“Okay,” I sigh, reaching out, grabbing them both by the hands. “Be good and listen to Aunt Tatum. Whatever she tells you to do, don’t question it.”
“We have cameras outside,” Meredith reminds me gently. The cameras are because she has people there she has to protect, it shouldn’t be because someone’s after my family. “They’ll be fine.”
I let them go, pushing down the feeling of dread whirling in my stomach. It’s sad that feeling hasn’t gone away since my office a month ago. I’m living in a constant state of uneasiness. Weariness tugs at me most of the time, along with a feeling of nausea. Stress can do the craziest shit to us.
“I know,” I whisper, folding my hands over my stomach. “I’ve been on edge,” I admit. “Sick to my stomach, nauseous, certain things seriously make me want to puke. I’ve never been the type of person to have a weak stomach, but this shit? It’s turned me into a person I don’t even recognize,” I admit. “I’m exhausted.”
Meredith looks at me, her eyes are sharp, probably not missing the fucking dark circles under my eyes, along with the pale skin of my face. I’ve done everything I can, but a trip to the doctor might be in my future if I can’t get over this melancholy and uneasiness I’ve been feeling. “You sure you’re just nervous and stressed?”
“What are you suggesting?” I’ve lost my filter, not afraid to be completely straight and honest with others. Maybe if people had been honest prior to this we wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with. “I had a pap smear three months ago, hopefully I’m not dying of some cancer that can’t be cured.”
“Not suggesting that at all Charity.” She leans forward, those dark eyes of her looking deep into mine. “What I am suggesting is your ass might be pregnant.”
I laugh loudly. “No fucking way. I’m on the other side of thirty-five. Drew and I haven’t used protection in years.”
“You still have a period, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I…” That’s when I trail off, trying to remember exactly when did I have my last period.
“Exactly.” She smiles, triumphantly.
Tatum
“You two wanna play some basketball? We just put the hoop up.” I point to one of the new outdoor activities we’ve all worked on getting up at CRISIS.
It’s not either of their favorite things to do, but if they’re feeling cooped up, they’ll do anything.
“Sure,” Harley answers for them.
For the two of them that’s normal. Harley typically takes the lead while Justice follows. It’s not very often they deviate from their relationship roles. They follow me across the parking lot to the makeshift basketball court we have.
“You wanna play, or you just wanna shoot around?” I pick up one of the balls we have stacked, bouncing it up and down.
“Shoot around,” Harley answers again.
“What do you think, girlfriend?” I pointedly ask Justice. “Sound good to you?”
She nods. “I’m good with whatever.”
I know Justice won’t let herself be walked all over, but I worry about her. She doesn’t speak up enough, and she’s too comfortable going with the status quo most of the time. It’s also important I let her make her own decisions though, so I take what she says at face value.
“You first.” I point to Justice, bouncing the ball in her direction.
She grabs hold of it, pivots, and performs a perfect shot. “Look at you!”
“We did basketball in P.E. this year.” She shrugs.
P.E. my ass. Drew was always good at everything he did, as was Mandy. Somehow, I missed the athletic gene in our family, but it is what it is. “Your dad is extremely talented in everything he does sports wise, so I think it’s a little more than you did basketball in P.E.” I grin over at her.
She seems embarrassed by the praise I’m giving her, and that’s the last thing I want her to feel. Turning my attention to Harley, I rebound the ball and bounce it in her direction. “Let’s see what you got.”
Little fucking showoff does the exact same thing her sister did. “Okay, I see you.” I jog over, slapping her with a high-five.
When I check my watch an hour later, I’m hot, sweaty, and exhausted by these two. I don’t know how Drew and Charity do it. Rubbing at my forehead, I wipe the sweat off.
“Can we go get some water here in a second?” Justice asks, her voice soft, even though her face is red with heat. Had this been Harley it would have been on the other side of a demand.
“No problem, I’m gonna need some too.” I laugh as I reach down, wiping my makeup-less face with the edge of my t-shirt.
We finish this round of baskets, before we start slowly walking back to the building. A non-descript car pulls into the parking lot, flagging me down with a hand. Harley is beside me, but Justice stops for a moment.
“I have to tie my shoe.” She points down to where her lace is flopping in the wind. “I’ll be okay, will only take a second.”
There’s something in me that tells me not to walk to this car, but I do it anyway. “Can I help you?” Harley stands beside me, holding onto my shirt as we look expectantly at the man in the car.
“Yeah, I’m trying to get to I-65 South.”
This is a common question when people are driving through town. The signs aren’t exactly in the best places, and I’m already giving him my spiel that tells him how to get there in the least amount of time. “Go out back on Old Louisville Road here.” I point to the way he came. “But turn left out of the parking lot. At the light, next to Smokey Pig, turn right, then keep driving until you see the interchange. You’ll pass a Sonic, a couple of gas stations, and the exit to north and south will be to your right.”
“Thank you for your help.” He gives me a grin.
It’s right then I hear a scream, and I know with every part of me it’s Justice. Harley tries to turn, but the man grabs her hand, along with mine. “Let me the fuck go!”
“You tell your brother he can’t stop this.”
I turn as far as I can while he holds me, Justice is kicking and screaming as a man covered in head to toe black pulls her into a car. “He’ll kill you!”
“He can try, but it’s not me he’s coming for. It’s my boss.”
“Charity! Meredith!” I scream as loudly as I can.
Harley is screaming so loudly she’s choking. Meredith and Charity come running out of CRISIS; immediately it seems as if they understand what’s happening. They take off after the car, and when the man let’s go of me, I take off after him, tripping as I lunge at the trunk of his car, trying to get a piece of something tangible. Eating pavement hurts less than the fist squeezing around my heart. Tears stream down my face as I lay flat against the road, arms extended, reaching for something that’s no longer there.
“C’mon.” Addie picks me up, against her. “Let’s get you cleaned up. They’ve already called Drew.”
“This is all my fault,” I sob. “I should have paid attention.”
“Stop! We can only do what we can do.”
But I know with everything I am this is the worst it can possibly get, and as I see Charity holding a still freaking out Harley, I wish they had taken me instead.
Chapter Twenty-One
Drew
My blood is running cold, my gaze is in deep colors of red and gray as Dalton drives me to CRISIS. My hands were shaking too hard to get onto my bike. That’s never, in all the years I’ve ridden, happened to me. Fear traps me tightly in its clutches, wrapping tightly around my body as we drive in his truck, the emergency lights flashing.
I was completely against calling the cops as soon as they told me what happened. I want retribution, I want this fucker’s heart still beating in my hands when I get done with him, I want every drop of blood I can get. There’s one thing to mess with my club, one thing to piss me off, a whole other thing to take my child in fucking broad daylight.
And fuck, Justice, she’s my one who feels everything. My bleeding heart who’s tough, but does
her best to try and understand things from every perspective. Harley? She’d beat the shit out this person, I have no doubt about it, but Justice. This could break her, and I don’t want her broken. God, I love her gentleness and it kills me to think of her broken and to lose that innocence.
We turn wildly into the parking lot of CRISIS. All the women are gathered around, all of them crying. When I see both Harley and Charity literally coming apart at the seams, I can’t take it anymore. My gaze homes in on Tatum as I jump out of the truck and make quick strides toward her. I’ve been given a rundown of what’s happened, and my anger is pointed directly at her - whether it should be or not.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” I yell at her. “How could you let this happen on your watch. You knew to pay fucking attention to them. How hard was that?”
She collapses in on herself and it kills me, because this is my baby sister, the one I’ve loved since she made her appearance in our lives. But right now I’m so irrationally angry and I need someone to point this anger toward.
“I was paying attention,” she sobs. “He stopped and asked for directions.”
“Which didn’t seem weird to you?” I point my finger in her face. “Who stops here and asks for goddamn directions, Tatum?”
“We were outside.” She shrugs, helplessly swiping at the tears streaming down her face.
“I understand you’re upset.” Remy steps up from the crowd gathering around us.
“You don’t understand anything.” I turn on him now.
“Take it down a notch at her.” He stands chest to chest with me. If I wasn’t so pissed off, I’d be proud of him for standing up to me. I know it can’t be easy for him. Fuck, it wouldn’t be easy for me.
“Don’t tell me what to do, you little shit. I’ll have your fucking patch.”
At that point, Dad and Dalton step in front of me, both of them grabbing me by the elbows and pulling me away. “You need to make sure you don’t say shit you can’t take back,” Dad whispers, directing me over to the steps of CRISIS, forcing me to sit down.
I see Mom consoling Tatum, and that’s when I look for Charity. “Where’s my wife?”
“Right here.” I hear the utter devastation in her voice.
She’s as pale as I probably am, her face is wet with tears, and her eyes are fucking dead. In all the years we’ve been together, all the things we’ve been through, I’ve never seen this blank stare. It scares me, as much as it scares me that Justice is missing. If Charity loses her spark, where does that leave us?
My arms immediately go around her body, hugging her tightly to me. “We’re going to find her,” I promise, kissing her forehead.
“Daddy.” That sound is so broken, so lost. “I can still feel her,” Harley sobs. “She’s still alive. I’d know if she was dead, right?”
Fucking ten years old and they’re going through this because some piece of shit thinks he has a claim to my patch. This ends today, I don’t care what the fuck I have to do. I can’t live with this threat over my head any longer, and my family can’t take it. He messed with them one too many times, and I’m goddamn over it.
“If you can feel her, then that’s all we can ask for.” I reach down, grabbing her into my arms, setting her on my knee as I’ve done a million times before.
Charity extricates herself from my free arm, pushing the tears away from her face. “It’s on camera,” she reminds me. “We have it on camera, but we can’t see the license plate.”
“Somebody get Steele here,” I bark. “Or have him fucking remote in. Where the fuck is he?”
Every single one of my guys is here, all the women are here, including Christine.
I tap Harley’s hip, getting her up off of me before I walk over to her, getting all up in her face. “Where is your husband?”
I can’t even apologize for the asshole I’m being, and I think they understand. At least I hope they understand. I’m at the end of my rope, have been, honestly for almost a year. One thing I’ve grown to understand, I take notice of now, are people who look guilty and fuck me if she doesn’t look guilty.
“Hey, man.” Jagger steps up next to his sister. “I get that you’re pissed and scared to death. I am too, but this is family.”
“We’re all fuckin’ family. Tell me what you know, Christy. I can tell by the look on your face, you know something. You’ve known something for a long time and now is when you stop hiding the truth from the rest of us.”
“I don’t know anything,” she cries. Tears stream down her face, and I want to stop being a dick to her, I want to give her the benefit of the doubt, but there’s something in her eyes that don’t allow me to. She swipes her tongue against her cracked lips, her voice coming out in a hoarse whisper. “But I have suspicions.”
I fucking knew it.
“Talk. Now.”
She looks at the group gathered around us. “Can we go someplace private?”
My strong as fuck wife speaks up for both of us. “We can go inside. There’s no reason to do this in front of everyone.” She puts her arm around Christine’s neck, ushering her into CRISIS.
I’m desperately trying to hold it together, and here she is being empathetic to what this other woman’s going through. She’s a much better person than I’ll ever be, and maybe that’s why we work so well together. I can think of nothing but killing anyone who’s hurt my daughter right now, and in the middle of it, Charity’s offering a shoulder to cry on.
When we get in, locking ourselves in the main office, I look expectantly at Christine, wanting her to tell me exactly what she knows. She’s still crying, but Jagger’s beside her, holding her hand.
“Tell me what the fuck’s going on, and who all knew about it.” I grab a chair, turning it around so I can straddle it, while leaning against the back.
“Nobody knew about it.” She shakes her head. “I’m not even sure I understand everything going on. All I know is there’s been a lot of secrecy in my home for a while.”
“How long’s a while?” I do my best to lower my voice so that I’m not intimidating, but I’m dying, wanting to get to the bottom of this.
“Since before the attacks last fourth of July – it actually started around the first of the year.”
“So, around the time Drew officially took over,” Tyler says, running a hand over his bearded face.
I’m not sure when him and Dad got here, but I’m glad to have them in this group. They’re knowledge and level-headedness will be invaluable as we try to figure out what the hell is going on.
She lets out a shuddering breath. “Right. I’ve never known Travis to be anything other than happy with his role in the club. But after Liam and Tyler stepped down,” - she nods at the two of them in turn - “he would come home, making comments at how he’d been a member longer, how he’d given everything he had to the club, and not received what he should have.”
“What do you mean, what he should have?” Dad asks as he walks farther in, having a seat on one of the chairs.
She sighs heavily, glancing over at Meredith. Meredith who’s obviously been a friend to her, gives her an encouraging look. “Now is the time to be honest about whatever this is, Christy. Justice is in danger, as are the rest of us if we can’t figure out what the hell is going on.”
Christine rubs at her eyes, before glancing at Jagger, sobbing. “He….he…he said he should have been considered for the job, because he’s done nothing but make sure everyone is safe the entire time he’s been a patched member. He made noises about no one appreciating the sacrifices he’d made. Time with me, us not having children.” She breaks off. “I really don’t want to go into that part,” she sobs. “But he felt like you all just handed Drew the president’s patch – which was your right.” She’s quick to clarify.
“There’s more, isn’t there?”
I ask the question because I know it’s true. The only person who could have found out about my biological’s dad other child was probably Steele. He was t
he only one who’d know where the hell to look.
“There is. He made it his mission to figure out how he could fuck you over.” She wraps her arms around her waist. “A lot of times, he didn’t even notice I was paying attention to him because he was so involved in the game he was playing, in the plan he had going. Somehow, he found out your biological dad had another child.” She glances over at me. “Another son, and he got into contact with that son. Once they made contact with one another, he convinced your half-brother that you were president of the MC because of your biological dad, not Liam,” she finishes.
“So he thinks I’ve stolen his spot.” It all clicks now.
“Steele did this?” Dad asks from behind me. “Why couldn’t he come to me, talk to me about how he felt slighted. Why did he cause all this?”
“Better question,” I interrupt. “Where the hell is he? What the hell does he have on all of us. You know he’s tracking. We’ve got to get our electronics off of us.”
Tyler stands, rubbing his palms up and down his thighs. “Some of us need to go check out the surveillance room at the clubhouse.” He mentions the room most of us have forgotten about.
“Yeah, but who’s gonna know what the fuck they’re looking for?” Jagger questions as he looks around at the rest of us.
“If I may.” Tyler nods to me, asking for the floor.
It’s the greatest sign of respect I think I’ve ever been given. I nod back at him, knowing this will put our plan into place.
“I know he’s young,” - Tyler runs a hand through his long hair - “but Caelin knows the same shit Steele does. He’s on his computer all the time, and he’s smarter than the rest of us combined. If anyone can help us, it’s gonna be Caelin.”
“He’s seventeen,” Meredith reminds her husband.
“He’s an adult in a teenager’s body,” he argues. “You and I both know that. You also know what the hell he wants to do with his life. If he can help us, I don’t know why we don’t give him a shot. If he does this to help the club, he should be allowed to become a prospect if he wants to,” he tightens his jaw, giving her a look I’ve never seen him give her.
Fury (Heaven Hill Generations Book 3) Page 10
