Chapter 16
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
Logan
She’s quiet on the drive over. No snarks. No smart comments. No witty banter.
Of course, I don’t expect it from her. It’s crazy to think she’s gonna go back to being her normal self merely hours after today’s ordeal. Hell, I don’t expect her to be anything, but she’s quiet.
And Payden is never quiet.
What surprises me most of all is how well I can read her and her body language. She might think she’s all tough because she’s a lawyer, but clearly I’ve studied her way too hard over these last few years.
When she used to come into the clubhouse with Luna on occasion, I admired her from afar, but I seriously never thought I’d stand a chance with a woman like her, so I didn’t go there.
Fucking coward when you think about it, but here we are.
I know she’ll say no, but I ask her if she’s hungry. She just shakes her head, looking out the window.
“You cold?”
“I’m fine, Logan.”
“Too hot?”
She turns her head to look at me. “Stop fussing.”
“Been a pretty shit day, so I’m just makin’ sure you got everything you need.”
“I will have everything I need when I grab my clothes and cosmetic bag.”
Of course my girl would look good in a fucking brown paperbag with no makeup on, but Payden is the type of woman that looks after herself regardless of what a man like me thinks.
I’ve rarely ever seen her without makeup on, the exception being when half of it rubbed off the night she stayed over, but she’s softer, prettier somehow without it.
“We gotta be quick. Don’t wanna piss Willow off even more than she already is.”
“I don’t get why she’s pissed off at all,” Payden grumbles. “I was fleeing for my life. I texted her to say I’d be there when I can.”
“I’m sure she’s just doin’ her job.”
“You sound like Haze,” she sighs.
“The sooner this is over, the sooner I can?—”
“The sooner you can do what?” she snaps. “Go play happy families at the clubhouse?”
“I was gonna say go back to mine, but Cash wants us there until the cops stop sniffin’ around, just to err on the side of caution.”
“Of course he does,” she mutters.
We pull up to the building and immediately something is up. For one, there are police cars out front, and the concierge is waving his hands around.
My eyes widen. “Stay here.”
“What the hell?” Payden is already out of the truck before I can stop her.
Fuck.
She races toward the entrance and the concierge spots her as she approaches. “Miss Benedict," he says. “I’m afraid there’s been a burglary.”
“Oh my god,” she says. “In my apartment?”
He nods sagely and the cop turns to look at her, pen and pad in hand. “I’m gonna have to ask you a few questions and with your permission, allow us to collect any evidence like fingerprints, footprints, or other trace evidence that might help us investigate further.”
Payden’s hands fly up to cup her face. This isn’t what she needs right now, but I’m on high alert.
I send a text to Cash, Harlem and Tag, letting them know Payden’s apartment was broken into. This is no coincidence.
I glance around, suddenly hyper aware of everything around me.
“Okay, how long will that take?” she asks with a shaky voice.
“It shouldn’t take too long, but if you give us some time, it’ll help with forensics if we can do a clean sweep.”
She hugs herself and I want nothing more than to fold her into my arms and hold her tight.
Payden doesn’t need this today of all days, she’s been through enough.
I touch her elbow gently and she jumps. I frown. “Why don’t we go see Willow, then come back and sort things out?”
“I-I want to know how they got in,” she stammers. “And, oh shit, my roommate!”
Fuck. Nova.
“Nobody was in the apartment at the time of the break in, but from the surveillance footage, it looks like they had a fob and a key,” the cop says.
Payden’s eyes bulge. “Holy shit. I lost one of my door keys a few weeks ago?—”
“Lost?” I say, my tone darkening. “When and where?”
“At the gym. I assumed it must’ve fallen off.” I can see the cogs turning.
“And the fob?”
“I don’t know. I still have mine on my keys. We need to check Nova is okay.”
“She’s on the way to the clubhouse, she was with Sawyer,” I say, having heard from him just as we were leaving.
“This is fucked,” she says, folding her arms over her chest. “Can I have any more hits today? Why is the fucking universe crapping all over me?”
I see the torment in her eyes and I turn to the two men next to us. “There was an incident downtown at Payden’s office,” I tell them. “You may have heard.”
“Oh, yeah, the shooting at the lawyer firm?” the concierge says, his tone lowering. “I didn’t even connect it, Miss Benedict, I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, thank you, Danny, but some of my colleagues…” she trails off as she wipes angry tears.
“Give us a moment,” I say, pulling her away.
We move so they’re out of earshot and I say, “This is too much.”
“Really? Because I don’t think it is,” she says, snatching her arm from my hold. “I think the universe is punishing me, that’s what I think, because I survived that shooting and other people died. They died, Logan!”
Angry tears stream down her face and I pull her into my chest. She tries to fight, but after a few moments she starts to sob. Not just silent, whimpering cries, but heartfelt, racking sobs that tear at my insides.
I want to make it better. I want to take her pain away. I don’t want her to suffer like this.
I kiss her hair, soothing her. “I know, honey. Let it out, let it all out.”
“It’s not f-fair! D-Deidre had a family!” she barely gets the words out between choking whimpers.
I’m sure she’s going through some kind of survivor’s guilt, and it’s hitting her from all sides.
I don’t think she’s up to talking to Willow so I’m gonna shoot her a text asking to postpone after tonight’s events. If she has to relive any of what happened today again so soon, she’s gonna crack.
“I know it’s not fair.”
“Why? Why, Logan? I d-don’t get how all of this works. You’re here one minute, gone the next, and for what?”
I let her rampage. I let her get it all out until she’s hanging onto me for dear life.
“I need to get you back to the clubhouse,” I say. “I’ll come back later for your shit.”
“I-I should wait. They probably need me to answer questions.”
“No. They won’t be gettin’ any more answers tonight. We can come back when they’re done. We need to leave.” Well, I’ll be coming back, she won’t be going anywhere.
I’m sure I can rifle through her shit and bring some clean clothes and girl stuff for her later.
The cop asks a few questions and Payden doesn’t even ask to go see the apartment.
When she’s talking to the cop, I ask the concierge, Danny, how bad it is and he says, “Ransacked.”
Fuck.
“We gotta go,” I tell the cop. “We’ve gotta go check in with Willow Sinclair about the shooting earlier.
” Willow uses her maiden name at work, much to Haze’s annoyance.
In her defense, they had been ‘divorced’ for years, even when neither of them signed the divorce papers, so how was she to know she was still a Dawson?
“I’ll make sure the place is locked up,” Danny says.
“Better yet, I’m sending a locksmith over pronto once you’re done to change the locks,” I say as we turn to leave.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Payden mutters.
Time to go.
I shoot Brew, Haze, and Sawyer the same text telling them in brief what happened, and that I’m heading back to the clubhouse. Brew texts back that they’ll keep an eye on the bar and station two prospects outside, just in case they’ve seen me with Payden.
Behind us, I hear straight pipes. Two prospects pull up next to us; Rip and Wheels.
I give them a chin lift. “Payden’s apartment was broken into,” I tell them. “Flank us, not takin’ any chances.”
“Got it,” Rip says, revving his engine.
“Right behind you,” Wheels agrees.
“What are they doing here?” Payden asks as I bundle her back into the truck. She turns to me as I pull out, checking the mirrors to make sure we’re not being followed.
Rip and Wheels follow behind.
“So now we’re in danger, both of us?”
I glance at her. “Not me, you, and the sooner we get back to the clubhouse, the better.”
I can’t risk taking her back to mine. The clubhouse is the safer bet, and I’m not gonna take any chances when it comes to her safety.
“They’re after me, aren’t they?”
“It looks that way, yes.”
She clears her throat. “I have to tell you something.”
I pull out, then shift my gaze to her once more. “Let’s hear it.”
“When I was in the room, hiding, I heard those men talking and one of them said something about finding ‘that bitch and she has to be here somewhere’…”
I grip the steering wheel tighter. “And you’re tellin’ me this now?”
She looks a little sheepish, sinking down a little in the seat. “I didn’t know for sure they were talking about me. There are a lot of women at my firm?—”
“You should’ve told me earlier, we never would’ve left the clubhouse. Payden, these people are lookin’ for you, and this just took on a whole different ball game. They broke into your apartment.”
“I know that now, but I didn’t know that at the time!”
I glance in my rearview mirror, confident nobody is following us, but I’ll feel better when we get back to the clubhouse. Safety in numbers and all of that.
“Is there anythin’ else you’re not tellin’ me? Did anythin’ unusual happen with this case, or somethin’ else recently?”
“There was this one call I got, from one of the whistleblowers, Becca.” She tells me a brief story about this woman calling frantically saying they were moving locations again, that she felt as if they were being watched and she didn’t know who to trust.
“I’ll have the boys look into it, find out where they took her and if she’s okay,” I say.
“I just, I feel as if something is off with that phone call and all of this happening,” Payden says.
“Like Becca knew something was going down. I tried to call her back, and that was my mission this morning. I was waiting for Jeremy to update me. Even we don’t know where the safe houses are. It’s protocol.”
I run a hand down my face. “This is bad, Payden. I don’t like any of it.”
“I’m not exactly doing cartwheels over it, either. Those assholes trashed my apartment. I’m just thankful Nova wasn’t home.”
Nova spends the majority of her time at Sawyer’s place, thank fuck for that. I don’t even want to imagine what could’ve happened if she’d been home at the time.
“Let’s just take one thing at a time,” I say. “We postpone talkin’ to Willow. I’ll go back to the apartment and grab your stuff?—”
“I want to come,” she starts.
I cut her off. “You’re not goin’ anywhere until we find the fuckers who did this. They’ve sent a fuckin’ message, and they could very well attack the clubhouse if they know you’re still alive…”
I think for a second when an idea hits me.
Maybe. Maybe there is a way out of this where Payden can be safe until we find these assholes. But it’s not gonna be here.
I turn onto the road that leads to the clubhouse, my brain ticking over. Looks like I’m gonna have to pack a bag myself.