what I’ll do to her once you’re out of the picture? I’ve put a great deal of thought into it…”
Shoving myself out of my chair, I kick it and it skates across the floor as Warren laughs in my ear.
“Well, that made you mad, didn’t it?”
“Go fuck yourself, Warren,” I growl and the silence on the other end of the line is heavy as I wait for his response. Finally, he takes a deep breath.
“No, Travis. I’m not going to fuck myself but as soon as you’re out of the picture, I’ll be helping myself to your little firecracker as much as I damn well please and there won’t be a single thing you can do about it. I’ve spent most nights dreaming about the first time I’ll slide inside her sweet little pussy since the moment she got to town. Tell me, is it even better than I imagine it is?”
My chest aches as the pictures try to worm their way back into my thoughts and his words burrow underneath my skin. “I will fucking kill you myself before I ever let…”
“Enough,” he snarls, his mask slipping for just a second before he calms himself again. “We both know you don’t have what it takes, Travis. Now, I’ve got to get going but remember what I said last time, you tell anyone about our little chats and next time, you’ll have a whole body to deal with instead of just a head.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Rowan
“This is a terrible fucking idea,” Blaze grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest as he scans the mall’s parking lot. Tate hooks her arm through mine and flashes him a look of annoyance along with a heavy sigh.
“We have to keep living our lives, Blaze.”
He shoots her a glare. “We fucking won’t if we get killed by a madman.”
“We’re not getting killed. You have your gun and I have mine, too. Plus, Rowan’s got my taser so you need to take a chill pill. We’re prepared for anything. Besides, how upset would your sweet grand babies be if they woke up on Christmas morning and there were no presents? They have no idea what’s going on with the club and they shouldn’t.”
“Those kids are the only fucking reason I agreed to this little shopping trip but we still need to be quick. In and out within an hour.”
She scoffs. “Yeah, okay. Good luck with that.”
“Goddamn it, Tate. Why don’t you take this more seriously?” he snaps as we make our way across the parking lot to the mall doors and she sighs again. When Tate first ran the idea of doing a little Christmas shopping past me this morning, I was in agreement with Blaze but the more I thought about it, the more a little piece of normal in the chaos of everything else sounded like just what we needed. If I thought people were on edge before the raid of the clubhouse, it has nothing on the mood hanging over all of us now. And it’s not that we’re not taking this threat seriously but we all desperately need a break from it.
“I do take the threat seriously but Warren didn’t put in all this work just to take some of us down in a fucking mall. Also, how would he be able to achieve that? It’s five fucking days before Christmas, this place is packed to the fucking rafters and it would so insanely stupid to come after us with this many witnesses.”
He rakes his hand through his hair. “That’s just it, Tate. In a crowd this size, he could easily get lost in the chaos and I’m not even sure he wouldn’t do something as drastic as taking out innocent civilians to get to us.”
“Blaze, I know we haven’t always has an easy relationship but I say this with love… you need to relax. The way all of you are going, you’ll keel over from strokes or heart attacks before Warren ever gets to you and then what is it all for? We’ll be as quick as we can and we’ll be careful if you promise to just fucking take a breath.”
He meets her eyes as we reach the mall doors and after a tense moment, he sighs and nods. “Okay, but keep an eye on our surroundings, you hear?”
“We will,” she assures him before pulling open the door. Christmas music and the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg smacks me in the face and as we step inside, it’s like stepping into another world. Tate was right, this place is packed and there is a little twinge in my chest as Tate starts pulling me along with her. Right inside the doors is a large food court, bustling with more people than I’ve ever seen in one place, and as we pass various vendors, new scents greet me and my stomach growls. Tate stops in front of a large mall map in the center of six different hallways and she turns to look at us. “Where to first?”
“I need to find a toy store,” Blaze says, scanning the mall. “As you mentioned, my grand kids will riot without toys on Christmas morning.”
She nods, pointing to a store down the hallway to my right. “Let’s save that one for last since it’s right here. Anyone else have somewhere they need to go?”
“Nope,” I answer, shaking my head when she glances at me. I’m just along for the ride and if I happen to find something that I think someone will like, I’ll grab it. Otherwise, I’ll just order something online for my brother and Tate.
Shit…
Do I need to get something for Travis?
“Piper?” Tate asks and she blushes as she glances back at Blaze before turning and pointing to a store on the sign. I look up the number and bite my lip to keep from laughing. Tate isn’t as successful as she flashes Blaze a smile.
“You might want to hang out here while we go to the first store.”
He scoffs. “If you think I’m going to leave you girls alone, you’re out of your damn mind. Where are we going?”
“Suit yourself,” Tate whispers, her smile wide as she points to the lingerie store Piper asked to go to. Staring at it for a second, his cheeks redden before he pulls back and clears his throat.
“I think I’ll stand guard outside the store.”
The three of us burst out laughing as Tate nudges him and winks. “Sounds like a good plan, old man.”
“You’re a pain in my goddamn ass, you know that?” he grumbles as we all walk toward the hallway straight in front of us. The lingerie store is in the second space on the left and Blaze posts up outside the door, crossing his arms over his chest and scanning the crowd, as we step inside. Tate turns to Piper.
“So, what are we looking for?”
Color rushes to Piper’s cheeks as she looks around the room. “Truthfully, I don’t know. I… kind of wanted to just do something for Wyatt to take his mind off of all this shit.”
“You could do a sexy little dance for him,” I tell her, toying with the lace of a little red number next to me and she shifts uncomfortably, shaking her head.
“Uh, no. I can’t dance… especially not like that.”
I glance back at her. “It’s really not that hard and I could show you a few things… if you want.”
“I’m sorry,” Tate interrupts, staring at me with raised brows. “How do you know “a few things”?”
Shit…
I didn’t really think that all the way through.
Tate has been a close ally since I got here, keeping my secrets and trying to smooth things over with my brother when it comes to Travis and me but I have no idea how she will react to my former job. Sucking in a breath, I meet her gaze as my belly does a little flip.
“If I tell you, you can’t tell my brother.”
She nods. “Deal… unless you’re like in danger or something.”
“Wouldn’t you just come rescue me then?” I ask and she laughs, nodding.
“Maybe but Lincoln would be pissed.” She nudges me. “Now, come on, tell me all about your experience doing sexy dances?”
Taking a deep breath, I nod. “Back in Alaska, I was… stripping.”
“Oh,” she whispers and my breath catches in my throat but she scoffs and swipes her hand through the air like she’s dismissing it altogether. “Is that it?”
I nod, studying her. “Um… yeah…”
“Hell, that’s not what I was expecting but I can honestly say I’ve done worse. Though, we should definitely keep that between ourselves because your brother would shit a brick.”
“Right,” I answer, laughing as I turn back to the racks as I imagine what my brother’s reaction would be if he ever found out. My stomach rolls at the thought and I don’t have to dive into my imagination too much to realize it would be a disaster. I turn back to Tate as she picks up a pair of panties. “What do you mean you’ve done worse though?”
She sighs, tossing the underwear back onto the rack before glancing over her shoulder at Piper, who is flicking through another rack as she chews on her bottom lip. Grabbing my arm, she pulls me away in the other direction. “So, this isn’t really public knowledge but before I met your brother, I did whatever it took to survive and for a while, that included escorting.”
My eyes widen in shock and she shakes her head.
“I never had sex with any of them or anything but there were some girls who did.”
I nod, trying to wrap my mind around this new information. “So, what did you do then?”
“Basically… I was arm candy,” she answers with a shrug as she begins browsing through one of the racks and I watch her, seeing her in a whole new light. At first, I thought maybe she was just being nice to me and keeping my secrets to try and build a relationship between the two of us but the more I get to know her, the more it’s clear to me that this is who she truly is - kind, funny as hell, open minded, and the least judgmental person I’ve ever met.
“Ooh, want to get this for Streak?” she asks, holding up a black lace bodysuit with baby pink frill around the edges and I fight back a smile as I shake my head.
“I already have one like that.”
She laughs as she puts it back on the rack and nods in approval. “All right, girl, get it. You are going to get something for him though, right?”
“Uh… I don’t know. I thought about it but I don’t think you’re supposed to get the guy you’re casually fucking a Christmas present.”
The sales lady’s head whips in our direction and I realize how loudly I was talking as blood rushes to my cheeks and Tate laughs again, moving closer to me to continue our conversation.
“First of all, that was amazing. Second, y’all are not casual.”
I scowl at her as I grab a she
er baby doll off of the rack. “What are you talking about? We are casual.”
“Okay,” she shoots back, clearly not buying it and I prop my hand on my hip as I narrow my eyes at her. She sighs. “You can look at me like that all you want but it still won’t change the fact that you and Streak are so far from casual that I can hear wedding bells.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
She shakes her head. “No, what’s ridiculous is y’all pretending like there is nothing there when anyone with eyes can see the connection you share.”
Before I can respond, my phone starts ringing and I sigh, putting the hanger back on the rack before pulling it out of my bag. Ash’s name stares back at me and I roll my eyes as I silence it.
“Who was that?”
Sighing, I slip the phone back into my bag. “Ash.”
“Still?” she snaps, her eyes widening as she studies me. “I thought that he had stopped.”
“Nope. He still calls every couple of days and leaves me a voice mail begging me to just talk to him and saying how much he misses me. On the last one, he talked about how empty the house was and how miserable he was without me until my voice mail cut him off.”
She shakes her head. “Jesus Christ. I was joking the first couple of times I talked about jumping on a plane but the boy is clearly not getting the message.”
“Whatever. Maybe I’ll just go get a new number and he can call this phone to his heart’s content.”
Laughing, she wraps her arm around my shoulders and nods. “We should. There’s a cell phone store in the mall we could swing by.”
“Let see how much shopping Blaze actually lets us get away with first,” I answer, grinning as I turn to check on the old man at his post. His arms are still crossed over his chest but he seems to have relaxed a little bit so maybe he won’t be rushing us out of here anytime soon. As I turn back toward Tate, my gaze sweeps over the crowd and I freeze, my heart jumping into my throat as I grip the closest rack to keep myself from collapsing. The man in the white mask, the same one from the nightclub, stands in the middle of the crowd – mothers, daughters, teenagers, fathers – all milling around him without a care in the world. It’s like he’s invisible because none of them even spare the strange man in a white mask a second glance.
