CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Loch
I sat there at the end of the bar, fidgeting nervously with some paperwork in front of me. I was trying to go over expense reports for the bar, but the more I looked at them the less my mind took in. Reagan was due there any minute. I’d left her car for her to find and I hoped it would end this feud we had going on. I longed to hear her voice. And not the clipped tones and short answers I’d been getting. I wanted to see her bright smile directed towards me again.
The door jerked open and the sunlight spilled into the dim bar. She walked in with purpose and the dust from the lot whirled around her as she stepped inside. In a second, her eyes found mine. Our gaze never broke as she walked up to me. She tossed her keys and phone onto the bar top. And for a second, I thought her lips were going to crash into mine. I turned towards her, opening my body up willingly. To my disappointment, she stopped with not even an inch between our lips. I didn’t look away from her eyes, but I saw her pull her bottom lip into her mouth, wet it, then slowly release it. My breath caught at the sight. I could tell she was nervous and trying her best to hide it. She was fucking sexy and she wasn’t even trying to be. I resisted the urge to pull her into me and claim her with everything I had in me. Because, fuck, Reagan had gotten to me.
“You’re forgiven.” Her breath was warm across my lips. She smirked, then barely brushed her lips on the corner of my mouth. I groaned internally. The intentionally misplaced peck wasn’t enough. And now I wanted to feel those soft lips molded against mine more than ever. She stepped back, still smirking, and I wondered if she could tell how much of a mess I was on the inside. I blinked as she turned around and headed behind the bar.
I should have been pissed at her words. I was forgiven?! Who the hell did she think she was? No one talked to me like that. I was only trying to do something nice. Who knew it was going to blow up in my face that big? Everyone except me, apparently. But it still didn’t stop me from wanting to take care of her. However, I just couldn’t find it in me to be pissed at her. I was about to say something when my phone started to ring in my pocket.
“Yeah?” I answered after seeing it was Bocca.
“Need you to come to the clubhouse, brother.” His tone was serious. I knew he was still looking into Reagan’s roommate and her boyfriend. He hadn’t been able to find much, and both the girls were still considered missing. I hadn’t said anything to Reagan about any of it. I had a feeling that she would be raging mad if she knew I was going behind her back looking into her. What choice did I have? She wasn’t giving me anything.
“On my way,” I replied low, then dropped the call as I stood up.
Reagan looked up at me, her face a little sad when she noticed I was leaving. Part of me smiled on the inside. Most of the time she tried to hide how she felt about me. But then there were those rare moments when she let her guard down, and it was the best of times.
“Gotta head to the clubhouse for a bit. I’ll be back.” She gave me an acknowledging chin lift before I left.
I liked that she didn’t typically ask a lot of questions. I also liked it when she did hit something I wasn’t going to talk about, she dropped it. No doubt in the back of my mind that she would make the perfect old lady. But I wasn’t ready to even entertain any kind of thoughts like that. Or so I kept trying to convince myself.
I made my way through the clubhouse with hurried steps, not looking at anyone as I went through the hall to Bocca’s room. I didn’t want to be stopped. I was on a mission. I felt like time was closing in on me and I needed answers. Things with the club were off. Things with Reagan were off. The heaviness of having no control was starting to crush me. And that was something I couldn’t handle.
“What’s goin’ on?” I barked as I stepped into Bocca’s open door. He motioned for me to close the door. I checked the hall to make sure no one was hanging around before I shut it.
“The roommate’s car was seen in Dallas three days ago, at that gentlemen’s club Reagan used to work at.” He shoved a grainy picture at me that looked like it had been taken from cheap security footage. The car was empty, but it the license plate was clear as day. I guessed it was taken from the parking lot of the club. “I tried to tap into the footage on the inside but it seems there aren’t any cameras in the club. It seems to be a very exclusive place. I would bet a lot of people that pay good money to not have their face photographed going there.”
“So, could it be the roommate? She could’ve taken off?” I knew it couldn’t be that simple and easy. Bocca gave me a look letting me know it was most likely not that. “Where is the boyfriend?”
“That’s the thing.” He let out a long breath. “I don’t know. I can’t find him. There is no trail on any of his information. He hasn’t so much as used his credit card or phone since the day they went. The stories on their disappearance have stopped. It seems they were quick to have died out. Don’t even think the police are looking into it anymore.”
“Find him.” A death warning was in my tone. He gave me a knowing nod as I tried to stop my body from shaking with rage. I hated that I was letting it get to me. I knew he was damn good at that shit and was beyond sure that he was doing everything he could.
“What about the ride? Need your head there, man.”
“Yeah. Fuck!” I closed my eyes and took a calming breath through my nose. “I’m good. I’m gonna talk to Cal. Thinkin’ I should leave Brand here to keep an eye on her, take you. She won’t think twice if he stays behind. God knows, I don’t want to do anything else to piss her off.” He nodded, the corners of his mouth briefly twitched like he was holding back his amusement.
“Let me know. I’ll keep looking.”
I headed out to find Cal. I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to tell him about what was going on with Reagan. Hell, I didn’t know that much to tell, anyway. All I had was this feeling deep in my gut that something wasn’t right. I knew he wouldn’t let me stay behind, so I was trying to think of the next best thing.
I found him in his office, half-asleep in his chair, his big arms crossed and resting on his huge belly. When he heard me come in, he opened his eyes slowly and raised a questioning brow. I sat down and explained what I had concrete knowledge of and then told him what I felt. When I finished, he looked at me with one eye narrowed for a moment. I couldn’t tell what was going on in his head. He scratched under his long beard as he processed everything.
“You got the boys runnin’ scared from her, afraid you’ll do your worst on them if they even look her way, yet you ain’t claimed her. The fuck is goin’ on with you?” His words came out gruff and bounced around my head for a while.
“She’s Ethel’s granddaughter. I’m just tryin’ to look out for her.” I rubbed the back of my neck. Sure, that was true, but there was more. I couldn’t help the pull I had to her and the distance I would go to keep her safe. “You know more than anyone how much Ethel has done for me. I owe her this.”
“You are a damn fool, Loch.” He shook his head at me. “Yeah, Bocca goes, Brand stays. You better be ready for this. No blindsidin’. I need your eyes open and your mind on what’s goin’ on.” He leaned forward with his warning, pinning me with his stare. I nodded. I wouldn’t let my brothers down. I stood and walked out, still thinking about his words.
I headed out to the bar area. I needed to calm down before I saw Reagan again. I grabbed a beer and took a seat on one of the couches. I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Bocca letting him know he was going on the run. I figured I would find Brand at some point later and talk to him. He and Reagan had gotten pretty close, and I knew it was a good choice to have him watch over her while I was gone.
“Hey, man. Bocca said you needed to talk to me,” Brand said not even ten minutes later. He took a seat beside me, brow raised high in question.
“Yeah. Need you to stay here and keep an eye on Reagan. I know you were excited about goin’ on your first patched-in run, but this is important. I’m trustin’ you with it.” I eyed him and to my surprise, he didn’t look angry or upset. I knew I’d made the right choice.
“You got it.” He sat back and it looked like he wanted to say something else.
“Spit it out, boy,” I barked, not in the mood to deal with anymore shit at that moment.
“I know it’s not my place, but is everything alright with her?” he hesitantly asked. I didn’t want to tell him too much. It might change the way he looked at her and I couldn’t have that. Reagan was smart enough to pick up on when people treated her differently.
“Nope.”
“Okay. Got it. I’m looking out for precious cargo.” With that, he stood up and walked off.
Wanting to be around Reagan now that she was happier with me, I headed back to my bar. I also needed to let her know I would be gone for a couple of days. I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to tell her personally. I probably could have just left and come back without her even knowing. But I wanted to tell her. I wanted her to know that I cared enough about her to let her know myself.
I found her in the stock room grabbing a case of beer. I rushed over to her and nicely took it from her. She graced me with a wide smile like she was surprised and happy to see me. We walked back out to the front and started loading up the coolers. The place was empty and I was glad to have a moment alone with her.
“I’m headin’ out with some of the boys tomorrow. I should be back late Thursday.” Her eyes turned sad. “Don’t worry, I’m leaving Brand behind.”
“Oh, so what, poor Band gets put on babysitting duty? I thought now that he was patched-in he didn’t get the shit jobs,” she joked. Her mouth tipped up on one side.
“Trust me, babe, it’s not a shit job.” A light blush spread across her cheeks as she bit the side of her lip.
“I should be pissed. I don’t need a watcher.” She smiled at me. “I’ll be fine, Nate, but thank you. You might want to be careful though…” she had a playful look on her face.
“And why is that?” I bent down to her level, our faces a breath apart.
“Because he is a hell of a lot more charming than you. And he actually treats me like a person.” Her eyebrow cocked with her sassy reply. I knew it was too good to think she was just going to let things go. And damn if that woman didn’t know how to push buttons.
“Watch it. I’ll only warn you once.” My words were stern, but my tone was playful. There was still a hint of a dark warning in my tone. Oh, the things I wanted to do to her. Her face drifted closer to mine, the sides of our noses touched.
“I’m not scared of you.” Her eyes locked on mine and her lips twitched. Then she stepped back. “Be safe.” Her face was less joking and I wondered if she had some sort of idea what the run was for. Her eyes were almost pleading with me to stay.
“Nothin’ to worry about.” I shook the feeling of her worrying about me off as she turned around and walked away from me. I needed to get out of there. I had to get my head straight before I headed out the next day.
The next day we made it to the hotel just as the sun was going down. Lake was in the van and the rest of us on our bikes. I texted Race, the president of the Dogs of Wrath. I let him know we made it into town and that we would be at the meet point in the morning. Everything seemed to be on target. I called Cal and let him know we didn’t have any problems on the way down. Part of me wanted to call Reagan, but I knew better. I sat on the bed, toying with my phone and trying to talk myself out of it. We weren’t in a relationship and I didn’t need her to feel like it was one. I sighed wishing I could hear her voice. She calmed me. Well, when we weren’t at odds, she did. Something deep inside of me was on edge and I desperately needed that warm feeling she gave me.
Bocca and I were sharing a room. He came in a while later with a bag of food. He handed me a burger and we sat on separate beds eating in silence for a bit. I could feel his eyes on me. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to get into whatever he wanted to talk about, but I doubted there was any way out of it.
“What?” I said not being able to take the odd silence anymore.
“I just don’t get it, man,” he said around a mouth full of fries. “You won’t claim her. Yet, pretty much everyone can fuckin’ tell how you feel about her, even if you won’t admit it to your own damn self. Then you go and leave Brand there with her. Sometimes, I question your smarts.”
“She’s in some kinda shit. I’m just tryin’ to look out. And what the fuck you talkin’ about with Brand?! I thought it was the best option. She feels safe with him and they get along.” He looked at me with a dumbfounded expression. “I don’t have time for this shit.” I was angry that somehow there was something going on that I was missing.
“So this should be a simple handoff and go, right?” he asked, taking the hint and changing the subject. I nodded chewing a huge bite of food, trying to ignore the nagging feeling in my gut. I was glad when he turned on the old as fuck TV and found something to watch.
The next morning when we pulled into the hidden side entrance to the docks it was quiet. We made our way around the scattered rows of old, rusted out shipping containers until we made it to the tucked away meet spot. The Dogs ran the port, but we weren’t stupid enough to do business out in the open. Race was leaning up against his bike with his arms crossed over his chest. He was a big guy, over six and a half feet tall, with a shaved head and a full dark beard. He had tattoos covering ninety-nine percent of his body and he looked mean as hell. When he wasn’t doing business, though, he was a real fun guy. He was surrounded by seven of his crew, looking just as scary as him.
Lake backed the van up to the back of theirs as I stepped up and shook Race’s hand. His guys seemed a little on edge. I watched without looking like I noticed it. Even Race looked antsy to get the deal done. I handed him the black gym bag full of money as my guys transferred the crates into our van. After everything was done, we shook hands again.
“Watch your back out there, brother.” His warning stopped me in my tracks. “Just get out of town as quickly and quietly as possible.” Then he hopped on his bike and took off like lightning, his crew right behind him.
I looked over at Crow and he gave me a knowing nod. Then we all headed back out the way we came. Leading the pack, I checked the main road before pulling out. I didn’t see anything that seemed suspicious, but I still reached back and felt for the gun in the waist of my pants. I had checked it several times before leaving the motel room, so I knew it was good to go. I pulled out, determined to take the straightest route to the highway.
As I pulled onto the main road, four shots rang out in succession. I ducked, and my bike wavered a little. I regained control and saw Bocca’s bike go down in my mirror. His body rolled a few times and then went limp as his bike continued to skid away from him. The sound of metal scraping against pavement almost overshadowed my loud heartbeat.