Chapter 18 #2
I didn’t want Amelia having to deal with her ex’s shit any more than she had to. The fact she takes everything on her own pisses me off. She more than anyone else knows that I’ll be there to help her out anyway she needs me to.
Amelia doesn’t answer me right away, her eyes narrow to little slits, and she looks ready to yell at me, but she doesn’t.
After a long moment, she nods. “Fine, but you better not do anything that will land you in trouble. You know Russell is nothing more than a pain in the ass. You looking into him will just prove it all over again. When you do, you’ll drop it, and leave it to me to handle as I’ve asked. ”
I doubted that’s what looking into him will prove, but we’ll see.
“We’ll see,” I tell her, and glance around the bar. “I’ll let you get back to it. I’ve got other shit to do.”
“You always have something going on,” Amelia mutters, a grin tugging at her lips.
“Yeah, I do,” I agree and head for the door. Time to get shit done.
* * *
“Brother, I need you to do me a favor,” I say, planting my ass in a chair next to Dread. I’d just gotten to the clubhouse after finishing at the rodeo grounds for the day.
I got the schedule worked out for those who need to train at the arena.
I finalized the events for the first rodeo we’re scheduled to have, and it was gonna be a damn good one.
The kids participating in the rodeo are set, and I sent out the email to the parents with the waivers, just like everyone else who has signed up for these events.
We hold the events, but we’re not responsible for any injuries that will occur because, damn if it’s not bound to happen. It’s a risk everyone takes.
“What’s the favor?” Dread asks, looking up from his laptop. You could find Dread anywhere in the club with that damn thing. It’s never just in his room or office. He works wherever he feels like it.
“Need you to look into Russell and find out about this job he supposedly took.”
“You get the name of the business?”
“Nope.” I grunt, shaking my head. “Don’t think he told Amelia the name either. All she said was that he got a job and wouldn’t be asking for money anymore.”
“I’ll look into it,” Dread says, watching me closely. “If the job ran his background, it shouldn’t be hard to find. Be trickier if the job is under the table.”
“I’d appreciate it.”
“No problem. I’ll get this done now while you’re sitting here. It shouldn’t take long. That is, unless you gotta go get your woman.”
I wanted to get her, but I was giving her time at the ranch. I didn’t want to think about her riding her damn horse, and in the last text message she sent me, she was going for a ride. The text had been followed by a picture of her astride the back of Rex smiling at me.
I saved it to my phone and set it as my wallpaper, wanting to enjoy the sight of it any time I looked at my phone.
Damn, I miss her. It’s not been but hours since I saw her, and all I wanted to do was get her back in my arms.
“She’s busy right now. I’m good to wait for you to do your thing. Besides, I want to know what the hell the jackass is up to.”
“Right.” Dread smirks and gets to it, doing his thing.
I lean back in my chair and wait quietly, my knee bouncing while I do so.
Fifteen minutes pass by as Dread’s fingers fly across the keyboard.
“Brother, I’m not finding anything about Russell having a new job anywhere, which means it’s under the table if he did indeed get a job.
All I’m seeing is he’s made calls to a number that has to be a burner phone.
I can’t triangulate the location of it. The number has calls to and from several times in the past few days. ”
“Damn,” I mutter. “You find anything else?”
“Not much other than the guy seems to like his porn,” Dread grunts.
It’s not the first time I had him look into Russell in the past. He’d been able to get into Russell’s phone easily enough, along with his computer, using back doors or whatever Dread called them.
“Guy’s history on his computer is full of mommy stepson pornos. ”
“I don’t need to know that shit.” I sneer, not giving the first shit about what Russell watches.
“I would’ve preferred not to know either.” Dread chuckles and shakes his head. “I’ll keep looking deeper, but for now there’s nothing else to find.”
“Right.” I nod with a sigh and check the time on my phone. I knew it hadn’t been long enough, but I was ready to get back to the ranch and pick up my woman. I told her to pack a bag. I was looking forward to spending more time with Della without interruptions.
* * *
I pull up at the ranch in time to see Della riding Rex in the distance. A grin tugs at my lips at the sight of her. She looks born to be in the saddle.
As I park my bike up at the house, my phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out to find Dread calling. Considering I just left him and knew he was still looking into Russell, I answered it. “Yeah,” I say, while I watch Della still on the back of her horse.
“VP, you aren’t gonna believe this shit,” he says, annoyance clear in his voice.
“Believe what?” I swing my leg over and stand next to my bike. Watching as Della comes to a stop at the barn and hops down with the reins in her hand, and waves in my direction. I give her a wave back and focus on my conversation with Dread.
“Remember when you asked me to tap Russell’s phone and computer?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“Right, so I never untapped it. I just didn’t go into his shit since we didn’t need to.
Figured it was for the best. In case we needed to get back in at some point.
Well, Russell made another call to that burner phone I told you about earlier.
I was able to not only track the number this time, but listen in to the conversation.
Russell was talking to someone at Landry Oil.
They talked about a job Russell needed to be at tomorrow.
It wasn’t much, but they spoke of the time and location. Said the boss would be at the site.”
“Did they specifically say Landry Oil?” I didn’t like the fact that Landry Oil is being brought up. More than that, I didn’t like the fact that suddenly Russell Cain, who can’t keep a job, is now working for the same oil mongers who were after the ranch.
“Yeah, they mentioned this was a big job site that belongs to Landry Oil. Guy stated Russell best not act like some stupid fuck while on site in front of the boss so he wouldn’t get his ass canned,” Dread mutters.
“You looked into his employment record, so how the hell did they hire him and we not find it in the search?”
“Don’t know. The whole thing sounds fishy to me.
It doesn’t sit well on my gut, considering, but you know how some of these companies are.
They’ll hire under the table to avoid having to pay out the ass on taxes and insurance.
More than that, they can pay less than what they’d typically pay those who aren’t under the table. ”
I had to agree with Dread, but I didn’t like it. Russell working under the table, I get, the guy was a deadbeat. He couldn’t hold down a job for more than a few months at a time, at best.
“I want you to look deeper into Landry Oil,” I tell him. “If they hired him under the table, I want to know what else they’re up to.”
“Already on it, VP.” That’s one thing about the man. He was always one step ahead when it came to things like this.
“Good. Call me if you find anything.”
“Will do.”
Disconnecting, I shove the phone in my pocket and head to the barn to find my woman. It was time to get her and her bag back to the house. I wanted her alone and away from the rest of the world for a while.
Mostly, I just wanted my sweet little mouse all to myself. Where I could sink inside her and feel how good she is while forgetting about everything else in the world for a while.