3. Chapter Three
Chapter Three
A dley walked out of the bedroom she used when she stayed at her mom’s house and toward the kitchen.
After they’d made sure they weren’t followed, they’d come to her mom’s.
Macy immediately researched the tag number, which wasn’t registered to a van but to a brown sedan owned by a woman in a town two hundred miles from Kansas City.
Whoever was driving the van had obviously lifted it from the woman at some point.
Adley, her sister, and their mom had talked through who it could be. Her mom was positive it couldn’t be anyone from their past because when they were rescued, the members of the club were left inside, and the building was burned down with them in it.
Her mom still smiled when she remembered what had happened to the club members.
Adley could understand. She and Macy had been in high school when her mom had finally told them the whole story of how she didn’t know who fathered the girls because her mom had been the Property of the President, but he’d shared her with his officers despite her protests.
Macy was sitting at the table sipping coffee and had her computer in front of her.
When Adley had decided to become a lawyer, Macy had already been working with computers doing accounting, research, and marketing.
They’d decided they wanted to work together, so they opened the business together.
Macy also did accounting for companies on a case-by-case basis.
She’d either set up their accounts for them, then they’d take over, or she had a couple clients for whom she did their books monthly.
“Anything yet?” Adley asked, grabbing her sister’s cup to take a sip.
“Hey, get your own,” Macy whined.
“I will, but sometimes it’s so satisfying annoying my younger sister,” Adley quipped, grabbing a cup, her favorite creamer, and prepping her cup before pouring in the steaming coffee.
“Way to appreciate me rescuing you yesterday,” Macy grumbled.
“I appreciate you, but it’s still fun to tease,” Adley replied.
When the timer beeped, she opened the oven and pulled out her mom’s breakfast casserole.
Adley grinned. If it was a problem, her mom was positive it could be fixed with some type of food, hugs, and talking through the issue.
It was so good to see her mom happy now.
It definitely hadn’t been how they’d initially grown up.
Her mom breezed in and took the knife out of Adley’s hand to cut the casserole herself.
“Have a seat, and I’ll get our breakfast,” her mom said.
Adley refilled her sister’s coffee before sitting down beside her. In no time, her mom had plates in front of them with a slice of breakfast casserole along with a bowl of fresh fruit. Macy immediately grabbed the ketchup and smothered the casserole in ketchup, salt, and pepper .
“Macy, haven’t I asked you to at least taste the food before smothering it in condiments?” her mom grumbled.
Macy rolled her eyes and cut a bite of the casserole, chewed, swallowed, and then nodded.
“Yep, you have, but you have not changed this recipe since you started making it for us. It will always need more salt, pepper, and ketchup,” Macy said, snickering.
“Adley doesn’t need it,” her mom replied.
“Well, we all know Adley actually likes the taste of eggs. I don’t, but with the ketchup, it tastes okay,” Macy said.
Adley decided that if she didn’t want this to devolve into the same discussion they had every time they had the casserole, it was up to her to change it.
“I was thinking last night. What if me being followed wasn’t about me at all?” Adley asked, taking a bite of her ketchup-free casserole, which was perfect by itself.
Her mother’s brow scrunched, and she tilted her head. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I’m pretty aware of if I’m being followed. I didn’t sense anything until I was deeper into the park. What if I was someone they were picking up because of opportunity?” Adley asked.
Adley ate her breakfast as her mom and sister did too and thought about Adley’s suggestion.
“Okay, it could be possible, but Macy, didn’t you say the van parked by Adley’s Jeep?” her mom asked.
“They did, which says to me they knew who Adley was. I went over the cases last night, and I don’t see any of the open ones doing this. Even the guy whose case you lost a couple weeks ago wouldn’t have the pull or money for the amount of people that someone threw at this,” Macy said.
Adley thought through what her sister had said. She agreed with her. There wasn’t anyone that Adley could think of that would need to abduct her.
“I’m thinking that I’m not going to hide here forever,” Adley said.
“Yeah, but it’s Friday, and you don’t have anything on your calendar. Let’s hang with Mom for the weekend. She’s been wanting help painting her guest room,” Macy said.
“I also have tomatoes and pickles to can this weekend. I would love your help,” her mom said.
Even if Adley didn’t think it was a good idea to hide out this weekend, she’d be here. She loved helping her mom can and also having all the yummy items to eat .
“I’m in. I have enough clothes here that I’m good. What’s first, Mom?” Adley asked.
“Let’s paint today, then we’ll can all weekend. My onions and peppers didn’t do as well, so I have an order from one of the farms who will be at the farmers market tomorrow morning,” she said.
“Let’s get to painting as soon as I have my second cup of coffee,” Adley replied.
A weekend with her mom and sister would be perfect. Adley could focus on tasks and keep her mind off how sweet Justice looked singing to his son yesterday. She should probably swear off Pit’s KC Barbecue too, or otherwise, continuing to be exposed to Justice might have her giving in.
She couldn’t do that. Her body might say let’s jump the man and climb him like a tree, but her brain was saying she couldn’t trust a man in a one-percenter motorcycle club.
If only her instincts were shrieking at her that she could trust him.
Stupid instincts. Maybe his hotness was clouding their judgment.