Chapter 28
Big John
“You still awake, baby?” I waited a couple of minutes and decided that Daisy must have gone to bed. I didn’t blame her. It was late and I’d stopped on the side of the road on the way home to take a leak. Gator and Cooper were with me, each with their ears to their own phones. The protection run had gone without incident and I was eager to get back to my woman. Just to make sure she’d made it to the club okay I decided to text Ross, the prospect in charge of keeping an eye on her. When he didn’t answer back a bad feeling moved over me.
Shit! I called the bar at the club, knowing that someone was always there to pick up.
“Yeah?”
It was Painter. “Brother, have you seen Ross? He’s supposed to be watching my woman and neither one are responding to my texts.”
“Haven’t seen Ross all night, man. Thought he was fucking off.”
“Check my room for Daisy,” I ordered, fighting down the rush of alarm beginning to grow in my gut. “If she’s not there head to her house. I’m on my way!”
I kick started my bike and tore off onto the highway, cutting off a vehicle that swerved just in time from hitting me. The driver laid on his horn but I didn’t give a fuck. I was too revved up on adrenaline from fear of what could have happened to Daisy. The fact that Ross hadn’t responded to my text said a lot in my world. He wouldn’t ignore a text from a brother unless he’d been forcefully removed from the situation, or he was dead. And the only one who could relieve him from his duties was me.
Cooper and Gator yelled something as I sped past them but I ignored them, and the next thing I knew they were rolling up behind me. When they were even with me I indicated that they turn on their head sets.
“We’re heading to Daisy’s. She and Ross aren’t answering my texts.”
“Shit, man,” Gator said. “That’s not like Ross.”
Talking wasn’t necessary after that. We revved our engines and raced toward home. I was glad we were on the highway, and we pushed our speed as if there weren’t any limits. Moving in and out of traffic, letting nothing get in our way. If anything had happened to Daisy then Ross had better be dead because I was going to kill him.
Leaving the highway, we had to cut our speed for the twists and sharp turns on the country roads that would take me to Daisy’s. Couldn’t afford to get reckless and wiping out on a gravel filled road at the speed we were pushing hurt like hell. A couple of times I almost laid my bike down, but managed to bring it under control in the nick of time. We were still a fair distance away from Daisy’s, but not far enough to notice that the sky was lit up like a fucking Christmas tree on fire.
“Fuck, man, that Daisy’s house?” I heard Cooper murmur in a tone that revealed he wasn’t looking for an answer.
Fear like I’d never felt before pushed through me and like a mad man I picked up speed. Nothing else mattered right then than reaching my woman. Once I turned onto her road it was a straight shot to her place and I went full throttle. My blood froze when I got close enough to realize that Daisy’s house was on fire. Closer still exposed the fucking chaos surrounding it. The volunteer fire department was there, an ambulance, the cops, and some of my brothers were present. I knew this was fucking bad.
I jumped off my bike before it even came to a stop, not giving a fuck that it skidded and fell to the ground. My brothers, alerted to my arrival, rushed toward me, and held me back as I tried to get closer to the burning house. “Daisy!” I saw Ross’s truck and Jasmine’s car in the drive.
“Brother, no!” It took Painter, Snake and Rock to hold me back. “There’s nothing you can do.” Firemen had their hoses on full blast on the wood structure but as far as I could tell it was a lost cause. More of it than not was already burned to the ground. Daisy’s vehicle, which she’d kept parked behind her house, wasn’t there, and that gave me some hope.
“We don’t know if she was in there.” My president added.
As I slowly deciphered Hawk’s remark I turned toward him. I forced my breathing to calm, forced myself to stop resisting my brothers. They released me but didn’t step away. I watched the ambulance take off. No lights. No sirens. And that told me that if anyone was inside that they were already gone.
“Ross didn’t make it, brother,” Rock explained as we watched the ambulance go down the road. “He was found right inside the door with a bullet through the head.”
That explained why the cops were present, because there’d been a murder.
“Never had a chance,” Painter added.
“Fuck!” I exploded, looking past them back to the smoldering house, and the vehicles in the drive. “What about Jasmine?” I frowned. The cops present weren’t doing shit, just standing around their cruiser and watching what was going on. Probably waiting to hear if there were any other deaths to investigate.
Hawk released a heavy breath. “So far we don’t know where Jasmine and Daisy are. We’re waiting for confirmation if, ah, anyone else was in the house.”
I didn’t like the implications of what his fucking hesitation could mean. My gaze riveted to the destroyed house. When I saw one of the fire-men pull away and walk toward the squad car I left the circle of my brothers and headed there, too. Whatever he’d said had been brief and to the point because he’d turned and headed back to the house before I even got there. Charlie was there, and as we made eye-contact she hurriedly walked my way.
“She isn’t here,” she said in a rushed tone, sensing my fear.
“Thank fuck.” I collapsed within myself with relief. She wasn’t dead. But then where the fuck was she?
Charlie took me by the arm and we turned away from the other cops’ present, slowly walking back to my brothers. “Neither woman is here,” she announced to the group. “And so far, it appears the fire was intentionally set. Won’t know for sure until the investigation is complete.”
“What about our brother?” Gator asked, arms crossed.
Charlie pressed her lips, clearly at odds with saying more. She was a cop and they had their own investigation to do. “I can’t really say anymore on that, but you already know he was killed by a bullet to the head.” She hesitated. “What was he doing here?”
“Haircut,” Hawk stepped in with a quick response. His firm tone revealed that she wouldn’t be getting anything more than that from him.
Charlie just stared at him for a second, before nodding. She had enough association with the club to know when to not push it, especially with our president. “So, where do you think Jasmine and Daisy are?”
Hawk shrugged, and I knew he was going to brush off their disappearance to the cops. From here on out we would take over. If the girls had been taken against their will we’d find them and take care of them our own way. “Daisy’s car is gone, they went shopping.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “At this time in the morning?” she asked incredulously. “It’s clear that someone was here since Ross is dead. Aren’t you afraid that whoever killed him took Daisy and Jasmine?”
Shit. But our president was quick and sharp. “Isn’t the first time our women have gone off on a shopping spree to Portland and spent the night out.” He crossed his arms. “Ross must have seen something suspicious on his way by and stopped to check it out. He obviously interrupted a robbery in progress.”
Charlie scoffed. “You have all the answers, don’t you.”
Hawk grinned. “Usually do.”
“Charlie!” She turned to one of her partners. He motioned her over. Her gaze, when she turned back to us, included us all. “Let me know when they return. I’ll have questions for them.” was all she said as she turned and walked away.
“Nice ass on that one,” Painter said, watching the swing of her hips. “BK’s a fucking fool.”
“Not the time, brother,” Rock grumbled.
“Daisy’s ex has her,” I said immediately after Charlie was out of ear shot.
“We know, brother.”
What the fuck?” I snarled, narrowing my eyes on Painter.
“He has both women,” he confirmed.
I glanced at my prez for an explanation, one that would make sense as to why we were still all standing there and not going after them. “Then explain to me why we’re still here,” I snarled, enraged. “Why we waited around to see if the girls were burned up in the fire when you knew all along that they were gone!”
“Relax brother, you know as well as I do that we had to put on a show for the cops.” The composed justification from my prez calmed me down a notch. “To take care of shit our way we had to get their eyes off us. We were here for Ross, not the women. As far as we were concerned, they are off on a shopping spree in Portland.” He grinned smugly. “That way we can track them down and kill the fucker who did this without worrying about the cops getting involved.”
“And how do we plan to find them?” I gritted between my teeth. The sound of a bike heading our way had all my brothers looking up to see Clay approaching us.
“When BK added security to her place this morning I had him add a tracking device to her car.”
“And we know Singleton took Daisy’s car because Fox has it on surveillance,” Rock said. “Both women are alive.”
Clay pulled right up beside us and flipped his engine off. “Jasmine?” he puffed out with concern.
“Alive, brother,” Rock said, giving him a pat on the shoulder. “Daisy’s ex has them.”
“Fuck.” He clenched his jaw tightly. “What are we waiting on?”
“We lost a brother,” Gator grumbled, his bushy brows drawn together. He and Ross had been tight and I couldn’t blame him for taking it hard. “Showing respect.”
Clay swung his gaze back to Hawk for confirmation. Our prez nodded. “Shit,” Clay snapped. “Shit.”
“So, how long we going to stay here while Singleton is off doing whatever fuck to our women?” I asked impatiently, ready to take matters into my own hands and just take off. And I was willing to bet Clay would be right behind me. “This waiting around is shit!” I glared right at Hawk, not giving a fuck if I was being disrespectful. He’d be the same way if it were Audra. Hell, any one of us with women would be hard pressed to just sit around and wait to go after them. The thought of some fucker hurting them turned us into mad dogs ready to tear out their throats along with their hearts.
We didn’t leave them alive, and if they were lucky, we didn’t torture them first.
Our president was a smart man. Realizing that I was about to lose my shit he motioned for me and Clay to take off. “We’ll be right behind you, brothers,” he said.
I rushed to my fallen bike, picked it up and climbed on. One good kick brought it to life, and then Clay and I were racing away, going after our women.
BK had put a tracking device on Daisy’s car so the first place I headed was to the clubhouse and Fox.
Fox would have the information I needed to go from there.