Given the instructions from my dad to leave, and my mom’s adamancy that I be smart, I take the ride share car and head to the gas station like my mom suggested. Once there, I decide I do need to be smart.
Which means, I’m not leaving Haywood’s Landing. At the gas station, I find a woman filling her car up with fuel.
She’s petite with blonde hair and the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. She looks to be my age. In the car is a puppy at the window barking, and she keeps pumping gas while looking in the window and talking to the dog.
Taking a deep breath, I approach.
“Excuse me,” I begin. “I was wondering if I can trouble you for a moment.”
She twists to look at me and smiles. Instantly, I feel at ease.
“Hi,” she greets excitedly. “I’m Dia. That’s Sir Barks A lot.”
The pump clicks off, and for a brief moment, I think she’s going to tell me to go away.
“I’m Diem. I was hoping you could give me a ride down the road a bit.”
She looks at me and then my suitcase. “Why is a gorgeous girl like you needing a ride? You’re too put together to be homeless. Is this a scam?” She looks around us.
“No, I, uhhh,” I begin to stutter, “I’m having issues at home and just need a ride to my boyfriend’s house. Since my parents aren’t happy right now, I can’t take my own car because they paid for it.”
She doesn’t reply, making me wonder if she’s believing my story or not.
Thankfully, as she finishes up, she motions for me to put my stuff in the backseat.
“He doesn’t bite.”
I look at the dog that is long but not small. He has these flappy cheeks and floppy ears. As I put my stuff in the backseat, he moves from the front seat to the back, barely squeezing himself between the seats.
“Oh, he’s welcoming you in. Earlier, he wouldn’t move for my brother BW, so I made him ride in the backseat.” She laughs. “He must like you.”
I get in the car, and she asks where I need to go. I give her the best directions I can remember and sit back remembering the ride with Colt.
When we pull up, she studies the place. “This is your boyfriend’s house, you say?”
I nod and notice she’s taking in the church and house carefully.
“His family is religious,” I ramble, “so they live here. Close to God, ya know.”
“Oh, I’d say his family is religious all right.” Her reply has this edge to it that I don’t understand. Since I’m where I need to be, I don’t bother to question it, and I climb out of the car.
“Thank you, Dia. It’s nice to meet you.”
As I get out, I wonder if she’s local. Emmalee and I went to private school, so we didn’t grow up with the usual local people. I need to get out more, I think to myself as I begin to make my way to the back door. Dia pulls away, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
Only when I get inside the house by the church do I take a deep breath. “Okay, Lord, I know I’m not religious, but maybe being here, you can guide me to some answers,” I mutter to the empty space. “Or at least, send Colt to find me.”
I shouldn’t be here. I don’t know him well. What I do know could all be lies. Am I safe here? I have all these crazy scenarios running through my head.
But my mind can’t come up with an answer, other than I need to read my mother’s journals. In those pages, I may find what I seek, or I might be blown away like never before. Either way, the only solution to my current problem is to read those diary entries and figure out what is really going on.
With that in mind, I carry the suitcase to the living room where I open it and pull out of the book labeled one.
Here goes nothing.
12
Colton
Boomerism: “Every once in a while, ask yourself, if tomorrow wasn’t promised, what would you give for today?”
“Lo,” I answer on the second ring.
“Kick, it’s Dia.”
I let out a frustrated laugh while pushing down all my aggravation. “I know. Your number is in every Hellions’ phone. I’m kinda in the middle of something, but whatcha need?”
While I want to hang up and let her be someone else’s problem, at the end of the day, Dia Crews is the baby sister none of us ever asked for, but we love her all the same. Dia is the youngest daughter of Tripp and Doll Crews. She is funny, gorgeous, and has the kindest heart of anyone I have ever met.
I need to focus on finding Diem, but no one ever leaves Dia hanging. That will get me in deep shit with the club.
“Do you have a girlfriend?” she asks, and I find myself raising an eyebrow.
“No.”
Don’t let her ask me to date her, is my first thought. Bottom line, I’m not the kind of man who dates. I’m not a relationship kind of guy. I’m more all in or all out, without a title like boyfriend. I mean, who says that?
“Colt,” her voice trembles a little and she never calls me by my name. Always I’m Kick because as a teen I used to tell everyone to kick rocks when I got pissed. When I prospected Tripp and Tank used to try to piss me off and ask me if I was going to tell them to kick rocks. “I’m kinda worried.”
“Dia, just spit it out or call someone else. I have something that needs my attention right this minute, and I’m trying to be patient, but you haven’t caught me on a good day.”
“Well, your day is about to get worse. I just dropped some woman named Diem off at the parsonage house. She claimed it was her boyfriend’s house.”
Diem is at my house.
She’s safe.
She’s alive.
Relief floods me.
“Was she alone? How did you end up taking her? Is she hurt? What house? Were you followed?”
Wes overhearing me comes to my side. After leaving Diem’s house, Wesson dropped Emmalee off at our house, and we came to the compound where our dad has called a sermon.
“Whoa, tiger, for not having a girlfriend, you certainly know who I’m referring to.”
“Dia,” I growl. “Just tell me what the fuck happened.”
“I’m working at Salty Dog today. Sir Barks A lot wasn’t really doing well in that kennel life. Ya know, some dogs just don’t like to be caged.”
“Fuck!” I yell, not necessarily at her, but I’m frustrated, and Dia is Dia who will spend an hour telling me something that took five minutes to happen. “I could give a fuck right now about Sir Barks A lot.”
“Hey, cool your jets, mister! If Sir Barks A lot hadn’t warmed up to your woman, I wouldn’t have given her a ride. So anyhow, I had to get gas. I was at the pump when she approached asking me for a ride. She said she had some trouble at home, so that’s why she can’t take her car. She asked me to take her to her boyfriend’s house. Next thing I know, she’s giving me directions to the parsonage you and your brother bought.”
This is the good thing about the Hellions. We all stay on top of each, so there are no secrets, like me having a house and some stranger asking to go there.
“Thank you, Dia.”
“I left her there without telling her I know you. I’m just down the road if I need to go back. I wasn’t really sure if I was being set up. Since she didn’t do anything, and no one followed, I think she knows you, and she needs you.”
“I’m on my way. You need to go home and get far away from that place.”
“Kick, she’s nice. Whatever trouble she’s in, will you please save her?”
“I’m gonna do my best.”
Dia sighs, “then it will all be fine because that’s the Hellions life. Be safe, Kick.”
I end the call and look to Wes. “She’s at the parsonage.”
He nods, “I dropped Emmalee off there before coming here because no one will look for her at a house she’s never been to.”
I look at him wide-eyed. “What?”
“When you left Diem’s, since you took the car Emmalee had, I needed to take her somewhere. I didn’t want her to go home, and I wasn’t sure she w
as safe, so I took her to the parsonage because no one will think to go there. Our house is okay, but no one can tell anyone is inside the parsonage unless a car is there.”
It’s a smart plan, but the parsonage is not as outfitted as our house. Sure, we have weapons there, but neither Diem nor Emmalee know that. We turned off the alarm. Since neither of us go to the house anymore, we haven’t updated the previous system, therefore, we leave it off.
My gut twists, and I feel the urge to take off, but I can’t.
Sermon has been called at my request.
Dropping my phone in the basket, I enter the cave. The officers are all at the table, including our dad, as we file in.
“Kick,” Tripp speaks after the meeting is called to order. “Boomer says you called this sermon concerning Reigns.”
I nod. “We had the previous sermon about Reigns having pressure from Patrick O’Leary.”
Tripp nods.
“Buster got a call from Emmalee Van Etten. Diem Reigns was unreachable. This came at the same time the garage couldn’t process the payment for the cars we fixed for Reigns. Phones for Reigns were disconnected. Intel says offices are closed. An email went out an hour ago that Reigns is closing all operations. Buster and I met Emmalee at the Reigns home where we found Adrianne Reigns deceased and a note that Diem is next.”
“Do we know why Reigns is at odds with O’Leary?” Tank, our club VP asks.
I shake my head. “Not sure what went wrong. The digging we did only showed O’Leary financing Reigns for the last thirty years. So, whatever went sideways, they had a longstanding relationship that went right under all our noses.”
“Not acceptable,” Tripp mutters sitting back in his chair. “O’Leary has never crossed our paths. Reigns’ operations are here, New York, Florida, and Texas.”
“Yes, from what we could gather. O’Leary uses Reigns to filter funds through his corporations. The deposits to and from each man line up when we look into the bigger picture of Reigns’ companies. They keep the dates shifting enough the IRS doesn’t catch on,” BW adds. “What doesn’t work is the transfer of ten million three months ago. Reigns set the money to come in. As soon as it hit, he moved it to a digital currency, and the money is as good as ghost.”
“Ten million would impact O’Leary’s dealings. That’s more than one arms deal. That’s a solid year of moving guns for the Irishman,” Tripp explains.
“Why kill his wife and go after his daughter?” I ask, knowing that from time to time, the Hellions get their hands dirty, but we do everything not to cross the line and touch a man’s family.
“That has to do with Van Etten. He’s the cousin to a man in O’Leary’s circle. From what we could find, Van Etten made the connection for O’Leary thirty-two years ago. That’s how he’s not had to practice court law and been able to work solely for Reigns. Van Etten is sinking financially due to an addiction to hookers. The man is blowing five grand a day or more for pussy. When Reigns pulled the ten million, a call came through to Van Etten. We assume it was to reel his client in.”
“There is no way to reel in a man like Thomas Reigns,” Tank states what we all know.
“Apparently, his daughter is his weakness. His right-hand man would know the one weakness Reigns has.”
Red shakes his head. “No. There’s more to it. Van Etten has something on Reigns or the wife. No man in Reign’s position will ever give the power to crumble their empire by taking his daughter.”
He is not wrong.
The only thing is, we don’t know what the play is here.
“The person to answer that is Diem Reigns. Where is she?” Tripp asks. “You two went to the house,” he looks to Wes and me, “where’s the daughter?”
I shake my head. “When we arrived, no one was home. We found the body of Adrianne Reigns. Just before sermon, Dia called, and apparently, Diem found her at a gas station and asked to go to the parsonage. Told her she was my girlfriend and needed a ride. Dia left her there.”
“So, my daughter may be on tape picking her up?” Tripp asks with a coldness to his voice that is intimidating. I didn’t think about it, but yes, Dia may have unknowingly put herself in the line of fire.
Fuck!
BW stands from his place at the table. “I’ll go grab my sister,” he says as Tripp nods without hesitation or closing the sermon.
“Busted and Kick, you two go to the parsonage, pick up Diem. By the time you get her here, I need her willing to talk. I need a woman who will turn on her father if necessary. O’Leary is no man to fuck with, and before he comes in to destroy everything in Haywood’s Landing, we need to find out what Diem Reigns knows, as well as where the fuck Thomas Reigns is, and more importantly, what he did with O’Leary’s money.
Being dismissed, Wesson and I go straight to the van and make our way to the parsonage.
Diem Reigns is in deep shit, and she doesn’t have the first fucking clue.
13
Diem
Life lessons with Diem: He tried to silence me, but still I speak. He tried to kill me, but still I live. Don’t let anyone ever leave you defeated.
“I can’t believe it,” I whisper to Emmalee.
Wesson brought her here after leaving my house where she found my mother dead. The tears roll down my face in steady streams.
Emmalee sits on the couch, holding me while we both cry. My mother is gone. I think over her words. I want to read her journals, but then part of me doesn’t. These are her private thoughts. I don’t want to invade her privacy, but she wants me to. This is the day my life truly is turned upside down. I have all of these questions and no one to ask.
My mother is dead.
Inside I ache.
The woman who held my hand at the dentist because I was scared. The woman who kissed every bruise and put Bandaids on my dolls when I was little because I said they had owies is no more. All the times I thought about having kids and my mom teaching me to change a diaper or give a bath. Who will help me? Who will guide me?
The woman who took me prom dress shopping won’t be here to help me pick out a wedding dress. The woman who would lay in bed with me when I had bad dreams isn’t here to tell me everything is going to be alright.
Because nothing is ever going to be right again.
“I don’t know where your dad is, Diem. I don’t know where my dad is. I don’t know anything, except this isn’t good,” Emmalee states pulling away.
I tried to use my phone and it has no service. I don’t know why it isn’t working, but it's not. There isn’t a phone here so I can’t call my dad. I have so many questions. Maybe I can find an answer in the journals.
With Emmalee sitting beside me, I open to the first page. I struggle to keep a handle on my emotions when I begin to read.
Dearest Tianna,
I write this needing to find some peace in all this pain. Thomas brought your baby girl to me today. My friend, my confidant, how my heart longs for you to be able to call me just once more.
Thomas said there was an accident.
Tianna, I married a monster.
I left my home, my beautiful home where you and I planned to watch Diem grow into a woman. You weren’t my housekeeper, my secretary, my personal assistant. You are my best friend.
This vacation that Thomas planned comes quite convenient to have me away while you, my truest friend, die in a fire inside our home. It’s odd to me that little Diem survives and you don’t. He said he couldn’t find you. He only had time to grab the precious child.
I find it all fitting since he is listed as her father on the birth certificate.
Tianna, where did it all go so wrong?
Your loving husband behind bars, while the monster who set him up raises his daughter, how does this happen?
How did we fall so blind to Thomas Reigns’ manipulations?
I feel like this is all my fault. The guilt, it eats at me. I want to reach out to Luke and tell him everything, but I can’t.
Thomas will
kill me and take Diem.
So I promise to write to you every day, Tianna. I promise from today until the last breath I take, I will write to you about Diem’s life.
I will honor you the only way I know how … I will love your daughter as my own. I will keep Thomas from hurting her.
She will never feel the loss I feel right now for you. I will give her love and comfort. I will give her dreams of hot air balloon rides, and one day, I will tell her about you.
I will tell her how her beautiful African American mother fell in love with a white man who swept her off her feet. Together, they created the beautiful Diem with her golden skin, her father’s eyes, and her mother’s smile. I will tell her about Luke buying her a teddy bear every trip he had to take for work, and how you made room time and again for each one of those bears. I will tell her how your one dream was to go on a hot air balloon ride, and that Luke proposed to you by giving you the ride of your life.
I will give my all to your daughter, Tianna.
Loving and missing you,
Adrianne
“Diem,” Emmalee whispers beside me.
The dreams weren’t dreams.
They were my memories.
My parents aren’t my parents.
The woman, the African American woman in my dreams is my mom. She was beautiful. She was kind. She took all my fears away.
The room spins as my chest hurts. It’s hard to breathe. My momAdriannewas telling the truth. She didn’t cheat on Thomas Reigns. No, the secrets they shared ran far deeper than an affair.
I can’t wrap my head around this. Nothing is real. Nothing about my life is my own.
“What am I supposed to do?” I cry.
Before we can continue the conversation, there is a banging at the front door. Emmalee and I both freeze.
“Emmalee,” Paul Van Etten yells from outside the door. “Open up, pumpkin.”
She rushes to the door before I even have time to think.
“Come on,” Paul gestures for me to get up as he comes inside.
Bold from It: Hellions Motorcycle Club (Hellions Ride On Book 5) Page 9
