CHAPTER 5
MAYHEM
Tearing my eyes away from Addyson is an impossibility. I can feel my brothers looking at me, but I don’t care. I can’t even glance their way. This woman, my woman, has all my attention. As she fucking should.
“I didn’t look back, not even when I got in my car and started to drive,” she murmurs the words, her story spilling out between sips of whiskey and deep breaths.
My eyes lock onto her lips as she raises her glass and finishes her drink with a long swallow.
When she looks back at me, I can see the fire and the fear in her eyes battling it out.
“When I couldn’t take it anymore, I looked in my rearview mirror.
A man was standing in the middle of the street and watching me drive away.
I have no idea if it was Wagner or someone else, but I think it was him. ”
Fuck. My woman is all courage and grit.
You would never guess by looking at her. She’s wearing a pair of jeans and a pink sweater for fuck sakes. Pink. A pink sweater.
While sitting in my office in the Charleston chapter of the DSMC’s clubhouse she looks completely out of place. And perfect.
I want her to stay.
Swallowing hard I give a nod and force myself to look at how my brothers are reacting to what she’s gone through in the last two days.
They’re all on edge and I can tell that Ripper wants to jump out of his chair and track down the dirty cop who freaked out my woman.
They don’t know who she is to me yet, but there are lines even we won’t cross.
Women and children? Innocents? You don’t touch them. You protect them with everything you are.
“Thank you for walking us through the last two days,” I keep my voice soft, hoping it helps her feel comfortable here.
I’m so close to her that I could reach out and touch her, but I hold off. It’s not easy to control the need. Fuck, when she was talking about listening to Kendra Wagner being murdered on the phone, I desperately wanted to pull her against my chest and comfort her.
But my instincts tell me she’s close to breaking. She needed to be able to hold onto her strength. All I could do was fist my hands together and promise myself that she’ll fall apart in my arms when it happens.
The unshed tears in her eyes gut me. But I’m so damn proud of her. When she squares her shoulders and gives one nod of acknowledgement, that feeling of pride grows. She’s so damn strong and I don’t even think she realizes it.
“Why didn’t you call the police?” Duckie askes the question. His tone is more thoughtful than accusatory, but I still want to knock is teeth down his throat. I shoot him a look, and he grimaces while looking sheepish as fuck, but his question isn’t without merit.
The clicking of Anchor’s fingers on his laptop pauses as we wait for her answer. I swear we all hold our collective breath as we do.
“The computer phone system we use has things built into it to alert the police anonymously. I followed the company’s protocol about how to handle the situation,” she defensively shoots toward my SAA, her eyes narrowed in warning when she looks his way.
I don’t like her looking at him at all, even if it’s clear that he’s on her shit list at the moment.
Duckie is undeterred and holds his hands up in surrender while he tries to stop himself from smiling at her attitude.
When the corner of his mouth twitches, Addyson huffs and rolls her eyes in annoyance.
“I’m not blaming you for anything, sweetheart,” he tries to placate her, and I let out a low warning growl at his use of a pet name. She’s mine.
“Look,” her tone turns serious as she shifts to be able to face my brother head-on, “when I’m working, I get calls from all over the place.
Everyone’s information is supposed to stay protected.
It’s for the customers’ benefit, of course, but also mine.
They don’t know who they are calling or where we are when we answer phone calls.
I broke the company’s policy by writing down Kendra’s information in the first place and it was just a coincidence that she lives,” she pauses and swallows hard, her voice thinning, “I meant lived, in Charleston. I could be fired for that alone, but then I went and made it worse by downloading the recording of the phone call and making a copy of it.”
That has us all perking up.
Anchor cuts into the conversation, his eyes locked on the screen in front of him, “From the reports on the case so far, they don’t have any record of her being on the phone.
Her phone wasn’t found on the scene and there is a request for the records.
They do have a copy of the initial report to the police here, but there’s not a lot of information.
The message just indicates there is an emergency and the address.
There is a number to call, and a reference number included, but I don’t see anything that tells me they’ve run it down yet. ”
Addyson shrugs and I hate the lost look on her face. I love seeing the flashes of her fire, but it’s been dampened by fear. Fuck, my cock started leaking pre-cum when she put me in my place about being harsh toward Sin, even though I could see the jealousy written all over her face.
It was sexy as fuck.
I’m tempted to sit down behind the cover of my desk just to have a chance to adjust the steel rod in my jeans, but I don’t want to put any more distance between us than is required. It’s difficult enough as it is not to touch her.
“I told the cop at the desk I have evidence,” Addyson’s voice is thready and she sways slightly before giving herself a shake.
When her brown eyes connect with mine, they flare and she clears her throat.
“I didn’t say what and I didn’t say my name.
I just kind of word vomited and then sat where he told me to after calling whoever is investigating the case. ”
“Yeah, I’m getting the word vomit thing now, babe,” Rampage drawls the words and my body tenses with the need to launch myself at my brother.
Before I can, Addyson is on her feet and spinning toward the man who suddenly looks a little concerned for his balls. As he should be.
“I don’t see how this is funny, chuckles,” she sneers.
“I apologize that when I’m put in a situation which most people would find awkward, scary, or embarrassing I have the tendency to overshare.
I’m sure you have your flaws too, babe.” She cuts her hand through the air, her words doing the same, “I’m sure I won’t have to be around long before I find one or two. ”
My VP falls to his knees and shuffles closer to her, his face awash with something like infatuation. It makes me want to slit his throat. But I tighten my grip on the desk and glare at him. He glances at me, but he doesn’t give a fuck.
Rampage pants his way closer to the woman who is going to be my Old Lady. “Fucking hell,” she sounds horrified and glances over her shoulder at me with wide eyes, “did I just adopt him or something?”
Ripper grunts which has everyone except Rampage and Addyson looking his way. He only rolls his eyes and goes back to his normal silent, and deadly, self. Well, okay then.
“Or something,” Duckie teases while grinning from ear to ear. I’m not sure what is amusing him more at this point—the show Rampage is putting on or the way I’m pulsating with anger. He keeps glancing at me and I can feel it.
“Don’t touch her,” I seethe the words at my VP right before he reaches for her. If Addyson looks at me like I’ve lost the plot, I wouldn’t know because I keep my focus pinned to my brother.
It would be such a shame to be forced to kill him. But I’d get over it.
Rampage must see how serious I am because he simply sits back on his heels next to Addyson’s chair. Like a fucking puppy. When is tongue lolls out of his mouth, I have to bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from barking out a laugh.
“And Scythe sent me here to keep me safe,” Addyson mutters to herself while plopping back down in her chair, exhaustion written all over her.
“We’ll keep you safe, Tempest,” my words are a vow.
When she looks up at me, her eyes soften and she nods. It’s not much, but it’s enough. For now.
Anchor lets out a low whistle and stops whatever he’s doing on his laptop to look up and meet my gaze.
He wants to know how much we’re sharing with Addyson still in the room.
But this is about her safety and she’s in deeper than she should be already.
Hiding shit now will only put her in more danger.
When I incline my head, Anchor looks at Addyson with a gentle smile on his face. What the fuck is going on around here? Are all my men going to go soft for my Old Lady?
While part of me can’t blame them because I’m already a fucking goner for this woman and I haven’t even known her an hour, I don’t fucking like it. But now is not the time to stake my claim.
“Wagner is dirty. I’m not sure how deep it goes, but it’s more than enough.
Pay offs. Information exchanges. Fudging of reports.
Missing evidence. There’s at least one other cop I can link to him through money exchanging hands.
He’s IA which means he is the oversight, but he was dirty before he took the transfer.
It looks like he was also cheating on his wife for over a year before they were separated.
Has a whole other pad for the mistress.” Anchor’s attention shifts back to his laptop.
“I’ll keep digging and find everything I can. ”
“Kendra didn’t know about the cheating,” Addyson muses. “Maybe he killed her because the divorce would have potentially brought his dealings to light? A money trail or a PI looking at the right time in the right place could send the whole house of cards crashing down?”
She looks up at me and blinks, her eyes wide and round with the reality of just how shitty people can be and how selfish their motivations usually are.
And I’m going to bring her into my world? Fuck me.