Jerry's Passion: Insurgents Motorcycle Club (Insurgents MC Romance Book 6) (33 page)

Jerry:
Fuck yeah!

Kylie:
So happy. :)

Jerry:
When do u start?

Kylie:
This Thursday. I had a great time with u.

Jerry:
Me 2. Maybe u can come over tonight? After 11?

Kylie:
2 risky. Better not.

Jerry:
I want u, babe.

Kylie:
U had me all day. :)

Jerry:
Want 2 fuck u all the time. Never get enough.

Kylie:
Sweet talking won’t change my mind. ;)

Jerry:
Tomorrow then.

Kylie:
I’ll let u know.

Jerry:
Not asking. I’m telling. Tomorrow night.

Kylie:
Tomorrow. We’ll talk. My dad just came home. Bye.

“Hi, Dad,” she said as Banger came into the kitchen. “Want a cold beer?”

He nodded while smiling. Ever since her mom had died, she’d run to the kitchen when she’d hear his powerful Harley pulling into the garage. She’d always offer him a beer, and then they’d sit down at the table and talk while he had a drink. That’d been their way of staying in touch with each other during her high school years.

“Belle’s upstairs resting.” She reached out and touched his hand lightly. “She’s fine, it’s just the heat. It’s bad enough if you’re not pregnant, but I can’t even imagine having to endure it in her condition. She told me you’re in the freezer every night.”

Banger chuckled. “Freezer, my ass. I’m in the middle of the fuckin’ South Pole. Shit.” He gulped down his beer. “How you been doing?”

“Great. I got the job at the wildlife reserve. I’m super stoked!”

“That’s great, honey. I’m happy for you.”

“I had a good feeling about it when I went in for the interview. It’s going to be such a cool job. I start this Thursday. I’ll be glad to have something worthwhile to do.”

“Is this the big one off the highway?”

“No, this is a non-profit animal rescue. It’s very small, but they’re growing and they work with all sorts of wildlife. It should be fun.”

“Good for you.” Banger rose from his chair and threw his can in the recycle bin. “I’m gonna go up and check on Belle. You staying home tonight?”

“Yeah. I thought I’d make a big salad with a ton of stuff in it, and we can order pizza. It’ll just be the three of us, since Ethan’s over at Luke’s and Emily is with her boyfriend. Sound good?”

“Sounds great. In a couple of hours?”

“Okay.”

Banger left the kitchen, and Kylie wondered if she shouldn’t go over to Jerry’s later that night. Deciding it was a good thing for him to miss her she walked to the reading room, a tall glass of iced tea in her hand, and settled into a cushy chair to read her mystery novel.

J
erry sat in
the chair next to the detective’s desk, staring at the heap of files littering it. He hated being there; he and the badges had never had a good relationship. He glanced at the clock on the wall, steam starting to come off him when he realized how long he’d been waiting for the fucking badge. Sick of wasting his time, he rose from the chair and ambled toward the door.

“Hey, Mr. Kenyon, wait up.” Jerry turned around and saw the pudgy detective hurry up to him. “Sorry I’m late. We had an emergency. Come on back. I have some questions I need to ask you, and I want to give you an update on your family’s murder.”

Jerry scowled and followed the detective back to where he’d been sitting for at least twenty minutes. He stretched out his legs, his hands resting on his thighs.

“I don’t know if you remember my name, but I’m Detective Knop.” The man extended his hand, then took it back when Jerry stared at him impassively, his hands still on his thighs. “Want one?” he offered, opening the top of a donut box.

“What do you wanna ask me?” Jerry said.

Brushing the crumbs off his desk, Knop pulled out a file from under a stack of other cases and opened it. Rummaging through it, he took out several pieces of paper. “We got some information on the boyfriend your sister had been seeing right before her murder.”

“What’s the fucker’s name?”

The detective leaned back in his chair. “We don’t know his name yet, but we got something of a description. Maybe you can let me know if you ever saw him hanging around the trailer park.”

“Maybe. Ask the questions. I gotta go somewhere soon.” Jerry was still pissed that Knop made him wait around. The only reason he was there was to find out what the badges knew so he could track the motherfucker down and make him suffer for what he did to Wanda and Kelsey.

“It seems like your sister took up with a guy about two weeks before she was murdered. The neighbors saw his car parked in front of your mother’s trailer practically every night since they started dating. You see a bronze Buick Lacrosse parked around the place in the last two weeks before your mom and sister died?”

Jerry shook his head. “What’s the year?”

“From the pictures we showed the neighbors, I’d say it was a 2006 or 2007. The neighbors said it was a dark maroon, and the guy would blast loud music whenever he came by to pick your sister up. He also flashed around a lot of money. He’d have a wallet he’d take out as if he were counting his bills for something, then he’d knock on their door.”

“Never saw the car. What does he look like?”

“A lot of the neighbors didn’t get a good look at his face—he usually wore a hat pulled down low. They said he had black hair and always wore thick gold-framed sunglasses, even at night.”

A sudden coldness hit Jerry and he jerked his head back. In that moment, he knew the murders were meant as a message from the fucking asshole in the purple Corvette who’d stalked Kylie in Crested Peak. The madman was basically telling Jerry to leave Kylie alone, and he’d punished him for not listening by killing Wanda and Kelsey.

“You know someone fitting that description?” the detective asked.

Jerry shook his head, his shock turning into white-hot rage.

“You sure? You looked like something clicked for you just now.”

“Don’t know anyone like that. Any leads on who he is and if he’s still in Pinewood Springs?”
The fucker is in Pinewood, and Kylie’s in danger. I gotta let Banger know.

“We’re still investigating.”

Anxious to get to the clubhouse, he leapt to his feet. “Let me know if you find anything out. I gotta go.” Not wanting to raise the badges’ suspicions, Jerry sauntered at a leisurely pace out of the police station, swung his leg over his Harley, and took off in search of Banger.

*     *     *

Kylie turned up
the hard rock station louder as she swung onto Miller Street, her body buzzing from excitement. She’d been working for the past few days in the office for the non-profit job she’d wanted and was anxious to go to the wildlife rescue and work with the animals. A desk job hadn’t been her idea of a good time. She thought she’d be stuck filing for eight hours until the woman, Mrs. Morris, told her the previous day that Kylie would start training at the reserve. Mrs. Morris said she’d be working with the director, Mr. Austin, four other assistants, and a veterinarian. Kylie could hardly contain herself, she was so elated.

Checking her GPS, she veered off Miller Street and picked up Highway 32. She was definitely riding high on the thrill of her new job and her adorable Jerry. Each time she thought about him, her lips would tingle and shivers skated across her skin. He was so awesome, and he loved her. He’d even said he’d deal with her dad, but Kylie had told him to lay low for a while. She knew her dad better than anyone, and Jerry riding in on his chrome steed to proclaim his love for her wouldn’t sit well at all with Banger.

As she drove, she noticed steam coming out of the front of her hood. Kylie glanced at the temperature gauge. It was approaching the red mark.
Shit! What the hell is going on?

She pulled off to a side road and killed the engine. Popping open the hood, a cloud of steam billowed out, and when she looked on the ground she saw the lemon-lime color of coolant puddling under her car. The last thing she needed was car trouble on her way to work. What kind of an impression was she going to make on the director?

She scanned the area looking for Johnnie, the newest guy her dad had assigned to follow her, but he was nowhere to be seen. Did she lose him? Her dad would be super pissed when he found out the prospect couldn’t tail an almost twenty-year-old girl. Taking out her phone, she began to call her dad then remembered he was in church, so she called her employer.

“Pinewood Springs Wildlife Rescue,” Mrs. Morris answered.

“Hi. This is Kylie, and I have an overheated car. I’m stuck off Highway 32. I’m going to try and find someone who can give me a ride, but I wanted to let you know I’ll be a little late for work.”

“Are you in a safe place?”

“Yeah. I pulled off the highway just after the Ward Road exit. I’m really sorry about this. I can’t believe this is happening. My car is basically brand new.”

“It’s all right. I can have Mr. Austin pick you up.”

“Oh, no. I don’t want him to come get me. I swear I can find a friend to help me out.”

“It’s no bother. He just left and will be driving right by you. I’ll give him your location and he should be there very soon.”

“Okay. Thanks a lot.” Kylie placed her phone in her tote and leaned against her car. The heat from the sun was starting to warm everything up, even though it was fairly early in the morning. Soon she heard the crunch of tires over dirt; she looked down the road and saw a dark blue SUV headed toward her. She smoothed down her hair and stood away from her car.

The SUV stopped in front of her and a young man she’d guess to be in his late twenties stepped out. He had blond hair and brown eyes and wore cowboy boots, blue jeans, and a western-style shirt.

“You must be Kylie. I’m Steven Austin,” he said in a heavy accent. It sounded Southern to her, but she wasn’t quite sure from which region.

“Hi. I’m so embarrassed about all this. I was just driving down the highway on my way to the reserve when all this steam started coming out of the hood of my car. I pulled over, took a look, and I think it’s the radiator.”

“Let me see.” He bent under her hood, looking inside. “Yep, it’s the radiator all right. Looks like it sprung a leak or something. Your coolant is all over the place, except where you want it to be.” He flashed a big smile.

“I can’t believe this. I’ve only had the car since last September. This is insane.”

“It happens. We’ll leave it here and I’ll take you to work. You can call someone to deal with this.”

“Okay, great. My dad will know what to do. He’s in a meeting, but I’ll call him during my lunch hour.” Mr. Austin opened the door for her and she swung her legs in then settled on the seat. “You have a nice car,” she said when he slammed the car door shut.

“Thanks. You from Pinewood Springs?”

“Yeah. I know you’re not. You have an accent, but I don’t know from which state.”

“Texas.” He smiled widely, his brown eyes piercing hers.

“I love Texas barbecue.”

“Me too.” He laughed.

As the car rambled on, they chatted about music, and she told him about the best restaurants in town, the tourist places he couldn’t miss, and the best hiking trails in the area. Then, out of the blue, he asked, “Do you have a boyfriend?”

Taken aback, she nodded.

“He’s a lucky man. I have a girlfriend, but she’s not as pretty as you are.” He glanced at her, his eyes lingering on her chest, making Kylie extremely uncomfortable.

She looked around and noticed they hadn’t jumped back on the highway. “Are you taking a shortcut?”

He nodded. “There’s major construction going on the highway, so I found this detour. It beats just sitting and waiting in the snail-paced traffic.”

“I’ll have to remember that for tomorrow.” She glanced out the window as the dust from the road seeped in through the vents, sticking in her throat. After swallowing several times, the dry spot was still there. She coughed, hoping that would work, but it didn’t. She coughed again, and soon she had a coughing fit. She rummaged through her tote, cursing for having forgotten to bring a couple bottled waters.

“You okay?” he asked in a long drawl.

Shaking her head, tears running down her cheeks, she choked out, “Do you have any water?”

“I don’t. I have cough drops in the glove box.” He leaned over to open it, but Kylie had beaten him to it.

She saw a bag of cherry-flavored drops and took it out, hurriedly unwrapping one of the candies and popping it in her mouth. The cool menthol calmed her throat, and she sniffled as she tried to keep her nose from running. She placed the bag back in the glove box. And then she saw them: a pair of gold-framed sunglasses with mirrored lenses.

As she stared at them, time froze, and the only thing she was conscious of was the roar of her blood as it rushed to her head. Kylie looked out the window and realized the road Mr. Austin just turned on was in the opposite direction of the wildlife rescue. Slowly, she turned to face him, her heart thumping. His eyes were cold and dead, and ice ran through her veins.
It’s
him.
Fuck! Don’t you dare panic.