The Tangled Series Complete Digital Boxed Set (Bad Boy Rock Star, Millionaire, and MMA Fighter Bundle) (73 page)

Chapter Twenty

When I arrived home, I left my bike in the driveway, unlocked the door, and went inside. When I reached the kitchen, a man was waiting for me at the table. He was dressed in a long, black leather overcoat and wore gloves.

“You Raptor?” he asked pointing his nine millimeter at me.

“Yeah, who the fuck are you?”

He put the gun down on the table. “You’re smart. Figure it out.”

“Jesus Christ, how the fuck did you get in here?” I snapped, not too happy that he’d made himself at home and was drinking one of my beers.

The Judge, who had dark hair and light blue eyes, smirked. “Back door. Used the key hidden under the pot with the dead Begonias. Did anyone ever tell you to water your flowers?”

I frowned. “I didn’t hide a spare key there.”

“Then you’d better figure out who did.”

Brandy.

It had to be her. It was even her flower pot.

“I need to change my fucking locks,” I said, staring at him, trying to find some kind of resemblance. From what I could see, there wasn’t anything other than maybe the eye color.

“That mine?” he asked, nodding to the package in my arm.

“Yeah.” I handed it to him. “It’s all there.”

He opened it up and pulled out the folder with Breaker’s information. “I don’t need this,” he said, tossing it aside. Then he pulled out the bundles of money and counted them. “Looks like it’s all here,” he said before standing up.

“So, when are you going to do it?” 

“Do what?” he asked, walking toward the kitchen door.

“Kill the fucker?”

He stopped abruptly and then turned around to face me. His smile was cold. “Don’t know what you’re talking about. Murder is a crime, kid. You should know that.”

“I’m not your fucking ‘kid’,” I said, not appreciating his condescending bullshit. 

“Relax,
brother,”
he said, smirking again.
“Didn’t your daddy ever teach you the importance of self-control?”

“My old man’s idea of self-control was waiting until seven a.m. for his first shot of whiskey,” I said. “From what I hear, your old man wasn’t much better,
Jordan
.”

I thought he’d be pissed, but instead, he surprised me. “See, that’s where you’re wrong,” he replied, removing one of his gloves. He lifted his right hand and even I had to wince at the scars. “He demanded self-control. As you can see, I learned it early on.”

“That’s from acid, isn’t it?”

“Oh yeah,” he said. “Looks like ‘Dear Old Ma’ sure knew how to pick ‘em.”

I smirked. “No shit. Have you met her?”

“No,” he said, putting the glove back on. “And I really don’t care to.”

“I haven’t seen her in years myself.”

“Lucky you,” he said, walking out of the kitchen.

I followed him. “What happens now?”

“I leave,” he said, turning around. There was a look of mirth in his eyes. “Why?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Did you want to ask me anything?”

“About what?”

“We’re brothers. Thought you’d be curious.”

“It’s only blood, kid,” he said, heading down the steps. “Don’t get hung up on it.”

I didn’t know what else to say. It was obvious that he wasn’t interested in shooting the shit, but that didn’t stop me from being curious. “See you around?”

He grunted. “In my occupation, you’d better hope that you don’t.”

I stared at him.

He grinned and then left.

I pulled out my cell phone. “He’s paid,” I told Slammer.

“He say when it’s going to happen?”

“No. In fact, he acted like he didn’t know what the fuck I was even talking about when I asked him the same thing.”

“That’s the way he is. Okay, get your ass to the chapel. Meeting is going to start in thirty minutes.”

“I’ll be there.”

He hung up.

I put my phone away and went around the house, checking the locks. Then I went outside and found the key he’d replaced under the flower pot. I stuck it in my pocket, threw the flower pot away, and left for the clubhouse.

***

Slammer smacked the gavel and called the meeting to order. There were nineteen of us in the Jensen Chapter, plus three prospects hoping to be patched. The prospects were absent, as they weren’t allowed at the meetings for obvious reasons.

It was most of the same stuff, with the treasurer going over our finances, new correspondences, and then us voting on prospects. When that was finished, Slammer made a surprising announcement.

“You all have heard by now what happened to my Old Lady’s daughter,” he said, staring down at his folded hands. “And about my meeting with Mud last night.”

“How did that go?” asked Horse.

“Actually, it didn’t go very well. But, that’s already old news.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, wondering where he was going with this.

He grinned. “Well, today, we talked and I think we’ve cleared up our issues. We even called a truce.”

“No shit?” said Chopper.

“That’s right,” he replied, smiling around at everyone. I had to give him credit, he was smooth when he wanted to be. “The shit between us is all smoothed over. We’re good.”

“What about Breaker?” asked Horse.

His smile faltered. “Well, as usual, my fucking temper got the best of me when I first found out about the incident. But we all know that you can’t go pointing fingers without evidence. Truth is, we have no proof that Breaker is the one who attacked Jessica. Could have been a number of fuckers. Hell, she’s not even sure herself who did it.”

“But they were wearing a cut that matched the Devil’s Rangers,” said Chopper, looking frustrated. “Come one, Prez. You know one of them did it. You fucking know they did.”

“I have to agree with Slammer,” said Buck. “Unless we know for sure who did it, we can’t go killing people without proof. Can’t kill an innocent man for another man’s sins.”

“Yeah, but, he’s the only one who’s done time for rape,” said Chopper.

“You know this, how?” asked Slammer.

Chopper grunted. “I’m your Intelligence Officer, come on. It didn’t take me long to find this shit out.”

“No, I suppose it wouldn’t,” he replied.

“You sure you want to let this go?” asked Horse.

“Like I said before, no proof. Plus, I gave Mud my word that none of the Gold Vipers would touch Breaker,” he replied. He looked at me and then the others. “And I plan on keeping my word. There will be no retaliation. No revenge, no nothing. Understood?”

We all agreed. 

Chapter Twenty-One

Fortunately, the rest of the day was uneventful at the shop and there were no more calls from that freak, Breaker. Trevor didn’t call me back, either. Nor did he show up at the store, which was kind of a relief. My mom would have flipped her lid.

When six o’clock rolled around, we locked the doors and began doing inventory. Jim stuck around, which I was grateful for, since being alone at a jewelry store at night was disconcerting. After we checked off each piece of jewelry, Jim carefully placed them into the large walk-in safe, where they’d stay until morning. By the time nine o’clock rolled around, we’d finished with all one-hundred-and ninety-two pieces, and I couldn’t wait leave. Reading all the item numbers on the tiny tags was exhausting.

“There has got to be an easier way of doing inventory,” I told her.

“There is, but I like doing it this way.”

“But they have these scanners you can use, now, Mom. You’d keep much better track of each piece.”

“It’s far too expensive to set that up,” she said and then smiled. “Our way is already paid for.”

She was so frugal and old fashioned at times it was aggravating. “Fine. If you like doing things the hard way.”

“It’s easy with your help. Now, let’s go to Sicily’s,” my mother said, as we were locking up the shop. “My treat for making you do things the hard way. You too, Jim.”

“Sure, if you insist,” said Jim, his eyes twinkling. “I love Italian food.”

“Mom, I’m sorry, I just can’t,” I replied, grabbing the car keys out of my purse. “I’m meeting up with Krystal.”

She stopped in her tracks. “Again? I thought you celebrated her birthday last night,” she replied, frowning.

“I know. This is just us, though. Last night was crazy and we didn’t get much of a chance to talk.”

“Didn’t you have enough time to talk when you spent the night at her house?”

“No. We crashed pretty quickly,” I lied.

“I’ll meet you at the restaurant,” said Jim, heading toward his car. I could tell he didn’t want any part of the conversation.

“Goodbye,” I called.

Jim turned around and waved as he reached his Toyota. “Have a good night, Adriana,” he replied and then looked at Mom. “I’ll see you soon?”

“Yes,” she said, smiling. “Very soon.”

He smiled back and got into his car.

She turned back to me. “You’re not going to meet that man on the motorcycle afterward, are you?”

“Mom, would you just give it up,” I said, frustrated. “I know what I’m doing.”

“No, Adriana, I don’t think you do. You’re only twenty-one and I’m sure bad boys like that seem sexy, but –”

“Bad boys? Mom, please,” I interrupted as I began walking to my car, which was parked next to hers. “It’s not like that.”

“It sure looked like that way to me earlier,” she said, coming up behind me. “The way you two were attacking each other in the driveway.”

“It was just a couple of kisses,” I said, getting into the car. “Really, you don’t need to worry about me.”

Her eyes softened. “I can’t help it. You’re my daughter.”

Your
grown
daughter,” I reminded her. “Look, take Jim out to dinner and enjoy yourself.” I lowered my voice. “It’s obvious the man is crazy about you.”

She looked shocked. “What? No. No, he isn’t.”

I glanced back over at Jim, who was sitting in his car, waiting for her. “Oh yes, he is. You just don’t see it. Quit worrying about me and think about yourself for a change. Go on a date, have some fun.”

She looked over her shoulder at him and then sighed. “A date?”

“Yes. Pretend it’s a date.”

“I can’t do that to your father’s memory. I still love him and it wouldn’t be right.”

“Mom, you don’t have to stop loving Dad,” I said softly. “But don’t deny yourself companionship with someone who adores you. Someone like Jim, who’s nice and is always there for you.”

She chewed on her lower lip. “You really think he
adores
me?”

“I guess you haven’t noticed the way he looks at you. He definitely has a crush.”

“A crush?” Her cheeks flushed. “Really?”

“Yes, really. Aren’t you attracted to him?”

“I guess… I haven’t thought about it. I mean, he’s nice looking.”

“Mom, seriously, you’re too young to become an old spinster.”

She laughed. “An old spinster?”

I smiled. “That’s right. If you look up the word in the dictionary, you might find your picture there soon, if you don’t do something.”

Mom smirked. “You think I don’t know what you’re doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“Changing the subject.”

“What I’m doing is letting you know that you can’t control who is in my life but you can control who is in yours. Right now there’s a sweet guy who is meeting you at Sicily’s. He likes you. A lot. Who knows, maybe you’ll find that you like him, too. And not just as your security guard.”

She looked at Jim’s car again but didn’t say anything.

My cell phone went off.

“It’s Krystal. I’ve gotta go,” I said, looking down at it.

“Just be careful,” Vanda replied, crossing her arms under her chest.

“I will, and have fun,” I said, winking at her before slamming the door shut.

She turned and walked over to her car.

“Hi, Krystal,” I said, answering the phone.

“Hey, guess what?” she said. There were voices in the background and I could tell she was someplace crowded.

“What?” I asked, starting my engine.

“We found him.”

“Found who
? Jason
?”

“Hell yes. I’m in the bathroom now. At Club Hideaway. I found out from Gary that he was heading here tonight. Tank and Raptor are keeping an eye on Jason. I think they’re going to confront the prick outside, since the place is crawling with bouncers.”

My heart began to race. “Oh, my God, I’m on my way.”

“Okay. I’ll let you know if we leave or if something happens.”

“I’m twenty minutes away. I’ll get there as quickly as possible.”

We hung up and I pulled out of the parking lot, wondering what they planned on doing to Jason once they had him alone. Would they just kick his ass or threaten him with a weapon?

This is crazy,
I thought.
I should have just called the police. Someone is going to get hurt.

I turned a corner and a few seconds later and I noticed the person behind me had their high-beams on. Then I noticed that it was a truck. Breaker’s.

“Oh, my God,” I gasped, moving quickly into the right lane. I watched in horror as he followed me. I tried zigzagging around other cars, desperate to put some distance behind us, but Breaker kept up. Frightened, I hopped onto the freeway and raced toward the club, not knowing what else to do. If anything, I could lead him to Trevor. Soon, I was going eighty miles an hour in the passing lane, thankful that it wasn’t rush hour.

“Where the fuck are the cops when you need them?” I said out loud, wishing that I’d catch one of their radars. But, for some crazy reason, even though it was a Saturday night, and I was driving like a bat out of hell, they weren’t around. Frustrated, I looked into the mirror and noticed that Breaker was still hot on my tail. “Dammit, you are such a freak!”

His laughter from earlier echoed in my head. I was pretty sure he was having a blast, scaring the hell out of me. I just couldn’t understand why he was so obsessed with someone he’d just met.

Because he’s fucking insane.

We drove like this, with me driving like a maniac and him following suit, until I noticed we were finally approaching downtown Iowa City. I put my blinker on and was about to enter the right lane to get off at the next exit, when he quickly moved into it, blocking me.

“Dammit,” I yelled, slowing down.

He also slowed down and then sped up as I tried to maneuver my way into the lane. Of course, I missed the exit.

“Fuck you, asshole,” I mumbled, thinking that at least he’d gotten off, and was no longer following me. But, when I looked back into the rearview mirror, I found that I was wrong. He’d obviously jumped off of the exit at the last minute, and was tailing me again.

Furious, I pressed my foot firmly on the gas and flew down the freeway, determined to stay ahead of him so I could get off on the next exit. This time it worked, and I was able to take the next ramp, with him one car behind. As I turned and then headed toward Main Street, I recalled where the local cop shop was and decided to lead him there instead of going to the club.

“You want to follow me, asshole. Go right ahead,” I said, staring at him in the rearview mirror.  

Just as I predicted, he continued to follow me, but then, as I reached the police station, he turned off, waving at me through his open window.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. You fucking coward,” I mumbled, going the opposite direction.

***