Chapter 12 Texas
TWELVE
TEXAS
ONE WEEK LATER
The past few days had inched by at a snail’s pace. Living next door to Ella and not being able to go over there was killing me. Every time I saw her coming or going, I wanted to go out and see her. Talk to her. Hug her.
Kiss her.
But I had to maintain my loyalty to Stone and the crew. I had to keep the job at the forefront of my mind. It wasn’t my job to bang Stone’s sister into oblivion. Or worse, get her pregnant. It was my job to protect her.
Even if it meant protecting her from the hell that would rain down if we continued hooking up.
I went to bed at night with her on my mind. I woke up every morning wishing she was there. Even though I’d showered numerous times since our last encounter, I still smelled her. Every corner I came around and every move I made somehow reminded me of her.
I had to find a way to distract myself.
I kept my eyes on the house whenever Ella wasn’t there.
I’d peek over across the street and make sure that old woman and Keva were doing just fine.
It had been a little over a week since Ella’s encounter with Jett at the grocery store.
And since then, he hadn’t appeared on anyone’s radar.
Not Stone’s. Not mine. Not even Ella’s. He hadn’t come to the house, and from the few phone calls I placed to the grocery store, it seemed as if he hadn’t appeared there either.
I didn’t like this man’s sudden absence.
At least when he was stalking Ella, we knew where he was and what he was up to. But this sudden drop-off had me nervous. And even though Ella didn’t want me confronting Jett on her behalf and making things worse, I didn’t really have a chance at this point.
I needed to figure out what that asshole was up to.
I decided to tail Jett. I’d need the man’s current address, but I’d be able to figure it out from there.
I knew Stone would be behind me on this, especially since he was getting irritated with the fact that I didn’t have any updates for him over the past few days.
I called Stone up and got Jett’s current address.
And it didn’t shock me one bit when Stone was on my side with all this.
He thought tailing Jett was a great idea.
That there was a chance we’d catch him doing something shady, which we could use to further pull that asshole away from Ella and Keva.
Tailing Jett would also get my mind off Ella.
Which my dick was very thankful for.
I rode out to the address Stone rattled off to me and was shocked as to the neighborhood I pulled into. It was nice. Very nice. Way too fucking nice for a man who had once rolled with a biker gang. Jett definitely had money, which made me even angrier.
Because he’d been very good at evading child support.
I rode around the neighborhood and got a sense of how it was laid out.
It was like most neighborhoods of suburbia-land.
Cookie-cutter houses laid out on blocks.
There were cul-de-sacs that dead-ended into wooded areas and a massive loop the main road ran around all the rest of the houses.
Jett was buried in the center of it all.
I had to take many turns in order to get back to his place.
His house, though, was the largest of them off.
“Fucking asshole,” I murmured.
I parked my bike down the street and waited.
I backed myself into a wooded patch and tried to blend in as best as I could.
I pulled out a candy bar from my pocket and began munching on it, my eyes darting around to take in the people around me.
There were mostly mothers with faces full of makeup and outfits perfectly settled against their bodies.
Kids ran up and down the sidewalks, drawing with chalk and yelling at their mothers like they didn’t have any fucking sense.
Then, the revving engine of a sports car hit my ears.
I watched as Jett’s obnoxious red car pulled into the driveway. He got out and slammed the door behind him, obviously pissed off as he stormed into his house. I wondered what had the man so angry, and fear pierced my gut.
Had he just come from seeing Ella?
Holy shit, had he been waiting until I wasn’t at home to go see her?
I resisted the urge to race back to Ella’s house.
Stone knew I was staking this man out, so I had to stay the course.
I sat there for several hours, my stomach rumbling and gurgling with hunger.
Everyone in that damn neighborhood was so oblivious to the world around them that they didn’t see some hulking man on a bike in the damn woods.
I sat there for hours, waiting for Jett to make a move.
The sun started setting, and I almost gave up. I mean, maybe Jett wasn’t going anywhere else today. I figured I could come back tomorrow in the morning with supplies to keep me satiated throughout the day and try my luck again. So, I slipped on my helmet and kicked up the stand on my bike.
Then, Jett’s front door opened.
I watched the man walk out onto his porch with a duffle bag in his hand.
He put something down next to his feet so he could lock the front door.
Then, he picked it up and hauled everything out to his sports car.
I narrowed my eyes so I could get a better look.
I flipped up the visor on my helmet to try and figure out what the hell else he was carrying.
And my back shivered when I saw it was a shovel.
I waited until his sports car drove up the road and around the corner.
Then, I struck my bike up and followed him.
I stayed four or five car lengths behind him and took back roads when I could.
I followed him all the way out to the highway, then the damn fool drove for almost an hour before he took an exit.
I kept behind him in the shadows, trying not to rev my engine too much until I knew where he was pulling in.
I watched him pull into a storage locker as I zoomed on by.
Now that I knew where he was parking, I wanted to stay gone for a few minutes.
Just long enough for him to forget about the motorcycle that passed him by.
And when I circled back around, I pulled into the fast food restaurant that sat next to the storage place.
I went through the drive-thru and ordered myself a burger and some fries. I was starving, but my angle also gave me the perfect look at just which storage locker Jett had. I paid for my food and sat in a parking space, eyeing Jett as he tossed the bag and the shovel into the storage space.
He locked it up and sped off in his car, leaving me behind.
“Perfect,” I said, grinning.
I finished my dinner and rode into the compound of the storage units. I pulled up to Jett’s and easily picked the lock on it. Damn. The man still didn't know how to keep his shit under lock and key. Lock-picking was something we did easily. Hell, it was something Jett did easily!
“The man’s an idiot,” I murmured.
The lock came free and fell to the ground. And when I threw the storage door open, I turned on the light. I looked around at the empty expanse, taking in how much room there was inside that fucking thing.
Then, I looked down at my feet.
On the ground was a large plastic tub. And I mean a massive fucking tub.
Lining the walls were several bottles of bleach and a tarp laid out over the floor.
My boots crunched onto it as I stepped inside.
I gazed at the walls that had plastic taped down onto them.
I saw the shovel tossed over in the corner.
A hunting lantern over in another corner.
My heart pounded as I walked over to the duffle bag, wondering what the hell was in it.
And when I zipped it open, I almost wanted to vomit.
Knives of every shape and size were in that damn thing. Hunting knives. Serrated knives. Filleting knives. Butcher knives. There were needles for shots and pliers and hot iron pokers. Small vials of medicine that, when I looked up the names, were essentially fucking sedatives.
I stumbled back and looked around the room one last time. Dropping the pieces into place.
This damn storage unit was outfitted to kill someone.
I snapped pictures of everything before I slid the storage unit closed and locked it back up. I snapped a picture of the outside unit and number and then sent that shit off to Stone. And once I knew my pictures had made it to his phone, I hopped on my bike and raced back into town.
Shit. Jett was at least half an hour ahead of me. And fuck only knew where he was going.
The only thing I hoped was that I could make it to Ella’s house on time.
I raced down back roads. I blasted through red lights.
At one point in time, I ran from the fucking police to try and get to Ella quicker.
Blood pumped through my veins. I lost the police after a fifteen-minute chase.
And when I skidded into my driveway, I ran over and started banging on Ella’s door.
“Ella! Open up!” I roared.
Her car was in the driveway, but no lights were on in the house.
“Ella! Please!”
Relief flooded my veins when she peeked through the curtains. The door whipped open, and I saw her standing there, disheveled in appearance and with watery eyes. I shoved myself into her house, drawing my gun and checking all the corners.
“Texas, what the hell are you doing?” she asked.
I walked quickly around her house. I looked out all the windows before drawing all the blinds. I rushed down her hallway to her bedroom, checking every corner and every nook that could possibly be invaded. Then, I made my way for Keva’s door.
I reached down for the doorknob, but Ella’s hand settled against mine.
“What the hell is going on?” she whispered.
I looked over at her, but I saw her eyes trained on the gun.
“I just want to check in on Keva,” I murmured.
“Then holster the damn weapon and tell me why you’re barging into my home,” she bit.
“I’ll explain it as soon as I know your daughter’s safe.”
“Then put. The gun. Away.”