One Crazy Ride (3 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Christian rested his head on Sandy’s back. She smelled of sex and cinnamon and him. It was a heady scent. He realized that he was still crushing her fingers in his and released her hands. He smiled at the tiny sound of disappointment she made.

Bracing his hands on the counter he pulled away, then froze. His stomach twisted, and he broke out in a cold sweat.

She’d known he’d have this reaction. They’d been out of control and hadn’t stopped to think. It was a surprise that it had taken him this long to react. She lifted her upper body off the counter and turned quickly, taking in his pale face and stunned eyes. “Christian, I want you to listen to me. We’re okay. I know how very careful you’ve been. I’ve been just as careful, and I’m on the pill. Never missed a day since I was seventeen.”

Her words broke through the panic that had been trying to set in. He let out a long breath and relaxed. Then, realizing how it might seem to her, he gave her a smile. “I don’t want you to think—I mean, it’s not—I’m really screwing up here. I’m careful because I don’t ever want to have to force a woman to have to make a decision that could have been prevented.”

“I understand. I’m not offended, so you can drop that, okay?” She took his face in her hands and kissed his lips, tasting herself there. “We’re good.”

He nodded, amazed at her. She’d understood, even when it presented as him being a complete jerk. “Thank you.”

This time she was the one who nodded because she couldn’t trust her voice. He could be so soft and sweet, a side of him that she hadn’t expected, and it always threw her for a loop.

She pulled her clothes and his up onto the counter, sorting them out so they could re-dress. She was turning her jeans right side out when her cell phone dinged. She pulled it out of her pocket and checked the caller id. Mariah. She motioned for Christian to give her a second. “Mariah?”

“Sandy, are you still with Christian?” Her voice was calm despite the nerves gnawing at her gut.

“Yeah, is everything okay?” She didn’t like the sound of Mariah’s voice.

“No. I need a huge favor.”

*****

Christian didn’t know what was going on, but whatever it was had Sandy dressed and rushing out the door with promises to come back as soon as she was done. The growl of her old truck had barely died away when the doorbell rang.

He opened the door to a frantic looking Mariah. She pushed past him and started immediately pacing the living room, wringing her hands. “Mariah, what is going on? Are you okay?”

“I sent Sandy away so I could talk to you, but now I don’t know where to start and I’m so scared, Christian.” She collapsed on to the couch and buried her face in her hands.

He hobbled over to sit next to Mariah and put his arm around her shoulders. He hated to see her so upset. “Just take a deep breath and tell me what’s going on. I’ll do whatever I can to help fix it.”

“That’s the thing, honey. You can’t fix this. No one can.” She pushed his arm off her shoulders. “Atticus paid someone to hurt you. I overheard him talking to the man on the phone the afternoon after you got hurt.”

Every muscle in Christian’s body went tight. His blood pounded. The need to punch something was overwhelming. “Be very sure of what you’re saying, Mariah.”

“I know what I heard, Christian. I need to know what
you’re
going to do.” Mariah stood and paced away.

“You need to be away from the club for a while, Mariah. Take the night off. Don’t go back there until I tell you.” He turned to go get dressed, stopping when Mariah grabbled his arm tight.

“What are you going to do, Christian?”

“I’m going to take care of the problem.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

The club was busy. Christian walked in, ignoring the pain in his knee. The brace helped, but not enough to stop him from limping.

A showdown in the club wasn’t ideal, but there was no choice. He managed the stairs and opened the door to Atticus’ office without knocking. The older man went to stand and Christian held up a hand, cutting him off. “Shut up and sit back down. Don’t speak or I swear, everyone in this place will know why I’m here.

“You’re going to tell me what it is that I did that has you so pissed off, and then we’re going to discuss a situation that needs clearing up.” Christian sat down in the chair across from the desk, watching the old man’s eyes spark with anger.

“You’re going to sit there and pretend like you don’t know what my problem is with you?” Atticus sat forward, hands fisted on top of the desk.

“I’m not pretending, and if you keep on with this tactic you’re going to regret it. Now talk, old man.” The level of Christian’s anger had passed furious. He was done playing games.

Atticus stood up, causing the chair behind him to fall over. “Get out my place. Get out and don’t you ever come back.”

Christian took his phone out of his pocket and showed it to Atticus. “Sit down. Unlike so many older members here, I have no problem allowing the cops to handle certain problems between club members.” Christian stood and leaned over, palms flat on Atticus’ desk . “We have one of those problems, me and you. So, make your choice—talk to me, or to the cops.”

They stared each other down for several long moments. It was Atticus who broke first. He looked away, then leaned down to pick up his chair and sit it in. He felt twenty years older than he was in that minute. “Sit down, boy.”

“That’s another thing that’s going to stop right now. You can either show me some respect, or we can start this all over again. I’m not a boy, and I’m not someone you can treat like shit. That little game is done.”

Atticus nodded. He gave the kid a point for standing up for himself, but it wasn’t enough to make him respect him. “What do you want, Christian?”

“I told you what I want. I want to know what it is that is so bad about me you’d pay to have me killed rather than deal with me one on one. So start talking.”

*****

Sandy couldn’t understand why Mariah would send her on a wild goose chase. Something was going on, and she was afraid that it had something to do with her Daddy. Had he done something to Mariah? There was only one way to find out.

She pulled into the club parking lot and went inside. Greeting a few people sitting at the bar, she headed upstairs to see if she could get her Daddy to talk to her. Plus, she needed to tell him that she was seeing Christian. It was time.

She got to the top of the stairs and froze as she heard Christian’s voice. What on earth was going on and why wasn’t he at home? She’d never heard him sound so coldly furious.

She tiptoed closer, putting her ear to the door. She wished she hadn’t.

CHAPTER NINE

“Lacey Cooper. Remember her?” Atticus said the words with enough venom to kill.

“I remember Lacey. She was a sweet girl. Kind of wild, but nice.” Christian’s forehead wrinkled with confusion. What the hell did Lacey have to do with anything?

“Lacey was my God-daughter. Did you know that? I loved that kid almost as much as I love Sandy. You knocked her up and sent her off to have an abortion so nobody would know. She died trying to get rid of your bastard kid. Bled to death. That’s what
YOU
did.” Atticus sat back, so angry that he was breathing hard. It didn’t feel good to get it off his chest like everyone always said. It felt like fire was eating him from the inside out. He wanted to wrap his hands around the little shit’s neck.

“I see. Let me guess, that information came from Gary, your former second?” Christian felt everything click into place. The reason he’d hated him taking the spot of the second. The reason he wanted him away from Sandy. The reason he’d hated him all this time was over another man’s lies.

“He told me everything. How you got her drunk before you fucked her, then pretended it didn’t happen when she came to you and told you that she was pregnant. How when she wouldn’t let it go you threw a wad of cash at her and told her to go ‘take care of it’. He told me every little detail that Lacey gave him when he was driving her up to Houston to have that abortion.”

Atticus’ face was twisted in rage, but Christian didn’t care. He was just as enraged, only because he’d been the unwitting scapegoat for someone else’s mistakes. “I never laid a hand on Lacey. Lacey was already involved with someone when I came here. Someone who didn’t want anyone to know about his little piece on the side. Especially his wife.”

“You think you can pin this off on someone else? Do you really expect me to believe that it was someone else? Especially considering the information came to me from someone I trusted with my life?” Atticus used his finger to punctuate each word.

“I guess you never bothered to ask just how far along Lacey was in her pregnancy, did you? Mariah knew. She was almost four months along. I’d only been here a month at the time Lacey left.”

All the color drained from Atticus’ face. “That can’t be true. Gary would have never lied to me. I can call Mariah right now and ask her.”

Christian sat back and gestured towards the phone on his desk. “Call her then.” He waited while the old man just sat there staring at him. He could see the wheels turning. “Gary was the father of
Lacey’s baby. I guess I made a convenient scapegoat. If you’d ever bothered to find out anything about me, you’d have known that I would never let any woman who was pregnant with my child out of my sight.”

It couldn’t be true. He didn’t want it to be true. Gary had been more than a second, he’d been like a brother. Conversations they’d had about the situation came back to him. How he didn’t want Atticus to confront Christian and kick him out. That it had been a private matter and that, ultimately, Lacey had made the decision that cost her own life. That he couldn’t just kick Christian out of the club for something Lacey herself had wanted done.

Gary had lied to him. Even if he didn’t want to admit it, he could tell that Christian was telling the truth. There was nothing in his eyes now but pity. “What have I done?”

The door opened behind him and Sandy walked into the room, unadulterated disgust on her face. “What you did, Daddy, was judge a man without any real evidence, then condemn him to years of mistreatment. You deserve to go to jail for what you had done to Christian. I thought you were better than this. Thought you were a man that people could look up too.”

“Sandy, please—” Atticus stood and reached out for his daughter but she pulled away, tears of anger and disgust running down her face. She shook her head at him then turned and ran out the door.

*****

Atticus made to go after her, but Christian stood and stopped him. “Let her go, Atticus. She needs time to calm down.”

The older man walked back to his desk and sat heavily in his chair. He didn’t know what to say or do. He’d been so angry that it had made him stupid. All these years of hatred would cost him his daughter. Mariah too, probably. “What are you going to do, Christian?”

“Question is, what are
you
going to do, Atticus?” Christian’s head was starting to hurt from all the stress and anger that had been riding him since Mariah had shown up at his door. “Right now, only a couple of people know what you did. You can be a coward, pretend it didn’t happen, and lose your entire family—or you can stand up and turn yourself in, take your punishment and start earning everyone’s respect back.”

Christian’s words shocked him. He’d figured that he’d call the cops, but he wasn’t doing that. He was giving him a chance to redeem himself. He’d obviously misjudged the young man. “Why would you do that after everything I’ve done?”

Taking a deep breath, Christian said the words that he’d never expected to say in his life. Words he thought would never be meant for someone like him. “Because I’m in love with your daughter, and I want her to be able to be proud of the men in her life. I’m doing it for her.”

Atticus nodded, then picked up the handset on the old phone in his office. “Who do I ask for?”

“Detective Mann. He’s a good guy.” Christian waited while he dialed and was patched through to the Detective.

While Atticus was talking, he pulled the disposable cell out of his drawer and set it on the desk. He wouldn’t be the only one going down today. When he hung up from the Detective, he dialed his lawyer and told him to come immediately to the office.

Atticus stood and walked around the desk, offering Christian his hand. There was a short moment when he thought the younger man might refuse, then he stood slowly and shook it. “Go find my daughter.”

Christian managed a small smile. “I know just where to look.”