Chapter Twenty
T he following evening , Pat glanced down at his watch to see how much time he had before he needed to get Ava.
She’d already spent most of the morning with her mother and sister, and he stopped everything he was doing to take her to work.
He didn’t want to ask his father for another favor, although he knew Doc didn’t have a problem with taking her home from work.
He had also been informed that Violet was the one who stayed up to give Doc a wave, before closing the door at night.
“Still no change?” Bull asked.
It was Rusty who spoke up. “No, no change. She’s still out of it, but the doctors believe this could be a good thing. The drugs have time to get out of her system.”
Rusty looked like shit. Lidia hadn’t woken up at the hospital. The doctors were monitoring her closely, and there was no reason she shouldn’t wake up. They were not entirely sure if it was a coma, or the body’s way of dealing with the trauma she experienced.
“Shit,” Rip said. “If she had woken up, we could have figured out who is making these attacks.”
“I’m fucking telling you, this is Ranford,” Grant said.
Everyone turned to look at Grant, who held his hands up in the air.
“Yeah, yeah, I know, you all fucking think that piece of shit is on our team because of what happened to his brother. If what Pat claims to be true actually is—”
“I don’t fucking lie,” Pat said.
“Then wouldn’t someone get so desperate to join forces with their enemy to get the body back?” Grant asked. “He’s the only one we knew who lived in this fucking town, without anyone knowing. He survived here, and now we’ve got people close to the club being picked off, one by fucking one.”
“The mother and kid were not,” Rusty said. “Neither was that mechanic fuck from out of town.”
“The cartel clearly got to them. There are always exceptions to the fucking rule. I say we hunt for Ranford, he’s our target.”
Pat was about to say something when an ear-piercing scream filled the air.
He was pretty sure his name had just been screamed. All the brothers looked at one another, reaching for their guns when the door to their church meeting swung open. Gaz was the first one inside and he looked pale.
“Pat, you need to come outside.”
He was on his feet without hesitation, making his way through the clubhouse, and the moment he stepped outside, what he saw scared the fucking shit out of him.
Ava was standing, her hands shaking, her entire body shaking. Tears streamed down her eyes, and he was pretty sure there was vomit on the ground. What also scared him was the fact she was covered in blood, and the sobs coming out of her throat were heartbreaking.
Pat moved, went in, and cupped her face, as he saw she was on the verge of a panic attack. The moment he touched her, she started to scream.
“Ava, baby, it’s me, it’s Pat. Look at me.” She was starting to hyperventilate. He was aware of the whole club watching them. “Baby,” he said. This time, he did so with a forceful growl.
The harshness seemed to do the trick, as she suddenly stopped screaming and looked at him. Her voice was high-pitched and wobbled at the same time.
“He ... he killed her...” Ava said.
“What?”
“I ... we were not open yet, and I was helping Lauren. She was running behind. She had been on a date, and she really liked him.” Ava laughed, but it wasn’t an entertaining sound.
“She asked me to go to the fridge, she looked so happy.” Ava burst into tears.
“That was when it happened. They just ... I heard them through the fridge. I don’t know if Lauren locked me in it, or if she .
.. oh, God, if she fell against it.” Ava was shaking so badly.
“She’s dead. I had to get out of the fridge.
She was there, dead on the floor.” Ava began to sob.
“Lauren is dead. She is dead. How did this happen?”
He pulled her against him and held her tightly, not wanting to let her go, feeling her pain. Lauren, her boss, was dead.
“I was going to tell her I was going to quit,” Ava said, sobbing. “I couldn’t tell her. She was so happy. She was so happy and in love.”
He held her tightly.
Pat looked toward Bull, Grant, Rusty, the men. They were shocked.
From the way Ava looked, she had touched the body, and he had a feeling she had tried to save her.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said.
“How did this happen?” Ava asked again. “She was so happy.”
Pat cupped her face. “I am going to find the one responsible for this. Do you hear me? I am going to make them pay.”
He tried to swipe the tears from her eyes, but it was no good. His woman was a mess. She had seen something he would never want her to see.
Picking her up in his arms, he looked toward Bull and Grant. “I’m going to take care of her, but you need to secure the scene.”
Ava was sobbing in his arms, and he carried her through the main clubhouse, then upstairs to his room. He didn’t stop until he had her in the shower, and he started to remove her clothes. The blood was washing off her.
“Did the person attack you?” he asked.
Ava tilted her head back to look at him. “No.”
“You were in the fridge?”
“Yeah.”
He cupped her face. “I will fix this.”
“But Lauren is gone.”
“I know, and I’m sorry.”
Her lip wobbled. “How can she be gone? She was so young and in love, and that is ... it is just not fair.” She sniffled. “It is so wrong.”
This was tearing him apart. The anger he felt was unlike anything he had felt in a very long time. He removed his clothes and helped Ava, grabbing the soap, and trying to rid her body of all the evidence of what had happened to her. Pat didn’t know how it had gotten into her hair, only that it had.
He washed her completely, and when he was finished, he closed off the shower and grabbed a towel.
Wrapping one around his waist, he grabbed a second, and helped Ava.
He washed her body, taking his time, attending to what she needed.
Once she was washed, dried, he then dressed her in a pair of his sweatpants and oversized shirt.
“I can’t go to work,” Ava said.
He helped her into bed, and he knelt on the floor. Taking hold of her hand, he looked into her eyes. “I’ve got you, Ava.”
“I should have called the police.”
“No, you came to me. That is what you do. You come to me.”
“You’re the only one I thought to come to,” Ava said. “Is that a good thing?”
“Yes, yes, it is.”
Ava nodded. “I know ... sometimes you have to do bad things. I get it. I mean, I watch television from time to time, and I know you have to do bad things.”
This was breaking his heart.
“If you find the person responsible, please be a bad man to them,” Ava said.
Tears fell from her eyes, and he reached down and pressed his lips against hers. “I will.”
“Don’t hold back.”
“I won’t. Rest, Ava,” he said.
She let go of his hand, and he watched the exhaustion wash over her as she fell asleep.
He had a feeling she was not going to be sleeping for long.
Once he was sure she had fallen asleep, he quickly changed into a pair of sweatpants and shirt, and made his way downstairs to find Rusty, Rip, and Grant had returned. They did not look good.
“We’re taking care of it,” Grant said.
“What’s going on?”
“We got the tape. Lauren had security around the whole building and in her shop. I don’t know why,” Grant said.
“She had been robbed in the past,” Rip said, speaking up.
All the brothers turned toward him.
“I was the one she was dating,” Rip said.
Now, this was a shock to everyone.
“I fucking love coffee and cake,” Rip said.
“I went there once, before Ava was working there. I had a slice of cake, it fucking broke me, how good it was. So, I started to order it delivered, and Lauren delivered the cake. We started to hook up. Nothing ... we were just dating. I liked her. She was a good woman. Sweet. This shouldn’t have happened to her. Lauren wouldn’t hurt a soul.”
“We’ve got to watch the tape,” Grant said, lifting up a computer USB cable.
“Lauren recorded everything within a twenty-four-hour time period,” Rip said. “She did it like this so she could keep the same space, and if nothing eventful happened within twenty-four hours, then she could wipe it.”
They entered Bull’s office, and he had a projector hooked up to his computer. He had it installed to make it easier to deal with business.
Pat stepped into the room, all the while aware of Ava upstairs.
Grant inserted the cable, and Bull clicked away, bringing up the images on the screen. There were several camera angles, all displayed at once.
“You’re going to need to put it to about two hours ago,” Pat said.
Bull went too far, and Pat saw himself arrive with Ava, kiss her, and then leave. The angle changed, and the whole club was able to finally see Lauren. She was in the kitchen, her hair tied back into a hairnet.
“Does it have sound?”
“Yeah,” Rip said. “She said getting this system nearly put her out of business before she even started. I told her I wanted to check it out and make sure it wasn’t ruined.”
The tape continued:
Ava was smiling as she came into the kitchen. “Hey, wow, okay, you look a little rushed off your feet.”
Different camera angles showed different sides of Lauren. The smile on her face was sweet.
“I know. I know. But I was out on my date, and it kind of ran over.”
“A date? Do I ever get to meet this guy, or girl?” Ava asked.
Lauren laughed. “It is a guy, and I don’t know. Maybe one day, but at the moment, we’re taking it slow. He told me he is not used to nice women. I think he might have said ‘girl,’ but he’s used to women who sleep with him.” Lauren frowned.
“So, you and this mystery man haven’t had sex?”
“No, no, and I’m not ready.”
“You’re not?”
“Well, sex is so ... naked, and I don’t think I’m ready to go that far just yet.”
“We can skip ahead,” Rip said.
“I’m a virgin,” Lauren said. “I have been so focused on my career and getting this place to work, that I have not considered men or boys, or anything.”
Ava smiled.