Chapter 6 #2
She scoffed. “Having their dad doesn’t make up for losing their mom.”
I stared at the night sky. “I didn’t have a mom. Or a dad. One is better than none.”
“What happened to them?”
I shrugged. “No idea. I was dropped at a fire station with my birth certificate and a stuffed whale when I was two months old.”
“Do you know why?”
I sighed. “A few years ago, I asked Linc to dig a bit. He got hold of my medical records and hers. My mother was an alcoholic.”
Merci hummed. “Explains a few things.”
I glanced at her, brows raised. “The fuck is that supposed to mean?”
She shoved my shoulder playfully. “Medically speaking, prenatal alcohol exposure explains your poor impulse control. Your daredeviltry. Why you have the focus of a squirrel.”
“Daredeviltry? Is that a medical term?”
“It could be. Let me do some research on you, and when I make a discovery, I’ll name it after us when I get published. Morris-Perry Daredeviltry Syndrome. Unless we discover a new STI. In that case, I’m dropping my name.”
I flipped her off before softening. “I’m sorry about your friend. I don’t know what it’s like to lose a parent. I don’t even know what it’s like to have a family.”
Merci tilted her head and gazed into my eyes. “You have a family. Merrick, Reaper, and the rest of the club. The old ladies who fill your fridge so you don’t starve.”
I narrowed my eyes at her in question.
Merci laughed, the sound echoing off the rock. “Kenna told me that she and Eva see you as a stray puppy. They make sure to leave just enough food out to keep you around, but not too much that you follow them home.”
I snorted. “As if I’d want to follow them home. Feel like a fifth wheel every time.”
She nodded. “It’s nice seeing Merrick in love, though. Kenna’s changed him. He’s lighter. Happier. I never thought I’d see that again.”
“Me neither.”
“I need to find my own place.” She grimaced. “Their bedsprings will probably scar me for life.”
I broke into a loud laugh, my entire body shaking. “Shit. You want me to move you back into the clubhouse?”
“Yeah, kind of.”
I bumped her arm. “Just say the word. I’ve gotten pretty good at moving you in and out of places.”
A bullfrog splashed into the still pond, and the water rippled in tiny waves.
“This is nice. Peaceful. Is this where you bring your dates?”
I shook my head. “I’ve never brought anyone here. I come here by myself when I need to clear my head. Thought it might help you.”
She rested her head on my shoulder. “Thank you.”
We listened to the sounds of the Texas night. An owl hooted in the distance. She let out a long sigh, as she’d finally let some of the weight she carried slip away into the water below.
The moment of peace was shattered by her phone. She glanced at it and quickly tried to turn the screen away when she saw the message.
“What the fuck was that?” I growled, snatching the phone from her hand. Another love-bombing message from her ex-fiancé from an unknown number filled the screen. “He’s still texting you?”
“I’ve given up on blocking him. I just ignore them now.”
“Is he bothering you at work?”
“Not anymore.”
I crossed my arms. “You need to let Merrick and me take care of this.”
“No,” she said firmly. “This is my problem. You two confronting him will only make things worse. He already thinks I’m screwing the entire club.”
I ground my teeth. “I don’t like this. We need to make it clear to him that you’re not to be fucked with.”
She stood. “I have it handled. Let’s go back.”
Merci insisted I park at the clubhouse so my bike wouldn’t wake Merrick and Kenna, so I walked her down the dark path through the woods to the front door—much to her annoyance and insistence that she was completely safe on club property—before returning to pour myself a drink.
Fuse walked in and pulled a bottle of scotch from behind the bar.
I chuckled. “Leah’s going to have your ass tomorrow.”
“She’ll never know it was me,” he said, taking a swig straight from the bottle.
I raised a brow. “You’re the only one who drinks the Macallan.”
Fuse shrugged, giving no shits about the club bartender carving his eyes out with a muddler. “You’ve been gone all night.” His comment was more a statement than a question, like he knew more than he was saying.
I downed a shot of Jack Daniel’s and poured another.
“What’s going on with you and Merci?”
That was Fuse. If the leading question didn’t get the answer, he went straight for the kill.
“Nothing. I took her for a ride. She lost a patient today. I walked in, and she was crying into her drink. She needed a friend.”
“You’re playing with fire,” Fuse mused.
“I’m keeping an eye on her,” I insisted. “Like Merrick asked me to.”
Fuse stared at me, eyebrows raised like he knew I was full of shit.
* * *
I pushed Merrick’s front door open, balancing a coffee tray and a pink box of donuts from Maisie’s Bakery. Brisket woofed once before shaking his stuffed lamb at me, its floppy legs hitting my own.
“Hold on, buddy. I’ll pet you in a sec,” I promised. I handed off the coffee tray to Merrick and knelt so Brisket could lick my face.
“Four coffees?” Merrick asked.
“Wasn’t sure if Merci was going to be here,” I explained, standing and sliding the box of donuts on the counter. It’d been days since I’d seen her, but it’d felt longer.
As if on cue, Merci bounced into the room. “I’m here, but I’m heading out. It’s my day off.” She held a pair of brown hiking boots in one hand and a backpack in the other.
“Where are you going?” Merrick asked.
“A hike.”
I handed her a latte, and she closed her eyes as she breathed in the sweet scent.
“Orange mocha?”
I nodded. “Maisie said you loved it.”
“You’re not hiking by yourself,” Merrick growled to his sister.
Merci rolled her eyes. “I’ll be fine. Murderers aren’t morning people, and they take Mondays off. I overheard it on one of Kenna’s favorite podcasts.”
Merrick pinched the bridge of his nose. “A woman was attacked a week ago while hiking alone at sunrise. They found her body at the bottom of a ravine.”
“Well, shit. Then Hatchet can come with me,” Merci suggested, throwing a devious smile my way.
My gut tightened. The last thing I needed was for Merrick to suspect something was happening between his sister and me.
Merrick nodded, completely unfazed by the idea of me spending time with her. “Good idea. I can handle the meeting with Sol Solutions on my own, and you can trapeze through the fucking woods or whatever she wants to do today.”
“You sure?” I asked. “The manager likes me.”
“I’m sure. The manager wants to fuck you. Probably better if you’re not there. It pisses her husband off.”
“You’ve got fifteen minutes,” Merci said, pushing my shoulder. “You might want to change into shorts and grab a water bottle. It’s going to be a scorcher today.”
* * *
An hour later, I was already cursing Merrick for making me tag along on Merci’s hellish hike. “Did you have to pick the hike that was just uphill? On the hottest day of the fucking year?”
“Stop being a baby. It’s not that bad.”
I huffed, focusing on placing one foot in front of the other. “It wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t already ninety fucking degrees.”
“Well, if you hadn’t taken forever, we could have gotten out of here earlier,” Merci countered. “I wanted to get out here at sunrise, but I slept through my alarm.”
My phone pinged, and I looked down, opening the Facebook message. I stopped in my tracks, staring at my phone.
“What?” Merci asked with a laugh. “Knock up a sweetbutt? Or did one just test positive for syphilis? I can write you a prescription.”
I barely heard her jabs as I read the message again. I let out a shaky breath.
“What is it?” Merci asked, her tone filled with worry.
I looked up. “It’s my mom.”
“Your mom? The one who abandoned you?”
I rubbed a hand on the back of my neck, still processing.
“You look like you’re going to pass out,” Merci said. “Sit.” She pushed me to a large boulder on the side of the path and perched beside me. “What does she want?”
I looked at the phone again and began to read the message out loud. “Jonah, I’m sure you don’t remember me, but I’m your mother. I’m sorry for what I did. I’m at Acres Memorial Hospital. Please come see me. There are things you need to know.”
“Deathbed confession?” Merci rubbed my arm.
I shook my head and slipped my phone into my pocket. “She can keep her secrets. I’ve survived thirty-three years without knowing her. I don’t need to start now.”
“Hatchet, you should at least—”
“No. End of discussion.” I stood and stalked forward on the trail. “Let’s go. Finish this goddamn trek of torture.”
I heard Merci trailing behind me, so I didn’t look back. We trudged in silence until we hit the pile of rocks that indicated the turning point.
“At least it’s downhill from here,” Merci said.
“The hike or my life?” I asked bitterly.
She reached for my hand, interlacing her fingers with my own. She tugged me closer until our eyes met. “We don’t have to talk about it. Not if you don’t want to. But I’m a hell of a lot easier to talk to than the guys. If you want to, I’m here.”
“Let’s talk about something else,” I begged. “Anything else.”
“Fine. I’ve been thinking about another tattoo. I have a Pinterest board I can show you.”
I listened as she prattled on about her ideas, glancing at the examples she’d saved on her phone.
She had my full attention as she described the fine-line florals she wanted inked under her breast. I fought the urge to change the subject, betting she was describing the location to get my blood flowing somewhere I didn’t need it right now.
My attention snapped to the edge of the woods when I heard a scuffle. I grabbed her arm and pulled her behind me, my hand instinctively shifting to the Beretta on my hip.
“I swear, if a murderer ruins our hike, I’m going to stab someone.”
The woods rustled, and a puppy limped out from the brush, whining with one paw in the air. Her speckled rust-and-white coat was matted with dirt and sandburs.