Mayhem’s Heart (14 Days of Love and Lust Bikers & Mobsters)

CHAPTER 1

ADDYSON

I rest back against the foam cushion strapped to my chair and let out a sigh.

It’s perfectly formed to me and my comfort now.

I need it. Even though I got on the whole rising desk trend and will get out my walking pad later, it’s not how I start the day.

No, I start slow, with iced coffee and lumbar support.

It helps me knock the cobwebs out and get the day started right since I never know what kind of calls I’m going to get. Honestly, I do know and I’m already dreading a lot of them. Even though people can be nasty, which I’m reminded of daily, I enjoy my job.

I like talking to a bunch of different people from all over the country. It probably helps that I love a good accent and not a lot bothers me.

Talking to someone north of the Mason Dixon line who drops fucks left and right? I kind of love it and I’m not offended. There’s an enormous difference between someone who is cussing me out and someone who is just cussing. I don’t care either way.

I wish I could get away with dropping more colorful language in my life, but it’s frowned upon when it comes to customer service. It’s kind of a drag.

Oh well, I hear enough of it and then there’s the books I read. There are plenty of naughty words in those. I’m a huge fan.

With a giggle, I log in and get put into the queue for the next customer service call. My job isn’t glamorous. It certainly isn’t fancy.

I also didn’t think that I would still be doing it, but here I am. It was a way to work from home while I was going to school and the shift options worked for me. Even though I didn’t have the option to go off to some fancy school, I was determined to get an education.

School came relatively easy to me, and it felt like the next step. But I’m not sure what I’ll do with the business management degree I have, but here I am.

Staying close to home worked pretty well for me.

With my job I was able to get an apartment but was still close and could go home to do laundry, or get a meal made with my mom’s love.

I’m the baby of the family and there have been a few times, including most of my college years, when I took advantage of the little bit of status that came with my birth order.

My three older brothers had been out of the house for a while by then and were starting to settle down. Now they’re all married and two of them even have kids. Honestly, I never thought I’d see the day when I would become an aunt, but I’m happy for them.

If I couldn’t picture the future my brothers are living, how could I have ever seen one for myself? I figured it would work out, you know?

But Magnolia Point is a small town. With my best friend in New Orleans with her soulmate biker, I’ve been wondering what I’m sticking around for.

As I’m shaking off those thoughts, because there’s no point—I’m here now, so either I change it or I suck it up—my screen lets me know I have a call. When I pick up, my voice is bright, “Good morning.”

Before I can get another word out, a man cuts in gruffly, “Look here, I don’t have time to waste on some long, drawn-out conversation with a moron who can’t get done what I need to get done. If you’re going to waste my time, admit it now and escalate me to a supervisor,” he bites out the words.

Ah, yes. Good morning to me.

I smile. Trust me, smiling always helps and it’s not like I can just hang up. That thing about you being able to hear a smile? You can, and I put the theory to the test on a daily basis.

“Sir,” my voice is professional, but warm, “I’d be happy to get your issue resolved.

If you wouldn’t mind taking a moment and explaining the situation to me, I would appreciate it.

Then I can assess if I’m the right person to help you or if I can get this issue resolved for you by connecting you to the right person. ”

“Well,” he huffs, clearly on his backfoot now and he isn’t sure why, “good. Yes, I would appreciate it if you could help me. I pulled up my bank statement and saw I was charged for a subscription I cancelled weeks ago.” You can hear the smugness in his voice as he adds on, “I saved the emails confirming the cancellation.

“I completely understand the situation you find yourself in, Sir, and I can also see why it would be terribly upsetting,” I assure him, my voice sweet but not saccharine. It’s all real.

Hopefully, what he doesn’t need me to spell out is that being an asshole to me isn’t helping the situation nor will it help him get it resolved, but I would never say such a thing. From how respectful he is the rest of the call, he got the message loud and clear.

My mom would call it Southern charm. And she was a master of it. She always told me she learned from the best and wished I didn’t spend quite so much time with my brothers. I never listened, but some lessons stuck.

Hours later my shift is coming to a close and I know the call I’m on is the last one of the day. When I saw the tags the caller put into the automated system about the problem, I tried not to frown. Dealing with a lost package is usually pretty simple, but not always.

Thankfully, this was easy and the replacement is already being processed. “Is there anything else I can help you with Mrs. Wagner?”

“Please call me Kendra,” there’s a plea in her voice along with disgust I don’t understand. Not like it’s any of my business.

“Of course, Kendra,” I assure her.

“I don’t think,” she starts before switching gears and exclaiming, “oh! You can take my soon to be ex-husband off my account. He will be opening his own, I’m sure. That’s on him to do and finally do something in his life other than work.”

I suck in a sharp breath, completely surprised and taken aback by the bitterness in her voice. She sounds nothing like the nice woman I was helping with a mishandled viral cheese grater. There was even mention of quesadillas after it finally comes in.

“Yikes,” she admonishes herself with a sigh before I can even figure out what to say.

I’m usually rather good with deflecting, but something about Kendra felt familiar, like she could be a friend.

“I’m sorry, that was really ugly of me. We’ve been separated for a while now and I just really want to be able to move on.

He’s not a good man. He manipulated me and,” she swallows hard and stops herself from saying anything else.

That’s my cue.

“It’s not a problem, Kendra. It sounds like things have been rough and I’m sorry you’re going through it. I can remove everyone but you from your account or I can email you a link to the directions to do it yourself. It’s totally up to you.”

She lets out a quiet breath, and I can practically feel some of the tension seeping out of her. My shoulders relax right along with hers. Before she can say anything, there’s a loud bang and Kendra yelps in surprise.

I can hear something loud, but it’s not close and Kendra’s ragged breathing. “No,” she mumbles, before shouting, “Get out! Leave me alone!” She pauses and it feels like forever, and my heart sinks when she breathes out, “No.”

There’s a muffled pop and Kendra’s loud gasp in my ear has me jerking so hard I almost fall out of my chair.

But it’s also what I need to get my ass moving as it sounds like the phone hits the floor.

I use the information I have about Kendra’s location, which I see, surprisingly, isn’t too far away in Charleston.

I never thought I would use the part of the system I work in to send a message to local police when I’m on a call.

To me it was just protocol we were trained on.

But here I am.

“Why are you doing this?”

Kendra’s words are gurgled and tears start to stream down my face. This is too much. My stomach pitches, but what choice do I have? I have to stay on the line. It’s recording everything. And that’s something.

Proof.

Maybe?

I don’t even fucking know.

My breathing is coming out in choppy little pants, and I feel dizzy and seconds away from throwing up as Kendra lets out a pained groan which I feel right down to my soul. I want to scream, but nothing can come out. I send a message to my supervisor and flag the call as well.

Even though I shouldn’t, because confidentiality was drilled into our heads during training and every day since, I write down all of her information and grab a thumb drive.

“This is what you deserve, bitch,” a man snarls, his voice closer to the phone than I would like.

I hear something, shuffling maybe. Then a sound of dismay that is feminine enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on edge while I shoot up from my chair.

As if it would help.

As if anything could help right now.

I have never felt more helpless than I do right now. I’m silently sobbing, everything in me attuned to every breath, tear, and barely there plea I can hear.

“Please,” Kendra begs and I can hear the tears in her eyes.

Just like she heard the smile in mine earlier when I picked up her call.

“Watching you die gives me pleasure,” the man sneers.

Then there’s sounds of scrambling and nails scratching with renewed vigor. But it only lasts for a moment.

The man grunts and then the line cuts out. The first thing I do is save a copy and put it on the flash drive. I’ll be fired if it ever comes to light, but I don’t really care right now. Things go wrong all the time.

Then I write out a report.

I write out a fucking report.

After listening to a woman being murdered, I write out a report.

And the worst part? At the bottom of it is a reminder that the system is set up to deal with these things and about the confidentiality agreement we signed when we accepted the job.

We are not allowed to reach out to police personally.

All requests for interviews or communication will go through the company.

They say it’s to protect us, but it feels wrong.

The entire time the man’s voice circles my head. Everything he said was filled with so much hate; it was venomous. No, it was cold and that’s almost more terrifying.

He was detached in a way that makes me wonder who the man was. I’ve watched enough crime television to know the husband, about to be ex or not, is the prime suspect. But would the husband sound so detached?

It’s too much and I barely make it to the bathroom after I log off. I’m not entirely sure how I kept it together as long as I did. Once I get myself under control, I plop down with my back against the bathtub and pull my phone out of my pocket with shaking fingers.

“Addyson,” the voice of my best friend, Tallulah, helps to soothe me, but I still feel like I’m teetering on the edge of a cliff.

“Tal,” her name sounds rough as hell as I push it past my lips.

Her tone instantly changes from bright to ready for war, “What’s going on?”

Instantly I feel horrible—for calling her and for what I just witnessed—and I clear my throat with the hope I don’t sound like I’m dying this time around.

“I’m so sorry,” I start out, I still sound rough, but not as bad, “I shouldn’t have called.

You just gave birth to Joplin a month ago.

You should be resting or napping when she naps or something. ”

“Addyson,” she snaps, “something is clearly wrong, and you’re going to tell me exactly what it is. All I need to know before you spill it is if I need to put you on speaker so Jensen can hear you.

“Put me on speaker,” my voice wobbles and I gave up trying to wipe away the tears on my cheeks a while ago.

“Okay,” Tal’s voice shakes just like mine because she knows if I want her biker to hear, then shit is serious, “tell me everything.”

And I do. It all tumbles out of me, even telling them about me breaking the rules, making the thumb drive, and writing down her information.

The other side of the line is silent, until I’ve completely run out of steam and am curled up next to my bathtub, the cold of the floor seeping into me and helping the numbness spread.

I need it.

And I just cleaned my floor yesterday, thank you very much.

I feel like I’ve been wrung out.

Jensen blows out a breath, his words slow, “I’m sorry you heard that. You shouldn’t have, but I’m also really glad you were on the call to be there with her. I’m proud of you,” the words are soft, but they land.

When Jensen rolled into town with is club brother, Tallulah’s brother, the last thing anyone could have predicted was him falling for my best friend. But he did. With a look, it’s all he needed.

You better fucking believe I threatened him about hurting her. Then I told him we are a package deal, and I’ve been his little sister ever since. He’s a good man, and the way he loves my sister of the soul is kind of gross and a whole lot sweet.

Knowing he thinks I did the right thing helps some of the panic ebb. Not all of it; not even close.

“You’re going to keep your head down and see how this plays out,” his voice is stern.

I open my mouth to argue with him, but he beats me to it, “I’m serious, Addy.

If they need to talk to you, then you’ll be contacted.

It’s a fucking coincidence that the caller was so close; they could have been on the other side of the country.

You will not get involved any more than you are. Trust the system.”

“I agree,” Tal pipes up and I don’t even try to stop my eye roll.

“You realize the immense irony of a biker telling me to trust the system, right?”

He snorts out a laugh and then I force Tallulah to tell me all about my niece and how she’s doing. As much as I wanted to be there for Joplin’s birth, I want them to be able to bond as a new, little family. I’ll sweep in soon enough. It’s not like Joplin will ever doubt how much I love her.

It’s only hours later, after I’ve crashed fully from the adrenaline high and my mind has whirled far too long, when I’m able to fall asleep. Still, the memories of the call follow me into my nightmares.