Chapter 6: Rebel
It had been almost four weeks since the Fourth of July party at the club and three weeks since Bull, Jocelyn, Ace and Devyn’s double wedding. Things had been super busy and crazy. I couldn’t forget it had been a month since Madisen and I had first slept together. I couldn’t get enough of her. When neither of us were working, we were together. It didn’t matter what we were doing—working at the bakery on the rebuild, at the clubhouse with the guys and their ladies, out to dinner, or just sitting watching movies and talking. I loved every single minute with her.
Then every night I had her in my bed. I couldn’t keep my hands off her. At the rate we were going, she’d be pregnant in no time because we were still not using anything to prevent her from getting pregnant. I found myself hoping she’d get knocked up. Now that I was free to go after her, I wanted her tied to me in every way imaginable. I’d claimed her as my old lady. Her cut came after the party. I presented it one night at the clubhouse in front of everyone, including the bunnies. I loved seeing Property of Rebel on her back and her club name, Firecracker, on the front. She’d laughed when she saw the name I’d given her. CeeCee still threw both of us glares and pissed looks. So far, she hadn’t approached me, but I was never alone in the common room for her to do it. I only needed two more things to make sure my firecracker was irrevocably mine. My ring on her finger and my baby in her belly.
I’d found the perfect ring earlier this week. I was waiting for the best time to ask her. Everything would have been perfect, if we could find out who had torched the bakery and tried to kill her. Chris was a dead end. Outlaw, as well as Scarelli, found out the night of the fire, his ass was sitting in a jail cell the town over since he had been drunk and disorderly at one of their bars. As for her stepdad, he’d disappeared. No one had seen him around his hometown. We couldn’t track where he was. He wasn’t using his bank accounts, phone, credit cards or any of the usual things Outlaw used to find people. His disappearance made us certain he had something to do with the fire. He might not have lit it himself, but he had to be involved.
Today, we spent time at the bakery. The repairs were almost done. The construction crew thought they would be done by Saturday. If they were, we’d do a final clean and reopen next Monday. It had been a month. Madisen was chomping at the bit to get back to work. We had been busy interviewing for Serena’s replacement. I anticipated that the business would be booming like it had been before, and I didn’t want her running herself ragged. The new person had baking experience, so Madisen was going to try her out on helping her with some of the baking in addition to working the front counter. I thought Jessica would work out fine. She was eager, bright, and energetic.
While she was finishing some things at the bakery, I had Joker and Ajax keeping an eye on her while I met with Tank to discuss a house for Madisen and me. I didn’t want us to stay long term in the clubhouse, or to move into her apartment after she was safe. I wanted more privacy and room. She’d been to Bull and Jocelyn’s house, Bear’s place and the one just finished for Ace and Devyn. They moved in a couple of days ago. All of them were different and beautiful. Madisen had talked a lot about what she liked in a house. From our discussions, I had a good idea what she’d love. I was going to show Tank and his foreman the plans I’d found for the house. I found him sitting in the common room. “Hey, brother, you got a minute? I need to talk to you.”
“Hell, yeah. Have a seat. What do you need, Reb?”
I pulled out the plans I had in my cut and laid them down on the table between us. “I want to see if you can build this here in the compound behind Bear’s place, close to the lake for me and Madisen?”
He grinned. “I was wondering when I’d be hearing from you. Another has fallen. Let me look at it.” He studied the plans. “Do you want it done with the stone like it is here?” I nodded. “We can do it. The crew is working on a small retail job but the ones doing the bakery will be free in a couple of days. We have another commercial building project, but I can bring on more guys. I say we could start in a week and if there are no delays, we should be able to have it done in three months tops. Probably less.”
We talked through the plans. It was a beautiful country Craftsman-style house with two stories and a basement. There were covered porches in the front and back. When you came in the front door into the foyer, to the left was an office, half bath, Master bedroom with a sitting area and master bath with two walk-in closets, a separate shower and garden tub and double vanities. There were lots of windows throughout. To the right off the garage was the mud/laundry room, an open concept kitchen, a breakfast nook and a great room with a fireplace. The great room had a vaulted ceiling. Upstairs were three bedrooms and two bathrooms. One of the bedrooms had a sitting area. The basement had room for a rec room, storage and mechanical room as well as another bedroom and bathroom. I planned to make the larger mechanical area into a panic room for Madisen and our kids. Though the compound was secure, you could never be too safe in my opinion. The house was big at over thirty-two hundred square feet with an attached three-car garage. I’d picked the spot behind Bear’s place because on one of our walks, Madisen mentioned how beautiful it was there. I’d asked Bull if it was okay and he’d given me his blessing.
With that off my plate, I could work on finding the right time to ask her to marry me. I just wish we had eliminated the danger to her. It worried me that we couldn’t find her stepdad. I didn’t even want her to go back to work with guards. I couldn’t be with her all the time. After we got done discussing the plans, Tank and I grabbed a beer and relaxed. Madisen should be coming home soon. She’d texted me they would be leaving shortly. As we chatted about this and that, the door opened. I was expecting to see Madisen, however, it was a couple of the bunnies. One of them was CeeCee. Shit, just what I wanted. I hoped she’d be smart and leave me alone. I pretended not to see her and kept talking to Tank. Demon came over and joined us.
I was telling Demon about the house, when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I sighed and closed my eyes for a moment. I knew that touch wasn’t Madisen’s and I could guess who it was. I opened my eyes and twisted around in my seat. There stood CeeCee, smiling down with a heated look in her eyes. She smiled wider when I looked at her.
“Hey, Rebel. You’re looking good, baby. So good. I’d love to get me a taste of all this hotness. Come on, I can make you feel really good before she gets back.” Before I had a chance to tell her to get lost, she dropped to her knees and her hand went to the zipper of my jeans. I’ll admit, she stunned me so much I was momentarily frozen. Was this bitch serious? How many times did I need to tell her I had an old lady and wasn’t interested? I unfroze when I heard Madisen’s voice.
“So, this is why you wanted to leave the bakery early. Good thing you did. She might not have waited for you much longer. Sorry I interrupted. Have fun,” Madisen hissed. She shoved out the front door. I jumped up and tripped over CeeCee, trying to go after her. The guys were all looking stunned as well. I saw Tate.
“Go the fuck after her,” I yelled as I shoved CeeCee away to get untangled from her. She had her arms wrapped around my legs. Tank reached down and dragged her away from me. I ran to the door and out into the parking lot. Tate was getting on his bike.
“Where the hell is she?”
“She jumped in her car and just took off. Jonah opened the goddamn gate for her.” I roared out my anger. I’d deal with Jonah when I got back. He was one of two new prospects we had brought on two weeks ago. The other one was Alex. I had to admit, the little I’d seen of them, Jonah hadn’t impressed me. Doing shit like this would get him kicked out for sure. While I was thinking all this and running to my bike, Tank, Demon, and Player followed me out of the clubhouse. They were headed to their bikes. Joker and Ajax came running from the direction of Bull’s house. They must have gone there after they escorted Madisen back from the bakery.
“What’s going on?” Joker asked.
Tank stopped to fill them in. I needed to find my girl. I revved my bike and headed to the gate. Jonah opened them as soon as he saw us coming. I glared at him as I passed. His ass was mine. We zoomed toward town. She couldn’t be far ahead of us. We weren’t more than five minutes behind her, but I couldn’t see her car at all. I increased my speed to just this side of unsafe. The only places I could think she would go were her apartment or the bakery. She didn’t have any friends that I knew of in town. The Bluetooth on my helmet rang. I answered it.
“Want to split up? Some of us can go to the bakery and you go to her apartment,” Demon asked. Good. He was thinking the same thing.
“Yeah, that was what I was thinking. Thanks, Demon.” When he hung up, we were on the outskirts of town. I signaled for two to come with me. By this time, Tank, Ajax and Joker had caught up to us. Joker and Ajax peeled off to follow me. We pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex ten minutes later. I looked around but didn’t see her car. Shit, she wasn’t here! The guys pulled up beside me.
“Her car isn’t here. She didn’t come back here. Fuck! She must be at the bakery,” I told them. Just then, my phone rang. It was Demon.
“Did you find her?”
“No, man, she’s not at the bakery. You at her apartment yet?”
“Yeah, in the parking lot, but her car isn’t here. I’m going to check out her apartment anyway, but I have no idea where else she’d go. Can you call Bull and have him ask Jocelyn if she knows of a place?” He agreed to call. I shut off my bike and headed to her apartment. I gestured for the guys to stay. At her door, I pounded and yelled out her name. There was no answer. I couldn’t see inside to see if she was there because the curtains were drawn over the front window. I decided to pick the lock, just in case she’d parked the car somewhere else and was in there ignoring me. As soon as I opened the door, I knew she hadn’t been here, but someone had. Her place was a mess—things thrown all over the place, broken items scattered all over the floor. Damn, this on top of everything else. The last time we’d been here was a week ago, so she could get the bulk of her clothes.
I closed and locked the door. I’d deal with this after we found her. I went back down to the guys. They frowned when they saw me coming back without her. My phone rang. It was Demon again. “Talk to me,” I barked.
“Jocelyn and Devyn have no idea where she’d go. They said she has no other friends that she’s ever talked about. I got her phone number off Jocelyn and gave it to Outlaw so he could try and trace her phone. Why don’t you guys come back and we’ll see what he finds?”
I didn’t want to stop searching, but it was a good idea since we had no idea where to look. I told him we were on our way. When I got off the phone, I filled Ajax and Joker in on what Demon had said and what I’d found in her apartment. They were less than happy. We took off for the clubhouse.
It felt like it took forever to make it back there. More bikes were in the lot. I raced inside. Bull was there with the old ladies and the rest of my brothers. Outlaw was at one of the tables. He shook his head when he saw my expression.
“Sorry, brother, she must have the phone off. Demon told us what happened. That’s bullshit. Bull told CeeCee to get the hell out of here and not to come back. Enough of that crap. Don’t worry, we’ll find your girl.”