Chasing Down Changes (Moroad Motorcycle Club) (28 page)

Colby never asked to use the women or took advantage of Tiff.

"Tiff, I need you to be extra aware and stay safe." Sheriff Colby glanced up and over her. "Keep Jeremy beside you if you have to go out. I have a bad feeling I can't shake."

"What bad feeling?" she asked, knowing he had a right to be suspicious of his deputy and he'd come to that conclusion too late to warn her.

Sheriff Colby dropped his head, ran his hand through his thinning hair, and exhaled. "This stays right here. It's confidential."

"Of course," she said.

"Williams was transferred here as his last chance. He's been arrested twice before for assault and battery on a female. He was arraigned in court. Instead of resigning, he signed a last-chance agreement to come to Federal. If he makes it through his three-year probation period, he can go work at any department that takes part in the transfer system." Sheriff Colby lowered his voice. "He has a strong opinion about women and controlling them."

"So, you sent him here, to Silver Girls." She leaned forward. "What were you thinking?"

"I thought I'd keep him where I could watch him while fulfilling my duties. I thought you'd be okay because you had Moroad and Bantorus members around you." Sheriff Colby grabbed her hand on the table.

She jerked back.

"Don't. Touch. Her." Jeremy held Tiff's shoulders. "I think your talk is over."

Sheriff Colby stood. "I'm sorry, Tiff. His disappearance worries me. I want him gone, and since he broke his agreement by not calling in and missing work, I can give him his walking papers when he shows up for his next shift. I want you protected if Williams gets the idea to take his anger out on you."

Jeremy's hands tightened on her shoulders. She remained quiet, watching the sheriff walk toward Cam at the back door and be escorted outside.

For several minutes, she sat there and let the sheriff's visit sink in. Deputy Marshall never showed up for his shift at Silver Girls. Jeremy came downstairs to talk to his MC brothers before they opened for business. She called him two hours after opening to escort her downstairs, in which he passed her off to his dad for safe keeping. Then, he brings the sheriff to her.

"You killed him," she whispered, staring at the table.

Jeremy moved around her and sat down beside her. "Look at me."

"They'll find out, and I'll lose you. I'll lose everything again." She raised her gaze and blinked through the tears blurring her vision. "I can't live without you. What if this happens again, except it's another deputy or a customer or a jealous wife?"

"Baby, you have to stay calm and listen to me." He rubbed her thigh. "Williams isn't dead, yet."

"He's not...?" She gawked. "But he's missing. The sheriff said he hadn't checked in."

Jeremy lifted her to her feet. "Let's go upstairs."

Climbing the stairs, she slowed down, the horrific day catching up with her. She leaned against Jeremy and wrapped her arms around his waist. She paused on the landing, and then remembered the alarm wasn't working.

"Bear and Pack are sleeping on the floor downstairs tonight. They'll make sure nobody gets in." Jeremy opened the suite and led her all the way back to the bedroom.

He helped her undress and pulled back the covers. After she had slipped into bed, he sat on the edge of the mattress and smoothed her hair away from her face.

"I forgot to take my makeup off." She yawned.

He leaned down and kissed her lips. "One night isn't going to hurt."

"No, I suppose not." She gazed up at him, knowing what was going to happen thanks to Cam's advice.

Every argument she thought up disappeared over the course of the night with the real fear that one slip, they could both lose each other. When she'd thought Jeremy killed Deputy Williams downstairs when Sheriff Colby informed her he was missing, it wasn't disgust or fear or insanity that shocked her. It was the instant relief that Jeremy was alive, she was free, and they were together.

"Maybe running Red Light isn't worth the risk," she whispered. "Maybe I should close that part of the business down and get rid of the worries of tonight being a repeat of someone else finding out what I'm running above an established and respected business."

"Is that what you want?"

She stared at his beard. Everything pointed to her being smart, business savvy, and independent. Every day for the last fifteen years, she strived to do what others failed at, and she'd succeeded, but it was more than personal accomplishments pushing her to keep Red Light going.

"The women that come here are broken." She swallowed. "I never know what made them become prostitutes, but I see underneath the smiles, the confidence, the skills they have of opening themselves to strangers when they can't even express their feelings or talk about their past."

"Maybe you're wrong, and they like what they're doing." Jeremy thrummed his thumb along her cheekbone.

"No." She looked up at his eyes. "The girls fall into prostitution to numb their mind when life is too difficult to live, much like a drug addict turns to drugs, or a drunk will reach for the bottle."

Jeremy nodded. "The same way felons depend on their club."

"And women in love cling to the hope their man will return to them from prison," she whispered. "I give the women a safe place to continue living their life. It might only be for three months, but I've kept them safe. If they had nowhere to go, I don't know what they'd do to find the numbness they all seek to continue living. At least, I know for three months, I've saved four women."

"Okay, baby. Nobody is going to keep you from saving your girls." He leaned down. "Roll over and I'll rub your back."

She turned and buried her arms under her pillow. Jeremy's warm, rough, broad hand slowly circled her bare back. She closed her eyes against the neon sign casting red lights against the window.

Her body relaxed under Jeremy's touch. She understood what would happen. He wouldn't leave her if she stayed awake. If it took all night for her to give up the fight, he'd continue sitting on the bed, making sure she was safe.

Except, she knew he had to take care of business. She also knew that by morning, Deputy Williams would no longer be a threat.

Cam's advice came back to her, and she let herself slip off to sleep, putting Jeremy first in her life.

A
soft buzzing came from the streetlight. No other noise broke through the darkness behind the Sterling Building. Sensing someone to his right, Jeremy found his dad sitting on the wrought iron bench, his back to the building. Roles had reversed over the years and knowing Cam continued to have his back proved necessary tonight.

"You waited until Tiff was asleep," said Cam.

"Yeah." Jeremy gazed out at Marci's car parked beside his Harley.

Cam lit a cigarette. "She'll make you stronger, the way Christina does me. If you let her."

"Will you stay here, until I get back?" Jeremy pulled his can of chew out of his back pocket and loaded his lip.

"Moroad has everything covered, just like you requested. Merk's cozied up across the street out front. Bear and Pack are inside the building. There are six brothers staked out across town to cover your ass." Cam flicked his cigarette out into the street. "Johnson, Gunner, and Jacko are sitting in the car ready to roll."

"This won't take long." Jeremy strode out to his Harley, started the engine, and pulled away from the curb.

In the side mirror, he watched Gunner follow him driving Marci's car. He rode straight through town and under the viaduct. Outside the town limit, he opened up the throttle and took the winding corners fast enough to leave socially acceptable behind, and slow enough the car could keep up with him.

He picked a gravel forestry road heading toward Montana and rode the bumpy road a mile and a quarter before pulling over near the river. Shutting off his bike, the rush of the water flowing provided a backdrop for the job he had to do.

Gunner pulled the car to a stop behind Jeremy's motorcycle. He opened the passenger side door and let Johnson out while Jacko exited from the back seat.

"Any problems?" Jeremy took the keys from Gunner and walked to the rear of the vehicle.

"Not a one." Gunner removed his pistol. "It's kind of hard to make any noise wrapped in Duct tape."

Jeremy opened the trunk and stepped back. Finding Williams happened by chance. When he'd stepped outside of the Sterling Building after finding the doors open and Tiff okay, he'd spotted a flash of something shiny in the upstairs room of the abandoned building next to the Sterling Building.

From that advantage point, anyone could look straight into the windows upstairs where the Red Light women worked. Unable to fire a pistol within city limits and risk bringing attention to him, Jeremy snuck up and choked the air out of Deputy William, until he passed out. Jacko and Gunner taped Williams up and transported him to Marci's car while Jeremy stole the car keys out of the main kitchen.

Deputy Williams stared up at him, unable to move or speak. Jeremy grasped the front of William's uniform and heaved him out of the car and put him on his feet, propped up against the bumper.

"You touched Moroad Motorcycle Club property." Jeremy stepped close to him. "You touched my woman."

A strangled garble came from Deputy Williams' throat. Jeremy tilted his head to the side. Death came to everyone eventually. Some men died early. Some lived a full life. The motherfucker who crossed him had no choice. His time was up.

He would take out any threat against his woman and her desire to save her girls. Williams wouldn't be the last man to try and take something away from him, and he wasn't the first. He was only one of many enemies who Jeremy would forget the moment he popped a bullet in his brain.

"Carry him over next to that tree and sit him down." Jeremy removed his pistol and flicked the safety off.

Johnson and Gunner obeyed him wordlessly. Jacko stood beside him swaying.

"Nice area." Jacko gazed around him, turning in a circle. "Secluded and peaceful."

Jeremy glanced around, trying to see what Jacko saw. The heavily treed area provided coverage, and soon the weather would change in the Bitterroot Mountains.

"Yep, it's a good night," said Jacko.

Jeremy slapped his hand down on Jacko's shoulder. "That it is, brother," he whispered.

He trailed after Johnson and Gunner and waited as they propped Williams at the base of the tree, and moved out of their president's way. Jeremy lifted his 9mm and put pressure on the trigger to line up the red dot on the middle of William's forehead.

"See you in hell, motherfucker." Jeremy pulled the trigger.

William's head hit the bark of the tree. A thin line of darkness drained down his nose, soaking his shirt. Jeremy put the pistol back in his vest and removed the knife in his pocket. His kill. His cleanup.

He cut the tape off around William's legs first, tipped him over and chopped away at the tape holding his arms behind his back. Last, he cut the binding wrapped all the way around his head, sealing his mouth.

William's vacant eyes stared up at him.

Dead.

"Where's he going, Prez?" Johnson moved past him to grab Williams' legs.

Jeremy pointed straight ahead. "Go through the brush about fifty paces, you'll come to a drop-off. Throw him over and let the wolves have him."

If authorities found Williams first or a hiker enjoying Idaho's National Forest stumbled upon the body before winter set in, there was nothing linking the murder to him or Moroad.

Johnson and Gunner walked out of the woods after doing their job, panting hard. Jeremy nodded. His men had experience and the desire to remain free. Nothing that happened out here tonight would be repeated.

"Jacko? Go ahead and check the trunk for anything left behind, and then you can take the car back to the Sterling Building. You can give the keys to Cam." Jeremy returned to his Harley and started the engine.

After the men had left, Jeremy rode the motorcycle over to the tree, lining his back wheel up to the base, and opened the throttle with his brake on, spitting dirt, pebbles, weeds, over the spot to cover the blood. Then he rode in tight circles erasing the tire tracks.

Unmarked bullets, stolen pistol, gloves, and clean-up, he covered his trail.

Red Light was safe for the moment.

Tiff would live another day on the outside.

And, Jeremy would remain by her side.

He rode the curves out of the mountains into Federal on the motorcycle he built with his hands. His mind blank. His body calm. His skin numb.

Jeremy parked behind the Sterling Building and shut off the engine. Cam stood and tossed him Marci's keys. Jeremy stepped away from his Harley and stood in front of his dad. No words passed between them for several seconds.

Cam slapped his hand down on Jeremy's shoulder. "Get some sleep, kid."

He allowed himself to follow orders one last time and let himself into the building. There would be no sleep. There would be no feelings. There would be no rest.

He had a club to run. A woman to love.

Bear and Pack sat at one of the tables in the main room, smoking in the dark. He walked up the stairs, unlocked the door, and made his way to the suite. First thing tomorrow, he'd need to have one of his brothers repair the alarm system and remind Tiff to call the security company.

He stopped a foot inside the suite and removed his boots, carrying them over to the rug in the kitchen. If they needed cleaning, he'd do it before Tiff got up in a few hours.

In the bathroom, he stripped down and showered. His skin still numb. His hands devoid of feeling. He went through the motions.

After he had toweled off, he turned and found Tiff leaning against the open doorway. A blanket clutched to her chest, covering her body.

He stood, naked and hard, in front of her. A killer. A felon.

The distance between them seemed to stretch and fill with mistakes from the past. The years apart they'd never get back. A fifteen-page file of the crimes he'd committed. A life of living with heat on his back. He couldn't blame any woman, especially a strong woman like Tiff, to decide against climbing her way through the shit and scarring herself to only end up on the other side where every day became a question of if you lived or died.