Out of Darkness (15 page)

“Thank you,” she beamed. “I think we’re pretty excited.”

Liam nodded his head in agreement as he lay back down on the cot.

“How much longer are you in here for?” Meredith asked as she stood and went to stand by Tyler.

It was so natural for her to step in front of him and have his arms come around her waist. He bent so that his head rested on her shoulder, his hair tangling with hers.

Denise couldn’t help but notice the change in Meredith as she leaned back into Tyler’s arms. It brought a smile to her face. “A couple days probably. They want to try to get the morning sickness under control. I need to be able to eat.”’

Meredith nodded. “Well, we’re gonna go, but I’ll be back. Is there anything you need? Do you want me to bring the kids next time I come?”

Tyler had things to do over the next couple of days, so that would mean a trip by herself. This was a huge step, that she was even considering it. The anxiety it caused was minimal, and she breathed deeply.

“If you feel like it, I’d love to see them. I do need some more clothes if you wouldn’t mind.”

“I don’t. I’ll be back either later tonight or early tomorrow. Take it easy,” she told her friend as she leaned down on the bed and gave her a hug.

“I am so happy for you, don’t doubt that,” she whispered before leaning back up.

“You don’t know how much that means to me.”

Chapter Twenty

“J
agger, do you think you could come help me?” Meredith yelled from the room that housed her storage materials. Tyler had set a box just a fingertip too high for her to get, and he’d left to go do a run for the club.

She had been going through everything with a fine tooth comb, only stopping to take clothes and the kids to Denise. When the trip had gone off with only a few minor speed bumps, it had reiterated to her that this was the right thing to do. She still had yet to find anything that pointed to her attacker.

“Yeah,” Jagger said coming into the room. “What can I do for ya?”

“I need that box up there, Tyler put it a little too high for me to get to it,” she pointed to the box in question. “Be careful,” she cautioned.

“The curse is over,” he pointed out as he grabbed it over his head.

In the blink of an eye, he lost his grip and it fell, busting open. “Fuck,” he mumbled.

“Curse is over, huh?” she couldn’t help the grin that broke across her face.

“I thought so anyway,” he grumbled, bending over to help her pick the stuff up. “Looks like you got some mail here you never opened.”

He held a manila envelope out to her and she took it, noting the weight of it. It was very heavy. “Thanks, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before.”

Jagger shrugged, leaving her alone with it. It had her old address on it, along with the correct postage it would need to be sent to her. It was postmarked from Bowling Green on the day that she had been attacked. For some reason her hands shook as she ripped open the top of the envelope. It seemed like whatever this held was important. Like it held the answers to the questions that she had. Turning it over, she poured out the contents and gasped.

Pictures. Hundreds of pictures, all containing females connected to the club. There were numerous pictures of her, Denise, Roni, Mandy, and even Lauren. They all seemed to be taken at different places, like they had been followed. Other pictures contained male members of the club. Quickly she grabbed the envelope again, but it contained no return address. A feeling washed over her, this couldn’t have been the only thing that had come for her. Running out of the room, she caught Jagger behind the bar, singing along to a song on the radio. Any other day she would have complemented him on his voice – today though she had other things to speak to him about.

“Has any of my mail been forwarded here?” Her mail had been the last thing on her mind for months. Since she’d broken her lease, she really had no bills save her car and car insurance. She’d never been one to have credit cards, and her school had been taken care of. There really wasn’t any reason that she’d need any of her mail. Now though, she had a feeling she’d missed something very important.

“I’m not sure, you want me to look?” he asked, going into the room where most of the paperwork was kept.

“Yes. I need to know if there are any more envelopes.” The panicked feeling overtook her, made her stomach cramp.

He looked through some stuff and didn’t see anything, but then an idea struck him. “Maybe it’s at the shop,” meaning
Walker’s Wheels
where many of the club members worked during the day.

“Can you call and ask?”

Jagger made a quick phone call and then nodded at her. “Yeah, according to the bookkeeper, Janice, you have four more envelopes there. No one wanted to bother you with it, so she’s just been keeping them there for you.”

Her stomach churned. She needed to know what was in those envelopes, but she was scared to find out at the same time. “I need those envelopes. When should Tyler be back?”

Jagger checked his watch. “Not for a couple more hours at least. They were going almost to Louisville and back.”

“Then you have to take me.”

“I can’t take you on the back of my bike, it would be disrespectful,” he stammered, not wanting to do anything else to piss off the big man that had claimed her for his.

“Not if I’m asking you to,” she argued.

“Even more so
because
you’re asking me to. Tyler will not be happy.”

“He’s not here and he won’t know,” she pleaded.

“Oh he’ll know,” he mumbled, scrubbing a hand over his face.

“Look,” she ran her hands through her hair in distress. “I wouldn’t ask you unless it was very important. I would take my own car, but it’s in storage and I haven’t driven it in months. I would take Tyler’s truck, but he’s never shown me anything besides a damn bike. I am asking for your help and I’m telling you if you don’t take me…I’m taking somebody’s bike on my own.”

Jagger gasped. “You wouldn’t. You’ll kill yourself. You have no damn idea how to drive a bike.”

She reached around him, grabbing the keys he kept hanging on his pocket. “You take me or I take myself.”

“You are just bound and determined to get my ass handed to me by Tyler, aren’t you? Fine,” he sighed. “Let’s go.”

Riding on the back of someone else’s motorcycle was an eye-opening experience for Meredith. She didn’t feel nearly as safe with Jagger, and it was weird being that close to someone besides Tyler. It felt awkward when she held on tighter to go through a curve. As they pulled up to
Walker’s Wheels
, she saw William talking on his cell phone. Without a doubt, she knew he was probably reporting to Tyler what he was seeing. Jagger cut off the motor and waited for her to get off before he did the same.

“You’re treading on some thin ice,” William told Jagger as he walked up to the two of them.

“You ain’t tellin’ me nothin’ I don’t already know. My neck is already twitchy.”

“Should be your scalp,” one of the guys called out, laughing along with the rest of them.

Meredith rolled her eyes. She didn’t like jokes about Tyler’s ethnicity, and at this point in time she really had no patience. “While you all sit out here and joke about whose dick’s bigger, I really need to see my mail.”

“C’mon in, honey,” a female voice called out from behind her.

She turned around and noticed an older woman stood in the doorway to the office. “I’m Janice. I do the books here and I’ve been holding that mail for you. Tyler thought you might want it sooner or later. I told him he should just open for you, but he didn’t want to invade your privacy.”

There it was again, him always knowing and doing what was best for her. She wanted him here with her so badly. Whatever this was, she had a feeling it wasn’t going to be good. Janice handed her the manila envelopes, and she counted them, four in total, weighing them each with her hands.

Jagger came in the office. “Why don’t you wait for Tyler to get here before you open those? He just called and said he’s fifteen minutes away and I should wait here to have my ass handed to me.”

Meredith winced. “Sorry,” she told him. “I’ll talk to him and explain.”

“Don’t you dare say a word. That’s embarrassing. I knew I shouldn’t have done it and I did it anyway because I can’t seem to say no to you. You remind me too much of my sister.”

That was the first time he’d mentioned family, and she really wanted to know more about this new brother who had become entwined in her life but knew now wasn’t the time to question him.

She heard Tyler’s bike roar into the lot, and her heart sped up. It was mere seconds before he made his way into the office and dragged Jagger out by his cut. “I’m gonna have a word with you,” he told Jagger and then pinned his dark gaze on Meredith. “And then I’m gonna have a motherfucking word with you. Don’t go anywhere.”

Feeling very much like a reprimanded child, she had a seat, envelopes in her lap. Maybe when she was finally able to tell him what exactly was going on, he would calm down. Until then, she focused on regulating her breathing and not hyperventilating. She’d never made him mad before, and she didn’t like this feeling at all.

Chapter Twenty-One

J
agger had to admit he was nervous. Standing in front of Tyler, knowing that you’d pissed him the fuck off was not the best feeling in the world.