Chapter Thirty-Seven
Melissa
Back at the clubhouse, I stepped inside the main room and searched through the occupants, looking for someone. Anyone I had a connection to would do. Until my eyes landed on Travis and I realized quickly, it was him I had been hoping to find.
It wasn’t until our eyes locked and his smile turned down as he stood that I finally let myself admit he was the one I wanted to turn to. The one I wanted to trust.
“What’s wrong, Princess?” he asked, his hands going to my shoulders.
The fear that had held me captive on the ride home suddenly released me from its iron tentacles as I witnessed his concern. Something else hung in the air as well. Something I let myself believe might be love.
“I got another note.”
“Fuck, where is it?”
Haizley handed him the note. After he read it, Travis turned and looked at Danny.
“What?” he asked, standing from his seat.
“We need to talk.”
Travis pulled his phone out and sent a text. Taking my hand, he led me into church; this time pulling me over to the side of the table. Danny and Dante followed, while Amber took care of Dani.
As the others filed in, Gunner stopped inside the room, his eyes landing on mine when I gasped.
“What happened to you?” I asked, standing up and rushing over to him. I reached up to touch his face, and he pulled back.
“I’m fine,” he growled.
“You’re not fine.”
“Ghost beat the shit out of him,” Jingles said.
Spinning around, I glared at Travis. “What the fuck for?”
“Come sit down, Princess.”
“Why were you fighting?” I asked again, my arms crossed over my chest. This was the shit bikers pulled.
Travis walked around the table and took my arm. “Because he fucking deserved it.” He ignored my protest and sat me in a chair next to him.
“He wanted to beat the shit out of me so that when you saw his hands he could blame it on me. Thought you might handle it better.” I stared at Dani’s father.
“Way to have my back, brother,” Travis growled.
Danny shrugged and winked at me. I had never observed this side of him during any of our previous interactions, and I was unsure how to interpret the playfulness of his words.
King smacked the gavel on the table, pulling my attention to him. “A lot of shit has been going on. Mellie has been getting some problematic notes. At first, she thought they were from one of you two. After Dante stopped communication, Mellie started making plans for her and Dani to disappear—”
“You were gonna disappear with my daughter?” Danny asked, a hint of condemnation in his voice.
Straightening my back, I turned and faced him. “Yes. I was. I had no idea what had happened to either one of you. No idea where you were or even why you both left. I know Dante asked me to find Ellie, but when he said she was involved in the club—my brother’s club—I had no intention of bringing her here.”
Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself to continue.
“When Dante asked me to keep Dani, he was scared. He didn’t tell me what was going on, only that Dani wasn’t safe. When he mentioned his plans if he was unable to communicate, I knew it was serious. I figured if you made it back from whatever you were doing, you would know how to find me.”
Dante placed a hand on Danny’s arm. “We don’t need to go into all that here. Melissa is here and Dani is here. They’re both safe.”
“Apparently, they aren’t fucking safe,” Danny growled.
“Melissa, please tell us what happened,” Dante urged.
So, I did.
I explained about selling my practice, about when and where I had received the notes. How I thought I was being followed and buying a new car under the name they provided for me.
When I shared what happened in Little Rock, Cash slammed his hand on the table.
“Why the fuck didn’t he call us?” He glared at King as he asked the question.
“I don’t know,” he grumbled.
“In his defense, there were a lot of injured brothers, and they didn’t know it had anything to do with me. They just knew it was about a woman. I slipped out while they were preoccupied, and I’m sure Steele just forgot about me with so many men hurt. I didn’t tell him I was in trouble. He thought I was there because I was a single mom who needed her brother’s help raising her child.”
The words tumbled out of me. I knew I should have told them about what happened when they knew I had gone there. But to be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure myself if it was about me.
“It wasn’t about you,” King said. The words were meant for me, but his focus was on Danny.
“They didn’t have her name, only the club name.”
“Knowing they didn’t find her there, means it won’t take long for them to fucking find us here.”
I looked back and forth between King and Danny. The two of them knew what was going on, but by the looks on the faces of the other men in the room, they didn’t.
Except when I looked at Zach. His eyes were pinned on his computer as though he wanted to be ignored.
“Is this about—”
“Not now. That has nothing to do with Mellie, so let’s continue.”
I told them about the note in Albuquerque and the one in Vegas, again leaving off the information about meeting Kytten and her friends and their offer to help.
Looking over at Danny, I almost wished I had accepted. His previous lightheartedness was now locked away. Replaced by the same animosity he seemed to always direct my way.
Animosity that was unfounded. I did what I was asked to do. I took care of his daughter. I protected her. I loved her when no one else was there to do it.
“What happened today?” Danny asked, his voice tight.
My voice held its own hostility toward the man who wouldn’t look me in the eye. “I went to have coffee with Haizley. When we left the coffee shop, we found the note on her car.”
“You didn’t see anyone around the car while you were inside?” Colt asked.
“No, we parked in the lot on the side.”
“Where was the prospect?” Gunner asked.
“Inside the shop with us.”
“Fucking prospects can’t do anything right,” Gunner grumbled.
“Haizley made him come inside with us. Do not blame him. He was doing what he was told.”
“Of course she fucking did,” my brother growled.
“What the hell is your problem?”
“Princess, Haizley has had a little trouble. It’s why she has a prospect following her.”
“The bruises on her face? Oh God, we were so caught up in my fucked-up life I never even asked her about them. What happened?”
“Club business,” King and Gunner said at the same time.
Glaring at my brother and his president, I snarled, “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Princess—”
“Forget it. Move on.” I waved my hand as if I was no longer interested. The truth was, as soon as I was done here, I would seek out my friend and make her tell me everything.
Catching Cash’s eye, he smirked and then winked at me. Cash probably knew me better than Gunner did. Cash used to help me with my homework, watching over me when Gunner couldn’t make it home because he was doing something for the club. He had even caught me sneaking out of the house at night to go to the library of all places.
“What do we know?”
“Here is the original footage from the office,” Zach said, as the TV on the wall flickered to life.
“Is that the only angle?” Danny asked.
“Yes, and the only reason he has it is because you fucking planted a camera without telling me. If you didn’t trust me with your daughter, why did you leave her with me?”
Danny sat there trading glares at me while he ignored my question.
“This isn’t about Dani,” Jack said.
“What do you mean?” I asked, turning away from Danny.
“Look at the rage. Those aren’t Dani’s things being destroyed. They’re yours.”
“Who would be that angry at you?” my brother asked.
“No one. I help children. Who would hate me for helping children?” I asked.
“Ever had to have to a child removed from their home? Facilitated having a child taken away from their parents?” Blade asked.
Blinking slowly, I looked at Zach. He had my files. Every case I had ever worked on.
“I need to go through my files,” I said. Not wanting to ask him for anything, but I hadn’t grabbed my computer when we left. I had transferred all my patient records over to the new doctor.
“I can go through them for you,” he offered.
“No. I think you’ve done enough.”
“Melissa.” He sighed.
“Can you get me access to a computer? If not, I’ll need to buy one.”
“I can get you a fucking computer,” he barked as he stood and walked toward the door.
“Watch that tone, brother,” Travis growled.
Sitting in my chair, I mentally went through my cases. Thinking about which ones required me to go to court. Which ones ended in the child being removed, and which ones caused the parents to become irate.
The truth was, I had thousands of cases to go through. Not every case was a full-time patient. Some I only saw on an emergency basis. Some I consulted on for other doctors. And some I never saw at all, only testified as an expert in my field.
When Zach returned, he set a laptop in front of me and whispered, “We need to talk.”
“No, we don’t.”
“Melissa—”
“Not fucking now, brother.”
My arms broke out in goose bumps at the protective tone in Travis’ voice. Zach backed away, returning to his seat, and I smiled at Travis.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
He set his hand on my back, rubbing in circles. “I’ve got you.” He winked, and my heart melted. If only he weren’t a biker. He was someone I might have been able to build a life with.
Opening the laptop and waiting for it to boot up, I peered over at Danny. He was watching me while Dante whispered to him. I couldn’t hear what he said, but I could see Danny didn’t want to listen.
“You’re a stubborn ass, you know that?” I said, my eyes on Danny.
“Mellie.” King’s exasperated sigh had a few of the men sat around the table snickering.
Danny didn’t respond, and I focused on the screen in front of me. Quickly accessing my files, I sighed in defeat. “This will take days to go through.”
“Why don’t you get started? We can’t do anything more until you have a list for Nav to go through.”
I looked up at King. Shaking my head, I closed the laptop as I stood. “I know a dismissal when I hear one.”
“Princess.”
“No, it’s fine. I want to go check on Dani, anyway. She’s the reason I’m here.”
“Dante, maybe you could go with Melissa. Check on our daughter?”
“Sure,” Dante said as he stood and followed me.
I don’t know what made me do it. I wasn’t normally such a bitch, but these men were pissing me off. Bikers had a way of bringing out my worst side.
“I guess that makes you the old lady, Dante. Brushed away, while the men talk about club business. For our protection, of course.”
“Jesus Christ, Mellie. Give it a fucking rest.”
I smiled sweetly at King over my shoulder. Encircling Dante’s arm with my own, I said, loud enough for Danny to hear, “Let’s go see our daughter.”