17. Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Seventeen
A dley waited in the main room of the clubhouse with all the ladies, along with Teddy and Ian.
They’d been woken up at six a.m. this morning with a call that there was a fire at Pit’s KC Barbecue restaurant.
The men had ridden out, leaving a couple prospects along with Deputy Dawg and Cuffs.
Retread, who was the Road Captain but also a fire investigator, along with Sledge, the Secretary of the club, had been on duty at his firehouse.
He was a firefighter. They were already on scene and had called Pit .
After Adley had a couple cups of coffee and was feeling a little more awake, she had to believe that this was connected. She walked into their room with the butcher paper and added the event. She wondered how many more businesses the club had. She walked back out and sat down by Ruthy and Charlie.
“So there have been two instances of events at the club’s businesses. What other businesses does the club own, and has anyone checked the status of them this morning?” Adley asked.
Before Ruthy and Charlie could answer, Macy stood up. “Hey, this is my contact. I’m going to take it in the room just in case.”
Adley nodded. Macy must be feeling the same thing that she was—an uneasiness here in the clubhouse.
Adley looked around the room. Nita, one of the Sirens, was here along with a woman that Adley didn’t recognize.
Although Adley hadn’t chatted with Nita for very long, they’d been in the kitchen, and Nita hadn’t set off any alarms.
The woman near Nita was doing something at the bar and then would glance over to where Ariel was with Teddy.
The hairs on the back of Adley’s neck stood up, and she fought a shiver—and it definitely wasn’t the good kind that Justice created.
Adley decided she wanted the boys out of this room.
Her mom had Ian in her arms and was sitting by Ariel, who was holding Teddy.
Adley reached for her mom’s hand and squeezed it three times fast.
When Adley and Macy were little, that was her mom’s signal to go hide from her father’s wrath. Adley mouthed Justice’s house to her mom. Her mom nodded and put her arm around Ariel.
“Ariel, I want to show you the quilt I started for Teddy,” she said.
Ariel caught on quickly because she stood up, and they walked out of the room.
Adley turned back to Charlie and Ruthy. She grabbed the notebook Charlie had been writing a grocery list on and wrote, the Siren at the bar is worrying me .
Charlie nodded, and Ruthy winked at her.
Macy walked back out of the room from her phone call and walked over by Adley as Ruthy and Charlie got up.
Adley stood up because she thought they needed to ask the woman questions but had no idea how to approach it.
Ruthy and Charlie had no problems making a decision quickly.
Before Adley could ask the plan, Ruthy had the woman shoved up against the bar, her arms spread on the bar top and held in place.
Charlie was fishing in her pockets and pulled out a phone.
“What’s your code?” Charlie asked.
“Not telling you anything,” the woman growled.
Charlie grabbed her hair and pulled her head back. “Are you going to tell me your code?” she asked.
“Fuck you, bit…” she said. Charlie slammed her face into the bar before she finished. Well, that was one way to get her to talk.
“Give me your code. I have no problem breaking your jaw to keep my grandson safe,” Charlie said.
The woman spat toward Charlie.
“Okay. Playtime’s over.” Charlie walked around the bar and moved in front of the woman, turning on the water in the sink.
While it filled, she grabbed some zip ties from under the cabinet.
Adley wasn’t sure she wanted to know why those were there.
Charlie laid them on the cabinet, and before she could offer to help, Ruthy had the woman’s wrists hooked together.
“You have until the sink fills before I hold you underwater until I feel like you’re starting to drown, then pull you out to take a breath, then back under. You can stop all this by giving me your code,” Charlie said.
The woman stared at Charlie and started to spit .
Charlie waggled her finger in her face, “Uh, uh, uh… say your code or take a deep breath. You don’t want to waste time trying to spit.”
“5499,” the woman said.
Charlie turned off the water and used the code on the phone to open it and start scrolling through the text messages. When she got to one, she paused, then stared at the woman.
“What do you think I should do to you?” Charlie asked.
“Hey, they have my little sister,” she said.
“I call bullshit, but you tell me where they are holding your sister, and I’ll make sure we get her back,” Charlie said.
Ruthy had been quiet but pulled the woman back and whispered something in her ear.
“No,” the woman said.
“Charlie, she confirmed she’s lying about having a sister. Do we need to hold her somewhere?” Ruthy asked.
Charlie nodded. Ruthy nodded back and marched the woman out of the room. Charlie called the gate and told them to be on alert .
“Good call, Adley. Let’s walk over to Justice’s house so we’re all together. We’ll wait to hear from the guys. I’m sure Ariel has checked on the other businesses after you asked that question.”
Adley and Macy followed Charlie out, and Ruthy caught up to them when they were walking up to Justice’s door. Charlie knocked and waited for the door to be opened. Macy looked toward Adley and bugged her eyes out. Yep, exactly what Adley was thinking. What the heck just happened?
Justice stared at the back of Pit’s KC Barbecue. Retread said he’d do a full investigation, but he could already say it was arson. The overwhelming stench of gasoline and the line of burnt concrete where someone had obviously poured the gasoline on the ground screamed arson.
Pit had pulled up the video of the back of the store close to when Retread guessed the fire had started.
Justice looked over Pit’s shoulder as they watched someone walk up and splash gas all over the back of the structure and then pour the line away from the back door.
They lit a matchbook and then tossed it on the gasoline.
Justice heard the whoosh as the gasoline caught and the flames spread across to the building.
The figure wore all black, including a balaclava.
Justice stared into Pit’s eyes and knew his cousin was thinking the same thing he was.
Who was trying to make it seem like Ruthless, the boogeyman of the Saint’s Outlaws MC, had burned the building, and why?
Not that other people didn’t dress all in black with a balaclava, but Ruthy also always used a black hoodie with the hood up.
It seemed too strange to be coincidental.
Justice waited to see if Pit wanted to discuss it or wait until they weren’t around the large number of firefighters and police who were here. Luckily, the restaurant had been empty, so no one had been hurt.
An alarm going off on his phone had him pulling up the feed from his mom’s flower shop.
“Fuck, the flower shop,” Justice said, running for his bike.
It wasn’t a fire, but the front glass window had been broken.
The extra security his mom had dividing the back of the shop from the gift and flower part should keep anyone from getting to the back, but Justice didn’t want to trust it to chance.
His brothers ran to their bikes, and they rode toward the shop.
Justice slowed down as he got close and pulled behind the building.
He pulled up the camera in the front of the shop and saw only black.
Either it was out or someone spray-painted it.
He palmed his gun and motioned to Pit that he was going to the front.
Pit confirmed he’d be behind him. Tack signaled he’d go around back with Gator.
As Justice approached, he paused to listen. It was quiet, with just the sounds of the street coming to him. He leaned around the opening, didn’t see anything moving, and stepped through the broken window. The report of a rifle had him diving behind the counter, Pit following quickly .
“Where’d it come from?” Justice asked.
“Across the street,” Pit mumbled. Justice turned and saw Pit had torn fabric from his T-shirt and was wrapping it around his bicep.
“It’s just a graze. This is really making me mad. Who is doing this?” Pit asked.
Who was exactly what Justice wanted to know. Someone was targeting them, and he wanted it stopped. When things like this happened before, he’d be angry, but now, with Ian and Adley, he was fucking furious and wanted to tear apart whoever had thought they could mess with the Saint’s.
“Clear, everybody okay?” Tack walked in, asking.
“Yeah, Pres got a boo-boo,” Justice said to lighten the mood.
“Gator tried to catch the guy from the roof across the street, but he had a motorcycle waiting. All in black. I couldn’t say with a hundred percent accuracy, but he looked eerily similar to the video,” Tack said.
“Well, get somebody here to board up the window until it can be fixed. I’m assuming the security in the back held?” Pit asked.
Tack nodded. “You good to ride? I’ve been practicing my sewing for the next time you got a boo-boo. Want me to sew you up?”
Pit stood up and shoved Tack. “Of course I can fucking ride, you moron, and I’ll have my wife sew me up. I want to get back and make sure our families are okay.”
Justice agreed because this was too coordinated to not be an attack against them. Justice needed to know Adley was okay.
While Pit unlocked and checked the back, Justice followed and called Adley.
“Hello,” Adley answered .
“Everything okay there?” Justice asked.
“It is. We had a little excitement, but we can talk about it when you return. Everyone is good,” Adley replied.
Adley’s tone sounded a little too perky, as if she was compensating.
“Are you under duress?” he asked because something was off.
“I’m good. A little excitement I hadn’t expected, but we’re all together at your house and safe. We’ll have a couple loose ends to tie up when you get here. Are you all okay? How’s the restaurant?”
“Restaurant has damage but not significant. We had to make a stop at Mom’s flower shop because someone broke out the front window.
Everything is good, but she’ll need a new front window.
Be there soon, Honey,” he said. He wished he could pull her into his arms because something had shaken Adley, but she was holding it together well.
It was exactly one of the traits he wanted in his Ol’ Lady and wife.
“Let’s get home,” Pit called.
Justice followed him out and to their bikes. He stopped near Pit. “Adley said they’re fine at my house but had some excitement.”
Pit’s eyes burned with anger, but that is why he told him now. By the time they rode to the compound, Pit would have worked through his anger and also considered the angles of all these things happening the same night.
Pit nodded and started his bike. Justice got on his and pulled out behind his President. What the hell was going on, and who had it in for them? Because this wasn’t only about Justice now.