Chapter 13 – Stone
STONE
Who the fuck have you gotten us involved with?
Sin’s words played on repeat in my mind during the forty-minute drive to Hadley’s house in Jolly Beach.
The truth was I didn’t know, and I didn’t have a reasonable explanation. It wasn’t like me to take a chance on a random person, but something about her made me want to help her.
Just like you wanted to help Kim.
Kim was different. It didn’t matter if I wanted to help her; I was obligated to, so I did.
Fuck! I was ready to be done with the shit with Whitney so I could go back to not thinking about Kim every day. She hadn’t crossed my mind in years, until Whitney showed up in the casket. It made sense, but that didn’t mean I liked it.
“I’m gonna drive by first and check it out before I pull up,” Sin announced. “It should be coming up on the right.”
“That’s it. The one with the gate,” Tomb said. “Damn, Stone, you know how to pick ’em. This bitch has loan sharks, killers, bikers, and billionaires circling around her.”
“And lawyers,” I added. “Her ex-boyfriend is a lawyer. Was a lawyer.”
“Knock it off,” Sin ordered. “We’re here.”
I rolled down my window as Sin pulled up to the call box.
“Can I help you?” a woman asked through the speaker.
“Yes, I’m Stone Hart, here to speak with Whitney Carlson or Hadley Montgomery.”
“Well, hello, Stone. Who are those handsome fellas with you?”
Oh, fuck me.
“My brothers, Sin and Tomb.”
“He can park right there. Then I need y’all to stand in front of the camera and let me watch you remove your weapons and lock them in the truck. Then I’ll buzz you in.”
“Is she fucking serious?”
“Yes, I am, and we can start with you. Raise your shirt and bare your entire chest. Then turn in a complete circle.”
She continued giving me directions until she was satisfied. Then she did the same with Sin. But when she asked Tomb to bend over for the third time, I realized she was fucking with us.
I glared directly into the camera. “How would you feel if we did this to you?”
“All right. Y’all can come around to the back.”
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Tomb said. “We could be walking into an ambush.”
“You think these three women are going to ambush us on the beach on Labor Day?”
“They might. They don’t seem like average women.”
I led the way to the back of the house because I didn’t give a fuck if it was an ambush or not. I wanted to make sure Whitney was okay, and then I wanted to know who the fuck was killing people on her behalf.
Whitney and Stevie were standing on the far side of the patio, with an in-ground swimming pool separating us. “I’m not yelling this shit across a fucking pool.”
“Dude, what are you doing?” Tomb groaned and took one step forward. “Ignore him. He’s cranky when he’s tired. He meant to ask if we could speak somewhere more private.”
The fucker. I wasn’t tired. I was worried about a woman I didn’t know for reasons I didn’t know, and it was pissing me off.
“Who are you?” Stevie asked.
“I’m Tomb, that’s Sin, and the asshole is Stone.”
I made eye contact with Whitney. “I need to speak with you alone.”
She nodded and pointed to the chairs beside the pool. “Over there.” Then she turned and whispered something to Stevie, who didn’t like whatever she said judging by the face she made.
“You need to be nicer,” Tomb said quietly.
“Why?”
“Because that girl is gonna have one of two reactions—freak the fuck out or kill you. Nice is the only way to go.”
“Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets make me hurt someone.” My head shot up to see Hadley pointing a large gun at us from the second-floor balcony.
“I was just telling him it’s easier to catch flies with honey.”
“Depends on the type of fly,” Stevie said. “It’s easier to catch blowflies with a dead body.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Sin said. “Stone, go talk to your girl.”
I met Whitney by the chairs, a convenient halfway point.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon. Are you here to tell me I can go home?” she asked hopefully.
“No. I’m here because someone sent a letter to the clubhouse asking for our forgiveness on your behalf. You know anything about that?”
Her forehead wrinkled as she slowly shook her head. “A letter? From who?”
“It wasn’t signed. No return address.”
“No. I have no idea who would do that. Or why.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” she snapped. “If I had known someone who could’ve helped, I would’ve mentioned it yesterday.”
“Then we have a problem. Because the letter came with this.” I held up the bag with Tate’s mole I’d been concealing in my hand since we got out of the truck.
She looked at the bag for several seconds. “I don’t know what that is.”
“Really? You don’t recognize it?”
“No, I don’t think so,” she said slowly. “Should I?”
“Yeah,” I said, clearing my throat. “It belonged to Tate Wood.”
It didn’t register to her immediately. When it did, she jumped back and yelled, “Holy shit! Somebody sent that to you?”
“What is it?” Stevie asked, appearing at her side instantly.
“He said someone sent that to them,” Whitney said and lowered her voice. “It’s the mole that was on the pawn shop dude’s face.”
“Well, that’s good news, right? One down, one to go? Wait. Where’s the rest of him?”
“Stevie,” Whitney snapped. “They don’t know where it came from.”
Stevie pointed to the same spot on her own face. “His cheek.”
“No, they don’t know who sent it to them.”
“I don’t understand why that’s a problem.”
“Because of this,” I said, pulling the letter from my pocket. I unfolded it and held it out to Stevie.
She jumped back and shook her head, almost as if she was scared of it. “I don’t have my reading glasses. You’ll have to tell me what it says.”
Whitney reached for it, but Stevie smacked her hand away. “He can read it.”
I sighed but read the note to her.
“Oh,” she said, raising her hand to her throat. “That’s … um … who the fuck did that?” she nearly shrieked.
“I don’t know!” Whitney yelled back.
“Did what?” Hadley called from the balcony.
“Will y’all shut the fuck up?” I barked. “Or at least don’t yell while we’re outside.”
“Sorry,” Whitney said.
“You showed up with a dead man’s hairy mole. I’m not apologizing for my reaction,” Stevie said.
“Excuse her. She’s tired,” Whitney said. “Back to the letter. It said, please accept these. What else did they send?”
“Nate’s earring and earlobe.”
“Can we see it?” Stevie asked.
I shook my head. “Not right now. I left it at the clubhouse with the original letter in case shit went sideways.”
“Why did you say it like that? Not right now?” Stevie asked.
“Since we don’t know who sent the letter, you three need to come to the clubhouse with us until we figure it out,” Sin said.
“Why the fuck would we do that?” Stevie asked.
“Because no one outside of the club and the three of you should know about what happened with Nate and Tate. Since it wasn’t any of us who killed them to clear Whitney’s name, someone else knows what’s going on.
Which means Whitney isn’t safe, and neither are you and Hadley because of your close association with her. ”
“For how long?” Whitney asked shakily.
“As long as it takes,” I told her.
“We don’t need you to protect us,” Stevie said.
“Yeah, I can see why you would think that,” Sin said. “It looks like your daddies taught you a thing or two, but this is the real world.”
I wasn’t sure which part did it, but something he said pissed Stevie off.
She stiffened and slowly turned to face him.
“We don’t have daddies. Whitney’s was never around, and ours were murdered.
Do you have any more preconceived sexist macho bullshit you’d like to spew?
Because I’d really, really like to sew your balls to your taint this evening. ”
To my surprise, Sin raised his hands in a placating manner. “You’re right. That was a shitty thing to say.”
Stevie blinked, seemingly taken aback by his words.
“What is happening?” Whitney whispered.
Stevie sighed. “It looks like we’re going to the Grave Prowlers clubhouse because Glenn isn’t finished fucking you yet.”
Whitney made a gagging noise. “Never say it like that again.”
I had to agree.
“Y’all are gonna have to talk louder,” Hadley yelled from the balcony. “The batteries in my long-range mic are dying.”
“We’ve gotta pack again,” Whitney yelled.
“We’re leaving?”
“Yeah, we’re going with them.”
“Hot damn!” Hadley said, then quickly changed her tone. “I mean, oh no. How inconvenient.”
“Hold on,” Stevie said. “We can’t just up and go to your clubhouse for however long. We have jobs and lives that we can’t abandon. Hadley and I have to work tomorrow.”
“Yeah, we have jobs and lives, too,” I said. “This isn’t our first rodeo. We can get you to work and keep you safe while you’re there.”
“You’re going to send a biker bodyguard to hang out at the courthouse with me?”
My eyes narrowed. “The courthouse?”
“Yes,” Stevie said proudly. “The Palmetto Harbor County Courthouse. I’m a court reporter.”
Fuck.
Tomb turned and looked up at Hadley. “Where do you work, sweetheart?”
Hadley grinned. “I’m a private investigator. I can work from anywhere.”
“You’ve got to be shitting me? A PI and a court reporter. In my fucking clubhouse,” Sin barked.
“Hadley’s a hacker, and Stevie leaks confidential information to the press to affect court cases,” Whitney blurted.
“At least make them torture you before you go blabbing our shit like that,” Stevie snapped.
“I just wanted to even things out so we can go,” Whitney said. “I’m kinda freaking out a little.”
I nearly laughed. She was fucking adorable.
“Okay,” Stevie said. “She’s right. We’re not gonna be a problem, and we appreciate you helping our girl.”
Sin nodded. “Get your shit and let’s go.”