Phoenix
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked Crystal.
She blinked her overly made up eyes at me, “I work here.”
“You work here? Since when?”
She huffed. “Since I got into it with your Old Lady. I figured all it would take was one word from her and I would be out on my ass. I started looking for a part-time job the next day.”
“Who was the man you were talking to?”
“Could you be a little more specific? I’m a waitress in a bar. I talk to a lot of men,” she sassed.
“Cut the shit. The man I was chasing out the back door. The man you intentionally stopped me from chasing. Gray shirt, blue jeans, about 5’10, 180lbs. That guy,” I barked. I didn’t have time for her bullshit.
“I swear, Phoenix, I was just coming out of the bathroom. I didn’t know you were chasing anybody. Wait, is everything okay? Why were you chasing him?” she asked.
“Club business,” I barked. “What was the man’s name?”
“I have no idea,” she shrugged. “The man you described paid with cash all night.”
Of course he fucking did. “If I see him again, do you want me to get his name?” she offered.
“Sure. Whatever. Listen, I’ve got to get back,” I said and stepped around her. I wasn’t sure if she was lying to me or not, but either way, I doubted she would bring me a name.
I returned to the table to find Dash, Duke, Shaker, and Carbon with the girls. “Where the fuck have you two been?” I growled.
“Being hassled by bouncers and then the cops,” Carbon spat.
“Somebody told the bouncer at the first club that they saw us put something in a girl’s drink. The bouncer called the police and was able to stall us long enough for them to arrive.” Shaker shrugged. “Sorry, Prez, we couldn’t answer our phones with cuffs on.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. I could feel a headache coming on. “Let’s get the fuck out of here. We can discuss everything else back at the clubhouse.”
***
After giving it some thought over the next few days, I couldn’t convince myself one way or the other about the man at the club. It could have been a coincidence or it could have been someone legitimately following them. And if he was following them, which one was he following and why? With little to go on, there wasn’t much I could do other than tell the girls to be vigilant and travel in pairs.
I was also frustrated with the situation regarding Annabelle’s parents. How could two fuck ups like them just disappear without a trace? It took skill to not be found. There was no way those two were capable of anything like that.
Finally, Luke called with the results from Annabelle’s DNA sample. “Hey, Phoenix. Sorry, it took a little longer than I thought, but we got a match. The body belonged to Lisbeth Maynard Burnett.”
“Yeah, I kinda had a feeling it did. Thanks for going to so much trouble for Annabelle. I know it will ease her mind to know what became of at least one of them. You find anything on her father, yet?”
“No, but I’ll keep looking. About her mother…something’s not sitting right with me. From what you told me, Octavius tried to use Annabelle’s parents as a bargaining chip in order to get her to comply with his wishes, correct?”
“Yes, that’s what he said and she later confirmed it. What’s that have to do with anything?”
“Well, an exact time of death couldn’t be determined, but it was estimated to be three months prior to the body’s discovery, meaning she died in August, the same month Annabelle and her family were taken to the farm. Octavius had to know she wasn’t working on the farm. So, how did he plan to use her as a bargaining chip if she wasn’t there?”
“Fuck me. You think Octavius killed her?”
“I honestly don’t know, Phoenix. We never found any records of either of them working for him and you said yourself he kept meticulous records. I try not to make guesses, but something about this feels off.”
“Yeah, I agree with you on that. Fuck, I can’t tell her this now. Our daughter is getting married tomorrow. Hell, we were supposed to leave for the rehearsal dinner 15 minutes ago.”
“Go enjoy your weekend with your family. I’ll keep the results to myself and you can tell her whenever you think is best.”
“Thanks, Luke. Appreciate it.”
I disconnected the call and wondered what in the hell we were about to uncover. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to dwell on it. I had a weekend full of wedding festivities, starting with the rehearsal dinner. “Annabelle! Let’s go! We’re going to be late!”
“Almost ready,” she called back. Yeah, that was the fourth or fifth time she’d said that. If she wasn’t walking out the door in five minutes, I was going to leave her ass at home. I hated being late.
When I heard her heels clicking down the stairs, I looked up and lost the ability to breathe. She had on a strapless, red dress that hugged her curves and stopped just an inch or two above her knees. Her legs were bare, but she had on the sexiest pair of strappy high heel shoes. Oh yes, I would be balls deep in her later when she was wearing nothing but those shoes.
“Phoenix, aren’t you going to say anything?” she asked, clearly annoyed.
“Sorry, doll face. I needed a minute. You took my breath away when you came down the stairs. Damn you look good in that,” I said, taking quick strides to her. I put my hands on her hips and pulled her to me. “I will be fucking you in those shoes later.” She moaned and pressed her hips against mine. “If you don’t stop that, I’ll be fucking you before we go, too.”
She gasped. “No, Phoenix. You’ll mess up my hair.”
That was her only protest? I growled, “I won’t touch your fucking hair. Turn around and put your hands on the stairs.”
“Phoenix, we don’t have time for this,” she protested, weakly.
I spun her around and pressed on her back, forcing her to bend forward and place her hands on the stairs. Pushing the hem of her dress up over her hips, I grabbed the minuscule piece of fabric she was trying to pass off as underwear and, with a quick tug, I tore her panties from her body, baring her wet pussy to my hungry eyes.
“Spread ‘em wider for me, baby,” I said as I freed my cock from my pants. She widened her stance and I stepped forward, rubbing the head of my cock through her slippery slit.
“You’re soaked, baby. Were you wanting me to fuck you?”
“I always want you to fuck me,” she moaned, trying to push herself back onto my cock.
I slapped her ass. “Bad girl. You get my cock when I give it to you.”
“Please give it to me.”
I grabbed her hips and shoved into her, setting a hard and fast pace. Reaching around with one hand, I rubbed her clit to help push her over the edge. Half a dozen more thrusts and I felt the walls of her pussy rippling around my dick while she clawed at the stairs and screamed my name. Seconds later I was shooting my own release into her.
As a result of our ministrations, we were a few minutes late to the rehearsal, which everyone pointed out because I am never late. Annabelle turned the color of her dress from head to toe, clearly giving away the reason for our tardiness. Once everyone had gotten their jabs in, we got down to business and knocked the rehearsal out in less than an hour.
The dinner was at a nice Italian restaurant in town. The only downside was Gram and Pop weren’t there. Gram called a few hours before the dinner in a tizzy because their flight had been delayed. According to Gram, the small airport basically shut down because the President just had to visit his coastal home on the same weekend of her granddaughter’s wedding. Gram continued to rant until Pop took the phone from her and explained they would be on their way as soon as the airspace restrictions were lifted. At least they weren’t going to miss the wedding.
Surprisingly, we managed to have a nice, drama-free dinner. Afterward, Annabelle left with Ember and the girls, shadowed by Coal, Edge, and our newest prospect, Kellan, while the rest of the boys and I went back to the clubhouse.
It was a Friday night, so the brothers not in the wedding already had the party going at the clubhouse. I wasn’t planning on staying long. Annabelle was dropping the girls off and then going to the airport to pick up Nathan. I wanted to go with her, but she didn’t want to overwhelm him right away. I didn’t quite get that. He knew about me and his siblings, but she was his mother and knew what was best.
I leaned back against the bar and brought my beer to my lips. I noticed Crystal eyeing me, as she wriggled in the lap of another brother. I didn’t acknowledge her, just turned my head and continued my conversation with Badger. When I looked back several minutes later, she had her eyes on me again.
“She causing problems again?” Badger asked, nodding his head slightly in Crystal’s direction.
“Nah, but I don’t know why in the fuck she keeps looking at me.”
“She wants you. She’s letting you know,” he said, like I was an idiot.
“I know that, fucknut. I’ve already made it clear to her that I’m not interested. She needs to let it go or I’m going to have no choice but to kick her ass out.”
“Might not be a bad thing. She’s always been mouthy and she ain’t that great in bed.”
“I’ll have to take your word on that, brother,” I laughed.
“You ain’t fucked her?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Nope. Let her suck me off once when she first started coming around, but that’s it. She begged me to fuck her, but it wasn’t happening.”
Badger let out a loud belly laugh. “Well, that explains a lot. No wonder she’s staring you down. She wants a ride on the Phoenix.”
I shoved him and laughed. “Shut the fuck up, you idiot.”
For a brief second, I considered telling him about Macy being back in town, but things were going smoothly for once and I didn’t want to ruin it. Bringing up Macy would do nothing but ruin his good mood. It would be better to tell him after the wedding.
I finally got fed up with Crystal’s staring and went to my office. I was waiting for Annabelle to call me and let me know she had Nathan settled. She thought it would be best for him to stay at my house instead of the farm, but she didn’t want me there when he arrived. She was being really weird about the whole thing with Nathan. I knew they had a fucked up history with this town, so I was trying not to press her about the way she was acting.
Just as I was starting to worry, she called. “Hey, doll face. I was starting to get worried about you. Everything okay?”
Her shaky voice filled my ear. “No, Phoenix, everything is not okay. Someone slashed my tires when I went inside to get Nathan.”
“Where are you now?” I barked, grabbing my keys and heading for the door.
“We’re back inside the airport, near the security office. I reported it, but they don’t have cameras in that lot, so I doubt they’ll be able to do anything. Can you come pick us up?”
“I’m already heading out the door. I’m bringing Badger with me. We’ll arrange a tow on the way. You stay inside that airport until I get there.”
“I will.”
“Badger! You’re with me. Let’s go,” I yelled, striding through the common room with purpose.
Dash jumped up from his place at the bar. “What’s up, Prez?”
“Annabelle’s at the airport and she’s got flat tires. Going to pick her and Nathan up,” I said quickly, hoping he missed the part where I said tires instead of a tire.
“You coming back here tonight?” he asked.
“Just to drop Badger off, then I’ll take them home.”
He slapped me on the back. “All right, Prez, see you in the morning.”
Badger and I climbed into one of the SUVs we kept out back. “What’s really going on?” he asked.
“Annabelle’s tires were slashed at the airport while she was inside getting Nathan. Call and find out where the fuck Edge is. He’s supposed to be tailing her. And I need you to arrange a tow for the car,” I said as I sped out of the lot in a spray of dust and gravel.
Just as Badger pulled his phone out, mine started ringing. I tossed it to him so I could concentrate on getting to my woman as fast as possible.
Badger answered and put the phone on speaker. “Prez, I lost Annabelle. A fucking car swerved and ran me off the road,” Edge grunted into the phone.
“You okay, brother,” Badger asked.
Edge coughed and cleared his throat. “Laid my bike down. I think I’m okay. Called as soon as I found my phone.”
“Stay put. I’ll have someone there to get you and your bike shortly. You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m sure. I’m sorry, Prez.”
“Ain’t your fault, brother. She’s at the airport and she’s okay, but someone slashed her tires while she was inside. We’re going to get her now. You stay alert until I get another brother to you, you hear?” I ordered.
“Got it, Prez.”
Well, fuck me. I made good time getting to the airport. Parking at the curb, I jumped out and went to find my woman. She must have been watching for me because she met me right inside the door, with Nathan at her side. He had gotten a lot bigger since the last time I saw him. I looked down at Annabelle. “You okay?”
“Yeah, we’re fine. I’m just pissed that someone did that to your car. I’ll pay to have it towed and for the repairs,” she said.
“You will do no such thing. I brought Badger with me and he’s already arranged to have it towed back to the clubhouse tonight. Anything you need out of it before we go?” She shook her head. “All right, let’s get you in the car and get back home.”
I wasn’t about to tell her what happened to Edge. Reason number one being she didn’t know I had a tail on her. Reason number two, I didn’t want her feeling as uneasy as I was.