Chapter 7 Grave
GRAVE
I woke up to the smell of eggs sizzling on the stove. Bacon was wafting around me and the tantalizing scent of homemade biscuits were filtering from my kitchen. Coffee seeped through the air, tingling my nostrils and causing them to flair as I stirred on the couch.
Someone was cooking breakfast.
“Morning.”
That voice.
That sweet little voice, clouded with exhaustion.
“Morning,” I said with a grunt. “You didn’t have to make breakfast.”
“I know,” Everly said plainly. “Once the biscuits are out of the oven, we can eat.”
I rubbed my eyes, trying to rid them of their hazy sleep.
My eyes took in the curves of Everly’s body as she stood at the stove.
Her foot came up to scratch the back of her leg as she stood there, flipping bacon in a pan before switching to scrambling the eggs.
Her blonde hair was tousled and her shoulders were slouched.
The evidence of her rough sleep was everywhere.
And yet, she was still breathtaking.
“I’ll set the table,” I said.
“Grab some big mugs, too. I made an entire pot of coffee,” Everly said. “Figured we could both use it.”
“Sounds good.”
I set the table, dancing around her body in the kitchen.
I caught a glimpse of her beautiful ass when she bent down to take the biscuits out of the oven.
Round and perky. Fistfuls of leverage to pound into her hips.
I shook the thoughts away as I drew in deep breaths.
The veins in my groin were already pulsing with life, and the last thing I needed was to try and battle off an erection while sitting at the breakfast table.
I grabbed the pot of coffee as well as some creamer and sugar.
Then, it was time to eat. We sat down at my little kitchen table meant for two and we began to fill our plates.
Everly had a hearty appetite. Three bacon and egg biscuits with a cup of orange juice and some coffee.
And I saw her still reaching for fruit. My eyes took her in as she ate, not giving a rat’s ass as to who was watching her do it.
She was uncaged. Unchained to the stereotypes of feminine beauty.
She was raw and uncut. Like a diamond in the dirt by a child that knew its full potential was in its natural form.
There was something entrancing about her not giving a shit around me.
“Could I talk with you about something?”
“Of course,” I said.
“I remembered something else from yesterday, and I’m worried about it.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“When the police were hauling my brother-”
I took a bite of my eggs and waited for Everly to gather herself.
“When the police were arresting him, he asked me if I was the one who told them. You know, about Blaze. But that wasn’t the only question he asked me.”
“What else did he ask?”
“He asked me if I’d told them about Paco.”
I felt my heart stop in my chest.
“I don’t know who that is or what that has to do with anything. But… do you think that-... that Paco might be-”
Tears rose in Everly’s eyes, and I reached over to take her hand.
I knew what she was thinking. She was wondering if Paco was another person her brother had killed.
And if that was even remotely true, then I needed to tell the guys.
That meant The Black Saddles knew The Latin Cobras were helping us, and that spelled trouble for their crew as well.
“Is my brother a serial killer?” she asked breathlessly.
“Whatever he is, he’s off the street and he’ll get his due,” I said. “Is there anything else you can remember? Anything else that might tell us anything?”
“Who’s Paco?” Everly asked. “Do you know him?”
“I don’t know him personally. But I do know how Paco is. I just don’t know if I should tell you who he is, though.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure why he would ask a question like that or if knowing who that is would make you a target to other people. There are too many moving pieces in play. I need to talk to the guys first.”
“What is happening?” she asked as her lip began to tremble. “What have I gotten myself into?”
“Nothing,” I said as I squeezed her hand. “You’re safe here. But I do need to make a phone call. Sit here and eat breakfast. I’ll be back to finish with you soon.”
I watched her nod before I got up and headed to my room.
“Grave. How’s Everly doing?”
“We’ve got a problem and you need to call church,” I said.
“What’s wrong? Where the hell’s Everly?”
“She’s eating breakfast, but she remembered something from her brother’s arrest. We all need to talk. Now.”
“Get here by lunch time. Rock’s out grocery shopping for you two now. He’ll be back by lunch and we can talk then,” Diesel said.
“Done.”
I went back out and we both finished our breakfast in silence.
Everly was clearly shaken and wanting to beg for answers.
But until I knew the full picture, I couldn't give them to her.
It was my job to protect her, and at the moment the only way I could do that was isolating her and keeping her in the dark.
If something did happen-- if someone came for her-- the less she knew, the better.
Especially when it came to The Latin Cobras.
I set her up in the recliner with another mug of coffee and a television show she was catching up on.
Apparently, she was into cop procedural shows.
She struck up an episode and I watched her fall into a trance.
Seemingly unaware of the world around her.
I went outside and hooked up my small trailer to the back of my bike so I could get the groceries home, then I set off for the lodge.
It made me sick to leave Everly behind, so I made sure to take some dead-end roads in case someone was trying to track us. The last thing I needed was to come home and find her gone. I pulled up to the lodge and parked my bike, then strode my way for the steps.
But it seemed as if Brewer had already beat me to the punch.
“Okay, Grave’s here,” Diesel said. “Tell him what you just told us.”
“What?” I asked.
“Paco’s dead,” Brewer said.
“The fuck?” I asked. “How? That bitch is Diego’s right-hand man.”
“We know,” Knox said. “And the Cobras are wanting answers.”
“Well, I can give them answers. When I was talking to Everly this morning, she mentioned that her brother had asked her about Paco,” I said.
“What do you mean?” Mick asked.
“When he was being arrested, he kept asking her if she told anyone. Then, he asked if she told them about Paco,” I said.
“Holy fuck. Do you think Rex killed Paco?” Mick asked. “But how would he be capable of something like that? Isn’t he just some dumbass punk kid?”
“We can’t assume that anymore if Paco’s dead,” Diesel said. “Someone was able to get to him even with the status he had in the Cobras. And if it wasn’t Rex then we can safely assume it was someone in The Black Saddles. Which means their reach goes farther in this town than we originally thought.”
“Then there’s your fucking answer for Diego,” Knox said.
“How’s Monroe dealing with all this?” Diesel asked.
“She’s doing ok,” Knox sighed. “I’ll be watching after her to make sure Diego doesn’t try to blame her for Paco’s death.”
“I can reach back out to my police contacts tomorrow,” Brewer said. “See if they’ve dug into anything else regarding the murder. But with it being Paco, they probably see it as a twisted sort of victory. One less Cobra on the streets to worry about.”
“Then it sounds like some computers and cameras could use a good hacking,” Rock said.
“How’s Everly?” Mick asked.
The room fell silent as all eyes fell onto me.
“She’s doing about as well as you’d think. She’s sleepwalking. Having nightmares,” I said.
“Fuck. Sleepwalking’s rough. A terrible night’s sleep and you wake up feeling like you ran a damn marathon,” Mick said. “Tell her what I do is I take some melatonin before I go to bed. Help’s get me into a deeper sleep and I’m less likely to get up and roam.”
“I’ll tell her that, thanks,” I said.
“Other than that, how’s she holding up?” Knox asked. “Monroe’s been asking about her.”
“It’s too soon to tell, but she’s pissed I wouldn’t talk to her about who Paco was. But I wasn’t sure what was going on or how the dots connected, so I didn’t loop her in for her own good,” I said.
“Wise choice, but I don’t think her knowing this will hurt her the way you’re thinking,” Diesel said. “If anything, it might make her more willing to testify if she starts getting scared to do it.”
“She won’t back down. She’s not that kind of woman,” I said. “She’s scared, yeah. We’re all a bit wary of the situation. But she’s strong.”
“Still, it might be helpful to keep that information in your arsenal in case she starts getting cold feet,” Diesel said. “Take it for what it’s worth.”
“Which isn’t much,” I said, murmuring.
“Should someone call Diego?” Rock asked. “Give some condolences or some shit?”
“Yep. I’m going to do that after this meeting and let him know what we know. I’m not gonna keep this information from them. They can do with it what they please,” Diesel said.
“They might go after Rex themselves,” Knox said.
“And would that be a bad thing?” I asked.
“Hold your anger for now,” Diesel said. “The Latin Cobras might cash in one of the few favors I owe them from Knox being in prison. Which means you might get to play a role in all this retribution, Grave.”
“Perfect. I’ve been wanting to put a hole in Rex’s face for a while,” I said.
“I’ll talk to Monroe and see where we can go from there. If Rex is directly responsible for Paco’s death, then she might be able to take some legal avenues. She’s struck up some sort of a partnership with Diego, so that might be a good branch to jiggle,” Knox said.
“A partnership?” I asked. “The hell’s your woman gotten herself into?”
“It’s… complicated. But for now, they both respect one another and the avenues each choose to handle things. It’s a good place to be with a man like Diego,” Knox said.
“Then jiggle that branch,” Diesel said. “In the meantime, the less we can call on Grave, the better. Everly needs protection at his place and the more he’s out here or out there doing shit, the less protected she is.”
“I got your groceries, by the way. You owe me a little over three hundred,” Rock said.
“Three hundred fucking bucks for some food?” Knox asked.
“You feeding an army out there?” Mick asked.
“No. I just don’t eat shit like you guys do,” I said with a grin.
“And with that, church is adjourned. Grave, get your ass back out to Everly,” Diesel said.
Rock helped me shove the groceries into the trailer of my bike before I handed him some cash.
This would easily get Everly and I through the next three weeks, and if I made a deal to drain my cabinets before we did another run we could easily make it a month.
I clapped Rock’s back and thanked him for the groceries, and I hoped he wouldn’t balk at what I was about to ask.
“I know you’ve already done me one favor, but I was hoping I could talk you into another,” I said.
“I got you some groceries. Who the hell cares? What’s up?” Rock asked.
“We need to keep tabs on The Black Saddles. If there’s any indication that they know where Everly is, I wanna stay ahead of it,” I said.
“You want me to hack the traffic cams and shit and chart their movements.”
“I do. Not all the time, but frequently enough to know if they’re stepping out of their zone. Sure, they might be attempting to take over Redding, but there’s no reason for their asses to be driving all the way out here.”
“I can do that. I’ve already agreed to keep tabs on them for other purposes with Diesel, so I’ll pull a few more and see what I can piece together.”
“I really appreciate it.”
“Ain’t no thing. But Grave?”
“Yep?” I asked.
“Be careful.”
“You know I don’t do careful well,” I said.
“You got a woman at your place. A pretty one, at that. You're protecting her, not playing house with her.”
“Not that it’s any of your damn business, but I know.”
“Emotions cloud your judgment. You’ve always been that way. Let’s get through all this shit, then you can fuck her. We don’t need any more kids running around to protect. Keeping Monroe safe’s been a hell of a venture already. We don’t need anyone else complicating matters.”
I bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep from biting into Rock’s body. The hell did he think he was, talking to me like that? He didn’t fucking dictate my moves. And at any rate, shit like that wasn’t going down with Everly and I. Not by a long fucking shot.
He could go throw himself off a damn cliff.
“We need these assholes out of our city,” I said.
“I think we can all agree on that,” Rock said.
“Then do your fucking job and I’ll do mine.”
Then I hopped onto my bike, struck up the engine, and rode off as fast as I could before I got the urge to break Rock’s jaw.