BEAST (A Coyotes of Mayhem MC Novel) (Motorcycle Club Bad Boy Romance) (13 page)

Once I was back home, I took a deep breath and picked up the phone, dialing the numbers very slowly. A woman picked up the phone, answering it as homicide. I asked to speak to Detective Eric Hansen before she put me on hold while she transferred me. With each ring, my stomach started turning a little more. Finally, after six rings, the line picked up and I was greeted with a voicemail message. I had dodged a bullet. I left a message so he would know I called, making it seem like I was trying to cooperate. If anything, that voice mail bought me another 24 hours while I attempted to figure everything else out. With that off my mind, I was able to turn all my attention to getting the money that Beast had hiding in his house.

The first thing I had to do was figure out the best course of action for getting there. I knew that law enforcement had only seen my rental and not the car that I actually drove. I also knew that cops aren’t stupid and I was sure that once they learned who I was, they probably looked into me to find out what vehicles I owned, their license plate numbers and anything else they could get their hands on. If there were cops around, I had no doubt they would be running every plate number that they came across. I didn’t want to ask Ashley to borrow her car, either. Not only had she done enough for me already but the last thing I wanted to do was link myself to her house in any way. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to call my dad.

My father used to be an old car aficionado. There was nothing he liked more than buying old cars, fixing them up and selling them for a nice profit. There was one car that he never quite able to sell, though. It wasn’t because no one wanted to buy it, he had plenty of offers over the years, but because it was a car that he wanted to hand down to me. It was an old Volkswagen Bug that looked just like Herbie from the old Disney movies except it didn’t have the numbers painted on the front of it. We used to watch the movies together all the time when I was a kid so it was a project he completed especially for me. He hadn’t driven it in a long time and has had it sitting in storage. I gave him a quick call to ask if I could borrow it and take it for a spin. He sounded happy to hear that I wanted to drive the car, something I had never asked to do before. If he knew why I wanted it, he might not have been so excited.

With the transportation problem out of the way, I was free to focus on everything else. I already knew that I was going to go into the house after nightfall so I picked out some plain black clothes that would help blend in with the darkness. Beast told me that once I was in his house, his blackout curtains would prevent a small flashlight from being seen from outside so I packed the one I used for emergencies in my bag. All that was left to do then was wait. I sat there with my heart pounding out of my chest, realizing how scared I was at what was about to go down. I had to go through with it, though. I just couldn’t say no to him. He needed me and I wanted to show him that I keep the promises I make. I love him. I don’t know how it happened, but I had fallen madly in love with him. I was finally ready to admit it to myself.

In order to take my mind off the waiting, I decided to try to figure out what I was going to do about getting the other $3,500 for him. I didn’t have a bunch of cash sitting around, or hidden like Beast. And didn’t want to put that amount of money on credit, especially when I didn’t know when I would be getting the money back. After digging around in some of my accounts, I decided my best option was to pull it out of my 401k account at work. I’d have the money within a couple of days and would put it back when I had the money. Finally, after several hours of waiting, it was time to go. I drove to my dad’s house, switched cars and headed out to the desert.

§

The police presence was overwhelming. There was literally law enforcement vehicles everywhere I looked. To make sure my car wouldn
’
t be spotted, I parked about two miles away from the house and started walking. I tried to look as inconspicuous as possible, which probably would have made me look like I was up to no good if anyone was actually paying attention to me. A couple of police cruisers passed me a few times but none bothered to stop me to see where I was going.

By the time I finally got close to his house, my legs felt like they were on fire. I looked up and down both streets and didn’t see any police parked out front and it didn’t look like there was anyone watching the house. Following his advice, I approached from the back and entered the yard of the vacant house by using the back gate. Just as Beast had said, the back door to the house was unlocked. I went inside quickly, closing the door behind me. I felt along the side of the wall until I reached the staircase and slowly ascended until I reached the top. The first room on my right was the one that would take me to the balcony. I walked in, slid open the sliding glass door and was outside in no time.

Beast wasn’t kidding when he said the houses were very close together. Although there was a small space between the two balconies, I was in no danger of falling through it. I climbed over, quietly opened the door and slid inside, completely undetected. I couldn’t believe I had actually done it. All of it was so out of character for me but it was definitely giving me a rush. Once inside, I fished my flashlight out of my pocket and turned it on. The place was a wreck. It was clear that it had been torn apart but it didn’t appear like it was the work of police. This had bad intentions written all over it. I was worried that whoever had turned the place upside down may have found the money but it was right where Beast said it would be. I grabbed the cash and shoved it into my pockets. I was on my way back out the door when I heard voices coming from inside the house. I knelt down on the floor and made myself as quiet as possible. It felt like my heart was about to beat out of my chest.

I strained to listen to the conversation so I could let Beast know what was going on. At first, I thought that the police had taken up residence in his house in case he decided to come home but the longer I listened, the more I realized that wasn’t the case. In fact, the people inside the house weren’t cops at all. They were all members of the Aces of Anarchy club and they were making plans to find Beast so they could kill him. I knew Beast would want to know who he was, so I crept out of the room and over to the top of the staircase as quietly as I could. Peering down, I saw three men but two of them were obviously listening to the third. He was clearly the ringleader. He had his back turned to me but I was able to get a look at his face in a mirror hanging on the wall. I took note of the deep scarring on the right side of his face.

Freaking out, I got out of the house as quickly as I could while trying my hardest to remain as quiet as a mouse. As much as I didn’t want the police to catch me there, I certainly didn’t want a gang of outlaw bikers coming across me. Once I was clear of the neighbor’s house, I started running. I ran and I didn’t stop until I got back to the car. I was out of breath and shaking but I had what I needed.

Once in my car, I hightailed it out of the area as fast as I could and started driving to the Coyotes clubhouse. I had no idea what to expect as I’d never known anyone in a motorcycle club before, let alone been at their clubhouse. Beast had told me that it was basically their headquarters. When I pulled up, it was almost as I had pictured it. It was a big open lot with a bunch of Harley-Davidson motorcycles lined up along one side and a large steel fabricated building on the other. As I looked around, I felt a chill run down my spine and all my senses seemed to heighten. I could only imagine the things that have gone on there.

Once inside the gates, I started to get a little freaked out. The bikers that were outside looked scary as hell. It didn’t help that they were all staring at me. The lot was littered with broken beer bottles and there was a large bonfire going. While I was looking around, one of the bikers banged on my driver’s side window, scaring the shit out of me.

“What the fuck are ya lookin’ at?” he shouted.

“I’m Paige. Beast sent me to pick something up,” I replied, barely cracking my window so he could hear me.

“Park over there,” he pointed in front of the clubhouse. He followed my car and waited for me to get out. “I’ll take you to the Prez. Stay by me and keep your mouth shut.”

He walked me inside, which looked like every run down bar I had ever been in. Once we got a little further into the building, it surprisingly became much nicer. At the end of the hall, he knocked on the door.

“Stone, this broad said Beast sent her. What do ya want me to do with her?”

“Send her in and wait in the hall for her. Make sure she gets back to her car without any problems.”

CHAPTER 17

BEAST

What the fuck is taking her so long?
I figured I would have heard from her at least an hour before
,
but I hadn
’
t heard a single word. I didn’t care if it was a phone call or text message, I just wanted to hear something, anything, to know that she was okay. Instead, all I could do was stand around in the basement and pace back and forth like some kind of fucking death row inmate getting his one hour of yard time.

The way I feel every time I think about Paige is fucking scary to me. Sitting there, I was genuinely worried about her. My concern wasn’t about whether or not she was able to get the money I had hidden. Instead, my concern was just wanting to know that nothing had happened to her. If she got hurt because of me, I would never be able to forgive myself. The fact that she was so dedicated after all the bullshit I had put her through meant a lot to me. It made me wish I could have gone back and met her under different circumstances.

That’s when it happened. That was the moment that I decided to change my future. If I managed to get out of the fucked up situation I had found myself in, I was going to do something I’ve always said I’d never do. I would make Paige my old lady.

Almost two more hours had passed before Paige came running down the stairs and into my arms.
Thank fucking God!
I was so happy to see her and was relieved that she had make it back safe. She sat a duffel bag down on the couch and opened it up, revealing the cash.

“I take it everything went okay?” I asked.

“For the most part, there are cops all over the place but none of them paid any attention to me. There is something I need to tell you though. When I was inside your house, I heard someone talking and thought maybe it was the cops. I went to your staircase to see what they were saying but I realized they weren’t cops at all. They were bikers and they weren’t from your club.”

“There’s bikers from another club in my fucking house? Did you get a look at any of them?”

“Just one but he seemed to be the one everyone was listening to. He had dark hair and a long, deep scar on the right side of his face.”

“Motherfucker! That has to be Baron. He’s the president of the Aces. I wonder what that asshole is doing in my house.”

“I don’t know but they messed it up pretty good. There’s stuff thrown everywhere. Beast…,” she lowered her voice, “they said they were going to kill you.”

“Fuck! Why don’t you go and hang out with your friend for a little bit while I make a couple calls. I need to get to the bottom of this shit before it goes any further.”

She looked disappointed that I was sending her away but I couldn’t make the call in front of her. As much as I was developing feelings for her, I wasn’t about to compromise my own rules and beliefs. She went upstairs, telling me to let her know when I was done. As soon as I heard the door close, I made a call to Stone.

“Stone, those Aces motherfucker’s are in my house. They’re waiting for me, and they went through all my shit. Paige said they were talking about killing me.”

“What?”

“Yeah, Paige saw them when she was inside getting the money. She said there were three of them, with Baron leading the charge. She didn’t see the other two but it was definitely Baron with the big scar on his face. I’m gonna even it up for him when I see him.”

“We’ll take care of it.”

“No, you don’t understand Stone. If they would’ve seen her, they would have killed her for sure. I need all of you guys to step it up and do something about them before something happens to Paige. For all we know, they could have seen her as she was leaving. They may even followed her back to where I’m at.”

“We’ll keep eyes on her and make sure she gets around safe. Just let us know where you need us to be and we’ll be around.”

“Thanks man. One more thing, don’t let her see any of them tailing her. I don’t want her having to worry about why everyone’s around.”

When I hung up the phone, I called her back down into the basement.

“I want you to hang out with me for a while.”
I wasn’t about to tell her she couldn’t leave until I knew she wasn’t being followed. I had to protect her.