10
GRIZZLY
An awkward few seconds passed between Toby and I after Storm left. It seemed like he had something to say, but didn’t say it. Probably something about Libby and how I hurt her.
“Fill me in on what you know,” I told him as I got off my hog. “Any witnesses?”
“No witnesses. They had captured someone last night, but David lost his mind during the interrogation and killed him.”
“Can’t say I blame him.”
“Yeah.” Toby shoved his hands in his pockets and nodded toward a small building, a shack across the way from the clubhouse. “Their security station is over there. That’s where we’ll be working.”
Hopefully not alone together.
We strolled across the parking lot in silence. It was strange. Toby was a talker and I never had to take the lead on making conversation. Maybe it was the sullen climate keeping him quiet.
Or being in his hometown: Garrison, South Dakota.
Toby’s folks still lived here and he’d told me a time or two that he didn’t like visiting.
Now that I thought of it, why didn’t he like coming home?
I’d never asked before, but perhaps I should have.
We were friends, after all. Wasn’t asking questions something friends did?
Toby opened the door and let me enter first. Thankfully, someone was at a desk with multiple monitors.
“You from Storm’s crew?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Toby replied, while I nodded.
“Good. I gotta take a leak.” He jumped out of his chair. “Have at it. Holler if you need anything, but don’t.” He winked.
“You’re not coming back?” My stomach instantly knotted up at the prospect of being alone with Toby.
“Hell no. I’m exhausted. Storm said you two would handle it.” The dude didn’t even wait for a reply and bolted out of the shack.
“Great,” I mumbled.
“What? You don’t want to be alone with me?” Toby stepped in front of me, brows furrowed with a concerned expression.
“I don’t know.” I went around him and sat in the chair the dude had been in. Quickly, I familiarized myself with the system and started my investigation.
“I’m confused.” He took the spot next to me. “Did I do something? I mean, I know a little about you and Libby.”
“Can we just work?” I kept my eyes focused on the screen in front of me. “This is important. Storm will want a report by supper.”
“Sure, we can work. But we need to talk.”
Not sure about what, but right now, I couldn’t deal with him. Storm’s half sister had been murdered and several others. Nothing else mattered more than finding out who was behind the bombing.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Toby face the desk. After a long pause, he got to work on the second computer.
The security system was old and dated. I couldn’t believe Storm’s dad hadn’t made updating the system a priority. At the very least, bring it up into the twentieth century.
Whatever. I could work with it and hopefully get the Prez some answers.
A couple of hours had passed since we got started and I had my findings. Not sure if Toby had anything. We hadn’t spoken once. Just kept to ourselves and did our work.
The silence didn’t bother me much. I always lost myself in my projects and shut out the world around me.
That wasn’t to say I didn’t feel Toby’s presence or the heat radiating off him.
Or that I didn’t smell his cologne and hair gel.
Of course, I noticed those things. They were the exact same products he used since the first day I met him. The nose never forgets.
“What’d you find?” he asked me.
“The getaway truck. Make. Model. And half the license plate number.” I had put the numbers and letters into the DMV system. Hacking into it was easy. Hopefully, scanning the numbers would also be easy to produce a match.
“That’s more than me. They were wearing masks.”
“Of course they were.”
“If the cameras were better, I might be able to make out the markings on their hands.”
“Yeah, David needs a serious upgrade on his security system. Maybe you could stay here and do just that.”
Toby set up security systems for a living. He flew around the world… And would be gone for months at a time. It would be easy for him to get David’s whole program current and up to speed. Hell, he could probably do it with his eyes closed, he was that good at his job.
“Are you angry with me or something?” he asked in a tight voice.
His question made me freeze.
“Got something.” I scanned the report, trying to ignore Toby’s intense gaze burning a hole in the side of my face.
“You’re deflecting.”
“No, I actually have something. Last name Ruiz, first name Xabier. The truck is from Texas.” I exhaled a deep breath, relieved to have gotten a name for Storm.
“I thought you were searching the South Dakota DMV?”
“I did. When nothing turned up, I started searching everywhere.”
“Damn, man. You’re fast.”
I grunted in agreement. “It’ll take some time, but I’ll search local cameras and follow the bunny trail until we find him.”
“Perfect. I’ll take Storm the name and maybe his dad knows who this Xabier Ruiz is.”
“Yeah, I’ll keep working.” I refrained from watching Toby leave the shack, knowing full well my eyes would have lowered to his tight ass and my dick would have gotten excited. Talk about awkward if he’d noticed.
Later that night, after Storm gathered his crew together for a backyard barbeque, he released us to have some fun and unwind.
Have fun and unwind? That didn’t have the same meaning as it used to some four years ago, when most of the Knights had been horny single men.
As I took in the scene, most of my brothers were on their phones, likely talking to their old ladies.
Maddox, the future president of the Minnesota chapter, was slipping away with one of David’s sweet butts.
The dude was too young to be president, but he sure flexed his muscles like he owned the joint.
The only other single men here were Hollywood, Arctic, and the new dude, Zombie. The first two had girls on their laps. Zombie, didn’t have the privilege of getting to be with a sweet butt. I doubted he minded, sitting against a tree in a cloud of smoke.
Zombie had issues, and he didn’t talk much.
He reminded me of me, after Matt Knight had found me digging through a trashcan behind The Bullet.
It had been a few days after I’d executed my foster parents and torched their home.
The guilt of murdering people still haunted me, even after they’d abused me for years.
As I watched Zombie’s cloud of smoke get larger, I was transported back to the day, I broke free of my tormenters…
I didn’t sleep at all last night and I felt the exhaustion deep in my bones. My eyes burned and itched like I had sand in them. But I wouldn’t let my physical tiredness mess with my escape plan. Too many people depended on me to keep them safe, most importantly, Violet.
It was kind of funny, staring at the plastic sandwich bag partly filled with crushed sleeping pills.
I’d always thought I’d swallow them down once I hit my limit, living in this cult with two deranged foster parents.
As it turned out, they would get a hearty dose of it in their morning coffee.
Not enough to kill them, that would be too clean and kind.
I just needed them out for most of the day so I could get the little kids out, and help Violet get out of Illinois.
At 7:00 am, I exited my bedroom and went into the kitchen to where the automatic Mr. Coffee had just finished brewing the first pot of the day.
Every Saturday morning, Violet would take a breakfast tray into Basil’s bedroom.
He’d then drink his coffee and eat his yogurt and berries with Juniper until nine.
Then they’d exit their sanctuary dressed and ready for the day like a king and queen.
Sometimes they’d help Violet feed the younger kids.
Other times, they’d just kiss each one of their heads like they were little peasant children who were lucky to be in their care. God, they made me sick.
But today, I knew they would hit the ground running because things needed to be bought and prepped for my wedding ceremony tomorrow.
“Morning, Brent,” Violet said in her usual melodious voice, but the sparkle wasn’t in her brown eyes. She was at the island making up the yogurt parfaits.
“Good morning. How are you doing today?” The vibe I was getting from her didn’t feel right. “I’ll help get their coffee for you.”
“That’s so sweet of you.” She came over to me and kissed my cheek. “I’ll be right back.” She left the kitchen and went down the hallway toward her bedroom.
I nodded, feeling a little shell-shocked. After the incident in my bedroom yesterday, I hadn’t seen her the rest of the day. And now that I thought about it, I remembered hearing music late into the night coming from her bedroom and a cat making strange noises.
Our rooms were on the opposite end of the house from Basil’s. The little kids bunk room was upstairs. We were all spread apart, which made it easy for Basil to mistreat me the way he did and no one seemed to know, except Violet. But she never mentioned hearing me have sex with the older women.
As I pondered these thoughts, I poured the sleeping pills powder into the bottom of the mugs, filled them with coffee, and stirred them well. Hopefully, they didn’t notice the taste.
Violet reappeared with something in her hand. “I made this for you.” She put a braided bracelet on my wrist and tied it.
“What’s this for?”
“Tomorrow you’re going to become my husband. I should make you happy. Do you like it? I can make you a different one, if you want, honey.”
Honey?
“Violet, us getting married is weird, don’t you think?” My heart started to race as adrenaline rushed into my veins, my flight or fight response kicking in full speed.
“Maybe a little weird, but it’s not like you’re gross looking. And I’m not exactly ugly either.”
“What?” Why was she acting so different all of a sudden?