Tex’s Angel (Savage Legion MC #11)

Chapter 15

Clara

T aking all my leave time at once hadn’t turned out to be the impossible ask that I thought it was going to be. Tex and I spent a wonderful two days at his club’s cabin by the lake. We hiked, he tried to teach me how to fish, and we cuddled up in front of the fireplace at night and talked. I told him about what it was like growing up in Las Salinas and he told me about growing up in Texas. I really enjoy talking to Tex. He’s smart and always has something interesting to say. I can’t believe I ever thought he was grumpy and unsociable.

I have to admit that when I told him he was the best thing that ever happened to me, and he told me I was one of the best things that ever happened to him it threw me for a loop. After spending the weekend thinking it over, I realized something important. This man is ten years older than me and that ten years comes with a wide variety of experiences, including living and loving.

First and foremost, is his son, Levi. Of course, the day his son was born was one of the best days of his life. If it weren’t, I’d be worried about him and his ability to bond. I can tell that Tex adores his son and I’m growing a strong liking for Levi as well. He’s a neat kid, unique and super smart. I can’t imagine that anyone who really knew him wouldn’t like him.

The thought of him having to pick which was better, falling in love with his wife or me broke my heart. His deceased wife and I are two totally different people. Falling in love with her was clearly a different experience from falling in love with me—if that’s even what’s happening between us. Each experience will be unique, and I’m not interested in competing with a dead woman for his love. I trust that he’s got enough love to go around for his deceased wife, Levi, me, his club brothers, and any damn body else that he cares about. Love isn’t like a pie where we all need to compete for slices.

Today is Sunday evening and we’re supposed to be meeting with the Savage Legion’s IT specialist. His name is Zen. Tex said he got tagged with that club name because he’s always so chill. We walk into the clubhouse, and it’s packed with brothers, their old ladies, and club girls. There’s a young prospect behind the bar, and someone is changing up the music.

We head back to Siege’s office and find several brothers already there. There’s Fran’s husband, Rider. Siege, Rigs, and a younger brother with a laptop. Siege jerks his chin at Tex.

“Come on in and have a seat. We’re waiting for Wade. He’s on his way with an idea on who else might be harassing you.”

Tex leads me over to a pair of empty chairs off to the side and we sit down. No one says anything and I speak up because the silence is making me uncomfortable. “It’s great that you’re all so welcoming of Wade. He’s had a difficult last few months.”

Siege drops back into his swivel chair behind his desk. “Wade’s a good man in need of a fresh start. That’s what our club is all about.”

Before I can ask what he means by that, Wade walks into the room wearing a prospect’s cut. My mouth falls open because Wade deciding to join the Savage Legion MC was the last thing on my crazy bingo card for this year. I know I’m staring at him like he’s got two heads, but I just can’t stop.

Tex reaches over and helpfully pushes my chin up, closing my gaping pie hole.

Wade is nothing short of amused by my reaction. “Brittany said you would be shocked shitless, and I can see that she was right.”

I snap out of it in the blink of an eye. “Sorry Wade. I just never saw you as the kind of guy to ride with the Savage Legion.”

“I like it here. The brothers are nice. I need something meaningful to do with my life and the Legion offered me the opportunity to be part of something larger than myself. I decided to take them up on it.”

I finally get my act together and smile at him. “I’m sure you’ll love it and become a real asset to the club. Congratulations on finding something that gives your life meaning.”

Siege speaks, “We think Wade will be a good fit for our club. He’s honest, dependable, and smart. Plus Tex vouched for him.”

“I’ve still got to prospect until I prove my worth. One step in that direction is realizing that we’ve overlooked a couple of possible people who could be stalking Clara.”

Rigs says excitedly, “Well, have a seat and tell us all about it.”

Wade does exactly that and launches into his explanation. “I remember you telling me a few months ago that you had to make a report to CPS about potential abuse of one of your students.”

“Yes, I’ve had to do that twice this school year. I believe both reports ended up with open CPS cases. But how could that possibly be related to someone stalking me?”

Rigs comes to his feet and answers before Wade can formulate a response to my question. “Mine and Siege’s old ladies both work for Child Protective Services. They tell horror stories about parents who come to the office threatening to kill their workers for removing their kids. One guy even brought a gun and ended up getting himself arrested.”

“Really?” I ask.

Siege adds quietly, “Yep. People get really pissed when CPS takes their kids.”

“I’m not CPS though. I’m just a schoolteacher. We’re mandated reporters. If we see abuse and don’t report it, they’ll pull our teaching license.”

Rigs responds, “Desperate people aren’t thinking clearly and can be dangerously unpredictable.”

Still not able to wrap my head around the situation, I say, “But why harass me? I don’t have a choice in reporting abuse and neglect. It seems like they’d be pissed at the people who actually made the decision to remove their children.”

Rider shrugs. “Who knows how these bastard’s minds work?”

Tex puts his hand over mine and gives it a little squeeze. “I still think it’s your soon-to-be-ex. He’s a selfish asshole who regrets letting you go.”

I roll my eyes because I adore Tex but he’s off base with this tree he’s barking up. “It doesn’t make sense to think that the man who won’t mow his own lawn or wash his own car has decided to harass me into staying married to him.”

Tex responds confidently, “He’s not harassing you though, is he? The asshole hired someone to harass you, probably thinking you would come running back to him for protection.” Giving me a smug grin, he adds, “The thing he didn’t count on was me stepping in to help you. My theory makes perfect sense if you think about it.”

Giving Zen a quick glance, he continues, “I know we haven’t found any dirt on Chris Collins yet and I think I figured out why.”

“What’s going on? Tell me?” I say in a shaky voice. “Chris is a cheating asshole, but he doesn’t strike me as motivated enough to go to such great lengths to stay married to me.” These guys have no idea how lazy my soon-to-be-ex actually is.

“We were digging through the Collins family, and I discovered his aunt works as a personal assistant to the mayor.”

This is when Zen chimes in, “They’re definitely having an affair. You can tell by the expression on his face when he looks at her. I checked out their expenses for business trips, they only turned in receipts for one hotel room when they travel, but they turn in twin receipts for three meals a day. It’s unlikely that no matter where they go, they eat at all the same restaurants at exactly the same time of day but don’t share that hotel room.”

“Oh, wow. They are both married. Did you know that?”

Zen glances at Tex and they both nod. “All this means that his aunt is in a position to get him to use his political clout for her benefit. The mayor could easily call in favors to get county and local law enforcement to overlook minor misdemeanors, everything from speeding tickets to drunk driving to any number of petty crimes.”

I let that sink in for a few seconds. Siege takes the lull in the conversation to recap what they’ve discovered. “I’m not ruling anything out without good cause. As far as I’m concerned, this ex is still a suspect and we’ll be onto him until we prove he wasn’t involved.”

He gestures to Wade, “This was smart thinking, bringing up the CPS reports. I think this is another good lead.”

“Yeah,” Tex says, his voice sounding resigned. “I guess we can’t exclude anyone at this stage. I wasn’t thinking like a cop there.”

Rigs offers to get the ball rolling. “I’ll give Mattie a call and ask if she can carve out some time tomorrow to meet with us. She’s gonna want the names of those kids you made reports on so she can pull their records and review them.”

I give him wary look and rub my hands up and down the front of my jeans. “I don’t think I’m allowed to disclose that kind of information.”

Tex put his hand on my arm. “You can trust Rigs and Siege. They both work with CPS to find missing kids.”

Siege leans over his desk to gaze at me. “If it makes you feel happier, would you consider giving us initials? I’m sure Mattie and Cleo can locate the kids with just the name of the school and their initials. I mean, how many CPS referrals could come from one school in a short period of time?”

I think it over for a moment, “I feel comfortable with initials because they wouldn’t mean anything to people who aren’t already involved in the cases. Okay, the first report I made was on a child with the initials of AM back in August. The second one’s initials were RB, and I just made that one about four months ago.”

Rigs grabs his phone and starts texting. I assume it’s a message to his wife. I look around at this group of overly serious men and awed that they help CPS locate missing kids. I have to admit that they look just like the kind of men are capable of doing something like that. Several of the brothers are talking in low whispers.

I realize that Tex’s hand is still on my shoulder when he gives me a little squeeze. “Y’all okay, sugar pie?”

I nod nervously. “Yeah, I just feel like I’m a little out of my depth here. That’s all.”

“What do you mean, out of your depth?” he asks, appearing deeply concerned.

I swallow thickly and try to explain. “Well you train law enforcement officers, and your brothers rescue missing children. You’re all helping me figure out who’s stalking me when I don’t have any other person willing to help me. Meanwhile, I’m pretty much just a schoolteacher.”

He leans over and kisses me on the forehead. “You’re not just an anything, Clara. You’re a multitude of wonderful things and I don’t want you to ever forget that.”

I lean over and let him wrap me up in his arms. When we break apart, he looks at me intently. “I might not be training law enforcement officers much longer.”

My hand comes out to grasp his shoulders. “What do you mean? Why not?” Taking my hand off him, I realize my reaction might have been a bit much. “What I mean to say is that you love your job. Why would you ever give it up?”

“I wouldn’t give it up voluntarily. Back at your house, the local law enforcement officers realized for the first time that I’m a member of a motorcycle club when they saw me in my cut.”

“That’s so unfair,” I tell him. It’s heartbreaking to think he could lose his job over something so innocuous as being a member of a motorcycle club.

Siege’s voice drifts to our ears from behind his desk. “Do you want me to make an appointment with Smoke? I don’t think they can fire you for being part of a totally legal MC. It’s not like we’re an outlaw club.”

“I got a text message that they want to meet with me first thing on Wednesday morning. They’ve asked that I bring everything the department issued to me. I take that to mean there’s a chance they’re gonna terminate me. The only thing that’s changed between this weekend and last, is word getting out that I’m part of the Savage Legion MC.”

Siege frowns. “That definitely sounds like it might be related. Let us know if you want to pursue it through legal channels. Smoke and my sister will have your back either way.”

Tex responds wryly, “It’s a good thing I’m the new head of the SLMC security company. Otherwise, I’d be pretty broke in terms of paying my bills and day to day expenses.”

“Don’t like to dip into that hefty savings account, do you?”

“Nope. That’s all earmarked for Levi’s college fees, and money to get him started in life. It’s what my wife would have wanted.”

It dawns on me at some point that they must be referring to an inheritance or insurance policy that belonged to his deceased wife. I agree that saving that for Levi would be outstanding behavior on Tex’s part. The more I got to know this man, the more I respect him in every conceivable way.

Rigs suddenly slides his phone back into his back pocket. “Mattie’s put us on the schedule for eight in the morning. We’re her first appointment of the day. She knew which kids you were referring to and plans to pull and review the files before you arrive. If there’s nothing else to go over, I’d like to head home now, and I can fill her in.”

“Yeah, go on and tell Mattie I said hello. You bagged a good one there, Rigs,” Siege says.

He chuckles, “Yeah. I know my Mattie is something special. But hey, you ended up with the second-best social worker in the state.”

Siege frowns at his longtime friend. “I’m not playing this game with you again, Rigs. Cleo did a stint as a teacher before going into social work. It makes sense that Mattie would be a supervisor because she’s been there years longer that Cleo.”

Excitement rises in my chest. “Your wife used to be a teacher? I’d love to talk to her sometime.”

Siege grins, clearly happy that I identify so strongly with his wife. “She’s gonna be at the meeting in the morning. Maybe you could arrange to have lunch together later in the week.”

“I’ll be sure to do that,” I tell him.

“My wife has two sets of twins at home. Don’t get me wrong, she loves our kids, but she really likes to take a break and have girl time. I know she misses teaching, so the two of you might have a lot to talk about.”

Rigs walks over to have a private conversation with Siege, and Tex uses that moment for us to make our departure.

Wade follows us out. If I’d thought he was going to sit with us and drink, I would have been mistaken. The minute he hits the bar area, Brittany comes running over to him, all smiles. Wade welcomes her with one open arm, and she quickly slides onto his lap. He pulls something out of his pocket and hands it to her. “I know it’s nothing special, but I saw those chocolates you like and bought a box for you.”

She presses the small box to her chest. “Thank you, babe. I love these so much and they’re getting hard to find.”

“Good thing I’m excellent at finding obscure things that put a smile on your face.”

She gazes up at him like he hung the moon. “Lucky me.”

I sit down and the guys walk to the bar to get us drinks. I can’t resist pointing out the obvious. “You know Wade’s only a prospect, right?”

The smile doesn’t ever leave her face. “Yeah, I used to care about shit like that. Now I don’t, not since I met the right guy.”

My eyebrows shoot up and I can’t help but smile back at her. “So, it’s like that is it?”

Brittany giggles. “Yes. Just like that.”

“Don’t you worry about being his rebound?” I ask a bit more seriously.

She looks at me curiously, “He wasn’t the only one cheated on. Is Tex your rebound?”

I glance over at the two of them standing at the bar and reply, “No. I’d have to give a crap about my soon-to-be-ex in order to be rebounding from him, right?”

She nervously glances at Wade. “Do you think I have a chance with him, you know, because I’m a club girl.”

“I don’t think Wade cares about stuff like that. He’s brand new to biker culture. I’ll bet you were the first club girl he got with.”

She takes a deep breath and says, “Yeah, I was. His wife is your sister, right?”

“Yeah. I don’t talk to her unless I have to nowadays.”

“I’ve been around for a while and seen lots of things, but I still can’t believe that your sister stole your husband. That’s all kinds of messed up.”

“You don’t have to tell me. I lived it.”

She asks, “What’s your sister like? Do you think he’s ever going to take her back?”

“Gina is a lot like you. She outgoing, talkative, friendly, and stirs up chaos wherever she goes. I think Wade likes women who keep him on his toes by being exciting. My sister was more toxic than exciting and that was bad for his mental health. I hope that if the two of you end up together, you’re nice and respectful to him. It’s something that was sorely missing in his life when he was with my sister.”

“I really like Wade. He’s got a good soul and is the first man that’s treated me with respect in a long time.”

“Yeah, Wade is a real sweetheart. He’ll give you the shirt off his back. I hope you don’t take advantage of that.”

“I’m not,” she says with a smile. Reaching into her back jeans pocket she pulls out a rectangular box.

“What’s that?” I ask, genuinely curious.

She pulls back the hinged lid to reveal what appears to be a battery bank. Brittany explains, “He’s been having a problem with his phone battery running down. His phone’s an older model and with the apps used by the club, his phone’s not been making it through the day. I thought I’d buy him a battery bank so he could charge his phone whenever it runs out of juice.”

I can’t help but smile. “That’s really a sweet, thoughtful gesture, Brittany. I’m sure he’ll really appreciate it.”

She admits shyly, “This is the first time I’ve felt this way about a man. I always thought falling in love was for people who weren’t me, so I just focused on trying to hook up with any brother that would have me. I’m glad none of them wanted me, cause if they did, I’d have missed out on getting to know Wade.”

Seeing her so hopeful makes me reevaluate everything I thought I knew about this woman. I see her with new eyes and can actually imagine an alternate reality where Wade met Brittany first and they’re living happily ever after. I reach out and give her a hug. “It’s nice to see two people find each other after being unlucky in love. I know how great that feels, and I wish you both the best of luck in making this work.”

The next thing I know, Wade is standing beside Brittany. “What’s going on here. Are you trying to steal my girl?” He’s only joking but it made Brittany giggle like a schoolgirl.

“Not at all. Brittany was just showing me the little gift she bought for you.”

Wade’s eyes shift from me to Brittany, and she lights up like a Christmas tree. “It’s no big deal. Just a little something I thought you could use.”

When she opens the box for him to have a look, he stares at the sleek black battery bank for a second and then asks, “You got me a black metal box? Is it like the black box from an airplane that will record what happens if I wreck my bike?”

Again, Brittany is all smiles and laughter. “No, babe. This is a battery bank. You can charge your phone with it or any kind of small electronics.”

Wade hands her the beer he got for and plucks the item out of the box and tests the weight of it in his hand. “It’s heavy.”

Now, I know Wade isn’t very tech savvy. That’s what makes this such a sweet gesture.

“Yeah, it has to be in order to charge things. Come on, let’s grab a table and I’ll show you how it works. If you’re nice, I might even share my chocolates with you.”

Tex tells Wade, “I’ve never known Brittany to share anything with anyone. She must really like you.”

Wade quips, “Of course she does. I’m a likable guy.”

Brittany takes his hand and proudly walks back to one of the tables near the back and they settle down to talk and flirt. “Do you really think they’re going to end up in a relationship?”

Tex snorts a laugh. “Depends on how fond of batshit crazy he is.”

I swat his shoulder with the back of my hand. “Don’t be such a spoilsport.”

He just shakes his head. “I can see that you’re a hopeless romantic, always rooting for love.”

I take a step closer and cup his face with both hands. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Not a damn thing, sugar. Tonight we drink, shoot some pool, and enjoy ourselves because tomorrow we hunt down the fuckers who have slipped our grasp for far too long. Then we get back to living our best lives. How does that sound?”

“Amazing,” I tell him, believing in this moment that it’s going to be just that easy.

He gets a jingle on his cell phone and after reading the text, his eyes come up to meet mine. He has a serious expression on his face that makes me take notice. “We’re having dinner tonight with Levi and Evan. Rigs and Mattie will be joining us as well. Rigs says that Mattie wants to prep you for the meeting tomorrow morning and give y’all a heads up on how CPS operates. She feels like the more information y’all have on their process, the better prepared y’all will be to hit the ground running when the meeting starts. She also had an idea that your stalker might be one of those kids’ parents, she hasn’t reviewed the case yet, so the specifics will have to wait for the meeting.”

I nod, nervous about talking to a CPS supervisor. I hope she doesn’t think bad of me for reporting twice in one year. I immediately realize she won’t because I’m a mandated reporter. I’m supposed to report any issues of possible abuse or neglect.