59. Chapter 59
I sip my beer and keep my face as blank as possible—I will not show them how much rage is built up in me at what they’ve said and done. I’ve heard what’s happened before to Levi and Mae with the bunnies and I won’t let them walk all over me. Though, I wish I wasn’t a fucking crippled so I could handle this.
Patch pulls up a chair next to me and slides his hand into mine, squeezing it briefly before releasing it. Looking down, I notice that I have almost a white-knuckle grip on the beer bottle, and I loosen my grip.
Thor digs out his phone and scowls at whatever he sees before he texts someone back.
A few minutes later, a knock on the door has me turning and I’m relieved when Smoke comes in with his laptop. However, when Gemini comes in behind him, I’m confused. Beast shuts the door once she’s through, though not before giving the two women a disgusted look. I’m surprised Thor wants to talk to them together because he’d originally wanted to do it separately, but maybe Smoke found something that changed his mind. Or maybe it was whatever he was texted.
Once they take their seats my gaze goes to Thor, who I find is watching me. My jaw tightens as the memory of those two fucking on Patch’s bed flashes in my mind, and I must let something show because he ever so slightly dips his head in my direction.
Turning toward Cici and Gemini, Thor’s face hardens and his eyes turn almost ice-hard.
“What the fuck were you two doing in Patch’s room?”
Cici gives him a sugary-sweet smile before batting her eyes at Patch. “We just wanted to help him loosen up after working so much today.”
Somehow, Thor’s face and eyes harden even more.
“Is that right?” He turns to Gemini. “And you?”
Gemini at least has the decency to look a little guilty, but she’s also busy sending flirty glances at Patch. My lip starts to curl and I bite my tongue to keep the slew of words I want to say from escaping.
“He always works so hard and we wanted to take care of him like we do the other guys.”
“Even though he’s taken?” Phoenix growls and both girls wave him off.
“He doesn’t have an Old Lady, and besides, the wench is married to someone else. She shouldn’t be stepping out on her husband with Patch. Patch deserves a woman who won’t cheat on him.”
On hell no, she did not!
Patch grips my shoulder and pushes me back in my chair. When I turn my furious gaze on him, he slightly shakes his head before turning toward them.
“So, you think you know everything about Mary’s life, do you?”
Cici gives him a smug look. “You deserve better than a cheater, Patch. Gem and I can take care of your needs much better than she can.”
Leaning closer to me, Patch winds his arm around mine and grasps my hand again. “Well, since you think you know everything about what’s going on between Mary and I, please tell us what you know.”
Fuck, I have to bite my cheek to keep my smirk off my face. Out of the corner of my eye, I barely see Thor’s lips kick up at the corner of his mouth at Patch’s taunt. Time to see what they think they know.
Cici sits up straighter, practically pushing her chest out as she demurely crosses her legs and clasps her hands on her knee. Well, it would be demure if she were wearing more than a couple of scraps of cloth and that she hadn’t flashed the room, showing everyone her red thong in the process.
“Well, for starters, that she left her husband, a loving husband, and took their kids with her. That she has no money to her name and is mooching off of the club.” She looks down her nose at me and curls her lip. “You’ve fed them a shitload of lies and are keeping a loving father from his children. He never hurt you or the kids. Disciplined, sure, but never hurt. You should be ashamed of yourself for what you’ve done. Fuck, if you were my partner, I’d force you to sign over your rights and hand over the kids. You’d never have contact with them ever again.”
I stare at her, dumbfounded. How the fuck is she this stupid? It’s almost like déjà vu with Claudia for some of this shit.
Thor’s fist bangs down on his desk and my eyes widen when I swear I hear a crack in the thick wood.
“You are talking about things you know nothing about,” he growls in a voice that sends a shiver down my spine. It’s even deeper and darker than Phoenix’s a moment ago. “Mary is here because she is trying to divorce a man who kidnapped her nine years ago and in those nine years, abused her almost daily. Patch and Mary were together before she was kidnapped. When she was kidnapped, she was pregnant with his son.”
He waits a bit, but still Cici looks convinced that she knows my life better than I do.
“Patch?” Thor asks and I look at him before turning to Patch.
“Yup, pull them out.”
I blink at them, confused as to what’s going on and what they’re talking about.
Thor digs into his pocket and pulls out some keys before bending down and unlocking the bottom drawer in his desk.
I feel my stomach flip when I catch a glimpse of the top of one of the stacks. I know exactly what they are.
Thor keeps pulling out stack after stack of papers. The smallest being only an inch or so thick, but the largest stack, which is from when we lived in Credence, is probably about four inches high. At least. Each stack is wrapped with thick rubber bands. When he’s done, there are six stacks of papers on his desk and my eyes burn with tears at seeing it all combined in front of me.
Cici frowns at the paperwork, confused as to what Thor’s trying to tell her. Thor looks over at me and cocks an eyebrow.
Letting go of Patch’s hand, I stand and hobble closer to the desk so I can lean against it for extra support. Setting my beer down, I pick up the smallest packet and stare at her while I thumb the edges of it.
“So, you think you know everything about me, huh? That you know my own life better than me? You think I was in a loving relationship? How’s this for a loving relationship?” I sneer at her and toss her the stack, smirking when it hits her smack in the face because she wasn’t paying attention. “Granted, one of those visits was for delivering my son, who like Thor said, Patch is the father of. However, the rest of those visits in that stack were because my fucking ‘loving’,” I say with air quotes, “husband put me in the hospital due to his beatings. Those weren’t fucking ‘disciplines’ as you called them. And those summaries? They are only the times that I was beaten so severe that I had to go to a hospital. There are thousands of other times where I took care of my injuries myself.”
She gives me a look of disbelief which turns into a frown when she looks down and starts reading the summary on top of the stack.
“That stack was when we lived in Addams, the first place we lived after I was kidnapped.” Picking up the next stack. I toss it at her. “Elmdale.” I toss another packet. “Rock Ridge. Glenbrook. Credence, and finally Forest Creek.”
She stumbles to catch them all, but when she finally has them all stacked on her lap, a look of horror crosses her face as she stares at them and realizes that what I said was true. That they are printouts from every single hospital visit or stay. A look of horror is mirrored on Gemini’s face, who I notice has scooted closer and is looking over Cici’s shoulder and reading the top page.
Bile riles in my throat, but I push it down. “That top visit summary is from when he put me in the hospital on Thanksgiving. The night Patch and the club rescued me and my children from Stephan’s abuse. Whatever information you’ve been fed is complete and utter lies. I have this proof and more of what Stephan’s done and is doing.” I pause and tilt my head, studying her. “So, which one are you fucking? Stephan? Diego? Kristoff? Or maybe it’s one of their underlings?”
She blanches and shakes her head. “God, no! My brother, well, foster brother told me what you’d done. But I don’t understand. Why would he lie to me? We’ve always looked out for each other.” As she thumbs through the papers, her increased confusion shows on her face.
I was not expecting that. Turning, I cock an eyebrow at Thor, letting him take the lead on this one. Shuffling back to my chair, I retake my seat and take a drink of my beer as Thor leans forward.
“Who is your foster brother?”
“Leon. Leon Davenport.”
Tension immediately fills the air and all four men go stock still whereas I stare at her in shock. There has to be some sort of mistake.
“When did Leon tell you all this about Mary and Stephan?” Smoke asks, but his voice sounds different. Darker. Harder. And with an edge to it.
Cici looks between all four of them, but thankfully, she still answers them. “Just last weekend at our family dinner. We get together every other Saturday. He was upset, extremely upset, because his friend really misses his wife and kids, and he didn’t know how or why she could do such a thing to such a great guy. And a cop to boot.” She pauses as her gaze returns to Smoke. “Why? Do you know Leon?”
Smoke and Thor share a glance and it seems like some sort of silent communication takes place.
“I think we do. Do you have a picture you can show us of him so we can be sure?”
Gone is the hesitation and confusion from before. She smiles widely as she digs her phone out from between her boobs. Holy hell, that’s where she was keeping it? A shudder runs through me, but apparently her preferred storage area for her phone doesn’t phase the guys in the least.
She hands the phone to Smoke, who passes it around the room. When it gets to me, I touch as little of it as possible as both Patch and I look at the picture. Boob sweat is a real thing, and even skinny minis like her, though I’m not sure if her boobs are natural as they seem a little too perky, have boob sweat.
I go to hand the picture back to Thor, but then pause.
I know this guy.
Bringing the phone closer, I study him, trying to make sure it really is him. After a few moments, I give the phone back to Thor, more confused than ever as various rants of Kristoff’s filter through my mind.
Phoenix’s voice has me blinking out of my thoughts. “What all did you tell Leon about Mary?”
“That she and her kids were staying here and she was hooking up with the guy I’ve been in a relationship with. He was pissed that she’s continuing her cheating ways and hurting me in the process.”
The scathing look she gives me cuts deep, even though nothing she’s saying is true, and I do my best not to let her see exactly how hurt I am that she’s still in denial that Patch wants nothing to do with her.
“How did you two break into Patch’s room?”
Both of the women hesitate as they look at each other, but neither respond to Thor’s question.
Silently, Smoke opens his laptop and hits play.
On the screen, there are two videos playing—one from what looks like further down the hall, and the other is a little to the left of them, but we can clearly see their faces.
After verifying that no one was coming down the hallway, Gemini crouches in front of Patch’s door and removes something from her pocket before she starts picking the lock. After a minute or so, Cici’s voice comes over the line. He must have one of the videos muted because there’s no feedback or echo.
“Hurry up, Gem. We’re gonna get caught.”
“Calm your tits. This isn’t as easy as it looks. I swear they must have picked some of the most complicated locks on purpose.”
A few moments later, Gemini gives a little squeal of delight as the door unlocks and she opens it. They slip inside and mostly close it, which is probably why the cameras were able to still pick up their voices.
“Are you sure about this, Cici? He seems like he only has eyes for Mary.”
“Oh, please. He’s just with her out of obligation, not because he really wants her. He can’t seriously want all of her disgusting curves and fat rolls over what I’ve got to offer him. Seeing us together will remind him of what he can have, and as a bonus, we’ll get to keep each other as well.”
The sounds of them kissing and the shuffling of clothes fill the air. Smoke reaches around, fast forwards a little, and then stops as soon as he sees us rounding the corner.
I look away when the Patch on the screen opens his door. I don’t want to see them fucking again. It’s bad enough I have to hear it again.
When Thor and Phoenix come up on the screen, Smoke stops the video and turns it back around toward him. I thought that was the end of it, but when Smoke twists the computer toward Cici and Gemini again, I’m confused.
“While I was looking at the security footage, I found something else,” he says before hitting play.
The video starts out shortly after Sam, Brady, and the other cops leave after the explosion yesterday. I see Patch picking me up and after talking with the kids, he leaves carrying me. It’s then that I realize that must have been when I needed to use the restroom and he’d asked Ash to watch my bag, which was sitting on the floor by the edge of the couch. A moment later, Ash scoots over and sits where I had been. A minute or so later, my jaw clenches when I see Cici approach and bends down to check on the strap of her stilettos. I see red when the video shows her slipping something into my backpack before straightening and sauntering off.
Eileen’s letter.
Smoke stops the video and shuts his computer, everyone turning their attention to Cici who has gone ghostly pale.
“Before we get to whatever the fuck that was, I want to know what the fuck you two were doing in Patch’s room,” Thor seethes.