Chapter 32
Raeleen
The next morning I couldn’t stop smiling, walking hand in hand with Pyre as we made our way upstairs into the main part of the clubhouse. My smile faltered a little as every eye settled on us as we came through the door. Nerves danced in my stomach as Cypher approached us.
“Rae. We’re all glad you’re safe.”
“Thank you, Cypher,” I replied. “Thank you all for coming to help me.”
“Pyre mentioned last night that you’d seen a man named Forge.”
Seen. Fought side by side with. I was still worried about him, though Pyre said his brothers hadn’t found his body when they’d cleaned up the old saw mill, which meant he was alive.
I wondered again what they planned to do with so many dead bodies.
But they seemed to have experience in these matters so I didn’t ask.
What was strange, or should have been strange, was that I didn’t find it surprising.
Maybe one day soon I’d know a bit more about their club.
If Pyre was willing to share. For now, I wasn’t going to pry.
They’d also saved my life and I was nothing if not loyal.
I wouldn’t breathe a word of what I saw to Owen or the deputies. “I did.”
“Would you be willing to tell us what he said?”
Frowning, I thought back to last night. Amazingly, I had only woken up with one nightmare.
Pyre had quickly chased it away. Then I slept peacefully for the rest of the night.
“Nothing was very…” I paused as I remembered what Forge had said about the man at the covered bridge.
“The man that Owen and I were out at the bridge for originally was supposed to be taking a shipment to Idaho. To sell to someone for a lot of money. He said Dolan needed that money. He also kind of implied that he was the one who’d killed the man.
I’m only guessing that it was him who took the shipment, too, since none of the other men found what they were looking for. ”
“Did he say what the shipment was?” Cypher asked with a neutral expression on his face.
I looked over at Pyre because he’d stiffened when Cypher asked that. I could feel the tension travel down his arm and through where our hands were locked together. Forge had told me what was in the shipment. I opened my mouth to answer but Rotor beat me to it.
“It’s got to be the Ecstasy.”
Pyre stiffened even more, and now every brother was either glaring at Rotor or looking at him with this dumbfounded expression.
Rotor looked around, motioning with his beer. It was eight o’clock in the morning. I blinked a couple times at his beer.
“What else would it be? It’s all that damn E they’ve been cooking up. Like the shit in Owen’s perp in the morgue,” Rotor continued.
There were a couple stray groans at his declaration.
Motion caught my attention and I looked over where Pyre was making a slashing gesture at his neck.
“What are you doing? What is that? You want me to slit a throat?”
“I’m going to slit your throat,” Pyre growled. “What the fuck, Rotor? It means shut up, we can invade an island nation with you with only hand gestures but you don’t understand when to shut up?”
“We don’t need a gesture for that when we invade, we’re already quiet…”
I focused on Rotor. He looked perplexed that everyone around him was groaning in unison. “At the morgue?”
His smile began fading at my question. A realization began to spread over his face. “Uh… I meant-”
“How do you know we found Ecstasy on the man in my morgue?” I asked, turning to Pyre. I slipped my hand out of his as I searched his face. A sinking feeling inside my chest was making it hard to breathe.
“Uh… Owen must’ve mentioned-” Rotor cut off the lie when my head snapped toward him.
“That’s a key piece of evidence in an ongoing investigation, Rotor,” I said, my voice clipped. “The sheriff wouldn’t have freely shared that with anyone outside of law enforcement. Do not lie to me. Not about things I’m very well-versed in.”
Rotor swallowed whatever else he’d been about to say and took a long drink from his beer. When he lowered it, he didn’t say anything else, but the look he shot Pyre said, ‘Sorry about that.’
My eyes landed back on Pyre. “How do you know about the man in my morgue?” I wasn’t sure whether I was more angry, confused, or hurt.
Plenty of men had lied to me in the past. Those men had mostly been after sex. My ex-fiancé, well, all I could conclude was that he’d wanted to change me, and when he couldn’t he left. But Pyre… I didn’t think he’d been in this for anything but me.
I swallowed hard. “Pyre.”
He sighed. “Let’s go downstairs-”
“No,” I snapped. “We’ll do this right here. How did you know?”
“We needed to know if the Iron Circle Crew—the men from last night—were in town. When you mentioned the body you were working on… It sounded like something they’d be involved in so we checked.”
“You…checked.” My eyes widened. “You broke into my business.” I was proud that my voice remained steady. I didn’t need him to confirm it. The truth was right there in those beautiful blue eyes of his. “You broke in,” I repeated, “and read my report.”
I took a step back from him. “Do you have any idea what this could do to my reputation? I could be let go as the town’s medical examiner.”
“They wouldn’t do that, Rae,” Cypher said, his voice firm. “They need you too much to even consider it.”
I was still staring at Pyre, nearly begging him with my gaze to tell me it wasn’t true. “W-why would you do this?” So much for my steady calm. “Is that why-”
Huffing out a breath, I tried to keep the tears at bay. “That’s why you began dating me. To find out information.”
“No. That’s not why. I-”
“I don’t want to hear it, Pyre,” I said, backing up further. Suddenly, I didn’t want to hear what he had to say. “I need some space.”
Turning, I ran out of the clubhouse. I made it almost across the parking lot, heading for the road when someone grabbed my arm. There was no need for me to look to see who it was. Balling my hand into a fist, I turned and punched Pyre square in that pretty face of his.
“Shit!” He didn’t let go of me, but he used his free hand to wiggle his nose. “That’s a great right hook you have there, Little Reaper.”
“Let me go,” I said, jerking my arm out of his hold.
His hands fell to his sides. “Just let me explain.”
“I don’t want to hear it right now,” I told him. “Would you have even told me? If Rotor hadn’t let your little secret slip, would you have told me the truth?”
He opened his mouth, then shut it and began grinding his teeth. I could tell because the muscles in his jaw were flexing.
“No, of course not,” I said with a humorless laugh. “What else haven’t you told me?”
“That’s it.”
“That and why you started dating me to begin with.”
“I told you, you’re wrong about that.”
“You lied about breaking into my business,” I countered. “Why should I believe you about this?”
“Raeleen-”
“Leave me alone, Pyre,” I told him, lifting my hand and pointing my finger at him.
He looked like he wanted to murder someone. I really didn’t envy Rotor. He was probably going to be on Pyre’s bad side for a while. Though at some point I should probably thank him. But not now.
Right now, if I didn’t see any of these bikers for the rest of my life it’d still be too soon. Yes, they’d saved my life. But right now that wasn’t enough to earn my forgiveness. They had used me. I couldn’t just forgive that.
I stomped down the road, holding onto my anger because it was the only thing holding the tears at bay. My phone rang, so I pulled it out of my pocket and saw it was Ainsley. My purse was still in Pyre’s room at the clubhouse—one of the men had grabbed it out of my car at the bridge. “Hey, Ains.”
“Thank God you’re okay! I’m sorry I wasn’t there to see you last night, or this morning. We’ve been with Owen here at the hospital.”
“How is he?” I asked, desperately needing the distraction. Pyre had said he was going to be okay last night, but he wasn’t exactly excitable about things, so he could have been downplaying Owen’s condition.
“He’s okay. I mean, he got shot, so he needs to rest and heal, but otherwise he’s okay. He said to tell you thank you for saving his life. He’s determined to send you flowers for the rest of your life.” She laughed.
My lips twitched up in a small smile. “That’s not necessary.”
There was a slight pause. “Are you okay, Rae? Pyre told Warrant you only had a couple scrapes and bruises, but-”
“I’m not hurt…physically.”
“...that… What happened?”
“Are you still with Owen?”
“No, Warrant dropped me off at home.”
“I know you’re probably exhausted-”
“Rae. What do you need?”
“Could you come pick me up?” I asked with a sigh.
“Where are you?”
“Walking down the road away from the clubhouse.”
“I’ll be right there.”
A SUV was headed my way and I recognized it as one of the vehicles that belonged to the club. Only it was coming from town. It slowed down and Warrant rolled down the window. He frowned. “Hey, Rae…” He looked up the road, searching for Pyre. “Where’s-”
“Keep going, Warrant,” I told him, voice cold and flat. “I have a ride coming to get me.”
“Uh…” His eyes kept bouncing from me, to behind me, so I had a feeling Pyre was back there, following at a distance.
“Tell him to go away.”
“You… Yeah, sure.”
I started walking again, my anger driving me forward until I saw Ainsley’s car on the road. She stopped and I climbed in the passenger side. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”
She looked over at me, sympathy written all over her face. “I’ll keep it quiet for as long as I can.”
“Thanks.”
“You know the second Harlow hears about it the wolves are going to descend?”
I laughed at her description of our friends. “I know. She can probably smell the tension already. Right now I just want to sleep.”
“But…you’re okay?”
I met her gaze and reached over to squeeze her hand. “I am. And thank you. Pyre said you strong-armed Warrant into allowing you to come last night to find me.”
She leaned over and pulled me into an awkward hug over the middle console. We squeezed each other tightly. “I was so damn scared for you Rae.” We pulled apart and she gave me a watery smile. “If it had been me out there I would’ve just handled it-”
“Because you’re a badass,” I pointed out.
She laughed and shook her head. “No, I mean, it’s easier for me to be in situations like that than to know those I love are in them. I’d rather face the threat than let you or any of the others.”
I patted her hand. “I get it, because I actually feel the same way.” I let out a scornful laugh. “Though I sort of hope nothing like that happens again.”
“You and me both, Sister. Let’s get you home.”
We were quiet for the rest of the drive to my house, both lost in our own thoughts.
We hugged again after she parked in my driveway, then I went inside and shut the door.
Leaning back against it, I watched as Penny waddled up to me.
I bent down, scooped her up, buried my face in her soft fur, and began to cry.