Michael

 

Several hours earlier

 

Of all the things I expected to find out when I walked up to the Chicago’s Fallen clubhouse, it was not a picture of my Lauren hanging on the arm of their VP, Colton. Walking into their house held enough danger, considering they still believed me one of the top runners for the Predators, but once they found out the VP’s ex was under my protection things got a little more serious.

 

“Lauren’s with you now?” Colton’s eyes had narrowed when I started asking him questions about her.

 

“She’s an old friend. I’m just trying to figure out why the fuck someone tried to kill her.” I swept my gaze around the bar area, at the handful of members nursing a beer, pretending not to listen to our conversation.

 

“Right.” He rolled his eyes and took a pull on his beer. “Lauren never mentioned having you for a friend, and I knew all of her friends.”

 

“I’m sure you did.” Colton had a reputation for being a little micromanaging when it came to his women. Jealous as hell, too. “We were friends in high school. I hadn’t seen her in seven years when she walked into my garage last week for a fix on her car.”

 

“She went to your garage? Why the fuck didn’t she come here?” He slammed his beer back on the bar.

 

“It was a tow. Her car wouldn’t start; guess you didn’t take too good of care of that piece of shit she drives.”

 

“That fucking Honda? I told her to get rid of it a thousand times, even threatened to drive it into the river, but she’s got a thick head.”

 

I laughed. “Yeah. I’ve noticed.”

 

“If you’re just fixing up her car, what the fuck you doing here?”

 

“Like I said, someone drove into her, plowed right into the passenger’s side of her car. If the idiot had been coming from the other direction, she probably would have found herself dead. As it was, the idiot was just that, an idiot.”

 

“What’s that got to do with us?” He turned, squaring off with me.

 

“The owner of the car had dropped it off at your shop for repairs that morning,” I pointed out, and took a slow sip of my beer.

 

“That Charger? Some cop came by already asking questions. That car was ripped out of the lot before we got to work on it.”

 

“Uh-huh. That’s what I heard, but you see, Colton, how does a fucking car get stolen out of your lot? That shit doesn’t just happen, you know.” I leaned back in the chair. “Look, I don’t even give a shit how that happens on your watch. What I give a shit about is who’s gunning for Lauren, and why.”

 

“You see a picture of Lauren and me and figure I’m out gunning for an ex?” He grinned, showing me his teeth. The image of my Lauren kissing this guy popped into my head, and I had to fight the urge to throw my fist into his mouth to knock out a few of those teeth. “Well, let me soothe your worrisome little mind, Mike. Lauren didn’t break my fucking heart when she left. Hell, I opened the door and walked her to her car. Too good for me, that one. All heart, no balls.” He couldn’t be more wrong, but I wasn’t going to correct him.

 

“No hard feelings she walked out on you?”

 

“You think she’s the first old lady to walk out of here?”

 

“She was your old lady?” His face softened at the hard tone in my voice, but I couldn’t hide what that statement did to me. My blood boiled.

 

“Nah, calm down. That’s when she high tailed it. I didn’t bring her around the club that much. She was always working or studying, but when I did, I could tell she was uncomfortable. The other girls didn’t take to her all that well, which didn’t bother me none, but when I started talking about being an old lady, she jumped ship.”

 

“How long ago was all of this?”

 

“I don’t know, a few years ago. So you see, why the fuck would I go after her now? Besides, see that hot chick over there, bending over to pick up that towel? That’s my old lady. Fuck, her ass is so sweet I told her not to bend over like that out here where the guys can see it.”

 

I followed his gaze and saw exactly what he meant. Her shorts rode up so high, her ass was falling out as she bent over. Creamy white globes that would make almost any man reach out to take a feel were exposed to the club.

 

I finished my beer while he jumped off his stool and marched over to her. He yanked her up by her arm and pointed a finger in her face while lecturing her. She didn’t look contrite in the least. In fact, she licked her lips as he continued to go one about her shorts. I almost expected him to bend her over his knee and give her a slap to that perfect round ass; instead he gave her a shove and an order to go put on something that covered her entire ass.

 

I would have chuckled, except as I watched him with her I pictured Lauren. What the fuck was she doing with a guy like him?

 

He might not be the angle that solved the riddle of Lauren’s accident, but there was something in that club that did. No way that car got stolen on their watch. Something there had to have been tied to that asshole at school. The internship was the prize, and none of these fuckers would give a rat’s ass about some college grad’s architecture internship unless they were given a reason to, a really good fucking reason.

 

***

 

When I picked up Lauren from work and she didn’t want to go back to my place, I wasn’t in the mood to argue. Getting riled up with her wouldn’t get us anywhere, and I needed answers.

 

If only she were as cooperative as her roommate, things probably would get dealt with a lot faster.

 

“So? Why didn’t you tell me the VP was your ex?” I asked again when she continued to give me a blank stare. My question must have caught her off guard, she didn’t have a quick lie for a response.

 

She closed her book and slid it onto the coffee table. “I didn’t think it had anything to do with anything. It was years ago and lasted all of six weeks.”

 

“He said you were going to be his old lady?” I crossed my arms over my chest, mostly to keep my hands off her.

 

“You went to talk to him?” Her eyes widened. “No. I wasn’t going to be his old lady. Even that term irritates me. I met him at a bar one night and we started seeing each other. He was jealous of anyone I talked to, and it was getting annoying. Accused me of sleeping with every guy I met. He thought making me his old lady would somehow make me feel more attached to him or something. I thought making me his anything would make me end up like my mom.”

 

“Did he touch you?” I should have beaten his ass to the ground when I had him right in front of me.

 

“No. Not like how you mean. He never did more than raise his voice, but it was too close to my mom’s history. He’d question me if I didn’t get home when I thought I would, if I had to work an extra shift he’d show up to be sure I was there. It was too much.”

 

No wonder she got all pissy when I pushed her to let me take her to work and back. She was used to her complete freedom. She watched her mom struggle with the overbearing jealous assholes in her life and she wasn’t going to repeat that life. Just another reason why she and I weren’t going to work. Jealousy wasn’t my thing, but protecting her was, and she’d feel just as suffocated by that as she had with Colton’s behavior.

 

“When Bixby mentioned his club this afternoon, you had no reaction. You didn’t put those pieces together?”

 

“Why would Colton or anyone else from that club want me dead, or even hurt? None of those people really had anything to do with me. I was barely at the clubhouse, and when I broke it off with Colton he couldn’t have cared less. He just shrugged and offered to walk me to my car.”

 

If she thought she was making me feel less pissed about the situation, she was wrong. Fucking Colton dismissed her that easily, like scraping a piece of chewed gum off his shoe?

 

“That doesn’t change the fact that someone from that club is probably involved. Tony is going to the clubhouse tonight to see if he can get any information on why Matthew attacked you. Someone there has to know something. Even when Prez has a secret, he lets it slip to someone. There’s usually some form of gossip going around about shit.”

 

She nodded, but kept silent.

 

“That guy you were chatting it up with today, was he an old flame, too?”

 

“No.” She shook her head and pushed off the couch. I watched her walk to the kitchen and pour herself a glass of water and lean against the counter to drink it.

 

“Who was he, Lauren?” I didn’t move from my spot. I wasn’t going to stalk her; she’d come to me and she’d tell me.

 

“Just a guy.” She let out a breath and put the empty glass down. “An old friend I hadn’t seen in while. He heard about the accident and wanted to be sure I was okay.”

 

“How’d he hear about it?”

 

“My ex.” She raised her eyebrow. “They met while we were dating. When Caleb bumped into him, he told him what happened. He was just checking up on me.”

 

“Why call pretending to be a cop?”

 

She laughed. “It’s just his way.” She shrugged, like that answer explained everything.

 

“You ditched Bixby and me to have that little conversation. Why not just tell us he was an old friend? Why be so damn secretive and then lie to Bixby?”

 

She tucked her hair back behind her ears and looked at me. I could see years of stress and worry in her eyes. All the things I tried to protect her from I feared had found her anyway when I wasn’t looking. She’d seen something, done something, lived through something that caused that look.

 

“Michael, it has nothing to do with what’s going on. I just need you to trust that.”

 

Trust her. Never would have been a question until I saw her that afternoon talking with that goon. “Tell me why he looked so pissed off,” I pushed.

 

She gave another laugh. “Because he’s as stubborn as you. He wanted to get involved, to figure out who was behind the car, but I said no, told him to mind his own business.”

 

That would do it for me; hell, less than that coming out of her mouth would have done that for me. “What’s his name?”

 

“Michael. I really need to work on that paper. I told you, he has nothing to do with what happened. Just part of a past that needs to stay behind me. You get that, more than anyone else, you should get that.”

 

I got it all right, but I didn’t fucking like it. After a few moments of tense silence, I caved. “Go finish your paper.” I nodded toward her books.

 

“You can go home, Michael. I’m fine here.”

 

I gave her a hard stare. “Don’t push it.”

 

She walked past me, trying to look put out, but I saw the ends of her lips curl as she bent over to grab her books.

 

I busied myself in her bedroom making a few calls. Everyone had a past, even Lauren. I knew that, and could even accept that. But it was Lauren; her past should have been clean, clear of any drama that a man like Colton or the mystery man provided. She wasn’t telling me something, and although I understood she may not want to revisit whatever part of her past that guy came from, I knew in my gut it had something to do with her damn internship and that Pierre guy. Guys like him didn’t give up on things they felt entitled to.

 

I called Tony, hoping he finally dug something up on the asshole.