14. Addison
CHAPTER 14
ADDISON
My motives for staying might remain the same, but I can’t deny that it hasn’t been so bad.
Two days later…
“Morning, Ace.”
I push past Crow to get to the coffee pot. I’ve been doing my best to avoid him, but it’s hard in such close quarters. Not to mention, we’re sharing a room. Granted, he’s slept on the floor, giving me the bed each night, but that hasn’t gone very far in proving the club’s innocence.
“Guess it’s another day of the silent treatment,” he mutters before walking out of the kitchen.
“Hey, Addi,” Sunny greets when she walks in a second later.
“Morning,” I reply.
I like Sunny. When she’s not in class, she’s been spending time with me so I don’t get so bored. In another life, we could be good friends. But this isn’t another life.
“Still not talking to Crow?” she asks after pouring coffee into her thermos.
“What’s the point?”
She sighs. “I should be back from class around one. Wanna hang out after?”
“Sure.”
“Okay. See ya later.”
I carry my coffee out into the main room and settle on the couch. Blain and Conner are the only two around, the rest having gone to work. Over the last two days, I paid attention to everyone’s routine, and the prospects seem to be unemployed at the moment because they never go anywhere unless it’s an errand for the club.
“What’s on the agenda today?” Conner asks when he joins me on the sofa.
“You’re lookin’ at it,” I say.
“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” he teases.
“I woke up in the wrong fucking house.”
“Ya know, it occurs to me that you say that and insist that you don’t want to be here, but you’ve made no move to run.”
He’s right, I haven’t because I know if I stick this out long enough, I’ll get what I need to shut the Soulless Kings down for good.
But you haven’t found anything yet.
“I was warned against trying to escape.”
“And you’re a trained cop. You could leave if you wanted.”
Conner stands and moves to the bar where he sits on a stool and starts talking to Blain. I think about his words and can’t help but wonder if he suspects my ulterior motive.
When I finish my coffee, I take the mug to the sink and rinse it out before putting it in the dishwasher. Then I peek through the doorway and see both men still engaged in conversation.
Now!
While there hasn’t been a ton of traffic at the clubhouse since I’ve been here, I haven’t had much of an opportunity to look around. Blain and Conner have been on me like white on rice. But now they’re otherwise occupied.
I make my way down the hall toward the Bangin’ Betties’ room. I know Sunny is at school, and Molly and Kitty are at work. Sure that I won’t get caught, I enter their shared room and am surprised to find it decorated in a very feminine style.
A search of their belongings yields nothing useful. No drugs, no weapons… not a damn thing. Next, I move to the other rooms in this hall, but the doors are locked. I’d pick the locks, but the only way I’m getting in is the fingerprint scanner on the wall.
That’s not suspicious at all.
When I walk back through the main room toward the staircase, Blain and Conner don’t even glance in my direction. Their conversation is animated and intense, which is great for me.
I don’t need to go through Crow’s room. I’ve already done that several times. Other than the gun and knife he had at the party, there’s nothing incriminating. So, I focus on the other member’s rooms.
Ghost’s room boasts pictures of him and a woman who appears very frail. Jackyl’s bedside table is full of condoms and lubes. And the only gun I find is of the tattoo variety in Python’s closet.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this wasn’t the clubhouse of a one-percenter MC but a frat house.
“What’re you doing?”
I whirl around, and my eyes widen. “Sunny.”
She strides into the room and closes the door behind her. “Why are you in here?”
“I was just looking around,” I say.
“Pretty sure Tracer didn’t give you permission to be in here.”
“I, uh…” I sigh. “You’re home early.”
“My second class was canceled,” she says with a tilt of her head. “When Blain and Conner said I’d find you up here snooping around, I didn’t believe them. I guess I should’ve.”
“They knew?”
“Of course, they knew. It’s their job to know.”
“Dammit.”
“I managed to convince them not to tell Crow. At least not yet.”
“Not yet?”
“I told them that you’d tell him. And if you haven’t by six tonight, they can.”
“I’m not telling him shit.”
Sunny shrugs. “Doesn’t matter. He’ll see it on the security cams.”
“Security cams?”
Jesus, I’ve missed a lot.
“There’s one in every public space. While they won’t catch what you do in each of the bedrooms, they will show you going in and out of them.”
“Shit.” Settling my gaze on her, I ask, “Why are you telling me all this? Why not just turn me into Crow yourself?”
“Because I like you, Addison,” she says simply. “And despite evidence to the contrary, I’m sure you’re a good detective. You’ll figure out what you need to soon enough.”
“You really believe in them all, don’t you?”
“Yeah.” She nods. “Yeah, I do.”
My shoulders slump with defeat. Today isn’t going to be the day I nail any of them.
“Still wanna hang out?” I ask.
“Sure.” Sunny’s lips tilt up into a grin. “And I’ve got a surprise for you.”
“A surprise?”
“I already cleared it with Crow. But I need you to promise me you won’t screw this up. If you do, I’ll be the one to take the fall.”
A knot forms in my gut. I don’t like the idea that Sunny is being threatened because of me.
“I promise.”
“Then let’s go.”
She grabs my hand and drags me out of the room. It’s all I can do not to trip over my own feet as she races down the stairs, never letting go of me.
I skid to a stop when we reach the bottom and I see a familiar face across the room.
“Mona?”
My best friend turns away from Blain and smiles. “Hey, Addi,” she greets.
“What are you doing here?”
“A little birdie told me you were still here.” She smirks. “Why didn’t you tell me you and Crow hooked up?”
Say what?!
I dart my gaze from her to Blain to Sunny and back again. “I, uh… I don’t know. One-night stands aren’t really my thing, and I guess I didn’t want you to think less of me.”
Why are you lying? Why are you playing along?
Reminding myself of the reasons I agreed to be kept at the clubhouse, I continue to lie through my teeth.
“I could never think less of you,” Mona says. “You’re allowed to have fun, ya know?”
“Yeah, I know, but…”
“But what?”
I take a deep breath and shake my head. “Nothing.”
“I’m happy you finally let your guard down. But I am surprised you called off work.” She arches a brow. “The flu, Addi? Really?”
I chuckle. “It worked, didn’t it?”
“It did. I talked to your dad, and he advised me that I should stay away so I don’t get whatever it is that you’ve got.”
“So much for crack police work,” Blain mutters.
It irritates me that my dad didn’t give me a second thought. He knows how much I love my job, and being sick has never stopped me from working before.
“Anyway, when Blain invited me to come back, I jumped at the chance.”
Confusion washes over me. I thought Sunny brought her since she said she cleared it with Crow.
“Pres thought you might be a little bored since he had to work today,” Sunny explained. “Even though Blain and Conner are on duty here, Crow agreed that she could come over as long as she wasn’t a distraction to them.”
That explains that.
“I’m gonna have to get back to work, but figured I’d spend my lunch break here,” Mona adds.
“And I, for one, am glad she did,” Blain says with a grin.
For the next forty minutes, Mona, Conner, Blain, Sunny, and I sit around one of the tables and chat while we eat. Turns out, Mona and Blain have kept in contact since the party. She seems to really like him, but I’m not convinced she’s not just rebounding.
After Mona leaves, Blain and Conner home in on me.
“What?” I demand.
“You did good, Addison,” Conner comments.
“She bought your act,” Blain adds.
For the first time since I woke up in that horrid room on Sunday morning, it occurs to me that I’m not totally acting. My motives for staying might remain the same, but I can’t deny that it hasn’t been so bad.
Crow’s gone out of his way to make sure I’m comfortable, and the others have done the same. Not only that, but they don’t treat me like I’m a fragile flower that can’t handle shit.
And even I can admit that I like that.