Chapter 8: Rebel
I watched as Madisen, Trudie, and Jessica waited on the crowd of customers in Angel’s Delights. We reopened the bakery two weeks ago. It seemed like the fire had attracted even more customers. More people from other towns nearby were coming in to check out the place. We’d not seen or heard anything from her stalker. Smoke was hard at work digging into his contacts and dark places to find her stepdad. He was buried deep, and this made us worry he had some heavy-duty help. If it was him trying to kill her in the first place.
I had my hands full to keep her from overdoing it. She wanted to work every day and all day. I put my foot down. She stayed for eight hours then I took her home. Also, while she was there, she had to take a break at least every two hours. The few times I couldn’t be there, Joker made sure she did. She bitched and complained but we ignored her. She didn’t need to be exhausted. She was having morning sickness on top of it and it was taking a toll on her. I heard her tell Trudie she was going to grab another pan of lemon bars from the back. I sat there waiting for her to return. She had chewed me a new ass last week after I kept following her every time she stepped out of my sight. I fought to let her breathe. I was thinking about that day, when I heard her cry out. I jumped up and raced to the back. I beat Trudie, Jessica, and Ajax, who was inside with me today, to the back. She was standing there, looking at the back door with her hands over her mouth. I looked at the door and halted.
Written on the door in what looked like red paint were the words, You can hide but I’ll get you bitch. Then you’ll pay. Your biker friends can’t protect youforever. What the fuck? How had anyone gotten in here without us knowing it? Besides me and Ajax inside, we had Slash out front and Jonah in the back. He’d been given his “lesson” by me and a few others two weeks ago. He still carried the bruises. I went to her and pulled her away from the door. I pulled her head to my chest. She was shaking.
“Shh, you’re fine, babe. He’s not going to get to you. I swear we won’t let him hurt you.” As she shook, I looked at Ajax. He was looking as pissed as I felt. He turned around and stomped out to the front. I didn’t know what he was going to do. I knew I needed to get more of the guys down here. I held her in one arm and pulled out my phone. I hit Bull’s number. He answered on the second ring.
“What’s up, brother? You still at the bakery with Madisen?”
“Yeah, and I need you to send some more guys down here right away,” I barked out.
“Tell me what happened.”
I quickly filled him in on what was on the door. He swore and promised to have more guys there in twenty minutes or less. He also said he’d call Scarelli. I thanked him and hung up. I swung her up in my arms and took her to the office in the back. It had a desk, chair and a small love seat in it. I sat down on the love seat with her on my lap. I rubbed her back. I heard a soft knock on the open door. It was Jessica.
“Can I get her anything, Rebel? Trudie and I can take care of the bakery if you want to take her home. I saw the door. She doesn’t need this shit,” she hissed. In the couple of weeks that she’d been here, she’d become fast friends with Madisen. And she was extremely responsible for her young age. She was a little younger than Madisen. I think Outlaw said she was twenty-two. More than one guy had been checking her out. They tended to not do it much in front of Madisen. I’d noticed that little jackass, Officer Talbot, had been dropping in almost every day. He stared at her a lot. I also had seen my brother, Ajax, watching her. I wasn’t sure what was going on there. But right now, I have to concentrate on my woman.
“Baby, look at me.” She looked up at me with sad eyes. “After the guys get here, we’re going to the compound. I don’t want to hear anything out of you about it. You need to rest. We need to get the cops here. I know they can’t really do anything about it, but we want to cover our bases. Bull said he was calling Scarelli. Hang in there. I’ll get you out of here as soon as possible.” Tears shimmered in her eyes. I kissed both of them and then her mouth softly. She kissed me back just as tenderly. God, I loved this woman.
I could hear the thunder of several bikes pulling up outside. I wondered what had happened to Ajax. About that time, he came thundering into the office, dragging Jonah behind him. Jonah was struggling to get loose from the hold Ajax had on his cut. Ajax threw him against the desk.
“Tell him! Tell him what you did, you little fucker!” he shouted. Bull, Tank, Payne, and Joker came in the door. I could see Slash and Player behind them in the kitchen. Jonah looked around at all the eyes on him and swallowed nervously.
“I-I just was gone a second,” he stuttered. Ajax backhanded him in the face.
“You were gone more than a second, jackass. You left your post long enough to allow someone to get into the bakery where my brother’s pregnant woman was with two other women and let him have enough time to paint a message on the back door! He could have laid in wait and killed her! Killed my brother’s unborn baby! Killed Jessica or Trudie!” Ajax was losing it. I think he was cycling harder than I was. I was keeping myself under wraps until I got Madisen settled. I didn’t want to go off in front of her. Bull stepped between them.
“Alright, take a break, Ajax. We’ll deal with him at the compound.” He looked over his shoulder at Player. “You and Tate take him back to the compound in the SUV. Put him in the Cellar. We need to talk to the police. They should be here any minute. Get him gone.” Player nodded and came over to Jonah and dragged his protesting ass out of the office. Madisen watched with wide eyes.
Bull hunkered down in front of her. “You doing okay, sweetheart? We’ll get you out of here as soon as we can. Try to relax.” She nodded. He rubbed her arm. We heard a soft throat being cleared. I looked at the door. Jessica was back. I saw Ajax straighten and hone in on her. There was definitely something going on there.
“Rebel, Chief Scarelli is out front asking to speak to you. Do you want me to bring him back?” she asked us.
Ajax answered her, “Yeah, let me come with you to get him, honey.” He went over and escorted her out of the room with his hand on her lower back. I shot a look at Bull. He was watching the whole thing. He turned back to me.
“I filled Scarelli in on the shooting. He was a little pissed that we hadn’t reported it before this, but he’ll keep it under wraps. Let’s see what he says.” Madisen was slumped on my lap. Her eyes were half closed in fatigue. Scarelli came in with Ajax.
“I hear we had another incident. Hello, Madisen. You doing okay, honey? I’ll make this quick. Tell me what happened.” In a soft voice she told him about coming back into the kitchen to get more pastries and looking at the back door because it was ajar. That’s when she saw the words written on it. She’d yelled and then I came in. I explained about us having upped her security detail after the incident at the cemetery. He jotted down a few notes. When we were done, he sighed.
“I know you are aware we ruled out Chris Corbin for the arson. He’s been staying to himself. My contacts told me her stepdad has fallen off the grid. That’s what worries me. Has Outlaw had any success finding him?” he asked Bull. Scarelli knew enough about us to know Outlaw was a hacker. He couldn’t care less how he got his information if it helped the good guys. That is one of the things I liked about him. Bull told him he hadn’t. He was about to ask another question, when Officer Talbot came strutting into the office. My hackles instantly went up. I disliked this little prick. He wore a self-satisfied expression on his weaselly face.
Scarelli glared at him. “What are you doing here, Talbot?”
“I heard there was an issue at the bakery and you had gone to answer the call. I came to see if you needed help. You shouldn’t need to take calls like this, Chief. They’re a waste of your important time. I’ll handle it.” His condescension pissed all of us off. Scarelli narrowed his eyes at him.
“Don’t you worry about what calls I take. I’ve got this. Bull and the club are old friends. I’ll handle them myself. You can go back to the station. If I need your help, I’ll let you know.” Talbot’s lip curled up. He wasn’t pleased. Good. I couldn’t stand him. He stiffly said goodbye and left. Scarelli rolled his eyes.
“Dipshit. I wish I could get rid of his ass. He’s been on this kick that there is something going on here that’s illegal. Has he been causing any issues?”
“Just coming in here every day and sitting and staring at the staff like a creeper,” Ajax growled. I knew he was talking about Jessica.
“If he becomes a problem, let me know. Now, back to the original reason I’m here. I’ll need to take pictures of the door and I’ll have someone dust for fingerprints. Until we can get a handle on where this bastard is, can she stay home? The compound is safer than anywhere else I can think of unless you send her somewhere for a while.” I felt her stiffen. I shook my head.
“She’s not going anywhere without me. I’m not leaving her or our baby,” I told him tersely. He straightened up in surprise.
“Baby? I didn’t realize she was pregnant. Congratulations, you two. Well, I can understand you not wanting to be away from her, though that might not work because it seems like he’s watching her. Shit, I wish I had a better idea. Damn! Let me get these photos and see if I can get more help. There’s not enough for me to ask for federal help. I’ll let you guys know if I find out anything. I’d appreciate it if you would do the same for me.” He shook all our hands and smiled at Madisen. Bull took him out the back door. I stood up with her in my arms.