Torn (20 page)

“Davis.” He stood and walked away from the
table, leaving Kai standing guard over me like some lost old world
treasure.

“It’s probably work, which means he’s going
to be a while.” Standing, I grabbed his sandwich and headed to the
counter. “Hi, can I get this wrapped up to go?”

“Sure,” the teenage boy behind the register
said as he took the plate with the other half of Brody’s Reuben.
While the food was being boxed, I turned and watched Brody just
outside the café window when the young man cleared his throat.
“Ma’am, here is your husband’s sandwich.”

“Oh, he’s not my husband.”

“Oh, well, uhh, sorry ’bout that.” He held
the bag of leftovers out to me.

Kai approached and escorted me out to the
car. “You sit and relax. I’ll go let Mr. Davis know that we’ll be
waiting for him in the car.”

“’Kay.” I pulled out my phone from my hobo
handbag to find I had text messages from Drew and Barb asking about
the doctor’s appointment. There was also a missed call from Drew
and my sort-of mom, Donna.

Donna insisted Jaxon and I come over for
dinner tomorrow night. Her husband Jasper—Drew’s cop mentor—had the
evening off and wouldn’t even be on call. She had already called
Drew and made sure he could be there too. She was cooking Chicken
Perlo and no one prepared it the way she did. I could remember
times when Drew and I would fight over the leftovers at three in
the morning.

After I hung up with Donna, Kai opened the
passenger door as Brody approached the car.

“Sorry.” He slid into the backseat with me.
“That was Robert calling with an update regarding the memorial
service. And we have to figure out what to do with her interest in
the companies we shared.”

Companies? As in plural? Why did I think this
whole time it was one company that he invested in and was a silent
partner?

“Well, wouldn’t any stock she owned be
bequeathed to her next of kin? Since she wasn’t married and she
didn’t have any children, shouldn’t it all go to her parents?” I
was guessing that at twenty-eight years of age she didn’t have a
will. Hell, I was in the healthcare field and knew better, and I
didn’t have one.

Note to self, I need to
make a will and advance directive. Just in case.

Chapter Twenty-five

Jaxon

We left the deli and walked back to where we
had parked. It had taken all of my self-control not to drag Leila
out of there with me. I kept telling myself that Brody was going to
be in her life and if I wanted to keep her, I had to accept he was
part of the deal. The times when I wanted to introduce his face to
my fist, I thought about the time I spent away from her, the nights
I went to bed alone, not smelling her shampoo in the morning when I
showered. Those thoughts had become my catalyst to be nice to this
guy even when I wanted to dump him in a swamp.

“Why’s that asshole spendin’ time with your
old lady, Remi?” Dig was the only brave soul to pipe up.

In an attempt to keep Leila out of the club
life, I had not explained the whole situation to the brothers. I
had lived the MC lifestyle for several years and enjoyed a lot of
it. Meeting Leila changed all of that for me. I didn’t want to drag
her into this assignment and make her feel like she had to be
someone she wasn’t. She wasn’t an MC old lady and I’d never treat
her like one. But if I brought her around and let her act normal
the brothers would question me.

“Brother, that was Brody,” I answered as we
reached my truck. “And before you say a word, know this, I’d walk
through fire for my old lady. I’d also put up with his preppy, rich
ass. Lei wants him to be a part of the baby’s life because of her
dad walkin’ out on them when she was little. She doesn’t want our
daughter growin’ up feelin’ like she wasn’t good enough and that
was why he left. What the fuck would you have me do?”

“So what, you gotta have family dinners and
shit with this punk ass?” Stretch asked as he straddled his bike
and opened his sandwich.

“Fuck that. No way in hell I’d be havin’
Thanksgiving dinner with my old lady’s ex,” Viper scoffed.

“V, I doubt you’d ever be in a position to
know. You can’t keep your dick in your pants long enough to have an
old lady,” Dig laughed.

“No, I won’t be breakin’ bread with mister
fancy pants in there. I will however have to stand by and watch Lei
do it.” My reply received several explicit reactions. “Y’all don’t
get it. She’s worth it. When you find your Leila you’ll understand.
Until then get the fuck off my case.”

“All right, enough chitchat, boys. We gotta
problem.” Viper took command of the conversation. “I think our good
ol’ prez is in too deep with the Mexicans. No way we shouldn’t be
goin’ after these fuckers that shot Rem. I don’t think Mark’s the
one callin’ the shots no more.”

“Ya know, I was wonderin’ why he kept sayin’
the situation would be handled but then wouldn’t let us do shit,”
Stretch managed to say with a mouthful of pastrami.

“What are you thinkin’, Viper?” Dig
asked.

“I’m thinkin’ we need to keep an eye on Mark
and find out what the fuck’s goin’ down in our club.” Viper opened
his Coke and took a gulp. “’Cause I have a feelin’ he’s hidin’
something. I’m thinkin’ Drill’s buyers might’ve gotten to him.”

“What do you mean got to him? Like have
something on him or threatened him?” I asked as the possible
scenarios ran through my head.

“Exactly like that. I haven’t seen Rosie at
the compound in a few weeks. That seem strange to anyone else?”
Viper questioned as he sat down on his bike.

“We need to get eyes on Rosie and make sure
she’s okay. If they grabbed her, then Mark’s gonna need our help,
whether he wants it or not. No one says a word to him. I’ll handle
him. Dig, Stretch, y’all go out to his place in Mount Pleasant and
see if you can find Rosie,” I ordered as I opened the door to the
truck. “I’m headin’ to the clubhouse. This stays between the four
of us. We can’t trust anyone right now.”

Everyone agreed to keep the situation and our
suspicions to ourselves. We didn’t need anyone going rogue and
bringing the wrong people into this mess. We all left, going our
separate ways, my destination being the clubhouse. On the way I
called Leila and told her I had some club business to handle and
that I’d be home in a few hours.

When I pulled up to the clubhouse, I saw
Mark’s bike on the side of the building. Entering through the front
door, I found him at the bar with empty shot glasses lining the bar
in front of him. Beer in hand, he hollered at a clearly shaken Kat
behind the bar. “I said gimme ’nother fuckin’ shot, you whore.”

“Prez.” I clapped my hand down on his
shoulder. “I think you’ve had enough, brother. Let’s talk in the
office.”

With a string of cusses, he reluctantly
followed me to his office in the back. My guess, he knew he wasn’t
getting served anymore and I wouldn’t stand by and let him knock
the girls around.

“What’s goin’ on, Mark? This isn’t you.” I
took a seat in front of his disheveled desk. “I’ve never seen you
so outta control.”

Stumbling behind the desk, he flopped down in
the rickety old leather chair. “Leave it alone, Remi.”

“Not when I know something’s goin’ on.
Where’s Rosie?” I settled back into the chair.

“Leave her outta this. She’s got nothin’ to
do with this,” he roared and slammed his fists down on the
paper-covered desk.

“Wanna know what I think, brother?”

“No.”

“I think whoever Drill was workin’ with got
to you. They either have Rosie or threatened her and you sent her
away.” His brow furrowed and eyes narrowed, essentially giving him
away. “So which is it?”

“Leave. It. Alone.”

“Right, let’s leave it alone, just like we
did with Drill. Let’s pretend it’s not happenin’ until it blows up
in our fuckin’ faces.” Standing, I rounded the desk and stopped in
front of him as he stood up. “Tell me what the fuck is goin’ on.
Let me help you.”

I could see the internal struggle in his eyes
as I stood there and waited. “I came home last week and she was out
cold on the floor. They trashed the place and left her with a
message. They want the money Drill
borrowed
from them. Two hundred grand in one week or they’d be back. So I
sent her to her momma’s place.”

“Fuck. When do they want it by?”

“Tomorrow night. Gotta meet them at the old
navy base at nine p.m.” He walked away from me to the bathroom and
threw some water on his face.

“You’re not seriously thinkin’ of meetin’
them alone?” Grabbing a towel off the bar, I tossed it to him.

“No, I was gonna tell y’all at church, but
something dawned on me. What if Drill wasn’t workin’ alone?”

“You mean to tell me you think we have
another fuckin’ traitor?” Then I remembered what Drill said right
before I shot him.
The money was gone.
“Son
of a bitch. I think you’re right.”

“What?”

“Right before I shot him, Drill said the
money was gone. If he was working alone then no one else would’ve
known about the accounts or had access to drain them.”

“Motherfucker. I
was
right.” He hauled back and punched his right fist through the
drywall in the bathroom. “Did he say who?”

“No, but at this point I think we need to
assume everyone is a suspect. We need a plan.”

We spent the next hour coming up with several
different lies to tell each of the brothers. Each brother would be
told that Mark had the money Drill owed the unnamed buyers. They
would each know the situation and be told we were going to set
these guys up to be ambushed. The only variation would be the place
we’d be sitting in wait.

If we had a traitor among us, we’d know by
tomorrow night.

A few hours later I got word back from
Stretch that he and Dig sat on Mark and Rosie’s place for a while
with no sign of her. I told Stretch we would be meeting the buyers
the next night, but that we had planned a little trap for them.
Explaining the theory of a traitor, I told him that only Mark, him,
and I knew about the ambush. He and I would meet at the secret
location thirty minutes before but that no one could know. We
couldn’t trust anyone.

Mark called Axel, Rip, and Dig with the same
story, each with a different location, while I called Viper and
Barrett. Even though they both work with me, I had to make it look
convincing for Mark. He could never suspect that any of us were
Feds. If he did, we’d be the ones walking into an ambush.

Chapter Twenty-six

Leila

Drew had called while we were at lunch and
told me we were cleared to return to the house, and once he got
home he’d pick Ruger up and bring him over. Kai and Brody brought
me home after lunch and insisted on staying until Jaxon returned or
Drew came over with Ruger. No matter how many times I said I would
be fine, they wouldn’t leave. I was five minutes away from a
full-blown meltdown when I heard the front door open.

“Good, you’re home.” I said with a sigh,
looking over my shoulder at Jaxon as he shut the door. I then
turned to Brody who was on the opposite couch. “You can leave now.
Your babysitting duty is over.”

“Lei, don’t be like that. You know I am only
trying to keep you safe.” Brody stood and grabbed his suit jacket
that had been slung over the back of the couch.

Kai was still standing by the wall that
separated the living room from the dining room. “I’ll wait in the
car, boss.”

“Thank you.” Brody nodded.

“We need to talk before you leave,” Jaxon
demanded then walked to the kitchen. Halfway down the hall he
hollered back, “Just Brody.”

Oh this should be
interesting.

Kai exited the house through the front door,
which allowed me to quietly pad down the hall and listen in on the
conversation. Jaxon was telling Brody, “…find a reason. I don’t
give a shit what it is, but she can’t—”

“Knock, knock.” Drew opened the front door
and Ruger came bounding in toward me. Waddling as fast as I could,
I got the hell out of the dining room. I made it to the foyer when
Brody and Jaxon stepped into view in the kitchen.

“There’s my handsome boy.” Babbling at Ruger
in a baby voice, I tried to throw any suspicion they might have had
that I was eavesdropping. “You wanna treat?” I earned myself a deep
bark and a lot of prancing about from a happy puppy.

“Nice cover, Sneaky McSneakypants,” Drew
teased.

“Shut up before I cut you,” I threatened
under my breath.

“You wouldn’t dare. You love me too much,”
Drew said with his chest puffed out.

Starting toward the kitchen, I saw Brody’s
back as he followed Jax out the backdoor. Now surely I wouldn’t
hear what they were saying. Ruger barked at me.

“Okay, okay. I’m walking as fast as I can.
Hold your horses, mister.” Grabbing the bag of Greenies off the
counter, I gave him the chewy and watched him tear through the
house like a mad man. “You know, you have the worst timing
ever.”

“Why, because I busted you spying on those
two?” He nodded toward the backyard. “It’s not my fault you suck at
eavesdropping.”

Sticking my tongue out at him, I grabbed him
by his arm and dragged him back into the living room. “Drew, I need
you to find out what they are up to. Those two hate each other so
for them to be speaking alone something has to be going on.”

“I’m sure it’s just about Drill and all that
stuff. Don’t get yourself all worked up.”

Sighing, I sat down on the couch and decided
he was probably right. “Okay. I’ve just been so on edge lately with
everything that’s happened. I guess I’m looking for something
that’s not there.”

“As Mom used to say, don’t go borrowin’
trouble.” Drew sat down next to me just as my entire stomach
contorted. “That’s still some freaky shit, Lei.”