by L. Wilder
“You know, Marlowe’s lease is going to be up at the end of next month, so I should probably start looking for a place of my own.”
“Why would you do that?”
“’Cause I need a place to live.”
“You have one... My place.”
“Umm, as tempting as that may be, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” The second he turned to look at me, I knew he didn’t like my response, so I quickly added, “At least not yet.”
“And why not?”
“Because we’ve only known each other a few weeks.”
“And?”
“And we aren’t ready to live together,” I argued. “It’s too soon.”
“Says who?”
“Says me, and you should be saying it too. Moving in together is a big step, and there’s no reason for us to rush into anything.” I reached over and placed my hand on his thigh. “I’m not going anywhere, Jared. I want to be with you, more than you know, but I’ve never been in a real relationship before, and I don’t want to mess up what we have by moving too fast.”
“I understand,” he said. I thought I’d already messed up everything by turning him down on his offer, but then he added, “How about this? You go back to Marlowe’s and stay there until the lease is up, and then we’ll see how things are between us and decide what to do from there. I mean, I already know what I want, but if you need the time to figure it out, I’m willing to give it to you.”
“You keep being sweet like that, and I won’t make it until the end of the lease.”
“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”
When we finally made it back to Nashville, Jared brought me to Marlowe’s old apartment and helped me carry my things inside. I thought he’d stay and take a break after our long drive, but as soon as he placed my bags in the bedroom, he headed for the front door. “I’ve gotta get over to the clubhouse.”
“Oh, okay.”
“I’ll swing by after work.”
“Wait... Shouldn’t I go to work too?”
“Just wait until tomorrow. Take the night and get settled in.” He stepped over to me and gave me a kiss. “I’ll have one of the guys bring you over a car.”
“A car? What happened to my car?”
“It’s gone,” he answered casually. “I wasn’t sure it couldn’t be tracked back to Peter and Sally, so I had the guys get rid of it.”
“Seriously?”
“Just covering all our bases, babe.”
While I didn’t like the idea of losing the car Peter had given me, I couldn’t really complain. Jared had gone above and beyond to make sure that I was safe, so I simply nodded and said, “Okay, I understand.”
“We’ll get you another car.”
“I know. Don’t worry about it.” I eased up on my tiptoes and gave him another kiss. “Now go take care of things at the clubhouse and at work, then get back here as soon as you can so we can get a little practice in on this whole living together thing.”
“I like the sound of that.”
He winked at me, then walked out of the apartment, leaving me alone to get unpacked. I spent the next few hours washing clothes and putting my things away. It was just starting to get dark out when I heard a knock at the door. When I opened it, I found Marlowe standing on my doorstep with a big smile on her face. “Welcome home, stranger.”
“Hey, girl.” My heart started racing wildly in my chest. I kept thinking it was only a matter of time before she recognized me from the news. I feigned a smile and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“I brought you these.” She held up a set of keys in one hand and a large bag of Chinese food in the other. “I thought you might be hungry.”
“I’m starving.” She didn’t seem to be acting any differently than usual, so I motioned her inside and followed her into the kitchen. “You are so sweet to bring me dinner like this.”
“Well, I had my own self-interest at heart.” She laughed as she said, “I’ve been craving Chinese for days, so I got enough for both of us. I hope you don’t mind me joining you.”
“Are you kidding?” Relief washed over me when I realized she didn’t seem to know anything about Parker Weston. If she had, she would’ve already asked me about it, so I said, “I’d love the company.”
Marlowe dropped the bag on the table and started unloading all the food she’d bought. “So, how was your trip with Menace?”
“It was good.” I didn’t know how much she knew or what I was allowed to tell her, so I tried to be as vague as possible. “It was nice to have the chance to get to know him better.”
“So, you two hit it off?”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”
“I’m not surprised.” She offered me a container of sweet and sour chicken, then said, “It was pretty clear he was into you from the start.”
“Oh, really?”
“Well, as I recall, you seemed pretty interested in him too.”
“I was. I am.”
“I thought so.” She was practically beaming as she started opening her box of fried rice. “I like it when I’m right.”
“Well, you definitely were. I’ve never felt like this with anyone.”
“It’s kind of crazy how that happens, huh?”
“Was it the same with you and Rafe?”
“Pretty much, but it took us a little longer to figure it out.” She went on to tell me how she worked at a bar Country’s grandmother owned and how she’d had a bit of a crush on Rafe for quite some time before she realized he felt the same about her. When Country’s grandmother sold the bar, Rafe got Marlowe a job at the club, and then her story took a wild turn. Apparently, her sister’s boyfriend was up to no good and was out to take down the club—something her biological father had tried to do several months before. “It got a little crazy, but everything ended up working out.”
“I can’t believe all that happened to you.”
“Well, I’m not the only one who has a crazy story. Delilah and Hawk had an interesting start too.”
“Oh, really? Do tell.”
“I don’t know all the details. It was long before I started working at the club, but they actually met because of her brother, Danny.”
“The one who got patched in a few weeks ago?”
“Yeah, that’s him.” She took a drink of her soda, then continued, “I don’t really know what happened between Danny and the brothers, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t good, and Delilah was caught up in the crossfire.”
“So, the brothers are used to a little bit of drama where their women are concerned.”
“Oh, yeah. They certainly are.” She reached into the paper bag and started pulling out more food. “We should plan a get-together with the other ol’ ladies so you can hear some of those stories firsthand.”
“I would love that.”
“Well, there’s no time like the present. I’m off tonight. I could see if the other girls could meet us over at the club in a couple of hours.”
“I don’t know.” Just because Marlowe hadn’t recognized me, it didn’t mean the same would hold true for the others. She’d always referred to Rafe by his road name, so I figured I should do the same. “Menace is supposed to be coming over after work.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem.” She grabbed her phone from her purse and started texting the others. “You’ll be home long before he gets here. Besides, he’ll see you at the club.”
“Oh... Okay, that sounds great.”
“You are in for a real treat, girlfriend.” Marlowe giggled as she went on, “Hanging with the girls is a blast.”
“I can’t wait.”
Menace
“Good to have you back.”
“Thanks, Prez. It’s good to be back.”
Viper motioned me to sit as he asked, “You feeling better about the situation with Parker or Aubrey? Or whatever we’re calling her now?”
“Aubrey, and yeah, I feel much better about it.” It was going to take me
some time to adjust to the fact that Parker’s name would now and forever be Aubrey, but if she could do it, so could I. I sat down in front of Viper’s desk. “So, what’s been going on with the club while I’ve been gone.”
“Seems some of the new girls have been running into a little trouble after hours.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“They seem to think someone’s been following them home from work... watching them at odd times of the day,” Viper answered. “No one has actually come face to face with whoever’s harassing them.”
“So, we have no idea who’s behind this?”
“No, but I’ve been wondering if it has anything to do with Gary from the Pink Pony.”
“I don’t know, Prez. From what the girls have told me, the guy’s a real tool, but they didn’t give me any reason to think he’d have the balls to cause trouble for us.”
“Well, word is the Pink Pony has been struggling to keep their doors open after most of his girls walked out on him.” Then, Viper gave me one of his looks. “You know what they say, desperate men do desperate things.”
“That they do.” I let out a frustrated breath before turning back to Viper. “I’ll do a little digging and see what I can find out, until then, we need to keep an eye on the girls.”
“Already been taken care of.” Viper leaned back in his chair as he announced, “I’ve put a couple of prospects on them, and they’ve been told not to go anywhere alone. That should make things a little harder on whoever’s fucking with them.”
“No doubt.” I stood, and as I started out of his office, I told him, “I’ll let you know what I find out.”
I left the clubhouse and headed straight over to Stilettos. I hated that I’d left the brothers to deal with a problem I’d created and was determined to put an end to it. In order to do that, I needed to have a talk with Jessie and the other girls so I could hear firsthand what was going on with them. When I finally made it over to the club, it was after seven, but it was still early enough to catch Jessie before she got up on stage. I went to the back and knocked on the dressing room door. Moments later, Mazie peeked her head out and said, “Oh, hey, Menace. What can I do for ya?”
“Need a word with you and Jessie.”
“Sure thing.” She opened the door and turned to look over her shoulder. “Hey, Jess, Menace needs to talk to us.”
Seconds later, Jessie came sauntering up behind Mazie. Her dark eyes skirted over me seductively as she purred. “Menace... It’s good to see that you’re back.”
“Mm-hmm.” I wasn’t in the mood for her flirty bullshit, so I got right to the point. “The boys are telling me that you and the girls have encountered a few issues while I was gone.”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”
“What exactly has been going on?”
“Well, about a week ago, I noticed an old white Toyota following me home from the club. Mazie and I both noticed it again when we were out doing a little shopping and then again when we went to get our nails done."
“Can you give me a little more description about the Toyota?”
“It was pretty old. The paint was peeling off the hood, and it had tinted windows.”
“Okay, what else has been going on?”
“I’ve been getting these strange phone calls. No one actually said anything. They’d just breathe into the phone. At first, I thought it was just an ex who was trying to screw with me, but then the other girls started getting the same kind of calls.” She shrugged as she continued, “We’ve all blocked the number, but every one of us wound up getting another call from a different number doing the same stupid thing.”
“Anything else?”
Mazie grimaced as she muttered, “I’m pretty sure someone tried to break into my apartment the other night.”
“What makes you think that?”
“I had a bad headache, so I took a couple of Benadryl and a Tylenol and went to bed. The next morning, I woke up to find my front doorknob on the kitchen floor.” Fear marked her face as she continued, “There were all these scratches on the doorframe where someone tried to pry it open, but thankfully, they couldn’t get through the deadbolt.”
“She called the police, but they said there wasn’t anything they could do, so she’s been staying with Brandy and me.”
“When was the last time you thought someone was following you?”
“Not since we told Hawk and Shotgun what was going on.” The worried look faded from her face as Jessie said, “They’ve had a couple of prospects looking out for us, and since then, we haven’t had any issues.”
“Good.” I was pretty sure I already knew the answer when I asked, “You think Gary has anything to do with all this?”
Jessie looked over to Mazie as she muttered, “You need to show him.”
“Show me what?”
“This.” Mazie reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone. “I got this last night.”
I took her phone and pressed play on the video. It was a recording of her being assaulted by Gary in his office. I couldn’t see the guy’s fucking face, but I could see the horrified look on Mazie’s. The asshole was raping her, and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop him. When I’d seen all I could stand, I gave her the phone back and said, “I’ll take care of it.”
“Does this mean we’re gonna get fired?” Mazie asked, sounding frantic. “We didn’t know he was gonna go all postal about us leaving.”
“No, you aren’t gonna get fired because some douchebag has a grudge. Just keep doing what you’re doing until I can figure this out.”
“Sure thing.” Jessie smiled. “Thanks, Menace.”
I nodded, then headed to my office. When I made it out to the main bar, I spotted Parker—fuck, not Parker—Aubrey. Aubrey. Aubrey. I had to stop thinking that name, or I was liable to say it out loud. Damn, this was not going to be easy.
She was having drinks with Marlowe and the other ol’ ladies. After everything that had happened, it was good to see her talking and laughing. I didn’t want to distract her from having a fun time, so I let her be and continued to my office. As soon as I got to my desk, I turned on my computer and looked up the Pink Pony. Gary Patterson wasn’t only the manager, but also the owner, and looking at his financials, things weren’t going very well for him. Even before the girls had walked out on him, his club was in the red, and things had only gotten worse over the past couple of weeks.
It was easy to see why the guy might’ve held a grudge, but it didn’t exactly prove he was the stalker, so I had to keep digging. I pulled up Stilettos’ parking lot surveillance cameras from around the time Jessie and the other girls started working, and it wasn’t long before I spotted the white Toyota with the peeling paint on the hood. I got the license plate number and used it to identify the owner—Gary fucking Patterson.
I thought about taking a ride over to the Pink Pony to kick Gary’s ass for thinking he could fuck around with the Sinners and our girls but knew I had to talk it over with Viper before I did anything. I grabbed my burner and gave him a call. As soon as he answered, I announced, “It was Gary. He was the one behind all the bullshit with the girls.”
“I can’t say I’m surprised.”
“How do you want to handle it? Shotgun and I could go have a word with him or I can do my thing and shut him down in ways he’d never see coming.”
“Do your thing. If the asshole tries anything else, I’ll have Shotgun bring him in.”
“You got it.”
As soon as I hung up, I got to work on making Gary’s life as miserable as possible. I started with his club’s liquor license. After I finagled the dates on his present license, I sent an anonymous tip to the Tennessee Alcohol Beverage Commission, notifying them that a local club was selling alcohol without an up-to-date license. Once I finished with that, I started in on his bank accounts, first freezing his business accounts and then his personal accounts. I could’ve stopped there, but good ol’ Gary wasn
’t going to get off that easy. I maxed-out every one of his credit cards and cut off his phone, and just for an added bonus, I sent several phishing emails encrypted with a virus to all his devices.
Knowing I’d given Gary plenty to keep him busy, I decided to take a few minutes to check on all the work Marlowe had done while I was gone. I was pleased to see that she’d gone above and beyond to make sure all the receipts had been checked and logged, and she’d taken care of all the inventory as well. Since there wasn’t anything else that needed my immediate attention, I decided to go out and check on Par—Aubrey and the girls. When I reached their table, I wasn’t surprised to find Hawk and Rafe sitting with them. Aubrey gave me a warm smile and said, “I was wondering if you were ever going to make it out of your office tonight.”
“I had some work to catch up on.” I sat down next to her. “If it hadn’t been for Marlowe, I might’ve been stuck in there all night.”
“Did everything look okay?” Marlowe asked with concern.
“Couldn’t have done it better myself. I genuinely appreciate it.”
“I was glad to help.” Marlowe glanced over at Aubrey as she said, “But I’m happy you and Aubrey are back. We missed having you guys around.”
“Thanks, Lowe. It’s good to be back.” I turned to Aubrey and asked, “You girls having a good time?”
“A very good time.” She lifted her glass and took a sip. “I was just telling the girls about the day we went fishing.”
“Oh yeah? You telling ’em how I caught the biggest bass you’ve ever seen.”
"Not sure I’d say it was the biggest bass I’d ever seen.” She giggled. “It was average at best.”
“What? It was at least ten pounds... maybe even eleven,” I argued.
“It might’ve been five, but I’m thinking it was more like four,” she said, taunting me. “But you did good. It was a great catch.”
“Maybe you should’ve tried her hotdog trick,” Rafe piped in. “Might’ve gotten ya a better catch.”
