Chapter 11
Diesel
I’d fallen for Ellie Blackwell.
It didn’t just happen, and it wasn’t by some fluke or accident. No, my eyes were fucking wide open when I fell for her. Maybe I should’ve made more of an effort to avoid her, or kept my guard up, but I never stood a choice. She made me feel things I’d never felt before—good things, really fucking good things—and there was no way in hell I’d walk away from that. Some might say that I’d be a fool to get wrapped up in a girl with so many unknowns surrounding her past, but in my gut, I knew she was the one. I’d be naïve to think it’d be easy, but I didn’t care what kind or how many obstacles stood in my way, I was going to make her mine. One way or another, Ellie’s past would have to be dealt with, and I would be there, right by her side, and we’d face it head on—together.
Obviously, Ellie and I weren’t thinking along the same lines, because when I woke up the next morning, I found myself alone in her bed with only a note that was left on her pillow. I broke out in a cold sweat as soon as I read the first sentence. It told me everything I needed to know. Ellie was gone. Fuck.
She’d taken my keys to the truck from the dresser, and since Drake and the others thought she was with me, they wouldn’t have been watching the door. I had no idea what time of night she left, but since it was my truck she was driving, I doubted whoever was at the gate would’ve thought to stop her. Clutching her letter in my hand, I rushed out of bed and went to find Cotton. I was on my way to his office but heard his voice coming from the bar. When I walked in, I found him talking to Maverick. I was hanging on by a thread as I hurried over to them and handed Cotton the note. “I fucked up.”
Cotton’s eyebrows furrowed as he asked, “What’s this?”
He didn’t wait for my response. His eyes roamed over the words on the paper, and once he was done, he ran his hand roughly down his goatee and grumbled something incoherently under his breath. Noting his expression, Maverick peered over Cotton’s shoulder and asked, “What’s going on?”
With his focus still on the note, Cotton replied, “Ellie has gone and turned herself in to the cops.”
“For what?”
I looked over to him and answered, “For killing her husband.”
Maverick’s eyes grew wide. “What the fuck? The chick on the news didn’t say anything about murder.”
“I’m just as clueless as you are,” I told him.
“How long has she been gone?” Cotton asked.
“Got no idea.” My stomach churned with guilt. It was my job to keep an eye on her, and I’d gotten lax, thinking that as long as she was there with me, she’d be safe. “She slipped out while I was sleeping.”
“If she wanted to leave, who are we to stop her?” Maverick shrugged.
Every muscle in my body tensed as I said, “She means something to me, brother, and I’m not gonna just let her walk away because she’s got it in her head that she’s brought trouble to the club.”
Cotton gave Maverick a knowing look as he told him, “I’d think you’d understand. I seem to remember when Henley—”
“That was different,” Maverick argued.
“Was it? I think I remember exactly how it was,” Cotton mocked.
“I gotta do something,” I interrupted. Just the thought of her facing the cops alone made my chest tighten. I could only imagine how scared she was, so I told them both, “I need to get down there … I gotta be with her.”
“Hold up. We don’t even know where she is. I’ll call Smoke and see if MJ can help.” MJ, Smokey’s ol’ lady, was a lawyer and a good one at that. I’ve heard quite a few stories about the cases she’d won over the past year alone, and even though she was pregnant and spending most of her time at Smokey’s orchard, it was clear that she had a knack for the law. She knew how to play the game, and I just hoped she’d be able to do something to help Ellie. As Cotton reached in his back pocket for his phone, he said, “Maybe she or somebody down at her firm can find out what the hell is going on.”
“Good idea. I’ll go see if Big has found anything we can use.” Before I walked out of the bar, I turned to Cotton and said, “I appreciate you having my back on this, brother.”
He nodded as he brought the phone up to his ear. While he talked with Smokey, I headed down the hall to find Big. When I got to his room, he was sitting at his desk working on his computer. “Have you found anything?”
“Yeah, you could say that,” he said and glanced over his shoulder. “Damn, this Brady Blackwell guy is a real piece of work.”
“You ready to share? Cotton and Maverick are back at the bar.”
With a quick nod, he grabbed the papers from his desk and followed me down the hall. I was anxious to see what he might’ve uncovered, but I was more concerned about Ellie. When I asked Cotton if he’d heard anything new, he just shook his head.
“Going to take some time, but MJ’s on it. She’ll get back to us when she knows something.”
“What’s all that?” Maverick asked, noticing the stack of papers in Big’s hand.
“Everything I could find on Officer Brady Blackwell.”
“Well? Whatcha got?”
“Remember how the chick on the news said that he was a police chief’s son? Well, that’s about the only decent thing about him. Turns out, he’s quite the fuck up.” He laid the stack of papers in front of Cotton as he continued, “Apparently, our boy, Brady, has got a bit of a problem with anger management. He’s got a shit-ton of write-ups for being over-aggressive during arrests as well as some written complaints by his fellow officers.”
“Well, that comes as no surprise,” Cotton scoffed.
“And we all know it wasn’t just at work.” He pulled several pages from the stack as he went on, “Things at home were just as bad, if not worse. There are pages and pages of reports where the cops were called to their house for domestic disturbances, and several of them match up with the dates that Ellie was admitted into the hospital. Crazy thing is, none of these reports were ever filed, and no charges were ever pressed.”
“I’m guessing his father had something to do with that. Fuck. Ellie didn’t stand a chance with this guy,” Cotton growled. “Anything else.”
“Turns out that IA has been looking into him.”
“For what?”
“Missing evidence. False reports. You name it. He’s gotten himself into a mess that not even his good ol’ dad can get him out of.” Big snickered.
Just as he finished talking, Cotton’s phone rang. After checking the screen, he quickly answered, “What did you find out?” The room fell silent as we all listened when he asked, “How long is that gonna take?” He lowered his head and nodded silently as the person on the other end of the line spoke. “Let me know as soon as you find out what they’re gonna do.”
Right after he hung up the phone, he turned to me and said, “That was MJ.”
“What did she say?”
“Ellie made it down to the station a couple of hours ago. The police are still questioning her. MJ is on her way down there to see what she can do to help.”
“Do you think they’ll arrest her?”
“She just confessed to murder. Doubt they’re just gonna let her walk out of there,” Cotton answered.
“So, now what?”
Cotton stood up as he replied, “Go get changed. You and I are gonna head down there and see if there’s anything that we can do on our end.”
In no time, we were on the road headed to the Lakewood Police Department where Ellie had turned herself in. The two and half hour drive was absolute torture. I couldn’t stop imagining the worst, and it didn’t help matters that we’d heard nothing back from MJ. By the time we finally pulled into the station’s parking lot, I was ready to lose it. I tried to keep it together as I followed Cotton inside. As soon as we walked through the door, I spotted Ellie talking to a man in a suit. She was wearing one of my long-sleeved t-shirts with a pair of jeans, and her hair was brushed to the side, making it hard to believe that she was capable of murder. I started towards her and ignored Cotton as he warned me to stay put. When I approached them, Ellie looked up at me with wide eyes.
“What are you doing here?”
Her gorgeous, brown eyes locked on mine, and I could feel it all the way to my fucking toes. Just being close to her made it hard to think, and it took all I had not to grab her up and take her the hell out of there. I tried to keep my voice calm and reassuring. “Where else would I be?”
“I don’t know.” Her eyes immediately dropped to the ground. “I guess I figured you’d hate me after you found out what I did.”
“That could never happen, Ellie. Never.”
“I appreciate you coming and everything, but you don’t have to stay. I’m okay.”
A flash of hope crossed her eyes as I told her, “I’m not leaving until this thing is done. I meant it when I said I wasn’t going anywhere.”
The suit glared at me with disapproval and asked, “Is there something going on here that I should know about?”
“Um … No. He’s just a friend,” Ellie answered. “He has nothing to do with any of this.”
“If you say so,” the asshole grumbled. A worrisome look crossed over her face when he added, “Let’s continue this in my office.”
Before she walked away, she looked up at me and whispered, “Thank you.”
Once she was gone, I turned to find Cotton standing with MJ. She was talking on her phone while she paced back and forth with a frustrated expression on her face. With the amount of times I’ve been in MJ’s company, never once had I seen her look so professional. Even in her highly pregnant state, she looked pretty damn impressive with her business attire and her hair pulled up in a tight bun.
When she saw us walking in her direction, she held up her finger, letting us know that she needed a minute. Seconds later, she hung up the phone and turned her attention to us. “The DA decided to press charges.”
“So, what does that mean?”
“When Ellie and Brady were reported missing, the police went to the house. They found no evidence of a struggle, and without a body, anything they uncover at this point would be considered circumstantial. It would be a tough case to win, but because of who he is, they’ve decided to pursue.”
“Damn.”
“I know, but there’s not a lot we can do at this point. She confessed to killing a police officer. That’s really all a judge needs to know.”
“But people confess to things they haven’t done all the time. It can’t be that easy,” Cotton argued.
“Yeah, but those people don’t go missing for weeks. And you’ve also got to remember who Brady’s father is. There’s a lot that goes into play with all this,” MJ reminded him. “I’m doing my best to get a hearing set up as soon as possible. If we can get a reasonable bail set, then she should be released in a few days.”
“A few days? You mean she’s gonna have to stay here?”
“It depends on the date that’s set for her hearing. I’ll do my best to get her out of here as soon as I can.”
“When can I see her?”
“I’m not sure.”
MJ barely had a chance to answer my first question when I impatiently hit her with more. “Have you gotten a chance to talk to her? Is she okay?”
“Yes, but only briefly. Ellie knows I’m here, and even though she wasn’t exactly happy about it, she knows you sent me.” She glanced down at her watch and said, “I need to get back in there. Stay close. I should know something fairly soon.”
Once she’d turned and walked away, Cotton looked over to me and said, “Since it’s gonna be a while, why don’t we go grab a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. I saw a diner across the street.”
“But—”
“Listen, I got no idea how this thing is gonna go, but you’re no good to her like this, brother. You need to take a minute and pull your shit together before you see her.”
Cotton was right, I really needed to focus on something else, even if only for the time being, so I followed him across the street. We were seated in a booth, and a waitress came over and took our orders. I drank my cup of coffee but barely managed to finish half of my scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. My stomach couldn’t handle much more. As I sat there staring out the window, it occurred to me how fast Ellie was becoming such an important part of my life even though I hadn’t known her all that long. It was crazy, really. In truth, it shouldn’t faze me if I ever saw her again, but it did—more than I even realized. Another thought crossed my mind as I played with my cold eggs—the weight of it overwhelming me to a point where I thought I’d crumble right on the spot—when I started to wonder if I could truly face the possibility of losing her.
“Are you done?” Cotton asked.
His voice pulled me from my thoughts, but I hadn’t heard a word he’d said. “What?”
“Are you done?” Cotton repeated as he finished off his coffee. “Or do you need some more time to study that light pole out there?”
“I can’t stop thinking about her,” I answered as I leaned back in my seat. “This whole thing is fucking with my head.”
“I get that you’re worried about her, but she’s stronger than you may think. You’ve gotta remember, she’s been through all kinds of hell … The kind of hell that would crush most people, but she’s still fighting. She’s facing this thing head on, knowing that the odds are against her. You gotta give her credit for that.”
“And what if I lose her in all this?”
“You just gotta have faith that you won’t. You gotta be willing to fight just like she is,” he explained.
“You’re right. We’ll find a way to get through this.”
“Yes, you will.” He sighed, then said, “I know the timing sucks, brother, but we’ve got the run tonight. Gus already called to confirm, so you and the others will be leaving for Salt Lake at midnight.”
Damn. With everything that had been going on with Ellie, I hadn’t even thought about the run. Cotton was right. The timing sucked, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. The club came first. The men of Satan’s Fury were my brothers, and after all they’d done for me, there was no way in hell I would ever let them down. Before I started prospecting for them, I was living in a shit-hole apartment and barely had two dimes to rub together. Now, I had a house of my own, a job at the shop, money in my pocket, and most of all, I had a family I could count on. Thankfully, this time we wouldn’t be going all the way to Memphis. Since Clutch had secured the pipeline, we’d only need to make our trek to Salt Lake, drop off our delivery with the chapter there, and they’d deliver to the next drop off point. The entire shipment would make it to Memphis by the end of the week. “I’ll be ready.”
“I knew you would be. If everything goes as planned, you should be back before the hearing. You and I both know MJ will do everything she can to make sure everything goes without a hitch.”
“God, I hope so.”
“Let’s get back over there and see what we can find out.”