Chapter 14 #3
“Look, I’ll even throw you a bone. I promise you that you don’t have to worry about Fiona. Not that any of us really thought you were actually worried about her.” Atlas dropped his head at that, but I forged ahead.
“Either way, as soon as she’s wearing my cut, nothing can touch her. You go near my Old Lady, and I will decimate you, then I’ll sit back and watch as everyone waiting in line behind me gets their turn.
“Now, do as Prez told you and get gone. We only hear from you if it has to do with the safe house. Unless Fee says differently, you come around here, and we won’t be nearly as accommodating.”
Atlas stormed out of the room, and the rest of us stayed frozen.
“What in the fuck bullshit was he spewing? Does he think Fiona is on drugs?” Match asked, looking horrified.
“It doesn’t matter. She doesn’t want to talk to him, so he doesn’t get to know anything about her. I don’t know what story he had to tell himself to make it okay to walk away from her, but that’s a delusion he’s gonna have to work through on his own,” I said.
As we left the room, I saw Keys hovering nearby—a rare sight, since he typically ran back to his lair as soon as possible, reluctant to come out unless forced to for something like Church.
“Bash, you have a minute?” he asked, seeming nervous.
“Yeah. Can we talk in my office, though? I’ve got to grab a few things before I head to the garage,” I said as he stepped in line with me to head down the hall. Once inside my office, Keys closed the door, then stood awkwardly in front of my desk.
“I’m sorry, Bash. I should have dug deeper on Fiona when Charlie asked, should have known she was related to Atlas.
Since it wasn’t for club business, my search was purely cursory.
Just the bare bones. Charlie wanted eyes on the parents, so that’s where my focus was.
It won’t happen again. Any search you guys ask for will get the full treatment.
It wasn’t for me to decide how deep to run her. ”
I was surprised, honestly, having forgotten about the file. It was still locked in my desk from before I had left for that idiotic run, when Fiona was hurt.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. We didn’t ask for a deep search. I haven’t even looked at it, to be honest. With Fiona’s attack, and then, well… either way, we’re good, man. You don’t have to apologize.”
“You haven’t read it?” he asked, seeming surprised. I shook my head as I looked toward the locked drawer, feeling conflicted.
“Are you going to read it now? Do you want me to rerun it, dig deeper?” he asked, eager to help.
“No. Actually, let’s not look at anything having to do with Fiona or Atlas for the time being. I want Fee to tell me stuff in her own time. I don’t want to invade her privacy any further.” That seemed to surprise Keys.
“Really? I wouldn’t be able to hold off if I had a woman. But you do what you feel is best. Let me know if you want that deep dive,” Keys said, a small smile on his face as he gave me a mock salute before scuttling out of the room.
Pushing the folder to the back of my mind, I focused instead on my time with Fiona.
Since the cookout, we had spent every night together.
Picking her up from work was quickly becoming the highlight of my days.
Our nights together were simple and genuine.
It wasn’t anything I could have even dreamed of for myself.
It was the moments you didn’t think about, with the smallest fanfare, that meant the most. Other than dinner, most of our evenings were spent in companionable silence. Fiona had dived into the club books with a fervor.
Her single-minded focus on the documents almost made me jealous, desperate for all of that attention. No longer even bothering to ask, I brought over some clothes and bathroom products to keep at her place.
Falling asleep every night with her in my arms, my obsession with Fiona had only grown deeper, morphing into plans for our future together.
Plans that required research and knowledge, which called me back to the folder haunting me from the desk.
It was Friday morning before work, and I was sitting in my office at the clubhouse.
Without a knock, my door swung open as Charlie let herself in, dropping into the chair across from my desk.
“Oh, good, you’re here. Tonight is girls’ night, so you’re not allowed near Fee, not even to pick her up.
Match is gonna follow her home, so don’t worry about that, but I don’t want you butting in on our night.
I’ve been good all week and haven’t asked her anything about her brother.
I’ve earned this,” Charlie threatened. With a sigh, I couldn’t help but look at the drawer again.
I leaned over and unlocked it, pulling the folder out and dropping it in front of her.
“What’s that?” she asked, looking confused.
“The file Keys put together on Fiona. Remember, you asked him to run her background and track down her parents? I forgot to give it to you because her attack happened right after Keys gave it to me.” Charlie’s face paled as she looked at the folder in front of her.
“Did you read it?” she asked, and I shook my head.
“Honestly, I totally forgot about it until Keys came by to apologize for not running her deep enough to warn us about Atlas.”
“Me too. I forgot. What do we do? We have to read it, right? If we had, we might have known to look into her brother more. Did he say anything about their parents to you?” she asked, several emotions warring in her eyes.
“He said a lot of things, none of which made any sense, honestly.”
Now that the file was out and in front of me, fighting the urge to read it was grating at me even stronger. It went against my nature to restrain myself. I was someone who was used to having all the information upfront.
To defend my Brothers, my family, I needed and wanted to have access to all the research so I could plan for any potential attacks or outcomes. The same urge to protect Fiona ran through me, only stronger. Every minute I spent with her further solidified the feeling of rightness inside me.
Seeing that protectiveness, that worry on Charlie’s face and Keys’ earlier comment, made the decision for me. Fee may not have liked it, but she had a family now, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to sit by with my thumb up my ass when another demon from her past decided to show up.
That lie worked just long enough to motivate me to read through the file with Charlie, but the churning in my gut returned as soon as we were finished.
Work kept me distracted, but once I got home that night, I couldn’t help but repeatedly check my phone, expecting a flurry of angry texts or calls from Fiona. Everything about the moment felt wrong.
All my hopes that I was blowing things out of proportion flew out the window when Charlie walked through the door, tears pouring down her face.
As I comforted my sister, my thoughts were focused on Fiona and getting to her.
I had no time to waste, knowing she would try to use it to pull away, to retreat.