• Twenty-Two •
“He wanted you vulnerable.”
Briar
I had just walked into the living room and begun my search when the door chime went off. Was Dovie here already? I needed time to look without her knowing what I was doing.
Storm came walking into the room, and his eyes locked on me. “Why did you leave?” he asked, looking strung tight.
Did I tell him? Did I just ask him point-blank? No. He would lie. I knew I couldn’t trust him completely, but I loved him so much that I had accepted it. Overlooked it. Pretended like it wasn’t an issue. When, clearly, it was.
“You weren’t around. I looked for you and couldn’t find you.”
“You didn’t call me. Stellan had called me up to the house. I knew it was going to be quick, or I’d have called you. I thought you’d wait with Noor.”
“Where did you go before? When you said you were just getting back to the stables?” I asked, needing to see if there was any truth to the things Lula Mae had told me.
“Maeme’s for lunch.”
“Who with?”
He frowned. “What do you mean, who with? It was Maeme’s. Thatcher was there, Wells, Stellan, Dad. Why?”
“Lula Mae?”
His eyes narrowed then. “What the fuck did Lula Mae say to you at the stables? I knew it. I fucking knew she was why you’d left,” he growled.
“She was at Maeme’s though, wasn’t she?”
“Yeah, she was. Are you pissed about that? I can’t control who Maeme has over to eat.” He took a step toward me.
“Why didn’t you mention her when I asked who was there if it wasn’t a big deal?”
He grabbed his hat and slung it over to the sofa, then stalked over to me. “Because it would make you mad. That’s why. And I didn’t want to upset you. She’s not important, and I wish the bitch would go back home.”
The lump in my throat as he wrapped his hands around my upper arms felt like it might choke me. He was the one person I wanted to wrap me up and tell me it was going to be okay, but he was the cause of my turmoil.
“Did she ride with you?”
He looked at me as if I’d asked him to eat shit. “Fuck no,” he replied with a disgusted look on his face. He slid a knuckle under my chin. “Baby, as much as I like it when you’re jealous, I don’t like you thinking I would give any other woman my attention. You got it all. I’m not sure what else I can do to prove that to you.”
I was going to end up a sobbing mess. I believed him about Lula Mae and lunch. He looked too sincere. But the other things. My phone. The cameras. Sunday lunch … not taking me there. Was there truth to all that? My gut said there was, and I had to find out what was a lie and what was the truth.
“Why don’t you go to Maeme’s for Sunday lunch?” I asked him.
He looked thrown off. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“I haven’t thought about it. Since you’ve been here, I prefer spending Sunday with you. I don’t like having to share you.”
Okay, that could be the real reason. He seemed like he meant it. I wasn’t a human lie detector though.
“Whatever Lula Mae said to you, it was a lie. She’s got some shit in her head that we had a love match when we were fucking kids. I’ve been real damn clear with her that was not the case. I am not interested in her, and I never will be. She’s not been told no before in her life, and she’s trying to get to you now. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again. I’ll figure out a way to get her ass back to Louisiana.”
God, how I wanted to believe him. He was right about Lula Mae being after him. And I was sure she had told me what she did to send me running so he’d be free. But that didn’t mean everything she’d said was a lie. I had to know.
“Come back to the stables with me. Let’s go ride down to the lake,” he said, brushing his thumb over my cheek as he held my face.
He wanted to distract me with sex.
I shook my head. “Not today. Tell Noor I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “Can’t do that. If you’re not going, I’m staying with you.”
If he was here, I couldn’t look for cameras.
“You don’t have to do that. You’ve got things to do.”
“You come first, and you’re the only thing I want to do.”
He lowered his mouth and brushed a kiss over my lips before nipping at my bottom lip, then flicking his tongue over it. My mouth opened under his, unable to stop from giving in to him. His hands ran down my arms, then covered my butt as he pulled me flush against him. The hard ridge of his erection pressed into my stomach, and I clung to his arms.
“Come take a shower with me,” he said against my lips.
I should tell him no. While he showered, I could look for any sign of a camera. But staring into his eyes and seeing the hunger there. The urgency that made me feel wanted. I was afraid of what would happen if I found that some of the things Lula Mae had said were true. Having him now, like this, I wanted to hold on to it just a little longer.
Storm didn’t leave again until the next morning. He’d been attentive, sweet, and he’d even talked about what it was he did for work. As in the businesses he did in fact own. They were backed by the family, but the Kingstons ran them. A lot of it was commercial real estate and a couple of shady things that he’d joked were legal for them. I’d been able to keep the other stuff pushed back and just enjoy being with him.
Now that he was gone to a meeting he and his father had about a shopping mall they were buying, I was left here with only Dovie, who was upstairs. I walked into the living room, and dread pooled in my stomach as I thought about the possibility I would find something. Would he know if I did? I mean, did he watch the cameras from his phone?
Dovie’s footsteps on the stairs stopped me from moving forward, and the relief that I could put it off for a little longer was probably not good. I was afraid of the truth. She was frowning as she walked toward me with her phone in her hand.
She held it out to me.
I took it from her and glanced down to see a text. Turning it so I could read what she was showing me, I glanced back up at her, and she just nodded her head toward it. Dropping my gaze, I saw it was from an unknown number.
This is Pepper Abe. Please take this phone to Briar and have her call me from this phone, not hers. And make sure she isn’t in the house or her car when she does. This is vitally important.
I reread over the text twice, trying to wrap my head around how Pepper had gotten Dovie’s number when she didn’t know she existed and why she didn’t want me using my phone.
Unless …
I gripped the phone tighter as my chest churned with a mix of fear and anxiety. This couldn’t be about Storm. How could it be? But … why else would she want me away from the house and my car unless she thought they were somehow bugged?
Don’t let this be something that will break me. Please, please, Storm, be who I think you are.
I cleared my throat and tried to stay calm. Dovie didn’t need to be alarmed.
“I guess I’ll run down to the grocery store and pick up some things. I can call her from there.”
“What is this about?” Dovie signed, and the concern in her eyes only made this worse.
She was already fearing the worst. That she would have to leave this life she’d made here. With friends and a school to go to in the fall. I’d brought her into this, and there was a chance she would lose it. I wasn’t the only one who would be shattered.
No. I had to talk to Pepper first. I was jumping to conclusions.
I smiled. “I think it’s about a concert she wants me to come perform at on the beach. Storm isn’t going to be happy about it, and I guess she wants to make sure he’s not around.”
“Why did she text me?”
Because my phone is being monitored by Storm. That much I was almost certain of at this point.
“Mine has been acting up. I have to get it checked.”
Dovie stared at me, trying to decide what to believe. I could see it in her eyes. “Storm isn’t home.”
I nodded. “I know. Just … I’ll be back. After I talk to her, I’ll let you know.”
“Are you in danger?”
I shook my head. “It’s fine.” I hope.
“I’m coming with you,” she signed with a determined expression.
“Okay,” I told her. “Get your shoes.”
She turned and went back up the stairs, and I picked up my phone to text Storm.
Dovie and I are going to get some things from the grocery store. Do you want anything?
I looked down at the phone, fighting back the sting in my eyes. I had to tell him since he’d be tracking me anyway. Until I talked to Pepper, I couldn’t let him know anything was wrong.
I’m good.
I hated texting him when he was in a meeting, but I didn’t know exactly how extensive his stalker equipment was. Sliding it into my back pocket, I went to get my key fob and slip on a pair of sandals by the door.
Dovie came running back down the stairs, and I headed for the garage with her following behind me. I glanced around as we went to get in the vehicle, wondering if there were cameras out here. Probably for security purposes. Would that be what the ones in the house were for? Maybe there were cameras, but they were only turned on when we weren’t there or asleep. Storm was thorough with his safety measures.
At that thought, the panic slowly sinking its claws into me eased some.
But then I remembered the text from Pepper. She’d had to go to great measures to get Dovie’s number. That wasn’t something she would have done lightly.
Backing out of the garage, I turned on some music to help distract from the tension in the car.
I wanted to tell Dovie everything was fine. But I said nothing because I couldn’t be sure that was true, and I wasn’t positive that this car wasn’t wired so that he could hear what was said in it. I gripped the steering wheel tighter. Would he do that and not tell me? Why would he need to hear what I said in my car? I didn’t want to think he trusted me so little that he had to monitor my every move.
By the time I got to the store, I had worked myself back up so bad that I was on the verge of an anxiety attack.
“I’m going to park under that tree line so we are in the shade. You can stay in the car or go inside if you want. I’m gonna do this right over there.” I signed in case he could hear what I said then pointed to a spot that was far away from the car that I didn’t think any tracking devices could see or hear me.
“I’m going with you,” she signed, her mouth set in a firm line.
Fine. I nodded.
We walked over to the shade, and I went to the number that she’d texted and called it.
“Briar,” she answered on the first ring.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Thank God that worked.” She let out a breath.
“You have me completely freaked out. What is this about?”
“Where are you?”
“Outside the grocery store,” I replied.
“Is Storm with you?”
“No,” I bit out, growing more panicked by the second.
“There’s a prospect with The Judgment. He went to high school with Storm, and Storm has used him in some of the underworld shit they do. Anyway, Storm got the guy into The Judgment prospects as payment for something he had him do.
“The guy, Marty, he came in last night, and he’d already been drinking when he got here, but he had several more. Then, he started talking about the band onstage and asked me if I missed you. He went on, slurring and saying Storm was obsessed with you and you’d be living with the Mafia and wouldn’t be coming back.” She paused and took a deep breath.
“But then he said some other things. Briar, Storm had him take all your money out of your car and give it to him. He had him go through your car and get out anything of value. He said that Storm had every move you made monitored. As in cameras all in that house and your vehicle. And … it was Marty who shot at y’all in his Jeep. Storm had him do it. It was part of his plan to get you to go with him. I know Marty was drunk and rambling, but he wouldn’t lie about someone like Storm.
“I had to call my brother because if Marty remembers he told me, he’ll probably try and kill me to keep my mouth shut. The Judgment have him locked up right now. I don’t know what Liam—the president of the Judgment—is gonna do about this. Or what he will do to Marty. They’re loyal to the family, not some prospect, but it’s you I’m worried about.”
I said nothing as I stood there, trying to make sense of all this.
“Briar?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m just … I don’t understand. Why would he have someone shoot at us and take my money?”
“So you felt dependent on him. He wanted you vulnerable,” she said in a wary voice. “He was making you think he was the one who saved you. It was all a plan. A really fucking twisted one.”
Oh my God. How many more things was he lying to me about? I had overlooked the one about Bash and the bar, but I couldn’t just act like all this wasn’t true or forget it. All the lies. And for what? He wanted me that bad? I was in love with him, but as I stood under the shade in the parking lot of a grocery store, I realized that love didn’t overcome everything. Did he even love me? Was he even loyal to me? Was I just some possession he wanted to own?
“What are you going to do?” she asked.
I shook my head. “I … I don’t know,” I said honestly.
This was so much worse than video cameras. I didn’t know what was real anymore. If we were real. If it was ever real. He’d hated me so much, and then one day, he hadn’t. It had switched so quickly. I should have questioned it more. Not fallen in headfirst.
“He-he got me custody of Dovie,” I said as all he’d done for me ticked off in my head.
“Is that the fifteen-year-old you needed a new identity for?”
I realized she still didn’t know about Dovie. “Yes,” I replied.
“Is that whose number I texted?”
“Yes, and how did you even get her number?” I asked.
“My brother had a hacker find out all the cell numbers connected to your name. He said that at a meeting he was in, he heard Huck say Storm wouldn’t want to leave the state with his woman and her kid sister living with him now.”
My gaze met Dovie’s, and the understanding that this was over was in her eyes. I should have known better. Fairy tales weren’t real. I’d let us both believe in one because I wanted it … him so much. He had consumed me.
“I’ll come get you,” she said.
Leave. How could I go? But how could I stay? He’d wanted to own me. Control me. And I was afraid he might have succeeded.
“I don’t want you involved in this. I need to think,” I told her.
“He’ll know about this soon. Liam will go to Blaise about Marty.”
“I can’t just run. I have to face him with this.”
“He’s dangerous, but in his own messed up way, he wanted you so damn bad that he did fucked-up shit. I don’t think he will hurt you, but I’ll be honest here, I’m worried he will do something like lock you in his room to keep you. There isn’t some weird, locked room in his house, is there? This might be some psycho shit he’s done before.”
That was crazy. I rubbed my forehead with the palm of my hand and closed my eyes. I loved an insane man, and I had Dovie living under his roof. The things I didn’t know terrified me. What measures would he do to keep me there? What had he already done?
I opened my eyes and looked at Dovie again. Had he been the one to kill Netta? Was that a lie too?
I wanted to scream and put my fist through a wall. I hated this. I hated how it made me feel, like I was being ripped in two.
“Maybe it won’t come to that,” I said.
“Use Dovie’s phone and call me if you need me. I will be there.”
“Okay.”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Yeah,” I replied.
Then, we ended the call, and I handed Dovie back her phone. This was the end of my fairytale.