22. Char
CHAR
Bum-bum-buddum-bum. Bum, bum.
I slipped into a long nightshirt and tossed my hair up into a towel. “Go away.”
“Char? It’s Rat.”
I didn’t want to talk with anyone else. I was tired of people lecturing me. Telling me what to do. Telling me what I should do. Giving me the illusion of choices like they fucking cared or some shit.
But what the hell was Rat doing at my bedroom door?
Bum-bum-buddum-bum. Bum, bum. “I just need to show you a picture, that’s all?”
His knock got that tune stuck in my head. “Just a picture?”
“Just a picture. I need to know if the woman in the picture is the ATF agent who keeps coming to speak with you.”
I paused. “Wait, you guys found her?”
“We aren’t sure, you’re the only one who’s seen her. I can slip it under the door if you’re more comfortable with that.”
I could’ve taken him up on that offer, sure, but for some reason I walked toward the door. Reached for the doorknob. I inched it open, cracking it just enough to take in the bruised and battered features of the man standing before me.
“Mmph,” he groaned as he leaned against the wall.
“Rat, Jesus,” I said breathlessly as I whipped open the door, “get in here. You need to sit.”
“I’m fine, I’m fine. I’m just… ugh.”
“Shut up and come on,” I grumbled as I wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
He hobbled into my bedroom, leaning against me more than I wished he would have.
These men were atrociously big, but I still somehow managed to sit him on the edge of the mattress.
He had a crumpled picture grasped tightly in his hand and his eyes were closed.
The deep breathing alone that he was doing made me reach for the glass of melted ice water on the tray Dallas brought me.
“Here, take a sip,” I said as I held it up to his lips.
He was greedy with it, taking a few sips that led into a few gulps.
He took the glass from me, water dripping all over his shirt as he guzzled it down.
He growled as he handed it back to me, drained of all its contents.
And after he wiped his mouth with his arm, he handed me the crinkled piece of paper.
“Does she look familiar?” he asked.
I set the glass down on the tray and took the picture from him. “Yep, that’s her.”
That turned his attention to me. “Really look, Char. Are you sure it’s her?”
I put my eyeballs back down on the paper and counted to twenty in my head. But it only took me a split second to make my decision.
The woman in the picture was definitely her.
“Yes,” I said as I handed it back to him, “that is one hundred percent the woman who keeps coming to see me.”
“We found her,” he whispered as he took it from me. “Holy shit, we did it.”
I crouched down in front of him. “How did you find her? Where did you get that picture?”
“Traffic cams in Huffley Valley. Plug was able to piece together her entire day yesterday.”
I sat on the floor. “Where is she headed? Do you guys know?”
Rat shrugged. “Right now, we’re more concerned as to why she’s just now allowing herself to pop up on our radar. We’ve had keen eyes on those traffic cams, and nothing popped up until yesterday.”
I studied his battered features. “You think she’s orchestrated this from the beginning, don’t you?”
He sighed heavily. “You got any other theories?”
“Why would I have theories?”
“Because she’s only visited you. Because you’re the one that’s given us the most direction since this shitshow started. Because if she’s out for revenge of some sort, or even looking for retribution, then she’s coming to see you most likely because she feels you’re her way to us. Need I go on?”
I leaned back on my hands. “God, how do I get myself into these situations?”
“Another question,” Rat said before he clicked his tongue. “Are we all just supposed to act like you and my guys aren’t dancing around one another like animals doing a fucking mating dance?”
I shook my head as a bitter giggle fell from my lips. “I don’t even know anymore, honestly.”
I heard the grin in his voice. “I see why they like you, you know. Even in your anger, you want to help those that help you.”
I spat my words at him. “I’m not working with her, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“How the hell did you draw that conclusion from what I just said?”
I turned my gaze back up to him. “I don’t know. Guess it’s a worry of mine.”
“Well, don’t worry about it. We ruled that out a while ago.”
I balked. “So you guys have watched me all this time.”
“Can you blame us? We didn’t know anything at first. All we knew was that there were these cameras around town and?—”
“Cameras? What cameras?”
Rat tilted his head. “Oh boy.”
I scrambled to get to my feet. “What cameras, Rat?”
He scratched the back of his head, sending a few strands of hair sticking up in the back.
“There were cameras all around town. All around our patrol routes. Looking at their wear and tear, they’ve been here for weeks watching us.
When you first mentioned the ATF agent, we figured we were caught by someone’s radar and were being investigated.
But now with everything else that has arisen, we believe the cameras were initially to get eyes on us.
To clock our movements. To watch our schedules. ”
“To sus out your weaknesses.”
“Bingo.”
I started pacing. “So she’s been at this for weeks, and you guys are just getting hip to the knowledge.”
“Pretty much.”
I cracked my neck. “What made you guys realize that I wasn’t working for her?”
He snickered. “You don’t look at men the way you do them and then go behind their backs to hurt them.”
“A look in my eye? I don’t have a look in my eye.”
He chuckled. “Ah, we’re getting offended by it now. I smell the guiltiness of your words.”
My voice squeaked. “I do not have a look, Rat!”
He shoved himself to his feet. “Whether you want to believe it or not, it’s there. I read people, Char. It’s what I do. It’s what I bring to this crew. And you, madam, have a look.”
I blinked. “Madam? Seriously?”
He laughed, and despite the shadows of his face, it lit up his eyes. “Hey, it got your attention.”
I had to laugh with him, just a little bit.
His laugh was infectious.
“Is there anything I can do to help you, Rat?” I asked.
He lumbered over and bounced the tip of his finger off my nose. “That. Right. There. That’s how I know you’re not wrapped up in this.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
He tilted his head. “Are you serious about it?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I am. Is there anything that I can do to help you?”
“Help us,” he said as he turned toward the bedroom door. “Our crew is under siege. My family is under attack. My brother is dea?—”
Hearing his voice break shattered my soul into dark little bits.
“My brother is dead, Char,” he glowered as he stepped out into the hallway. “And if our crew is under siege, then everyone attached to our businesses is as well. That means your bar. That means your friends. Those two dickheads you pal around with, they’re being watched, too.”
“Hey, those are my best friends you’re talking about.”
He spun around with a force that shocked even me and pinned me with a look. “Exactly, Char. Help us, and it helps them. This woman? This—this bitch?” he asked as he shook the picture at me. “She’s coming for blood, and she’s set her sights on that bar.”
“Is that why you guys have closed it down?”
He nodded. “That was the guys’ call. We’ve closed down all three of our businesses so that no one else gets caught up in this shit.
It’s why they’ve brought you to our clubhouse.
They know you’re safer here, even if they’re the ones in the thick of it.
This is home turf, and we’ll always have an advantage on home turf. ”
I felt my heart softening, despite the situation brewing all around us. I needed to be wary. I had to stay alert. But Rat and Gauge had a way with words, and I wanted to believe them so badly.
Just stay alert. There’s no harm in that.
“You don’t have to like us, Char,” Rat said as he finally started down the hallway, “but you’ll need to trust us.”
I rushed out into the hallway. “And if I don’t trust you?”
He paused, with his back crooked and his head tilted off to the side. “Then it just might get you killed.”
His words stole the breath from my lungs as he walked away.
I watched him disappear around a corner, leaving me standing there just beyond the threshold of my new bedroom.
A rock and a hard place. That’s where life always seemed to drop me.
Smack dab between a rock and a hard place.
Except this time, the men in question didn’t kill my mother.
They didn’t try to hurt me. If anything, all they did was try to keep me out of it.
Dallas, with his lies and half-assed answers.
Deac, with his arms-length policy on everyone he met.
Gauge, and the distance he kept, in general. They tried their damnedest.
It deserved to be acknowledged.
I rushed back into my bedroom and ripped my shirt off. I kicked the door closed with my foot and set my sights on a fresh dress. Something airy. Something light. Something that would help me to have full range of my body, if I required it. And not because of anything fun.
If Rat was right and my best friends were caught in the crossfire of it all, then that was on me.
I was the one who wanted to figure this shit out.
I was the one who wanted justice for Miss Lilly and the bar.
I was the one that got curious and started digging, so if anyone was responsible for their safety, it was me.
I was the reason they were entrenched within it.
If I had kept my nose to myself and kept my head down, maybe none of this would have happened.
Maybe I would’ve just been another bystander in this woman’s conquest. But if Rat was right, they were in trouble.
And it was on me to do something about it.
I owed them at least that much. So after putting on that dress and braiding my damp hair down my back, I started for the hallway.
Me and the guys needed to figure out exactly how we were getting my best friends out of town.
Because really, that was the only way—in my eyes—that they’d be safe.