“Honey, I can get a shower. I know you need to go meet with the guys.”

“They can wait. No way am I going to leave you alone in there. What if you get dizzy? You could fall. I have time to help you and then get some food down here. After that, while you nap, I’ll talk to them.” She tried to protest, but I put my finger over her lips. She bit the tip.

“Don’t go getting all sexy on me. I’m not taking you in the shower. You need rest. Then I might see if I can help with your other problem,” I teased her. Lord knew I wanted to be sunk deep inside of her, but she needed to eat and sleep more. She pouted out her bottom lip. It was so damn adorable. If our daughter did that, I was going to be a total pushover.

Ignoring her, I took her into the bathroom. It didn’t take long to get her washed, dried and into her lounging clothes. I tucked her under the covers and gave her a kiss. Her tongue teased mine, making me groan. She pulled away and sent me a smirk, the little tease. I smacked her hip.

“Behave. I’m going to go see if I can get one of the ladies or prospects to bring you some food. Eat it, please. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“I promise, I’ll eat. Go.” She waved me out of the room. One more kiss and I went. Otherwise, I’d stay there for the rest of the night. Out in the common room, I saw all three of the ladies. They hurried over to me asking what Jess needed.

“If you could find her something to eat, that would be wonderful. I need to go to church.” I could see the room was empty except for them, Tate, and Alex.

“We’ll find her something, don’t worry. Go do your thing,” Jocelyn told me. I thanked them and then went to church.

Inside, all the others were seated and talking quietly. When they saw me, they called out asking how Jessica was.

“She’s good. Tired, needs some food, a little bruised and has a headache, but otherwise fine. Let’s talk about what we’re going to do about that bitch in the Cellar,” I said as I took my seat. Grumbles went around the room.

“We need to question her to find out how they were able to get inside here. That’s the first thing. Then once we know that, we can make her disappear. Any preference on how we make that happen? I know we usually don’t hurt women, but she’s an exception,” Bull said grimly. He had a pissed look on his face. The others nodded in agreement.

“I’d like to say she should suffer a little bit, but I don’t think many of us would want to see that. I know it’s sexist, but hurting women still bothers me. Though in her case, maybe not,” I admitted.

“It’s not my preference, but if you want her to suffer, I can do it. I’ve done it before in Afghanistan and other places. I won’t lose any sleep over this one,” Payne said stoically. He was our enforcer and prior Delta Force. I knew he had to have seen and done things some of us could only imagine. Along with him, Bull, Bear, Demon, Rebel, Slash, and Maverick had been in the military.

“Thanks, Payne, I’ll think about it. I think the priority is finding out how they got inside. I’d like to let her stew a little longer, but we need to know how as soon as possible.”

“I agree. We took care of the bodies at the farm. Slash made it look like a gas leak got lit off by a cigarette. All three were in the room, near the stove which was the ignition point. No reason for them to dig deeper and if they do, we didn’t leave anything behind that could implicate us,” Bull stated. Slash was nodding his head in agreement.

“I made sure it went off and burned hot as hell. I swept the house to be sure nothing of Jess’s was there, I policed our brass and tracks in the dirt were wiped out too. The only ones they would see are the ones from their van,” Slash reassured us.

“Good. Now Outlaw, did you find anything on the cameras to show where they came in?” Bull asked. Outlaw frowned.

“I did, and it’s not good. They came in the small side gate we have on the west side of the compound. They knew the code, Bull. Someone in here had to have told them or they were watching and had a telescopic lens to see what it was. No way they could have just been lucky in guessing what it is. We change the codes every three months.”

“Shit, I was hoping it wasn’t something like that. You know what that means? We’re going to have to question the prospects, the bunnies, and even the old ladies to see if they have inadvertently shared it.” Bear groaned.

“Let’s see what May has to say first. We might not have to go through all that. Let’s go find out what we can and then we’ll decide what else we need to do.” We all stood up and followed Bull. We followed him out to our bikes, and we rode to the Cellar, which was our confinement room and hid our crematorium. This had been a lucky find. Apparently, the prior owners of the property had owned a mortuary. They had cremated people there. Of course, that had been about forty years ago. It had been long defunct when Bull had bought it several years ago to be our compound.

When we entered, I saw May was huddled in one of the cells. Her hair was looking ragged, and her clothes were covered in dirt. She’d definitely not come out on the pretty end of this. She looked at us with apprehension in her eyes, as well as a bit of defiance. I walked straight up to her cell.

“Do you know me?”

“You’re that biker who Jess hooked up with. I have no idea what you see in her. Must be a boredom thing, especially since you could have had my daughter,” she sneered. I laughed.

“Really? You think I’d want your daughter after being with Jessica? That’s like comparing champagne to piss-tasting beer. Not going to ever happen. Jessica is the best thing to ever happen to me. Your mistake is in trying to take her away from me. And for thinking her money should be yours. I know how you and Melody treated her all those years. How you turned her own father against her to a degree. I don’t feel a bit sorry for either of you, but that’s not why we’re here. We need to know how you knew the code to get into the compound side gate? Who told you?”

She just shrugged. I knew she wouldn’t just tell me, but I gave it a try. I gestured to Alex, who had come along with us. “Get her out and tied to the chair in the center over there.” He nodded and unlocked her cell. She struggled and swore as he dragged her none too gently to the chair. He slammed her down and tied her arms behind her back to the back of the chair. I walked all around her. She twisted as much as she could to see what I was doing.

“Before we get started, would you like to tell me what I want to know? It’ll go a lot easier on you if you do,” I lied to her.

“Go to hell. I’m not going to tell you shit. You don’t scare me.” Before I could respond, Payne stepped up and got in her face. His eyes were cold.

“You think you’re tough, don’t you? But I can promise you, you’re not. I’ve taken people like you apart many times. In the end, you all cave and tell me what I want to know. And if you think we won’t, remember what your daughter looked like with that hole in her gut. She got off easy. A shot to the head finished her. You won’t get it that easy.” I saw the fear flicker across her face before she stomped down on it.

She squeezed her lips tighter, like that would keep her from talking. I went over to the cabinet where we kept our tools. Payne stopped me.

“Let me do this, Ajax. It won’t bother me. And that bitch is pissing me off, looking like she’s all that and in control. I think I can scare the truth out before I have to get physical or at least too physical.”


Tags: Ciara St James Hunters Creek Archangel's Warriors MC Romance