Out of Darkness (20 page)

“T
hat must be either Liam or Tyler,” Meredith commented.

She and Denise had taken up their favorite spots in the house. Out back on the screened in porch. Being November it was a little cool, but Liam had outfitted a space heater for the area and blankets kept them plenty warm. It was beautiful, especially with night falling.

“Could be both,” Denise yawned, covering her mouth with her hand.

When the front door opened, they heard a virtual stampede of feet on the hardwood.

“We’re back here,” Denise yelled.

In an instant two teenagers and two bikers were also in the back room.

“Hey, baby,” Liam greeted. He leaned down to give Denise a kiss. With a soft touch, he caressed her abdomen before straightening to his full height. “So I was tellin’ Tyler that it would be a good night to cook out with everybody here.”

“Oh that would be fun,” Meredith smiled.

The kids seemed to be in agreement as well.

“Why don’t you two do your homework real quick and take your showers. I can smell you from over here Andrew,” Denise laughed. The young man had football practice every day, and it was obvious in the way he’d bulked up how hard he worked.

“I know mama, I can smell myself.”

“Tyler and I will go fire up the grill.”

Meredith got up from where she sat. “I’ll go make the sides. You just stay right there little mama.”

Denise pouted. “Can I at least come sit and talk to you?”

“Sure, but you aren’t lifting a finger.”

“I gotta talk to you about something,” Tyler said, his voice low as the two of them started grilling hamburgers and hot dogs.

“Sure, what is it?”

Tyler had grappled with whether he should tell his friend what was going on or not. It could put them all in a bad situation, but Liam was his oldest friend. He and his father had never seen eye to eye and Tyler knew that the two of them were more like family to each other than any blood relations they ever had.

“I hate to tell you this,” Tyler sighed, running a hand through his hair.

It was obvious his friend was struggling. “Whatever it is, man, just spit it out. The two of us have been through some shit. There ain’t nothin’ we can’t tell each other.”

“But I don’t want to tell you this.”

“Ty, when have we ever lied to each other?”

He knew the answer to that. Never. That’s why they were such great friends. That was why they trusted each other so explicitly. In this life, you had to have that one person who would look out for you no matter what the cost. They were that person to each other.

“I think William ordered the rape on Meredith.”

Liam’s head visibly kicked back as if he’d been smacked in the face. “Wow. You sure?” His mind went back to the events weeks ago, when William had made Meredith public enemy number one as far as the club was concerned. It wouldn’t be that far of a stretch if he had ordered it, but it still didn’t feel good to think it was the truth.

“All signs are pointing to yes. Do I want it to be true? Fuck no.”

Liam knew that Tyler would never make an accusation like that without at least having some information as to why it would be true. Tyler had always been honest and fair, almost to a fault.

“You know whatever it is, true or not, I’ll stand behind you.”

That meant the world to Tyler. “I’d understand if you didn’t. That’s your dad.”

“But you’re the one who’s always been there for me. No matter what. Family is family, and blood don’t make you family.”

Tyler pulled the other man into a hug. “That means a lot to hear you say that. You know I don’t have loyalty to many and I don’t trust many. I value you and your opinion on anything and everything. Later on tonight, I’d like to talk to you about what I’m thinking. I just don’t want the ladies to be involved. This can’t come back on them.”

“Agreed, brother, agreed.”

“How was football practice?” Tyler asked Andrew as they all sat around eating dinner.

“Hard,” he admitted as he swallowed a bite of hamburger.

“You’re on the JV team right? That’s pretty good for an eighth grader.”

Andrew couldn’t keep the happiness off his face at the praise of the other man. “Yeah, they say I’m big enough.”

“I did the same thing in middle school. I had to drop out of high school in tenth grade, but I was a beast on the football field. You need to start bulking up a little bit. You don’t wanna be a lanky guy like him over here,” Tyler grinned over at Liam.

“Fuck you, man. Not everybody can look like they came out of
Muscle Magazine
.”

Denise whistled. “Hey, language. We’re gonna have to watch that with the new baby.”

Tyler cleared his throat, a grin on his face. “Anyway, Drew if you feel like it, you can come work out with me sometime. I work out at night, but I can do it in the morning if that would be better for you. You’ve got the height, you need the muscle mass.”

“That’s what coach said, and I asked Liam if he’d come work out with me, but he said he really doesn’t,” Andrew rolled his eyes.

“Hey, at least I’m not lyin’ to you. About the only working out I do is workin’ on the cars and riding my bike.”

“Yet you somehow seem to be blessed with a bangin’ body,” Denise stage whispered.

“Mooommm,” Mandy groaned.

“If you don’t mind, I’d love to come work out with you,” Drew effectively ignored everything else at the table.

“Alright, you wanna go in the morning or at night?”

“Morning. I have practice every afternoon, and I don’t think I can give it 100% after practice.”

Tyler smiled at the boy. “That’s a damn good attitude to have. I’ll meet you tomorrow morning at 5 am. If we run late, I’ll take you to school.”

Meredith watched the exchange, something soft and sweet in her eyes. This man was so much more than she had ever imagined. He had so many facets to his personality. Many that she was sure she hadn’t even witnessed yet. It made her want to witness them. It also caused her mind to wonder. Would this be what he was like when they had a teenage boy to raise?

Later on, after the kids had gone to bed, they all sat in the living room talking like couples do. When there was a lull in the conversation, Tyler made eye contact with Liam and motioned towards outside.

“You wanna go take a smoke?” Tyler asked.

“Yeah, let’s go. Ladies, it’s a bit chilly out there. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Once outside, they had a seat on the front porch, each lighting up their respective vice.

“So tell me what you know so far.”

“Fuck man, I’m not even sure where to start. There’s so much shit going around in my brain right now.”

Liam blew out a steady stream of smoke from his mouth. “Just start at the beginning.”

So he did, explaining to Liam about the envelopes with the pictures and the fact that the person would have to have unprecedented access to the club. “That’s when I automatically thought Layne or Jagger. They are new and we don’t know a whole lot about them, I figured it would be easiest to suspect them. I searched their rooms, but couldn’t find shit. That’s when I thought about William.”

“Let’s think about this. What would he have to gain by getting back at Meredith?”

“Motive. She was getting awfully damn close to breaking open all our secrets before she was attacked. I mean we all said that she was like a dog with a bone. All of us avoided her, and let’s be truthful, even we don’t know about the skeletons in this club’s closet from way back when. Your dad is the last remaining of the first five. He can manipulate anything that he wants.”

“You do have a point there. A damn good one. So what have you done?”

“I got his phone’s passcode. I took down a few numbers, and I’m going to see if Meredith recognizes them. I have a feeling one of them might be one of her informants for the other clubs from her reporter days. I’m going to try to get into his network and download his old messages too. He may have a sim card somewhere. You never know.”

“You know this could mean death, right brother?”

Tyler swallowed hard. “I’ve never feared it before. Why start now?”

“You’ve got someone who depends on you now.”

“If I don’t get to the bottom of this, I will never forgive myself. If I do and it kills me, then I will gladly go as a martyr. I just hope that you’ll take care of her if something does happen to me.”

That thought caused Liam’s stomach to churn. There was no way he wanted to think of that, but he of all people knew the life they led. “You don’t even have to ask. She’s in good hands if this all goes south. I’ll give my own life for that.”

That was all Tyler needed to hear. Now he wouldn’t rest until he found out the truth and God help the person that stood in his way.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“D
o you recognize any of these numbers?”

Meredith looked at the numbers that Tyler had written down on a piece of paper the next day, trying to remember the numbers she had used in her investigations. She pointed at one. “This one looks vaguely familiar. They were all disposable prepaids, I’m sure. I had them written down in one of my notebooks. It would be in my desk if I remember correctly.”

They went to the room that housed her stuff. She made a beeline for the desk and reached into the bottom drawer, pulling it out of the wood structure. Reaching inside, she engaged a lever and a false bottom opened, revealing some paper work.