CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
Lana saw the defeat and shame rising in his face. She was wondering what the hell really happened.
She turned to study Jayson as Peter talked about what had changed after they had left. She saw his hands clenching and unclenching in his lap.
She knew she’d forgotten everyone back here, except for Jayson, in her mad dash to get to basic. All she thought about was getting through it so that they could get back to each other’s arms sooner rather than later.
Now, she wondered what really went through Jayson’s mind when he left for basic. Did he truly forget everything here and only focus on his career and her like she did?
“I wound up at Rusty’s one night after a shift at the plant. I really fucking hated it there. I had applied for the PD and got turned down that day. Still hadn’t heard from the Sheriff’s department yet.”
“Stop stalling and get to the fucking point,” Jayson growled out, his patience wearing thin.
Lana reached over and laid her hand on Jayson’s arm, hoping her touch calmed him down. She could feel his body shaking from the depth of his anger.
Lana looked back over at Peter and saw he was about to spout off something hateful and gave him a look that froze most criminals in their tracks and shook her head at him in warning. She waited several seconds before she nodded at him to continue.
“I was already getting a good buzz on and hating my life. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do if I didn’t get on with the department. I felt like a fucking failure. Turned down by Uncle fucking Sam, the police department, Border Patrol, and the state fucking troopers.”
Lana watched as Peter struggled against the handcuffs. She looked over at her sergeant and then nodded toward the cuffs. Getting her meaning, Sgt. Bueller stood up and walked over to Peter and removed one handcuff so that she could cuff his hands to the notch that was on the table.
“Thank you,” Peter softly said as he moved slightly to rub his face with his uncuffed hand before giving it back to her to be cuffed to the table.
“I was already getting a good buzz from what I had drank when fucking Ashe showed up next to me. Doing her hair twirl and her baby talk like she was the next big star. Bitch didn’t even go to college like her parents had demanded.
Just went into the ‘family’ business. Whatever that shit is. ”
Lana looked over at Jayson, who was looking at her at the same time. So, Jayson doesn’t know the family business either.
“Family business? I thought her father was the just the mayor of the town and ran some financial company,” Lana admitted after looking back toward Peter.
“Ha. Goes to show what you truly know. Her father, well, her stepfather, was the mayor. Her biological dad was a mechanic and part a motorcycle club that used to be part of this town. They were taken out during a shootout with the FBI three years after we’d all graduated high school.”
“They weren’t taken out here in Hellburn Falls.
They were actually doing a run and got busted three towns over, getting ready to take out a rival that was just building their ranks,” Lt.
Brown answered the confused looks everyone had on their faces.
“They were already under investigation for RICO, trafficking, drugs, and a slew of other shit.”
“Wait, you’re saying that Ashe’s bio dad was part of that?” Jayson asked, confusion in his voice as he looked at Peter.
“You didn’t know?” Peter asked in shock. “I thought you knew everything about her.”
“No. She never talked about her bio dad with me. It was always the stepdad. That was the reason we broke up. It wasn’t just the deal with Chompers. She was also banging her stepdad, and I found out.”
“Ugh, talk about gross,” Rocky, Sunny, and Hollywood said at the same time.
“Go on.” Sgt. Bueller ignored the three women.
“I don’t remember much after that to be honest. She came up, twirling her hair and talking her bullshit baby talk to me.
Claimed that now that Jayson was gone, she could focus her attention on me, the one she really wanted.
I told her to fuck off. I got up to go to the bathroom.
When I came back, she was there with a beer, which she never drinks, and one for me.
The next morning, I woke up with some chick in a hotel room who turned out to be fifteen.
I was twenty. I got out of there so damn fast, I wasn’t aware of my surroundings.
A week later I got a text from Ashe with photos of me and that girl having sex.
If I didn’t want it to get out, I was to report to her about anything and everything going on around town.
Two days after that text message, I got a call from the Sheriff’s department telling me I was hired and when to report for training. ”
“What exactly were you giving her information on?” Lt. Brown asked, the anger in his voice evident in the question.
“Not much, until Jayson came home. Before that, it was mostly if certain people were arrested, what their charges were. Any possible investigations into her stepdad or the MC, when her father was alive. She was starting to get pissed with me because I really couldn’t give her much information since a lot of it, where the MC was concerned, was held close to the vest. But when Jayson came home, that’s when the bitch really started hounding me. ”
“W…” Jayson started to ask then cleared his throat. “What fucking information did you feed the bitch?”
Lana watched as Peter deflated at the heat in Jayson’s question. She knew the answer was going to set him way the fuck off.
“That you were home, broken and without Lana. I told her what you said that Lana had left you. Granted you were high from the drugs you were taken for the pain you were dealing with. She even knew where you lived…”