Outlaw: Chapter 20
The last two days had been a whirlwind of activity as Smoke, Everly, Petrillo, and I dug into everything we could find on the six men Tarin had named. She was positive it had to be one of them. They were the only ones who ever called her stepdad, Mer.
Five of the six were rich men like Mercer. They’d mainly inherited their fortunes and then grew them a little bigger. Only his assistant wasn’t a multimillionaire like they were. That made me suspicious that he might be the one, but the others cautioned me not to jump to that conclusion, just because they were rich. They said rich people loved to get richer.
Petrillo was working on the assistant, Wade. I was working on two others and that left the other three for Everly and Smoke. So far, we hadn’t found anything that confirmed any of them were involved. However, Smoke warned us that if they were, they’d be unlikely to have it on a computer or somewhere else that could be hacked. This shit would get their asses sent to prison.
As I worked, Tarin spent time with the old ladies or at home. She couldn’t go into the Haven without an escort, so she was stuck at the compound. She’d wanted to go to Nashville to look for a wedding dress with Ilara, but I didn’t want her to go. The blackmailer had given us until the end of the week to get the money. That was tomorrow. I was hoping he’d send us more instructions, or we’d find something. Time was running out.
In desperation, I went back to the SD card that had been on her windshield. I was defragging the drive to see if I could use a program to recreate what had been written on it and erased. Nothing so far made any sense. I looked at the paper itself, but there was no watermark on it.
It was almost ten at night. I was about to call it a night and head to the house when my phone rang. I saw it was Smoke. I answered it. “What did you find?”
“Maybe nothing, but it looks like Mercer and his five rich buddies all went to the same place in Thailand every year. It was an annual thing they started back in their college days. You know what kind of shit you can do over there if you have enough money,” he growled.
Yeah, I knew. People were sold by their parents into prostitution and to the black-market flesh peddlers. Underage boys and girls were used and abused by men and women. You could buy any kind of sexual act you wanted for the right price. Snuff films were a common thing there as well. “Jesus Christ, do you think all of them were pedophiles, Smoke?”
“I don’t know if they’re all pedophiles, but I would guess they had some kind of kink that needed to be kept secret. This is more than your everyday BDSM shit. I found the mention of a police report on one of the men. He’d had a young woman file a report on him for assault. Nothing ever came of the report. She didn’t file formal charges. I can’t find where the cops ever brought him in for questioning. However, I did find that the young woman was reported missing two months later. She hasn’t resurfaced since then anywhere that I can find her.”
“Son of a bitch! He had her killed. They think their asses are above the law.”
“Probably. This is the shit we’re trying so damn hard to stop and it’s happening in our own backyards every day. I wanna build our damn wall to twenty feet high and never let any of our women or kids outside. How’s Tarin holding up?”
“About the same as yesterday. She’s trying to not let it get to her, but the closer the weekend gets, the more I see it weighing her down. I’m on my way home now. She should be resting, but I know she’s probably wide awake.”
“Listen, I know you want to find this guy. We all do, but you need to take care of her first. Don’t let her wait and worry. If she can’t be with you, then give us more to do. She needs you, and being pregnant on top of it, doesn’t help. Take it from me, those hormones make women do crazy things and think crazy shit.” He barked out a laugh after he said it, then I heard Everly in the background threatening to cut his balls off. We’d just found out she was pregnant with their second baby and was due in August. I guess her hormones were raging.
“I’ll keep that in mind. You’d better go smooth out those feathers you just ruffled,” I told him.
“Hey, I know how to handle her. When all else fails, I sex her up until she passes out. You should try it.”
“I’ll get right on it. Thanks, Smoke. Now, go give your pregnant woman some attention.”
“I will. ‘Night, Outlaw.” We both hung up.
I stood and stretched before I headed to the common room. I made sure to lock my room up before I left. I was halfway to the common room when April came popping out of the shadows. I scowled at her. She’d tried again yesterday to come to my room. I’d run her off without listening to her. This was enough!
“April, I’m not going to tell you again. Stay the fuck away from me. What is your damn problem?”
“Outlaw, I need to talk to you. It’s important.”
“What the hell could you have to say that I want to hear?”
“I want you to pick me,” she said in a rush.
“Pick you for what?”
“As your old lady. I don’t see why you guys are all bringing in these women who don’t know anything about the club life or you. Me and the other girls have been here a long time. We know what you need and what to keep our mouths shut about. These bitches don’t. I know Tarin is Bear’s daughter, but that doesn’t mean you have to be with her.”
I was about to tear into her, when I heard a roar. I looked around to see Bear coming at us like a freight train. He looked like he was ready to kill someone. April cowered behind me.
“Get your ass out here, bitch! How dare you say that shit about any of the old ladies, but especially about mine and my daughter. You wanna know why we’re not taking bunnies as our old ladies? It’s because we don’t want women who’ve been with every single one of our brothers to be our wife or mother to our children. They might not know about the MC life, but we can trust them not to spread their legs to every man they meet,” he yelled. I saw some of my brothers coming down the hall to check out the commotion.
“Well, that’s rich. All of you didn’t seem to mind us spreading our legs when you were getting a piece. Now, we're shit. You’re not a damn angel either, Bear,” April shouted back at him.
“No, I wasn’t, but I'm not hooking up with a woman who I’ve slept with every one of her friends. My woman knows she can trust me not to fuck around on her. I’ve seen how you and the other bunnies have stabbed each other in the back over the years, any time you thought it might get you in good with one of the guys. Why the hell are you so desperate to be with us, that you’ll sell out your soul for a chance?”
“Why not? Your precious angels would do the same. You think they’re Madonnas, but they’re as much of a whore as you call us.”