Ten
T esio had more info than we had expected, and knew things about several members that we didn’t, but there were only three members that flagged up for him, and we narrowed it down again from three to two.
Torch might seem like a depraved fucker on the record, and off, but he only hurt the people who threatened the club or our business, and he might be into group sex and other kinky shit, but he wasn’t a rapist.
The other two were more concerning, especially what he found on Tommy, our prospect who mans the bar and cooks for us. Rocket had a past that we knew bits of, but honestly, I wasn’t aware that he’d been a suspect in a previous sexual assault. I felt like I knew him well enough that I could say without a shadow of a doubt that it wasn’t him, but wasn’t that how people got away with this shit time after time?
Tommy, he was only twenty-four, and was nearing his one year as a prospect, and due for a vote in a few months. Finding out that he’d been convicted of a sexual assault, with a minor, no less, was shit he should have divulged when he applied to the club. Of course, he’d never have been accepted as a prospect if he had, would he?
More to the point, why hadn’t Ice found that information? Because it had been expunged from his records. Whatever the fuck Tesio had managed to access had led him to that sealed file, and he’d found his way into it.
We had to get back to the clubhouse to brief Reacher and Stitch, so they could decide what to do about these findings. Tesio was going to expand his searches to look outside of the club while Ice focused inward for now.
As we were helping ourselves to a buffet breakfast in the kitchen of the mafia compound, we both received a message that had us dropping everything and heading back again. A call to arms from our President. What the fuck had happened back at the clubhouse? That message was pretty clear on one thing. Get back now, and don’t ask questions.
We got back on the road within a few minutes, and headed for home. I prayed that everyone was okay, and it was just an update or something, but a message on our call to arms channel wasn’t something we were used to seeing, and it had us both freaked, and moving faster on the road than we probably should have been.
We had to make a brief stop for fuel, and that was the only delay on our journey, which was still more than a damn hour, during which I wished we could just pick up the fucking phone and ask what the hell was going on.
When we arrived back at the clubhouse, we headed straight for Reacher’s office, figuring if he wasn’t there, we’d try the room we bikers called ‘Church’.
He was in the office and he wasn’t alone. Stitch was with him, cursing and pacing, and generally looking edgy, and his old lady Cammy was also there, holding on to a tearful Elise.
“What the fuck happened?” It took every fucking ounce of restraint for me to not haul Elise into my own damn arms, and hold her until whatever made her cry was the furthest thing from her mind.
Stitch reached behind us and kicked the door shut.
“Took you long enough.”
Elise
A fter Cammy found those messages, she did the one thing I really didn’t want her to, and called my brother from her own phone. When he stepped into my room, she passed the phone to him, and that’s when the yelling started.
He was absolutely furious and ordered us to follow him to Reacher’s office. He showed the phone to Reacher, who sent out some kind of message on his own phone, and started peppering me with questions. Who sent them, how long had it been going on, had I had messages like this before? All that sort of stuff, and what did I know? Nothing. Not a damn thing.
I was damn near hysterical by this point, my night of no sleep making it impossible to cope with anything, and so the yelling finally stopped, and the questions stopped, and Reacher asked for some water for me.
Tommy tapped on the door, and poked his head in, offering a few bottles of water and catching my eye as Seth took them from him.
“Oh, Elise, love, are you okay? What happened?”
“That’ll be all, prospect.” Reacher’s tone was enough to send Tommy back out of there, which I personally thought was incredibly rude, but bigger things were going on here.
“Talk to me, sweets. When did this start?” Seth’s voice was gentle this time, and he crouched in front of me as they guided me into a chair on the other side of Reacher’s desk.
“Last… last night. I… I don’t know who it is.”
He reached up and swiped the tears from my cheeks.
“We’ll find out, don’t you worry about that. Some of the messages sound like it’s someone who knows you from outside the club. Has anyone hassled you anywhere outside of here? Did anyone bother you back at home? At college?”
I rolled my eyes at him. “You know as well as I do that my college work was mostly done online, and I was at home, remember? You didn’t want me around anyone who could deflower your virginal little sister.”
Seth grimaced and passed a hand over his eyes.
“Jesus. I deserved that. Look, I’m sorry for wanting to keep you safe, but this? This is exactly the kind of thing I never wanted you to go through.”
Cammy tutted at him. “You talk like this is normal, Stitch. Most people you meet out there aren’t psychos and perverts.”
He stood up and jabbed a hand at my phone on Reacher’s desk.
“Well, this fucker clearly is!”
I stood up again, clenching my fists as I tried to compose myself.
“Are you suggesting I did something to encourage whoever the hell this is?”
My brother turned to look at Reacher, and was frowning when he looked back at me.
“Uh, I’m pretty sure that’s not what I said, sweets. I’m just trying to work out where you might have crossed paths with this prick.”
“Nowhere! You know I never go anywhere! And now I’m trapped in this place, and I can’t… I was so… so scared… I don’t feel safe, Seth. I couldn’t… I sat up all night thinking he was going to get into my room somehow.” I dissolved into tears again, and Cammy held me and soothed me, while Reacher and my brother muttered among themselves.
A brief knock on the door came a split second before the door opened and Has-Been stuck his head inside. Oh my god. I wanted him to be the one holding me. I knew I’d feel safe in his arms. I think I actually tried to move in his direction, because Cammy suddenly tightened her arms and hissed at me to stop.
“What the fuck happened?” Has-Been demanded, taking a step in my direction before he caught himself and stopped. Ice followed him through the door, and Seth kicked it shut, barking some snarky comment at them as he did.