Chapter Sixteen
Lauren
It was Clyde.
The moment I heard Jake say, “my sweet Lauren”, I knew it was him. He was the only one who called me that, usually with a smug grin on his face.
Jackass.
How on earth did he find me? I didn’t know. Then again, I had had a feeling he would, eventually, anyway, that didn’t matter.
What mattered was that I was in danger. Again.
For the past few minutes, I had been standing outside the door to the basement eavesdropping, listening to Jake, Max, and Wade recount what had happened last night. Somehow, while I was having one of the most incredible nights I’d ever experienced, someone broke into Billie’s Bar and turned it upside down. That piece of news itself was worrying, but then Jake mentioned the note, and as soon as he started reading it, my heart stopped.
Now what? Should I tell them the truth? But wouldn’t they hate me for lying to them and pretending that I had amnesia? Wouldn’t they throw me out of the house?
I had another option: to run away without telling the men anything. It’s what I should have done a long time ago. I should never have gotten them involved in this mess, my mess.
It was the right thing to do, and yet, my body just wouldn’t budge, my chest feeling as if it was weighed down by a ton of bricks. Tears brimmed in my eyes.
Was this really the end for me and the three amazing men I’d fallen for?
Now that I was about to lose them, I realized just how much they meant to me. All three of them. In a short time, they had shown me how it felt to be cared for again. I had been alone for so long. I had been with Clyde for longer than I should have. I had forgotten how wonderful it felt to be surrounded by good people, people who really cared. Jake, Max, and Wade reminded me of what happiness felt like. They gave me hope for a better life.
I’m never going to forget them.
“It’s probably someone from the Devils,” I heard Max say, his voice one I was very familiar with by now. “Maybe it’s someone who knew Lauren, maybe her ex even. When I first saw her, she looked like she was running away from someone. Maybe that someone is a Devil.”
“Makes sense,” Wade said. “She may not remember him, but he sure as well hasn’t forgotten her.”
“I’ll talk to Harry,” Jake said. “This has gone way too far.”
“We’ll go with you,” the other two said almost simultaneously.
I felt every muscle in my body tense, not just because the three of them were about to walk out of the basement and see me, but because I could sense their anger toward the Devils, who they believed were behind the whole incident.
But they were wrong. And I couldn’t just let them start a war based on a misunderstanding. I couldn’t let them and all of the Black Storm get into trouble.
I wiped my tears and burst through the door before they could emerge from it. All three of them looked at me with wide eyes.
“Lauren?” Max approached me and touched my arm. “Are you all right? Shouldn’t you still be resting?”
I placed my hand over his.
Ah, I’m going to miss his concern and his gentle touch.
“I’m fine,” I told him. “I have something to tell you.” I looked at Jake and Wade. “All of you.”
“What is it?” Jake asked.
I drew a deep breath. Where should I start?
“I…the…It’s not the Devils who left that note.”
Jake’s eyebrows furrowed. “You were listening?”
I nodded.
“What do you mean?” Wade asked, stepping forward. “Do you know who wrote the note? Has someone been threatening you?”
“Yes,” I answered. “I know who wrote the note.”
“Tell us,” Max urged me, squeezing my hand.
I paused for a moment as I looked into his eyes, carving their sapphire hue into my memory. This was it. The moment of truth. Afterward, he might never look at me like this again.
“Do you remember the day you hit me with your bike?” I asked him.
He nodded. “Not a day goes by that I don’t regret it.”
And yet, every day, I was grateful for it. If not for the accident, I never would have met Max or Jake or Wade.
“I was running away from someone, just like you said.”
Jake’s eyebrows arched. “Wait. You remember?”
“I…”
For a second, I was tempted to lie again, to simply say that I woke up this morning with all my memories intact. It was possible, wasn’t it? They would never know the truth. And I wouldn’t have to lose them. But I didn’t want to lie anymore.
I took another deep breath. “I…never had amnesia.”
“What?” Wade was the first to react.
“When I woke up at the hospital, I could still remember what happened,” I explained. “But when the doctor said I could have amnesia, I started to wonder if maybe I did forget some things, then as I lived here, I just realized there were some things I would rather forget.”
Max let go of my hand slowly, the disappointment that I was expecting from him clear in his eyes that had now turned cold. “You…lied to us?”
“I didn’t mean to,” I told him. “I was just so scared and confused. I had nowhere to go, no one to turn to.”
“So, what happened?” Wade asked me. “Who were you running away from?”
“My ex,” I answered. “His name is Clyde Roarke. I went to his cabin in the woods to tell him I was done, but I saw him kill someone, so I ran. He ordered his men to chase after me through the woods. One of them had a dog. Most of them had guns.”
“So the ‘C’ in the note stands for Clyde?” Jake asked.
I nodded.
“Men?” Wade’s eyebrows furrowed. “Is he the head of some mercenary unit?”
“No. He’s the son of Robert Roarke, CEO of Roarke Industries. But I think some of his bodyguards are hired mercenaries.”
“Roarke Industries also deals in weapons,” Wade said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they did business with mercenaries.”
“And this Clyde has been looking for you?” Jake asked. “He wants you dead?”
I gave another nod. “He must have found out where I am.”
“And who you’re with,” Wade pointed out.
Precisely. Clyde somehow found out that I was with Black Storm, which was why he tore up Billie’s place. It was just his way of sending me a message.
“Wow.” Max shook his head. “You just fucked us all up, didn’t you?”
I said nothing. His words stung, but they were the truth. This was all my fault.
Max stormed out of the room, his heavy footsteps going up the stairs.
“Max!” Jake called after him.
He was about to go after Max, but I grabbed his arm.
“I’ll go talk to him,” I said.
I owed him that much at least.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Wade said. “Max is in no mood to listen right now.”
I looked at Wade. “Still, I have to try.”
If he was going to shout at me and curse, so be it. I deserved his anger just as he deserved an apology.
I followed Max to the living room. As soon as he saw me, he shook his head.
“I don’t wanna talk, Lauren,” he immediately told me, turning away.
A painful lump rose in my throat, but I swallowed. “I just want to apologize. I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”
He turned back around. “You didn’t think lying to me would hurt me?”
“I didn’t even know who you were. You were the one who told me that I was your girlfriend.”
His eyebrows bunched up. “So now everything’s my fault?”
“No. I’m not blaming you for anything. In fact, I want to thank you for everything. I was happy to be your girlfriend, even if it wasn’t real, even if it was just for a short while.”
“Yes, you were happy to use me, weren’t you?”
“I -”
“You used me.” Max pointed a finger at me. “I was a fool to trust you, to think you were different from all the other people I know, all the women I’ve met. And you know what the worst part is?” He gripped the top of his head and groaned. “You made me fall in love with you.”
My eyebrows arched. Max is in love with me?
He glared at me, then left. This time, I didn’t go after him. I was still reeling from his confession, not knowing what to do with it. I was happy to know he loved me, yes, but that also made me feel even more guilty for hurting him.
What had I done?
“Don’t worry about him. He’ll come around.”
I turned to see Jake standing behind me.
“Max is right, though,” I told him. “I got you all in a terrible mess. But don’t worry. I’ll pack my bags and leave.”
I headed to the hallway leading to the bedrooms, but Jake barred my path. “Nonsense. You’re not going anywhere.”
My eyebrows furrowed. “But…”
“None of this is your fault. It’s not your fault you dated a psycho, or that you ended up here. I was the one who invited you into this home. Even if the doctor didn’t diagnose you with amnesia, I would have done the same.”
My eyes grew wide. He would have?
I looked away, fidgeting with the pendant of my necklace. “I thought you’d be the first to want me gone.”
“I understand why you’d think that way, but you’re wrong.” Jake put a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry I hurt you the other day. I acted like a jerk.”
As I looked up, I saw the sincerity in his eyes. Yes, he acted like a jerk, and he hurt me, but I didn’t have it in my heart to stay angry with him, especially not now.
“It’s okay,” I told him. “I forgive you.”
I reached up to touch his cheek, but he stepped back. Then he cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head.
“Anyway, you just stay here,” he said. “I’ll take care of things.”
“You’re still not going to war with the Devils, are you?” I asked.
“No, but this Clyde Roarke just started one with Black Storm. Maybe it’s you he’s after, but we just can’t let what he did to Billie’s go.”
I nodded with understanding. As much as I didn’t want to put Black Storm in trouble, they were already involved. I couldn’t ask them to just stand down.
“What will you do?” I asked him.
“We’ll make a plan,” he answered. “But first, we have to make sure you’re safe. We have to move you somewhere else, somewhere Clyde won’t find you. Somewhere no one else in Black Storm knows about.”
My eyes grew wide. “Are you saying someone in Black Storm told Clyde about me?”
He shrugged. “Or one of the Devils. And they shouldn’t have known anything about you.”
So Jake was suspecting a turncoat in Black Storm? But I thought they were like a family.
Jake patted my shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Like I said, I’ll take care of it.”
He started to walk off.
“Jake?” I called after him.
He glanced over his shoulder.
I held my hand to my chest. “Thank you.”
He just nodded, then continued walking, but stopped and turned around just before heading out the door to the garage.
“By the way, since you never had amnesia, does that mean you remember everything from your past?” he asked me.
“I think so.”
“Even from when you were a child?”
I shrugged. “I remember some things like my sixth birthday, the apartment my family used to live in, and my favorite toys. I don’t think anyone remembers everything from their childhood, though. Why?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.” Then he gave me a smile. “Go and rest.”
I watched Jake leave, then went back to my room. As I lay down on my bed, I caught a whiff of Max and Wade’s scents from the sheets, and for a moment, it gave me a sense of peace. But only for a moment. Now that Clyde had appeared, everything had changed. Trust that scumbag to ruin everything. Why, even Max hated me now. Well, at least, Jake didn’t. It seemed as if things were all right between us. But why did he ask about my childhood?
Thanks to that question, though, I was able to come up with warm memories to eclipse my fear, eventually getting sleepy. As I drifted off, the image of the man who once taught me to draw popped up in my head. Right. I’d forgotten about him. What was his name again?
Before I could remember, I fell asleep.