Chapter 8 EMMETT
EMMETT
No texts. I swung off my bike and shoved my phone into my pocket. No texts from Nova, just like there hadn’t been before I’d left the house. Just like there hadn’t been last night. Just like there hadn’t been for the past four days.
Maybe that was it. The end. Maybe it was for the best. But damn, I missed her. That expensive, seductive scent of hers was gone from my pillows.
I crossed the parking lot for the office, shoving my sunglasses into my hair as I opened the door. “Morning.”
“Good morning.” Presley raised her cup of coffee as a salute. Nico was in a swing behind her chair, kicking and smiling at the safari animal mobile spinning above him.
“Hi, Emmett.” Cass smiled from her chair across from Presley’s desk. Seraphina was in her arms, chugging a bottle.
“Hey.” Leo came striding out of the waiting room with two cups of coffee in his hands. He brought one to Cass, setting it on the desk as he bent down and kissed her hair.
“Just you two today?” I asked.
“Bryce is coming down with Dash and the boys,” Presley said. “Scarlett’s staying home with Mary. Genevieve is going to work.”
I nodded and went to the waiting room for my own cup of coffee.
While it brewed, I took in the room. The changes.
So much at the garage was different. This waiting room used to be Draven’s office and there were days when I walked in and expected to see him behind his desk, cussing over a parts order.
After his death, neither Presley nor Dash had wanted to take his space. For all of us, this would always be Draven’s office. Just like to me, the shop would always mean Dad. Sometimes I still looked for him beneath a car.
He wouldn’t be there, but I still looked, expecting him to give me shit about how I always liked to do things my own way instead of his. Dad wasn’t there to talk through projects and how best to tackle them.
He wasn’t there. But he was there.
Just like Draven.
They lived in these walls. They lived in these rooms. They lived in our hearts and our minds.
“You okay?” Leo leaned against the doorframe.
“Yeah.” I tore my eyes from the wall and grabbed my full coffee mug. “Full place today.”
“Every day,” he said, fondness on his face.
None of us minded that the office was packed with family members more often than not. It allowed Leo, Dash, Isaiah and me some peace of mind while we were working, that the women and kids were within shouting distance. Here, they were safe.
If Dash could have it his way, they’d all be here each and every day. But there was a balance, giving them their freedom and independence while still keeping a close watch.
If Genevieve was working at the law office today, I suspected Isaiah would check in often. If Scarlett was at home, she wouldn’t be alone. Luke would likely send a deputy to his house to sit outside all day until he made it home from the station.
It had been a couple of months since the explosion at Leo’s place but that had scared the shit out of us all. Cass could have been killed, but she’d gotten lucky. We all had.
Caution had become everyone’s middle name. Considering it used to be Trouble, it was yet another change.
The garage had become the common hangout spot during the week.
There was an apartment above the office.
Genevieve and Isaiah had lived there right after they’d gotten married, but it had been vacant since they’d moved out.
So we’d cleaned it top to bottom, giving the women and kids an added space to roam.
“You guys heading upstairs?” Leo asked his wife as we walked out of the waiting room.
“Yeah,” Cass said. “I’m hoping she’ll take a nap and I can write today.”
“Good luck, babe. I’m here if you need anything.”
Cass smiled up at Leo as he leaned down to kiss her and then run a thumb over his daughter’s cheek.
“What do you need me to do this morning?” I asked Presley.
“Sawyer and Tyler will probably need help with everything on the job board. It’s busy today.”
“’Kay.” I nodded, then headed for the shop, Leo close behind me. Inside, Sawyer and Tyler were talking beside a workbench. A bench my dad had built years ago. Stone was written on the underside. “Morning.”
“Hey,” they said in unison.
Sawyer and Tyler had worked at the garage for a couple of years now.
They were good guys and both hardworking.
Decent mechanics for the routine jobs. But they weren’t Kings.
They hadn’t asked questions—both of them knew we wouldn’t answer if they did—but the crowded office hadn’t gone unnoticed.
They didn’t venture inside much these days unless it was to ask Presley a question or pick up their paychecks.
“Sounds like we’ve got a busy day.” I went to the line of hooks on the wall beside the storage room and grabbed my coveralls.
I didn’t wear them every day, but I’d put on a pair of jeans today that I didn’t want stained with grease. I set my coffee aside, then stepped into the coveralls and tied the top around my hips. The white T-shirt I wore wasn’t anything special and I didn’t care if it was wrecked.
Leo and I bullshitted with Sawyer and Tyler for a few minutes as the fresh September morning air drifted through the open bay doors.
Across the parking lot, my bike was alone today.
Isaiah’s would likely join mine, but I remembered a time when the string of bikes stretched nearly the length of the lot.
On the nights when we’d have a party at the clubhouse, there’d be a mass of Harleys surrounding the garage.
Mine gleamed under the sun but it looked lonely.
Dash’s truck eased into the lot and parked a ways down, leaving plenty of room for customers. A chorus of small voices sounded outside before Xander and Zeke came racing through the shop, headed straight for Leo and me.
I caught Xander as he barreled for my knees. Leo caught Zeke. Both boys sailed into the air as we tossed them while Dash and Bryce walked into the garage, hand in hand.
“Morning,” I said, plopping Xander over a shoulder. He kicked and giggled and I swatted his butt, earning a flurry of tiny fists against my spine. I chuckled and set him down, crouching in front of him and holding up my hands. “Ready?”
He got in his fighting stance, his right leg forward. Then he let his fists fly, punching my open palms with a succession of jabs. He was only five but he’d inherited his father’s speed.
Dash had been one hell of a fighter. Put him in a ring and he didn’t often lose. I’d won a lot of cash betting on him at the fights we’d hosted at the clubhouse and other places around the county.
“Me too!” Zeke squirmed for Leo to set him down and then he took his brother’s place, punching my hands.
“Ouch.” I shook my wrists out, pretending that they hurt. “When did you guys get so strong?”
Both boys beamed.
I stood and ruffled their hair, then winked at Bryce.
“We had a meeting with Xander’s teacher last night,” she said. “We started talking and I guess you know her. She rents one of your properties.”
“Tera?”
Bryce nodded. “She’s really nice. Her daughter was there too. Maggie. But she’s not in Xander’s class.”
Xander was starting kindergarten tomorrow. Zeke would be going to preschool.
Today was the last day the boys would be around the garage, and even though they always stayed in the office where it was safe and they were out of the way, I was going to miss the energy they brought with them.
Dash knelt in front of his sons, and though he had a smile, there was longing in his eyes too. I wasn’t the only one who’d miss having them here. Somehow, we’d all blinked and the boys had become boys, not babies.
Xander looked more and more like Dash every day. Which meant he looked more and more like Draven.
“Be good for Mom today,” he said.
“Can we work on something later?” Zeke asked.
Lately the boys had been interested in helping on the cars, so we’d find some old parts for them to bang on with wrenches and screwdrivers.
“Sure. We can this afternoon, but only if you’re good.” Dash gave them both hugs, then sent them with Bryce to the office.
As she walked away with the kids, I checked my phone again. Nothing. Damn.
“Something wrong?” Dash asked, studying my expression.
“Nah,” I lied. Then I jerked my chin for him and Leo to follow me to the other side of the shop, away from Sawyer and Tyler. Once we were in Leo’s paint booth, I tied up my hair so it would be out of my face while we worked today. “Heard back from that PI in South Carolina again.”
“And?”
“He sent me another file I’ve got on my laptop at home. Mostly pictures he tracked down from when the girls were younger and lived in Montana. Summary of their routines. He’s good to keep an eye on the daughters for a while, but he doesn’t think it’s necessary.”
The PI I’d hired had been following Tucker Talbot’s daughters for three weeks. There was only so much we could do from here and given they were Tucker’s daughters, we had no idea if they might be a threat. So far, there’d been no indication whatsoever that they were in contact with their father.
“And the ex?”
“Same as the daughters. Nothing new.”
Dash nodded. “I think it’s worth paying him for another month or so. Just to be certain.”
“Agreed,” Leo said. “No chances.”
“I’ll let him know,” I said. “I spent some time last night digging through the visitor log from the prison that the FBI sent Luke.” It wasn’t like I’d had anything else to do.
“Find anything?”
I shook my head. “The VP’s wife came to see him two Saturdays ago during regular visiting hours. Otherwise, it’s only been lawyers. Tucker met with his again.”
“What for?” Leo asked. “His trial is over.”
“It was one of the junior partners at the lawyer’s firm. Nancy something. I’m guessing it was estate stuff.”
“The FBI seized his assets,” Dash said.
“Maybe he’s fighting for some of it back. Maybe he’s updating his will. Whatever it was, I’ll keep an eye out for any filings.”
“Thanks,” Dash said, running a hand over his face. “Think this will ever end?”