Descend, page 11
Waiting for the water to boil, I eavesdrop on the two women’s conversation, glad the bikers are staying outside. The eat-in kitchen seats four at the oval table behind me but I don’t plan on inviting either of those thugs inside to join us.
The instant Beth sees Tessa’s tear-streaked face, she demands to know what happened. The two women sink into opposite seats at the table and start whispering. Tessa’s revelations cause Beth’s voice to shake. “How would someone other than Gary have that bat?”
Tessa sighs. “Someone must have stolen it.”
“But––”
“No!” Tessa shouts. “Gary didn’t do it! Someone stole the bat to frame him, and those food service gloves are sold everywhere. Just because they’re like ones used at the bar doesn’t mean they actually came from there.”
Beth’s nails click over the table. “I never thought Gary could do anything like this either, but I don’t understand how some random person snuck into the Grille and made it all the way to his apartment. Who would even try such a thing with all the Leidolf around?”
I dump the pasta into the boiling water and watch Tessa from the corner of my eye. She’s tearing the label from her beer bottle, not making eye contact with Beth as she tries to convince herself that someone other than Gary had access to the bat. Beth scoots her chair forward. “Tessa, who would chance stealing from Gary?”
Her shoulders shrug. “I’m still working that part out.”
I turn around, wondering if she’s going to mention the camera in her office. If her door was open, it has a clear shot of the hallway. “Does Gary not have cameras upstairs? Seems like he’d want cameras everywhere.” Her eyes snap up and I lift my shoulders. “I’m just asking, babe.”
Beth blows out her breath. “Dad always said Gary had rocks for brains.”
Tessa turns on her, her angry face a slab of stone. “It’s your daddy who has a head full of stones.”
Beth is unmoved. “Dad has cameras, and no stranger would walk onto his property and steal anything.”
Tessa slides her empty bottle away. “No stranger walked into the bar and got past all the Leidolf either, so like I said, I’m working on the list of suspects, and that list is narrowing.”
Beth chews her lip. “You think it was one of Gary’s guys, then?”
Tessa gets up from the table and takes plates from a cabinet, not answering the question. Beth looks at me. “Killing is literally how they got their bad reputation.”
Tessa slams the plates onto the table. “They don’t murder innocent women!”
Beth folds her hands in her lap. “What if Samantha and Cheryl weren’t innocent?”
I grab Tessa’s hand and have her hold the colander while I drain the pasta. A safe way to keep her from attacking Beth. “That man, Montrose, he basically threatened to kill you. So why defend them when all Beth is saying is that the easiest answer is usually the right one. The Leidolf are killers, Tessa.”
Beth moves to the sink and wraps her arms around Tessa from behind. “The club threatened her?”
“No,” Tessa growls, bumping Beth off her without spilling the pasta. “Montrose is one of the few I don’t get along with, so he was blowing smoke.” She glares at me. “And you saw how the others reacted. Montrose won’t touch me.”
Beth gets silverware out of a drawer and plops it onto the table. “Still, maybe you shouldn’t work in the bar office anymore. Have Matt go with you to get your stuff, and then start working from home.”
“Don’t you think I’d know if anyone connected to Gary was planning to murder Samantha or Cheryl? The Leidolf are innocent. All of them! And I’m not going to run away like a scared little girl and have everyone in this town saying my actions prove it is one of them.”
Beth sniffs. “The only thing I know is that Samantha and Cheryl thought they were safe, too. Look what that got them.”
I hope Beth’s words sink in. Tessa needs to hear this. She needs to let a healthy dose of fear soak into her soul so she’ll distance herself from the club. Beth slides a carafe off the counter. “I made us some decaf lattes. Spiked. Because even I need a drink tonight.”
~27~
Tessa
The smooth click of the front door wakes me. Quiet feet shuffle outside my bedroom door. I rub my eyes, hand searching the empty pillow next to mine. I don’t remember much from last night. Matt swirled spaghetti onto my fork and fed me, kissing my sauced lips with a glint in his eye. I vaguely recall being tucked against him as he walked me to the bedroom. My eyes were so heavy I could barely hold them open. He curled up next to me, and I succumbed to the fatigue.
The knob of my bedroom door turns slowly, the wood drifting open to reveal Matt, bare-chested. Getting my eyes to cooperate, I scan the lower half of him. A pair of old blue sweatpants cover his legs. He must have found those in my closet, leftovers from the past that I never got rid of. Warren isn’t the first thing I want on my brain when I wake up, and I don’t want to see his clothes on my current boyfriend.
Looking away from Matt, I stretch my arms above my head. “What have you been sneaking around doing?”
“Contemplating how beautiful you are in the mornings.”
“Only in the mornings?” I wiggle back into the comfort of the warm sheets. “What time is it?”
He crosses to the other side of the bed and slides under the sheets, body scooting over to hold me against the smooth skin of his chest. “You’re beautiful every second of the day. And it’s still early. Beth needed me to move my car or I wouldn’t be out of bed yet.”
His lips graze along my neck and I turn my face into the muscle just below his collar bone. I’m not kissing him until I’ve brushed my teeth. My mouth feels like sewage. “Why is Beth out of bed so early?”
His teeth scrape over my shoulder. “She said she’s going by your parents’ place before work. Something about the family having a plan to help Gary?”
“They couldn’t help themselves out of wet paper bag.”
He nips my earlobe. “I can help you out of that shirt.”
I move away from him and pull the sheets up to my neck, an ache beginning to thud at the base of my skull. Probably because he’s wearing Warren’s clothes. “Not right now. I feel like I’ve been chewed up by a lawn mower.”
He leans on the headboard, tucking one arm behind his head and using the other to bring me back to rest against him. “Stress is wearing you down, babe. You went out like a light last night. I barely got a goodnight kiss.”
“Sorry. It’s just…this situation with Gary is a nightmare.”
His thumb kneads the soft flesh of my neck. “You’ve got a lot on your mind right now. I totally understand that. And I’m here for you. I just need you to give me the chance to be.”
I close my eyes, breathe him in, and want nothing more than to stay right here. “Once Gary’s out of jail, I’ll have more time. Can you wait for me?”
His fingers find my chin and turn me to face him, his blue eyes piercing my heart. “I want to live all your days with you right now, so let me. Especially when they’re bad.”
“You’re the only thing keeping me sane, Matt,” I whisper. “But it isn’t fair to hold you hostage in this relationship. I know you’re upset with me, with the club, and there’s not much I can do about rectifying any of what hurts you. But later I can, when all of this is over.”
He shifts so that his body is lying next to mine. “Thick or thin, in good times and in bad, I’m here. Because that’s what a relationship is, Tessa. This is what life is. And I want to spend mine with you.” His fingertips glide along my jaw. “I just need you to give me the courtesy of knowing what you’re up to. I don’t need to be in the secret circle, but I was terrified for a little while yesterday, and then those Leidolf were treating me like some random hookup for you. I didn’t like that.”
I roll onto my back so I’m not breathing in his face. His breath is minty like he’s already brushed. “They’re just not used to me having anyone. Outside of them, anyway.”
He tugs at the band of the pants he’s wearing. “They’ll need to get used to me being around then because I care about you. And if you’re going to let me stay here, I need to bring some of my clothes over because your stuff is a little small.” He moves my hair from my neck and presses his lips to the skin below my ear. “Can I move in with you? I promise to earn my keep by utilizing all the space in this big bed to make your every dream come true.”
My stomach quivers, but I smile despite it. “You can move in, but I’m not kissing you until I brush my teeth so cool your jets.”
He sits up. “Then go brush because before you get started on this day, I’m going to get started on earning my keep.”
~28~
I love every member of Gary’s charter. Each man is special to me, and I’m special to them. But even Chopper doesn’t love me the way a woman needs to be loved. He isn’t interested in settling down, and he’s nineteen years my senior. If he wanted a wife or even kids, he’d have them by now. But Chopper chose to shoot blanks long ago. He’s dedicated to his brothers and doesn’t want anything to distract him from what he feels his purpose is. These past few days, I’ve been a distraction, and it’s making my heart ache.
Then there’s Warren. He used me. Wanted everyone but me. And he broke me. Now I’m expected to be nice to him. To work side by side with him. To forget about the dark place I was in when he left me, the pit I only climbed out of with Chopper’s help. Chopper was there for me, and on the night he first offered to make me forget all my sorrows, he did just that. For a few hours. The next day, nothing had changed between us. Chopper didn’t look at me differently or treat me any way he hadn’t before. Not after that first time, or the fifth. In my darkness, we’d formed a bond that allowed us to be free with one another.
Matt is like Chopper in that regard. He has a way of taking my mind off things. The difference being that Matt actually wants to love me in all the ways I need to be loved. In all the ways that make me feel like it’s possible to actually be loved. Wholly and completely, and in that forever kind of way. Even this morning, though I know he was upset when I told him I couldn’t ride back to the bar with him, he made me a strong pot of coffee and filled my to-go mug, sending me out to Dillon’s waiting bike with a kiss that held my mind hostage until I entered the noise of the Grille.
As far as I can tell, no one has an issue with Matt. The club isn’t welcoming him with open arms, but they aren’t going to accept anyone new right now. Especially with Montrose here. His presence is causing a strain on the club, and I’m fully aware that my actions only add to that strain. But the only thing I respect about Montrose is the patch he wears.
I enter the bar and stroll by him without a word. He will take my silence as disrespectful because there’s nothing I can do that he won’t consider disrespectful, but I don’t know why he doesn’t like me and I don’t really care. Chopper’s bike is outside and I need to have a conversation with him.
Chopper isn’t downstairs so I climb the stairs to his apartment and barge in without knocking. He’s in the bedroom, hair wet, fresh shirt in his hands and jeans hanging low on his hips. A scar reaches out from under his belt loop and slashes upward along his side. He told me it was from a motorcycle accident but it looks more like he had a fight with a knife.
“I’m back,” I announce.
He pulls the new shirt over his head and picks up his kutte. “Help run the bar today.”
“We have two managers, they’ll run the bar.”
His icy eyes snap to mine. “Then you can stay here. Don’t leave this room.”
I pick up a bottle from the side table and throw at his head. He catches it and tosses the unopened beer onto his bed. “Keep the sheets warm for me.”
Words choke into my throat. “What is wrong with you? Who are you?”
He crosses the floor and stands in front of me. “I have club business to deal with. So stop acting like a child.”
“Gary isn’t club business. He’s family! And I’m not the one growling at people and making this situation with Montrose ten times worse!” I take a shaky breath. “Tell me what I can do to help Gary, to help the club, but don’t ask me to spend the day locked in your apartment or behind that bar because neither of those are going to happen.”
He reaches behind me and opens the apartment door. “Go home. Take Matt. And stay there.”
Anger slams through me. “Warren is coming here, isn’t he?” I check the hallway. “You’re bringing him up here.” He doesn’t answer me. I feel the gates break in my chest, a flood of tears ready to spill, but I’m not going to let him see me cry. “Don’t come looking for my help when he crushes you, Chopper. Because he will. You know he will.”
~
After storming out of the bar, I run to Matt. Falling into his arms reminds me of the days as a kid when I’d run away from home and end up on Warren’s doorstep. Because of our parents not getting along, his parents never liked me any more than mine liked him. His mom even threatened to beat me up for sneaking into his room when I was sixteen. Warren had to pin her to the wall to give me time to escape, something he yelled at me for later. He didn’t like having to put hands on his mom, but he’d known that she really would have beat me down if she’d gotten her hands on me, so he did it. I never went to his house again after that.
I’m not going to my house like Chopper ordered me to either. I’m going to see Chief, and I’m going to find out for myself what’s happening with Gary’s case. “Thanks for driving me, Matt. I’m sorry to keep dragging you into this mess.”
He gives my knee a squeeze. “We covered this. I want to be here for you, so I’m glad you came to me instead of running off alone or asking someone else to bring you to the station. It feels nice being an us with you.”
I love the sweetness of his dimpled smile. “I’m glad we’re together, too. And I’ll be even happier once the murderer is caught and Gary is free.”
He tugs at the collar of the crisp white button-up he’s paired with jeans, the official professional attire of a small town. “Babe, don’t get mad when I ask this, okay? Are you sure Gary didn’t do it?”
My chest tightens. “Positive.”
“What about the bat?”
I shrug. “That’s why I need to talk to Gary. Find out who had access to it or if he gave it to anyone.”
“Aren’t the Leidolf in touch with Gary, though? Surely he’s told them his side of things.”
I lean my head against the window. “I need to talk to him myself.”
Matt pulls into the police station parking lot. “I guess I don’t understand why you haven’t already. Seems like coming here to beg Chief to let you see Gary is a long shot, and the club claims to already have unfettered access to him…”
I don’t want to admit that I’m being frozen out, that Chopper sends me away more than he speaks to me, and that several of the others are no longer making eye contact. It could be because Matt showed up in the bar and had hands on me, which they consider disrespectful to Chopper after the whole growling incident. Or it could be Montrose’s influence. He doesn’t like that I speak back to him, but if he didn’t say stupid things, I wouldn’t have to. “There’s only so much a person can say on the phone. I want to see Gary face-to-face, and Chief is going to make that happen for me.”
Matt sighs. “Gary has a whole life outside of the one you see. What are you going to do if he confesses to you?”
“Gary didn’t kill Cheryl! She’s his cousin, for crying out loud.”
Matt runs a hand down his face. “All I’m saying is people have done a lot worse to their kinfolk, and you seem to live in this bubble where the Leidolf aren’t the bad guys their reputation says they are.”
“People exaggerate.”
He turns in the seat and presses his palm against my chest. “Just promise me you’ll consider the evidence, not just this soft heart of yours.”
I give him a cold laugh. “You might be the only person around here who thinks my heart is anything but stone.”
He smiles. “A privilege I’m happy to have.”
“Then let’s go in there and get this over with because once Gary is out of jail, I think we should sell my house and choose a new one, together.”
His irises blaze. “You’re hurting, yet you’re considering me? That’s how I know your heart is gold, Tessa. And I’ll work hard to make sure I deserve you every day.”
~29~
The instant Chief sees me walk into the station, he comes out of his office shaking his head and repeating no like his lips are a broken record. “Now, Chief. You know I need to see Gary and the only way I’m going to get to do that is with your blessing.”
His arms cross in a huff. “I just got off the phone with the DA. We’ve got enough to charge him on Cheryl’s case, so outside of his lawyer, no one is getting time with him.”
“How are you going to feel about charging him after the real killer strikes again?”
His jaw snaps tight, words coming out between clenched teeth. “I don’t want to hear talk about another murder in my town. If Gary is innocent, he can prove it in court.”
Matt’s fingers tighten on my bicep as he moves in close, his way of asking me to be quiet while he does his own line of questioning. “We heard you found a bloody bat with Gary’s fingerprints on it?”
Chief’s eyes narrow on him. “I’m not at liberty to discuss the particular evidence in this case.”
“Except with Warren?” I counter. “What happened, Chief? He find you in a compromising position with someone?”
Chief’s hand snaps forward, fingers tightening on my other bicep with a tug that breaks me out of Matt’s grip. Chief rushes me into his office and slams the door in Matt’s face. When he reaches for the blinds to close the view from the window that lets him watch over the station, I can’t help but lash out. “You sure you want to do that, Chief? I might accuse you of some things, and I’m real good at making noise.”
