Chapter 15 #2
When I pulled onto the road, I wasn’t surprised to see a black SUV follow me through town to the Clifton Forge Garage. But when I pulled into the garage’s lot, they kept on driving, disappearing as I eased into one of the large, empty shop bays.
“Hey, Luke.” Emmett raised a grease-smeared hand as I hopped out. “Dash and Leo are inside already. I’ll be right there.”
“Thanks.” I nodded and made my way to the office door.
The garage was spotless, one of the cleanest I’d ever seen. Everything had its place. There weren’t many stains on the concrete floor and the surfaces were free of clutter. Toolboxes and work benches and chests hugged the walls. The smell of oil and concrete and metal tinged the air.
The aisle to the office was free of clutter. This place had flow. Scarlett would approve.
As I opened the office door, Emmett hit a button to bring the bay door down before going to the sink and pumping a squirt of orange soap into his palm and lathering up.
Inside, Presley was behind her desk, waiting.
“Hey,” I said. “Long time no see. I’ve missed you at the station.”
She smiled. “Liar.”
Her hair was the same short, bright blond.
It swept artfully over her forehead. She was wearing a fitted black tank top today, the matching straps of her bra peeking out at her shoulders.
Her baggy cargo pants sat low on her hips as she stood and walked to the office’s door, flipping the lock and sign to closed.
Presley’s style was her own, different from Scarlett’s.
Though she didn’t have a big wardrobe, Scarlett seemed to prefer items that fit her trim body and hugged her slight curves.
It was all casual, jeans and tees, but with a feminine edge.
Presley seemed to favor dark colors, whereas Scarlett was happy with light.
My favorite swimsuit she’d ordered had been the palest of blues, nearly white.
It had brought out the color of her sparkling eyes.
With the door locked, Presley returned to her chair. The blinds on the window overlooking the parking lot were drawn.
Dash came out of his office, hand extended. “Luke.”
“Hey, Dash.” I shook his hand, then Leo’s as he followed behind.
Both men were about my height, tall and fit. Dash looked more and more like Draven every time I saw him. There were a few gray hairs at his temple. Draven had always worn a beard and if Dash let the scruff on his jaw grow a bit, he’d look like a younger version of his father. Before Draven’s death.
My heart hammered as we all took a seat.
When was the last time I’d been nervous?
Not even arresting Marcus had twisted me up.
If Dash freaked out about the video, if he decided to take revenge on the Warriors for Draven’s death, Scarlett would be the one to suffer.
Which meant I had to tread carefully. It was a shame that Bryce wasn’t here.
If anyone could calm a raging Dash, it was his wife.
“Been fishing lately?” Leo asked, relaxing in a chair against the wall.
His dirty-blond hair was longer than I’d seen it in a while, almost enough to pull back like the way Emmett wore his. I wasn’t sure how any of them could handle having their hair touch their ears. As soon as mine got long enough to touch the shell, I went to the barber in town and had it trimmed.
“Floated the Smith last week,” I said.
“How was it?”
“Good. Best trip I’ve had in ages.” Not because of the fishing, but the company.
“One of these days, I’m going to tag along with you and Emmett.”
“You’re welcome anytime.”
Emmett and I often went fishing together in the summers, but it wasn’t exactly Leo’s thing. He was more of a party guy. Most nights, he was at The Betsy searching for a good time.
Leo’s face was covered in scruff and the backs of his hands were flecked with blue paint. He loved beer and women, but the man was an artist. Give him an air gun and a paint booth and he’d work magic on a classic car or custom bike.
Beside him, Dash leaned his forearms on his knees. I sat across from Presley at the desk, giving her a small smile. She was faking one of her own, but her hands fiddled with a pen on the desk. I was as anxious as she was to get this over with.
Emmett’s bootsteps preceded him as he came into the office, closing the door behind him. His coveralls were streaked with grease at the knees, but he’d unzipped the top half to uncover the white T-shirt beneath.
He sat beside Dash and Leo, the three of them sporting an array of colorful tattoos.
“Where’s Isaiah?” I asked. Isaiah hadn’t been a Tin King, but since he was married to Genevieve and connected to Dash by family, I’d expected him here.
“Sent him home,” Dash said. “I gave him the option to listen in, but he wants out of this one. With Genevieve and the baby, they don’t need trouble.”
“Understood.” They might be my neighbors, but I wouldn’t be bringing this to their doorstep. I circled my finger in the air. “We good?”
Emmett nodded. “Sweep it every morning. No one is listening.”
“Good.” With all the players here, I took a long breath, then jumped right in. “I’m here because of Scarlett.”
“Is she okay?” Presley asked before anyone could get a word in otherwise.
“She’s good,” I promised. “She misses you, but she’s good.”
Presley blew out a deep breath. “Where is she?”
I hesitated, not wanting to answer. I’d kept her location to myself for months now and though I trusted Presley and the guys here, Scarlett’s safety was everything to me. Except we were at the point where secrets were going to have to come out.
I sighed. “My place. She’s been with me.”
“Since the grocery store?” Presley’s eyes widened.
“Yeah. It was the safest option and the only place where I could get her to promise to stay put.”
Emmett smirked but stayed quiet. He’d known, no surprise, but he’d kept it to himself. Though Dash didn’t look all that surprised either.
Presley opened her mouth to say something else, but Dash held up a hand. “What’s going on with the FBI?”
“Nothing new.” I’d told Dash that the FBI was looking for Scarlett, though I hadn’t shared other details because there weren’t many to share.
I wasn’t sure what Dash had told the others, and for today’s discussion, I wanted us all on the same page.
“They want Scarlett. The lead agent has been a regular visitor at the station. They’ve got an undercover agent living next door to me and I’m sure others around town. They’re tailing me too.”
“Who’s the lead?” Emmett asked.
“Agent Maria Brown.”
He rubbed a hand over his bearded jaw. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Me neither,” Leo muttered.
Dash shook his head. “New to me too.”
“You know FBI agents?” Presley asked her boss.
Dash only shrugged. “The club had some run-ins with the FBI years ago but they weren’t in Clifton Forge for long.”
“No evidence,” Leo explained.
“And compared to the California clubs, we were tame,” Emmett added before turning to me. “How long have they been watching your house?”
“My guess? Months. Probably since the day they rolled into town.”
“They’re watching the garage too,” Dash said, raking a hand through his dark hair. “Bryce hasn’t seen anyone around the newspaper office, but I’m sure they’ve put her on the patrol route.”
“I’ve seen them drive by my place now and again,” Leo said.
Emmett nodded. “Same here.”
Both of them lived in town. “Dash? Anything at your house?”
He shook his head. “No, but we’re out of town far enough that there’s nowhere for them to hide.”
“Why would you keep Scarlett at your house if it was being watched?” Presley asked.
“Where else would you have me put her? It’s not like I have a safe house at my disposal. I don’t have a big enough staff to assign one person to watch her and it was the one place where she promised to stay and not run. Better me than the feds.”
“Yeah,” she muttered.
“It’s the right call,” Dash said. “So why now? You’ve kept her locked away for months without bringing us into the mix. What’s changed?”
“This can’t last forever. Scarlett wants her life back. I want to help her.”
Emmett studied my face, then the corner of his mouth twitched.
Of all the guys here, I’d known Emmett the longest. We had the most in common—a shared love of the outdoors and general appreciation for a simple life.
When the crew here had suspected Marcus of killing Genevieve’s mother, he’d called me. He’d asked me for help. We trusted one another. We had mutual respect. I considered him a friend.
He knew there was more to my helping Scarlett than the police chief helping a citizen in trouble, but he kept it to himself. They’d all learn soon enough that Scarlett was the someone special in my life.
Tomorrow night, hopefully.
“Scarlett’s only chance at being free is to convince the Warriors she didn’t steal their money.”
“They won’t just take her word for it,” Leo said.
“No, I don’t expect they will. But she has leverage.”
“What leverage?” Dash asked, sitting straighter.
I blew out a deep breath. “I need to tell you something. About your father.”
His face turned to ice and the room went still.
“Remember the guy who was found on the river a couple months ago? Scarlett has a video of him being murdered by the Warriors. A murder staged as an accident. Or suicide.” The tension in the room spiked, but I kept my eyes on Dash.
“On the video, Tucker Talbot admits to doing the same to your father.”
Dash’s jaw clenched and his nostrils flared, but he didn’t seem shocked. He didn’t seem enraged. He was angry, no doubt. But this was an anger that had dulled over the years. This was a permanent fury, one that settled under the surface of his skin, always there but in control.
“You knew,” I said.
“I can assume you’re here on personal business,” he said, pointing to the badge on my hip. “That if you haven’t turned Scarlett over to the cops, you’re acting as Luke Rosen. Not the chief of police.”
“I’m both.”
He shook his head. “Can’t work that way.”
Dash was right. It couldn’t work that way. Something I’d been denying since Scarlett had played me that video.
Something I was still denying.
“Just tell him, Dash,” Presley said. “If it can help Scarlett, then we need to trust Luke.”
My face whipped to hers. So they all knew about Draven?
“Dad made an arrangement with Tucker,” Dash said. “His life for mine and Genevieve’s.”
“What? Why?” Before Dash could answer, I stopped him. “Wait. I don’t think I want to know. I’m guessing it has something to do with Marcus.”
Emmett nodded. “You want the full story one day, we’ll tell you. But the deeper you get, the dirtier it is.”
“Okay,” I said. “If it becomes relevant, clue me in. Until then, let’s figure out a way to get Scarlett out of trouble.”
There was a limit to how much I could overlook. That limit was higher where Scarlett was concerned. And I’d learned enough about the former Tin Kings to know that some skeletons were better left as bones.
“I’d like to see the video,” Dash said.
“Scarlett has it. She’ll tell you all about what happened at the Warriors.”
“When?” Leo asked.
“What are you doing tomorrow night?”
“Sounds like we’re coming to your place,” Emmett said. “We’ll need an excuse. We can’t just show up. It’ll be too suspicious.”
“Got any old cars out back you could sell me? Cheap?”
Dash nodded. “We’ll think of something.”
“I’m coming,” Presley said, crossing her arms.
“Not this time, Pres,” Dash said.
“That’s my sister. I’m going.” The expression on her face dared us to argue.
We were smart men. We shut up.
“Garage only,” Dash warned. “Shaw has to sit this one out. It’ll be too suspicious.”
“He’ll love that,” she muttered. “You know how he feels about being left out.”
Her husband wasn’t one to be excluded. The night Jeremiah had held Presley and Scarlett hostage, Shaw had been there. He’d bought the place next door to stay at while his production company shot a movie in town. That’s when he and Presley had hooked up.
So he’d known that when a bunch of cop cars had shown up on her lawn, there’d been trouble. Shaw had once been a cop himself.
I’d told him to stand down, to let me and my team handle it. But Shaw had disobeyed my orders and gone in to rescue Presley himself. Stubborn asshole. Dash had gone in too and for the stunt, I’d arrested them both.
They’d paid a fine and I held no hard feelings. I understood why he’d gone into that house. If Scarlett had been my woman that night, I would have killed Jeremiah myself for touching her.
But I agreed with Dash. If Shaw showed up at my place, it would look suspicious. We weren’t exactly known for hanging out anywhere but at The Betsy for an occasional beer. Something we hadn’t done since he and Presley had eloped.
Since Scarlett had come into my life.
“Fine, no Shaw,” Presley said. “I’ll deal with him.”
“Good.” I stood, glancing at my watch. I’d stayed long enough to have my hypothetical oil change. “See you tomorrow. Five?”
“Should we bring anything other than a reason to be there?” Emmett asked.
“Whiskey.”
We were going to need it.