“How would they know that, or where to get her? Surely they weren’t just wandering around the compound.”
“The woman who helped us told them. She called them.” She’d just narrowed it down to being one of the bunnies. One of them could have stayed after entertaining the guys last night. She could have stayed out of sight.
“What does she look like?” Payne asked her.
She shuddered and tried to move away from him. “She’s young, maybe mid-twenties. Has dark hair to her shoulders. Stands about my height, five foot six. Has a beauty mark on her upper right lip.” We all jerked at her description. She was describing Daisy, the bunny who’d tried to cause problems early on between Ajax and Jessica.
Ajax looked at us. I knew we had to look as stunned as he did. Payne stepped back up to her. As soon as he did, she started to whine. “Please, I told you what you wanted to know. Now, you can let me go. I swear I won’t tell anyone what you did. I’ll never bother her again.” Ajax gave her a humorless laugh. She looked at him.
“Do we look stupid? No one said anything about letting you go. You kidnapped my woman twice, was going to steal her money, and let your men rape then murder her. You put my unborn daughter at risk. I hate to tell you, but you’re going to one place, in the ground, as ashes, so no one ever finds you,” he sneered. She broke down in sobs. Before Ajax could do or say anything else, a shot rang out. Payne had his gun in his hand. He simply shrugged at Ajax.
“You didn’t need to do it. I’m used to it,” he said.
“Maybe you are, but that doesn’t mean you should be the one who did it,” Ajax told him. Payne gave another shrug.
Bull gestured to Alex. “Get Tate and take her down to the crematorium. You know what to do, then go spread her ashes somewhere far from here. We have a bunny to find,” he growled menacingly.
We’d just cleared the Cellar when Bull’s phone rang. He answered it and then we heard him swear. We all stopped to find out what had happened now. He barked into the phone, “We’ll be right there.” He hung up and looked at us.
“That was Jake. We need to get to the clubhouse. Now.” We tried to ask what was wrong, but he wouldn’t say. He just ran over to his bike. The rest of us did the same. Time seemed to slow down as we raced back to the front of the property. As soon as we got to the clubhouse, we parked and ran inside to see what was wrong. I prayed it wasn’t Jessica.
We all froze when we got through the door. I took in the crazy scene. Tate and Jake were standing with the old ladies and, to my surprise, Zara. Why had she come back? Jessica was standing in the group, but it wasn’t them who had us frozen. It was the body on the floor in the middle of the common room. A body that wasn’t moving and had blood spreading in a pool around it. It took a second for it to register that it was none other than Daisy. She had a hole between her eyes and a gun was lying on the floor next to her.
“What the fuck happened?” I heard Ajax shout as he pulled Jessica into his arms. She looked like she was out of it, and she was shaking. When someone answered, it wasn’t what I expected to hear, not from that person.
“I shot her.”
“What?” I asked incredulously, along with several of my brothers. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My heart pounded.
“I shot her,” Zara said louder. She was standing there, rock steady, though a little pale. I walked over and wrapped her up in my arms.
“You shot her? Why? What happened, babe?” I asked.
“I came back to check on Jessica again, just to be sure she was feeling okay. When I walked in the door, that bunny was pulling Jessica through the bar area. She had a gun in her hand, and she shouted at the other ladies to sit still. She didn’t want to hurt them. She just wanted Jess. She kept muttering something about getting rid of her and Ajax would come back to her. She was crazy as hell. I knew she was going to kill Jess. I have no idea how she could think you’d be okay with it, but like I said, she was nuts.
“I didn’t have time to get help. If she got out of here with Jessica, she was done for. Jocelyn shouted at her, telling her she wouldn’t get away with it. When she looked at her, I took the gun out of my purse, and I shot her.”
“You carry a gun?” I asked her.
She frowned at me. “Of course, I do. I’m a single woman who lives alone and works at night. I have a permit. Everything should be fine when you call the cops. Castle doctrine and being in imminent danger are the basis for my actions.”
I shook my head. “We’ll talk about you carrying later. Babe, we can’t call the cops. If we do, they’ll start to look into where the others are. We can’t explain that.” She looked at me for a minute before she finally nodded.
“Fine. I won’t say anything. You do whatever you need to do. I need to check on Jessica again. This second scare so soon after the first one isn’t good for her.” I watched her calmly go over to Jessica and lead her down the hallway. She acted like it was just another day at the ER. The other ladies went with them. Ajax looked at us in astonishment. I knew how he felt.
“Did that just happen?” We nodded. “Damn, okay, I guess we’d better watch out for Doc. She’s a beast. Let’s get this body out of here before they come back. She can be cremated with May. Once that’s taken care of, we need to all sit down and have a fucking drink. I need one.” We all yelled our agreement. The ladies and the babies didn’t return until after Daisy’s body had been removed and the floor cleaned.
After they came back, those who could drink had one. Jess had come out with the ladies. I thought she should still be lying down, but Zara hadn’t said anything. It wasn’t long before Ajax took her off to the guesthouse for the night. Now, I was going to have a talk with Doc about her erroneous thoughts, our relationship, and her carrying a gun. Maybe I should wait until she had a chance to settle from shooting someone, but I didn’t want her to build up even more walls between us. I wanted to comfort her tonight. I knew the reality of what she had done would be hitting her soon. Before that happened, I went to my room to grab some things. I knew she wouldn’t stay here, so I was going to stay at her place. She could object all she wanted. I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.