Chapter 7
It’s War
Tessa
“Pardon?” I manage to choke out. Me, a drug dealer? They must be joking. But they don’t look like they’re joking. The two police officers standing in front of me look very serious.
“Drugs, ma’am. We’ve had a tip that you’re selling more than candles,” the older officer says.
“Officer…” I prompt him for his name.
“Coven. Officer Coven. This is Officer Danychuk,” he offers, nodding to his partner and placing his hands on his waist, just above his holster.
“Officer Coven. I have never and would never use or sell drugs. This is a simple gift shop.” I pick a candle up from the shelf. “A candle and nothing else.” I push past them to the scented sachets. “A sachet, with no added ingredients. All the packages are sealed when they arrive.”
“Do you mind if we take a look around your shop?” Officer Danychuk asks.
I open my mouth to tell them to go ahead, but the man who ran past me and out the back door, and who is now standing like a bodyguard beside me, quickly says, “Do you have a search warrant?”
This rubs Officer Coven the wrong way, and he steps in closer, trying to intimidate the man next to me. “Do we need one?”
“You do if you want to waste your time. Tessa is a small business owner. The shop has only been open for a couple of months at best. She’s new to town and has no prior ties to anyone related to the drug dealers.
The fact that you’re following up on an anonymous lead is a bit of a mystery to me, because this should go through narcotics.
The protocol is to conduct surveillance and determine whether there’s any indication that a warrant would be necessary to search the premises.
You’re skipping a step, gentlemen, and this makes me think that you’re doing a favor for someone,” my bodyguard tells him.
I can see the police officer’s face going red, and his feet shifting.
“If you’ve got nothing to hide, then we’ll just do a quick search and be on our way,” Officer Danychuk says directly to Tessa.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Motown’s voice booms as he comes straight for me. My bodyguard makes room for him.
A pile of men is now in my place. I thought I had a decent-size shop, but with all these men in it, it’s looking awfully tiny.
“This is crazy. The police think I’m smuggling drugs,” I tell him.
Motown puts a protective arm around my waist, and his eyes don’t waver as he glares at Officer Coven. “Based on what?”
“An anonymous tip,” the officer answers.
“Tell Bronson, nice try,” Motown says. “In the meantime, get a warrant.”
“Look—” Officer Coven starts.
“I’d think twice before you finish that, Coven,” says a voice from behind the police officers. “Bronson has buddies, but so do the Riders. You don’t want to push this.”
The cops spin around to see the shop crowded with men wearing Redemption Rider cuts. It’s a stare down between Officer Coven and the guy who spoke. I assume this is the man Motown calls Hawk, the president of the Redemption Riders.
Without another word, Officer Coven pushes through the crowd and out the door, leaving the other cop alone. In a soft voice, Office Danychuk says, “Sorry about this.” His expression changes to a gentle warning as he says, “Stay sharp,” then leaves to join his partner outside.
“What the hell was that all about?” I ask, glancing up at Motown, who still has his gaze fixed on the police car outside.
“Give us a minute, Tessa,” he replies, running a hand over my back. “I gotta have a word with Declan and my brothers.”
“This is about me,” I insist.
Motown looks down at his boots, shaking his head. “Babe—”
“She’s right, brother. This concerns her,” another man, standing beside Hawk, cuts in.
“Drifter, brother, I want to check the shop out first,” Motown answers.
“Shooter, Flex, and Lee will do that. Declan will fill Drifter and me in on what he knows. You need to sit down with Tessa and let her know what we might be up against,” Hawk tells him.
“The delivery guy dropped off packages today, not once but three times. I checked the delivery company our and it’s legit, but something just felt wrong. I hid them in the dumpster out back,” Declan says when Hawk approaches him. “I ripped the labels off.” He reaches into his pocket and shows Hawk.
“Do you order from Dobson Inc.?” Hawk asks.
“I don’t think so. I have my purchase orders in this book.” I grab my binder and open it to the last few pages. “I don’t have anything with that name.” I look to Motown and see his jaw clenching. “What’s going on?” I grip his arm tightly, urging him to speak to me.
“Babe, Bronson is pissed that you chose me over him. He’s setting you up for a fall.
Those cops were called by Bronson, and chances are, if Declan wasn’t here, you would have let them look around, and they’d find drugs somewhere in your shop.
I’d bet my last buck that’s when Bronson would offer you a way out and try to look like the hero,” Motown says, pulling me closer and wrapping his arms around me.
“I never chose him,” I tell him. “Ever. I told Bronson from the start I wasn’t interested. Why would he pick on me? There are a million women out there much prettier than me. It makes no sense.”
“First, you outshine them all. Secondly, Bronson doesn’t like to hear the word no.
And lastly, he fucking hates the club, and since you’re associated with me, hurting you is just a way of getting back at us.
He’s tried for over a year to peddle his drugs on the streets around here, and we shut him down every single time.
We made a pact that he can do whatever he wants outside this town, and we won’t get involved.
Seems like he doesn’t like to play by the rules.
Fucking with you is his way of saying just that. ”
“Yo, we’re taking the packages back to the club. Hawk wants you to stick with Tessa until she closes, then meet us all at the club when you’re done,” Drifter tells us. He looks right at me, “Don’t worry, Tessa, the Redemption Riders have your back.”
“Thanks, Drifter,” I answer. “I find this completely insane. Maybe if I talk to Bronson and explain—”
“Not a chance,” Motown says abruptly.
Drifter shakes his head. “Your heart is in the right place, but Sunderland doesn’t have a heart.
Your good intentions would be a waste of time.
” He looks at Motown. “She’s sweet, just like my Sasha.
Keep your eyes peeled. Lee is with you. Hawk wants to go over the details one more time with Declan. ”
Motown
The shop was fairly quiet for most of the afternoon.
People came in to browse and were enchanted by Tessa, who has the ability to set everyone at ease.
She doesn’t push for sales but rather invites shoppers to have a cup of tea and a chat.
It works like a charm because not one person who walked in left without a purchase.
“That’s quite a technique, babe,” I say while she’s locking up for the night.
“What do you mean?” she asks, confused.
It hits me. It’s not a sales trick at all. Tessa is just being herself. She likes people and wants to get to know her customers.
“Nothing, Tess.” Instead of offering an explanation, I kiss her lightly on the mouth.
“You’re perfect.” She blushes and slides her hand in mine.
Tessa looks around for her car. “I had Declan pick it up and take it to your place.” I wait for her to get comfortable on the back of my bike, then motion for Lee to follow us as we make our way to the compound.
We barely reach the main room before Etain finds us.
“Hi, I’m Etain, Hawk’s fiancée. Sasha is pouring us wine, and we can sit and chat for a while.
” She looks up at me. “Hawk’s called church.
He’s waiting for you and Lee to begin. I wouldn’t keep him waiting if I were you,” she says, jerking her head to the room off to the side.
“Etain will take good care of you. I’ll be back soon,” I say. Etain links with Tessa and leads her off to the bar, where Sasha is sitting on a stool, waiting for them.
The air is heavy when Lee and I walk into the room where the rest of the Redemption Riders wait for us.
Hawk’s face is tense; Drifter is sitting next to him, looking just as perturbed.
I see what I assume are the packages Declan hid earlier spread out over the table and opened.
When I look inside one of them, I see tiny packages of white powder all in a row.
“What the fuck!” I swear.
“Looks like Sunderland intended to wine and dine your girl, then hook her into his drug business and use her shop as a front. His plans changed when he saw Tessa and you together. We think Bronson is setting her up to take the fall,” Hawk states plainly.
“There’s at least two hundred thousand dollars of product on that table,” I point out.
“Sunderland’s not going to be too happy about losing this kind of money,” Drifter adds. “We can make a deal, give it back, and he can move his business.”
“He’s proven he can’t be trusted to keep his word,” Shooter cuts in.
“And he was willing to see a good woman go down for it, just to prove he could get to us,” Flex adds.
“We’re lucky Declan followed his gut and got that shit out of Tessa’s place before the cops walked in. Tessa could have been spending the night behind bars if he wasn’t on his toes,” Hawk says, giving credit to the man who saved the day.
I turn to Declan. “Thanks, bro. I owe you.”
“We take care of each other,” Declan declares.
A loud rap on the door grabs our attention. Etain comes in. “There was a big boom in the shop, and I smell smoke.”
Drifter rushes through the door. Hawk is on the move, barking orders.
Declan and Lee race out and grab the fire extinguishers from the walls.
A small fire in the back of the building in the dumpster bin comes to life, but there’s more smoke than anything.
It’s contained quickly and thankfully never gets near any of the cars in the bay.
It would have cost us big time to replace any of those cars.
We work together to douse the flames. Declan grabs the fire blankets and throws them over the bin area where we toss the old rags and broken parts.
We have a pickup service that comes once a month to haul it away with a fresh bin, and thankfully, we just had it done a week ago, which is lucky for us because this could have been a much bigger fire.
The fire truck arrives; one of our nearby neighbors must have heard the same blast and called it in. They make sure the fire is completely out. When they begin sorting through the bin, Doc Mason from the plumbing company next door comes over to us.
They call him Doc, even though his real name is Denton, because he’s as skilled as a doctor when it comes to anything to do with plumbing.
He’s the kindest and most reputable man in town.
When we were building the compound, he came over and helped out, refusing to take any money but joining us for meals.
He’s a good man with lots of stories to tell.
Doc should have retired years ago, but at seventy, he’s still as active as he was in his younger years. Sitting still would kill him.
Doc goes right over to the firefighter and says, “I can tell you how this started. You don’t need to waste your time.”
“What do you know?” Hawk asks.
“Someone dumped a pipe bomb into the dumpster. They were out to make trouble,” Doc answers.
“Did you see who it was?” the firefighter asks. “We need to make a police report if this is arson.”
“He was moving pretty fast. There were two of them. One waited in the car; the other ran out and dropped it in. I didn’t know what it was at first, but then I heard the boom and called the fire station,” Doc replies.
“They were mid to late twenties. The guy who dropped the bottle had dark hair, maybe five feet ten or eleven. He was wearing jeans and a hoodie, but it all happened so fast. I can only say that the driver had lighter hair and was wearing glasses.”
“That’s good, Doc,” Hawk says, patting his back. “At least we know what happened.”
“The cops are on the way,” the fireman says. “You’ll need to make a statement.”
“No problem,” Doc answers. “I’ll wait over at my place.” He points to his place next door. He looks at Hawk, “Walk an old man over, will ya?”
Immediately, we know that Doc’s got more to say but doesn’t want to say anything in front of the others.
Hawk jerks his chin to Drifter and me, telling us to hang back while he walks with Doc back to his place.
I can see Hawk lowering his head, getting close to Doc.
The conversation doesn’t last long, but Hawk’s expression is murderous.
Drifter goes stiff beside me. Flex inhales deeply, while Shooter curses under his breath.
Something’s very wrong. Hawk walks past us, and we all follow.
We gather in the main room of the compound, where Etain, Sasha, and Tessa are waiting for us.
They too see the look on Hawk’s face and remain silent.
“It’s war, Riders!” Hawk declares.