“Steinman.” Cross tilted his head, and the others around the room stopped what they were doing and approached the bar. Cross filled eight shot glasses and slid them to the other guys before putting one in front of Rowen and one in front of me.
“Our condolences on your loss,” he said as he and the others tapped their shot glasses twice on the wooden bar and then threw back the shots. Rowen handed me mine and raised a brow, watching while I followed suit.
“Uh...thank you,” I offered. “But really…”
“She needs our help,” Rowen said, cutting off my rebuttal.
“I know just how to help her,” one of the guys said with a sly smile and a twinkle in his eye as he approached, circling me and setting his hands on my waist.
“I should have known Gunner would be the one to try,” Martin growled, taking a swing, even though his fist wasn’t making contact.
Sloan stood to the side with a grin on his face, as if seeing Martin unhappy and no longer the carefree guy for the first time made his day. “She can handle him. I taught her.”
“I wouldn’t do that. She’s got this thing about strangers touching her,” Rowen said and sighed.
He was right. I did have a thing about people touching me without permission.
“This little filly needs some taming,” Gunner said with a country twang.
“Did he just call me a horse?” I asked Martin, turning into the guy’s hold. “Listen. I don’t know you. Really, I don’t know any of you at all. And Rowen was right that I could use your help, but not in the way your mind obviously turned,” I said, sliding his hands off my body.
He reached for me again, and his beefy fingers dug into my hips. Rowen knocked away one of Gunner’s hold on me, but not the other.
“Back off, Gunner.”
He licked his lips and slid his gaze down my body. “No, I don’t think I will. I think I like this one.”
“Do you?” I asked and peeled his fingers while twisted his arm to the point his muscles were tight. I rammed my forehead into his nose, quick and precise.
He grabbed his nose as if I’d broken it.
“How you liking me now?”
The other guys around the bar moved in closer like they wanted to fight.
I grabbed the bottle of whiskey and broke it on the counter, holding the broken glass out at the others. “Touch me again. I fucking dare you.”
Thick tension hung in the air. My muscles were tight. If I had to cut one of these guys, Rowen was going to be next for bringing me here.
“We get it, doll. You don’t want to be touched,” Cross said from behind the bar as he rounded it. “But did you have to waste the whiskey to prove your point?”
My chest heaved, and my nostrils flared. “You should teach your boys better manners.”
Rowen was seated on a stool now and had a toothpick in his mouth. “I told you, she’s Steinman’s.”
The little guy I’d married and these guys didn’t have a thing in common. Nothing I could see. Steinbuckle was a con man when I’d met him. He’d cleaned the cash out of my purse before he left me. Okay, so maybe these guys had a bit more in common than I thought.
“Gunner, apologize,” Cross demanded.
“Sorry, Red,” Gunner said through his cupped hands, holding his nose. “I pegged you for a damsel in distress.”
“Bones, grab your gear and check out the damage to Gunner’s face,” Cross ordered one of the other guys sitting at the bar, sucking on a beer.
“I don’t think there’s anything that can help that ugly mug.” The guy chuckled and walked off, carrying his beer with him.
Cross tilted his head toward a hallway. “Take her into the office, Row.”
“That’s right,” Martin said as if his temper was slowly dissipating. “None of them are going to touch her.”
“She’s not that little girl you left behind, is she?” Sloan chuckled.
Rowen slid off the stool and rested his hand on my back and guided me down a long hallway into an office.
I stepped inside, and Rowen took a seat. I wasn’t as quick to sit. The pictures on the wall made me stop in my tracks.
The guy whose nose I’d busted in the bar was dressed in a fireman uniform, along with a few others like Cross. In another picture, there were guys dressed in EMS uniforms, standing around an ambulance along with a couple doctors.
“What is this place?” I asked.
“We’re a motorcycle club. All of our members are First Responders.”
I stepped farther down the wall to the picture of the cops. The ones dressed in uniform, along with ones dressed in plainclothes, had badges hooked to their hips. I spotted Rowen instantly.
It was the guy next to him that made my breath hitch, and my hand flew to cover my mouth. A pair of eyes stared out at me from behind the glass frame. A familiar face. A badge hung down around his neck as he smiled for the camera with those grouped around him.
“Steinbuckle wasn’t a cop,” I whispered more to myself than anyone else.
“His name is actually Steinman, and he was working undercover when you and he got married in Vegas,” Rowen said. “We both were.”
Chapter 32
I crossed the room to sit, unsure if my legs give out. Steinman had been a cop, and he’d been part of an MC with these guys. I’d only thought I didn’t know my husband well; now I was sure of it.
I opened my mouth to speak and then closed it again.
Rowen leaned in and patted my arm. “You look like you’re about to get sick.”
I pulled in a breath. “I don’t get thrown for a loop often, and you just threw me off a damn train where I tumbled into the forest and landed face first in a ravine.”
I narrowed my eyes at the ghost, who was watching me with a smug look on his face. “You finally know the truth.”
Rowen chuckled. “You were the only thing he didn’t regret about that trip, but don’t worry about these guys. Steinman used to be our leader, which makes you a respected member of our group.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “He came out several thousand dollars ahead when he stole my money and left me broke.”
Rowen cleared his throat. “He didn’t want to do that, but our cover was blown, and there were thugs in our room waiting for us to return to kill us. We needed a way out of town, and our resources were limited.”
I narrowed my eyes. “He didn’t even leave an IOU.”
“He put you in danger against my advice. He saw you, and if there ever was such as a thing as love at first sight, Steinman got bit by that bug. He knew it could never be more than a single night especially with the crowd he was running in. He was an ass for being so selfish.”
“I couldn’t help myself.” Martin’s gaze softened. “I saw you, and I knew. Just like I knew, if only for a single night, you made my world bright. I knew I couldn’t keep you.”
Ass was the least of what Steinman was. I could think of several more names that would get me thrown in jail for using them at a cop.
The door behind us opened, and Cross entered the room, carrying three beers. He handed one to each of us before taking a seat behind the messy desk. He propped his shit-kickers up on the table and grinned.
“I never thought I’d meet the redhead that had Steinman hooked in less than one night.”
“We didn’t talk much that night, as you can imagine.”
Cross chuckled and chugged his beer.
“How can we help you, Dr. Lucy Bray?”
I snapped my gaze to Rowen. He shrugged. “It’s part of our oath that we look out for the family if something happens to one of us. Being Steinman’s best friend, that made me responsible for you, Lucy Loo.” Rowen’s lips twisted into a grin.
I rolled my eyes, rose from my seat and began to pace. “This is all great and good, but I need to get back to my team so I can figure out how I’m breaking Sam out of Homeland Security.”
Cross slowly lowered his beer and scowled at Rowen. “Did she just sa
y she wants to break someone out?”
“It’s complicated,” Rowen answered and then spent the next fifteen minutes explaining my situation as best he could, including the fact that I hunted serial killers even if he didn’t understand what it was that made me so special.
When Rowen was done, Cross yanked open the bottom drawer of the desk and pulled out a bottle of bourbon. He took a swig and passed it to me.
I sipped and handed it off to Rowen. At the rate these guys were going, I’d be drunk and unable to break Sam free.
“Let me get this straight,” Cross said, taking the bottle back again. “There’s a deadly virus, and you found the girl with the antidote, only to discover an agent with Homeland Security is trying to kill everyone involved, and your IT guy just handed himself over?”
“Self-sacrifice,” Rowen said.
“Stupidity,” I replied. “I need to get my IT guy back. I need the antidote to be made public, and I need to shine some light on the Homeland guy to make it harder for him to just keep killing people to shut them up. I need to put all the cards on the table.”
“That makes you the martyr,” Cross said on a sigh.
“I’m not a martyr. I’m not even a people person,” I said. “What I am is very protective of my family and friends, and someone is screwing with them.”
“Do you know what place they intend to hit with the virus?”
I shook my head. “No, but my IT guy left me his computer. He had a program running to try and figure out what some of the numbers and letters mean. I haven’t checked it yet.”
Cross rose. “Get her settled in, Rowen. I need to tell the others what’s going on and make a plan.”
“Settled?’ I asked. “I need to get home so I can confront Agent Kent.
“Relax, darlin’,” he said, “Me and the members of the Skullz will help you, and we’ll get you situated just right. Leave it to me.”
Rowen stood and held out his hand to Cross. “You honor our brother.”
Cross gripped Rowen’s forearm. “As do you.”
What in the hell had I walked into? Voices prickled in my mind as I fought to hold back whoever’s life was about to come through. Now wasn’t the time. I needed to be in the present to help Sam, not in someone else’s world, and God forbid it was the donor that chained up the girls.
Cross left, and Rowen led me to the door. “Where’s my bag?”
“I’m sure Buzz took it upstairs.”
I rubbed my temples. “I’d rather sleep on the helicopter than in a bed that’s been shared by you guys. No offense.”
Rowen’s lips twisted at the corners. “It’s not a room we share. The owner of the bar has that apartment.”
“Great.” I sighed. “So…is that Cross? I’ve slept in a loony bin, but even I’m not sure I could take on Cross should he decide I need taming.”
Rowen led me out the back exit and to the stairs that led up. He grabbed the key from above the doorjamb and unlocked it. He shoved it open.
“Cross doesn’t own the bar, Lucy. You do.”
I shook my head and walked in. The apartment wasn’t filthy like I’d thought it might be. There were no panties lying about from forgotten conquests and no beer bottles or pizza boxes like I’d seen a dozen times. A single picture hung on the wall in the entryway.
Rowen touched it as he passed, but I stopped. It was my wedding picture. The one I’d forgotten was taken.
“He used to kiss his fingers and touch you every time he passed,” Rowen said, stepping into the living room. “The thought of you kept him grounded.”
The anger I’d had toward Steinman was slowly disappearing. I hadn’t really known him at all. Not like these guys did.
I walked into the living room to find my bags, just as Rowen had promised. “He never tried to find me.”
“He did more than try. He found you a long time ago.”
“It’s true, Lucy. I just watched from afar. I needed to watch and know you were okay. I needed that like I needed to breathe.” Martin glanced up at his friend, and his face softened. “I know you’re safe now. I know they’ll take care of you.” He reached for my cheek, and I could almost feel the static electricity. “It’s time for me to go.”
My heart clenched tight as I watched him turn to Sloan. “It’s time for Lucy to heal. You should be leaving soon too.”
Chapter 33
I ran a hand over my cheek. “I never knew. He never made contact with me.”
“His life was undercover,” Rowen said. “He couldn’t bring himself to love you and then have to leave you over and over again. Doing it once almost brought him to his knees and distracted him to where he was almost killed. You were a beautiful distraction he couldn’t afford, no matter how much he cared for you.”
“I always thought he was a con.” I walked around the room and pulled back the blinds to stare at the parking lot below as other motorcycles pulled in, revving their engines.
“He was the best man I knew, and that says a lot considering I’m surrounded by first responders,” Rowen said. “It’s kind of our job to care.”
This was all too much for me to handle, these men and the miracle I needed to perform. My family and friends probably thought that I’d checked out again.
Sam needed me. That thought kept me going, and it was also that thought of connecting via blood and checking in with him that had my stomach twisted in knots. If Homeland hurt him…I’d be going to jail for murder. There was no other way around it.
I sat down on the couch, kicked off my shoes, and crossed my legs. Taking a deep breath, I met Rowen’s gaze. “The medicine that I have is for times like these.”
His brows dipped.
“I make blood connections with either the killers or the victims at the crime scenes. It lets me help track down the clues and, on good cases, helps me to see the killer. Only there’s a catch. I can’t release the mind connection unless that person dies.”
“Okay,” Rowen said, holding off on the pressing questions I knew he was dying to ask.
“I’m a government experiment,” I said, “Only when I connect, I also tap into the person’s emotions. Killers are, most of the time, in a sort of blood lust of rage and anger. That medicine pulls me out of that state of mind and knocks me out so the anger will have time to wear off. It’s a side effect that will never go away.”
“So, are you saying you’ve tapped into a killer’s blood?”
“No, well, yes... sort of.” I sighed. “It’s a long story. The longer I’m around people, the easier it is for me to connect mentally with them. With Sam, I didn’t want to take the chance that Homeland would throw him behind bars and bury him out of reach. So, I made a blood connection with Sam knowing we’ll be connected forever.”
Rowen’s eyes widened, and his mouth parted before he snapped it closed. “And you’re about to…connect?”
“I like to refer to it as tuning in…or I say that I’m making a call when I’m in public and we’re discussing it. I’m not a psychic.” Well, I didn’t used to be. “I’m positive that Sam doesn’t have any killer tendencies, and I won’t need to use the meds, but I wanted you aware before I make the call.”
“Okay,” he said. “What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing, and this may take a while. So, feel free to go do whatever you need to do,” I said and closed my eyes. Taking in a calming breath, I reached for the tendrils of energy in our blood connection, rooting and digging for the connection with Sam. Hoping and praying that he was still alive.
I didn’t know how long it took to find him.
Sam was staring up at a concrete ceiling before he turned his gaze on the bars to his cell. He wasn’t the scared kid I’d expected. He was angry as he shoved his legs over the side of where he’d been lying and rose. He hooked his arms through the bars and stared at another familiar face in the cell opposite of his. My breath caught.
“Ford.” His name was whispered from my lips.
“She’s g
oing to be so pissed that you’re here too,” Sam said.
“No, she’s not. She wouldn’t have expected anything less. It’s what we do for each other.”
Why in the hell had they arrested Ford?
“I have to admit she’d be happy knowing you broke that son of a bitch’s nose when he’d showed up at her house and made threats against her sister. Lucy would have done the same thing.”
“Where the hell is she?” Ford asked. “Sam, I need to know if she’s okay.”
“She is. That’s all I can tell you,” Sam said and returned to sit on his hard bed.
My eyes shot open and I jumped up. I spun in a circle, desperately looking for a phone. “I need a cab; I need to get back.”
“What happened, Lucy? What did you see?” Rowen asked, resting his palms on my arms.
“Both Ford and Sam are behind bars. Ford hit Kent when he threatened my sister.”
“Lucy, Cross will handle this. He’ll figure out what to do, but you have to give him more than five minutes. Hell, it takes at least an hour to get all the guys here. So just calm down and I’ll call downstairs and get you something to eat. Are you hungry?”
How did he expect me to eat at a time like this? “I need to call my sister and Noah.”
I slipped the untraceable phone out of my pocket and started dialing my sister’s number from memory.
Rowen slipped the phone from my hands and met my gaze. “If they’re any good at their jobs, they have her phone tapped. You’re just putting her in more danger by involving her, probably the same thing with Noah. So right now, it’s better you give us a minute to see what Cross comes up with, and we’ll go from there. Worst case, you hate the plan, and you can tell Cross, because I’m not.”
“You’ve got one hour, and then I’m out of here even if I have to steal one of those motorcycles.”
“You don’t have to steal one. You own one. Didn’t that damn lawyer tell you anything?”
“He never mentioned this place. He gave me a key to a safety deposit box and told me the details were in there. Only there was no bank listed to where the safety deposit box was kept. The attorney said he even prodded for information, and Steinbuckle…Steinman, said that the bank would find me.”
Hacking Justice (Fractured Minds Series Book 5) Page 13
