25. Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Five
Griffin’s Beach Lex
“ T his guy is untouchable, Lex,” Grayson says and leans back in his chair.
His normally short hair hangs longer than Lex ever remembers seeing it before. Even in high school. He also sports a short beard when he’s normally clean-shaven.
“This is what you look like when you go undercover, isn’t it?” Lex asks.
“What?”
“The whole scruffy and unkempt look.”
Narrowing his eyes, he just shakes his head. “So what?”
She sits on the corner of his desk and looks at his computer screen. “There has to be something. Anything.”
“All his dirty laundry’s already out there. Embezzlement from four companies, yet he’s never been charged. There are more domestic violence calls than I can count, but again, no charges were ever filed. He has nothing to hide because it’s already out there.”
Tapping her fingers on her knee, she tilts her head. “Okay, what about looking into everyone who overlooks what he does? Can we attack the same way he does? Create a tug of war of sorts?”
“That could take years. This is going to sound really strange coming from me, but… maybe it’s best if the club… kills him. I mean, he can’t hold stuff over people if he’s, you know, not living.”
Staring in shock, she blinks. Grayson Tate, former cop with aspirations of becoming the Chief of Police, just suggested offing a guy. “Okay, yeah, that was… I don’t know how I feel about that.”
“Me, neither,” he admits.
“But do you really think we haven’t already thought about that? Sebastian said it would actually backfire, assuming we could get close enough.”
“You have to do something, Lex. It’s been over a month since they got locked up. They’ve already stabbed Brock. Who knows what else they’re going to do? Or what else they’ve already done.”
Ashley walks into the office, and smiles. “Hey, guys. Working late?”
There was a time where Grayson’s wife wouldn’t be so cool with him working alone with Lex. It would have sent her into a silent rage, but since getting married, she seems to accept the fact that there is nothing between the two of them.
“Brock got stabbed in prison, we’re not sure if anything else has happened, and your husband just suggested the club kill the guy who put him there,” Lex says. “The world has just been sucked into a vortex, and this an alternate reality we’re living.”
Rather than amused, Ashley looks disappointed. “Oh, I thought you were looking into the serial killer the cops can’t find.”
The De-Identified, as dubbed by the media, is no closer to getting caught than he was when the first body was found.
And now they’ve found at least four. The killer goes out of his way to remove or disfigure identifying features, like fingerprints and teeth.
By the time the police find them, the only option to identify them is through DNA. Which has come up empty thus far.
Grayson closes his eyes in annoyance. “We’ve talked about this, Ash. I can’t get involved in an active police case unless I’m hired by someone or invited it assist by the department.”
“It’s getting scary,” she counters. “And those women can’t be identified. This monster has taken everything from them. Their life, their voice, and their identity.”
“Well, the GBPD are on the case, so you know it’ll get solved,” Lex says and counts on her fingers. “I’d say we’ll know who the De-Identifier is when Hell freezes over. Or he’s annoyed with how little progress is being made.”
Laughing, Grayson rubs a hand over his face. “The only competent person they have is Alex McKenzie.”
“Oh, a woman!” she gasps. “And men like Julian and Travis can’t listen to women. They’re never right even though they’re better than the FBI when they need to be. Like checking to see if their man is cheating.”
To say the Chief of Police and Police Captain are not favorites of Lex or the club’s is an understatement. She’ll never forgive them for firing Grayson because he took a bullet for Ashley. At least the club is no longer helping them out, which only makes the force look terrible.
Her phone rings, and she smiles when Colt’s name appears. “Hey, baby.”
“It’s not Colt. It’s me,” Undertaker’s unmistakable voice booms in her ear. “He let me use his phone to call you.”
Smirking, she winks at Ashley. “I stand by my statement, Undertaker. And you can have my number, you weirdo.”
“Lex, I need a favor.”
His tone puts her immediately on edge, and she pushes off of Grayson’s desk. “What’s wrong?”
“We just got back from the run, and we’re about to head into Church. I don’t have time to run home, and I haven’t heard from Jamie since this morning. It’s not like her.”
“Maybe she just got busy doing—”
“Something’s wrong, Lex. I can feel it, and we have… There are rules… It’s complicated, okay?”
Rules? No matter how creepy that sounds, she knows he won’t settle down until he knows his girl is okay. “I’ll go to your place and get her. We’ll see you at the clubhouse after Church, okay?”
“Thanks, Lex.”
“I gotta go check on Jamie. Grayson, what if we did surveillance on Ramsey? Maybe we can catch him doing something we can use as a trade. Let Brock and Beckett out of prison, and we won’t expose you. That kind of thing.”
“It’s worth a shot at this point.”
“Thanks,” she says and heads out to her car.
While never given a formal invitation to Undertaker’s house until now, Lex knows exactly where it is. She’s the one who recommended it to him. Mr. Rudolph owns multiple houses, including the one Ashley still has for writing.
A car she doesn’t recognize sits in the driveway, and her instincts scream that something isn’t right. Damn it, I don’t like it when I’m wrong.
She unlocks the glove compartment and pulls out her gun, slipping it into the back waistband of her jeans. Walking up the front steps, she counts in her head how many fights she’s lost recently, and she knows the odds aren’t in her favor at the moment.
“Jamie?” Lex calls as she knocks on the open door. “Jamie, it’s Lex.”
There’s movement inside, but no one comes to the door. If no one plans to answer her, she’ll just walk in. And when she does, her eyes widen as she sees Jamie tied to a chair with duct tape over her mouth.
“What the actual fuck?” she asks as a man she’s never seen before walks into the room with a suitcase. Right behind him is Ron, and she laughs when she puts together that this has to be her father.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“I hate to be the one to tell you this, but restraining a Drifter woman against her will is a really poor life decision. Unless your goal is to die,” Lex says and walks right between them to Jamie.
Her bold decision shocks them enough that neither attempts to stop her, and she rips the tape from Jamie’s mouth, mouthing a sorry when Jamie whimpers in pain.
“That’s my dad,” she says, tears falling. “And you remember Ron.”
“The one with the small dick. Yeah, he’s kind of hard to forget, pardon the pun. What the fuck is this?”
“They’re forcing me to come home.”
Lex laughs and unties the rope trapping her left arm to the chair. “The hell they are.”
“You don’t know who I am, so you better just sit down and let me take my daughter home,” Mr. Pittman says.
“No, sir, you don’t know who the fuck I am. And sitting down and letting you do anything, especially against the will of another old lady in my club just isn’t in my DNA. Because tying her down and taping her mouth shut tells me she doesn’t want to go with you.”
“You don’t get a say in this, bitch,” Ron says.
Rolling her eyes, she shakes her head while Jamie frees herself from the chair. “Is that the only word you know to insult a woman? Because it’s getting really tired. Especially when the only bitch in this room is… you.”
“We’re taking her, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us. You don’t have your pack of men to intimidate us like you did at the party.”
“Oh, right, the one where it took all off two minutes to get your pants off and make you a laughing stock. But, actually, I think you’re overlooking one small thing.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“Um… the law. Jamie’s twenty-two, and if she doesn’t want to go with you, it’s called kidnapping. It’s kind of illegal.”
“And who the fuck is going to believe that?” Ron says. “Fuck, I hate the fact that you’re hot.”
Laughing, Lex shakes her head. “Boy, I am so far out of your league that I’m surprised you can even see me.
And I’d watch it if I were you because my husband can and will snap you like a toothpick.
Although, based on what I saw, you might enjoy prison.
I bet you’d drop the soap on purpose, wouldn’t you? ”
Ron slaps Lex, and Jamie gasps. Lex just laughs and winds up, punching him. He flies backwards and onto the ground.
“Only bitches slap, motherfucker.”
Her father, on the other hand, looks a lot stronger than Ron. Reaching back, she touches the gun in her waistband as he says, “I’m taking my daughter, and there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop me.”
“Wanna bet?” Pulling out the gun, she aims it at him, stopping him from advancing on them. “You made a mistake fucking with a Drifter woman, and you’re taking her nowhere. But I am. I suggest you leave before her man shows up with my husband and the rest of the club.”
“You think I can’t take some biker bitch?”
She snorts. “Hunny, you have no idea how entertaining that would be to watch. Based on Undertaker’s mood when he called me to check on his girl, I’m willing to bet that your trip to the hospital will be to the morgue rather than the ICU.”
Jamie and Lex stand, walking around her father, and Lex shifts to keep the gun aimed at him until they’re outside.
“Dude, your dad looks like he could actually do some damage,” Lex says, shifting into gear and peeling away from the house.
Jamie shakes in the passenger seat with tears streaming down her face. “Was he mad?”
“Your dad? Yeah, he’s fucking pissed.”
“No, Undertaker.”
Luckily, the clubhouse isn’t far, and she’s parked in the lot within minutes. “He was worried. Said something about rules. What’s he talking about?”
“He has rules for our relationship,” she says. “I broke them once, and I almost lost him. When I saw he called and couldn’t answer… I’m scared he’s going to leave again.”
“What kind of rules?”
“It’s not like it sounds—”
“Jamie…”
She swallows. “He needs to know where I am and who I’m with. I have to call him when I get home from work, and he approves who I hang out with.”
“He controls you?”
“Kind of, but it’s not a bad thing. I swear it. I actually kind of like it.”
This does not compute, and Lex turns to face her with narrowed eyes. “You do?”
“It’s complicated.”
“That’s what he said, which kind of worries me.”
“Please don’t tell anyone,” she whispers. “It’s not bad, I promise. In fact, I’m in love with him. I don’t want to lose him again.”
“But aren’t you losing yourself?”
Jamie shakes her head and smiles. “I’m finally finding myself. If he needs to know who I’m with and where I am, so be it. No one has ever cared before, Lex. I was the only kid in elementary school who did her own laundry and packed her own lunches. I found my own way to school. He cares.”
Rather than respond, she just gets out of the car, needing air. Jamie hurries after her, and only a few old ladies and club bunnies are in the main room.
Lex walks to the closed Chapel doors and bangs on them. Jamie stares with wide eyes. “Are you going to say anything?”
Ky opens the door and sees the gun still in her hand. “You killed someone?”
“Almost. Undertaker, I got your girl. Had to use my gun to get past her father who had her tied up to a fucking chair,” she says.
He’s behind Ky in an instant, pushing him aside, but his body relaxes the moment he sees Jamie. “What the fuck?”
“Yeah, I’m asking that same question, but it’s directed towards you. We can table that for the time being. If you get to your place now, you might be able to salvage some of your shit. They’re in a destructive state. Tried to force her back home with them.”
“Did they hurt you?” Colt asks Jamie when they filter from the room.
She shakes her head. “Ron slapped Lex, though.”
“I punched him. He’ll have a black eye, and you can’t tell he touched me. Pretty much like every woman he’s ever had sex with, I imagine. I bet he’s heard, is it in yet? even when he fucks virgins.”
“Let’s go,” Colt says.
“Undertaker, we need to talk when you get back,” Lex says, her tone letting him know she means business.
He glances to Jamie who refuses to lift her eyes from the floor, but he nods and leaves with everyone else.
“What are they going to do?” Jamie asks, her voice barely a whisper.
“Hopefully kill them.”