Riveted: Drawn Series Book 1 (17 page)

Today was the day. I was so happy that I could tap dance.
We were moving back into our shop! Not that I was going to look a gift horse in
the mouth. We were all incredibly grateful that the local MC let us use their
clubhouse to work in. No matter what we did, we would always owe them for that,
no matter
what
Uncle Sid said.
Seattle was working out well as the new shop apprentice. Chainsaw had
volunteered to be his human canvas, but I secretly think he did it so that he
could hang around all of us. Seattle was very quiet, but a hard worker. I found
out that Chainsaw actually had a kid named Levi. He was 12. He told us that he
did not get to see his son a whole lot, because his ex girlfriend lived in
Kentucky somewhere and was not able to move here until she was done with school. 
My Dad had settled into my aunt’s house and she was steadily driving him crazy.
He spent a lot of time at my apartment, which was nice and aggravating at the
same time. He seemed to have forged this “relationship” with Chloe. I was going
to butt out. I promised Jack. But Dad was in his fifties, she was in her
thirties. Besides, I had other issues on my mind. Like me not getting my
period. I was always irregular and I had been taking my birth control pills, so
I figured it was all the damn stress from Axel not being around. I missed that
little shit.

I sauntered up to the new and improved Insatiable and was
floored. The shop had brand new plate glass windows, a new sign, new bay doors
for the garage, and new hardwood floors in the shop side.

“How did all this happen?” I asked Matt, he was standing
next to me. He looked as speechless as I felt.

“Your uncle and his buddies did this. Those guys rock,”
he muttered. I nodded.

“Thinking of joining an MC Matt?” asked Chloe, looking
tired and sarcastic. She had circles under her eyes and for once she was
wearing plain jeans and a tank top. I looked her over and she grinned.

“You okay?” I asked her. She frowned.

“Can’t sleep,” she remarked.

“Again, are you okay?” I asked.

“If you and Jack would not be so loud when you are
fucking each other, I would be fantastic,” she shot out and Matt cracked up. I
could feel my face getting hot. Matt high fived Chloe. I shot him a dirty look
and he stuck out his tongue. Pierced. Interesting.

“That was awesome!!!”He laughed.

“Matt, shut it!” I replied. He laughed even harder. Chloe
grinned from ear to ear, displaying dimples.

“Aww leave the wannabe biker alone,” remarked Chloe. I
grinned.

“Him? A biker?” said Jack, coming up to our little group.
Chloe and I nodded.

“That’ll be the day,” said Jack. Matt frowned.

“What’s wrong with me being a biker?” he asked.

“Dude, you are the biggest pussy that I know,” he said
with a laugh, punching Matt in the arm.

“You said I was pussy whipped, not a pussy,” replied
Matt. Jack smirked.

“Dude you were so afraid of your girl it was pretty much
the same thing,” muttered Jack, walking into the shop.

“BURN!” Chloe and I said at the same time. Matt shook his
head and frowned.

“He has no idea what he is talking about,” Matt muttered.
I studied his face and when he looked up I gave him a small smile. Seattle
sauntered up and looked at our little group.

“Hey Seattle, you guys in the market for another
Prospect? I think Matty boy here wants to join up,” shouted out Chloe. Seattle looked
at Matt and shook his head. Matt glared at Chloe and I cracked up.

“I don’t know. I think we have enough women to clean our
clubhouse,” he remarked with a slow smile.

“You guys suck,” Matt muttered, walking into the shop.
Chloe, Seattle, and I laughed as we followed behind him.

I had finally forked over enough cash to hire that
private investigator. But he was based in Willowvale, a town that was about two
hours from where I lived. So here I was in Willowvale, staying at a hotel, all
alone. The private investigator had asked me to meet him at a coffee shop
called Perkies. His name was Wolf Barnes, I am not kidding. The coffee shop was
busy for the afternoon and I nursed my coffee, as streams of people came in and
waited in the ever growing line. The barista behind the counter was handling it
all like a freakin pro. The bell above the door chimed as an incredibly tall
black man with piercing green eyes walked in. He was dressed in a charcoal
three piece suit and he carried a briefcase. He looked around the coffee shop
until his gaze settled on me. He gave me a perfect smile and I know I grinned
like a goofy bastard.

“Bleu?” he asked. Nodding, I gave him a smile as he
walked over to the table and pulled out a chair. He shook my hand.

“Hello.”

“Been waiting long?”

“No not really. Besides, I like to people watch,” I said
with a smile. He nodded and opened his briefcase. He pulled a manila file
folder out and placed it on the table in front of him.

“Well I did some digging since you hired me. Did you know
that the shop had three consecutive break ins over the last 18 months?”

“No, I had no clue. But then again, I just started
working there and I was in Philly before that. Axel is not a huge font of
information with me either,” I replied. He nodded, pulling out a report from
his briefcase. He looked down at it, reading it for a minute.

“Apparently the first time, a computer was stolen, along
with some other equipment. The last time, it was mainly property damage. Now I
am not counting the one the shop had a few weeks ago. All of which was covered
by the hefty insurance policy that your brother and his partners took out on
the property,” he replied.

“He did mention that, the insurance policy, once. Because
of the neighborhood,” I responded.

“Aside from all of that, the business is doing fairly
well. He has a profitable business with an established client base. His
personal life, that’s a different story. It looks shady, I won’t lie. I
accessed his financial records and things don’t look as innocent as some would
like to make it out to be. Your brother has been making monthly payments of one
thousand dollars for the last year. But last month, all that changed.”

“Who was he paying?”I asked nervously. He looked down at
his papers again and then back up at me.

“It goes to a bank account.”

“Whose?” I asked. He smiled.

“It’s not that easy. Banks don’t just hand over that type
of information as easily as they might have in the past. I have contacts
working on that. I also accessed his phone records with the help with some of
the same contacts. He made numerous calls to one particular number. It looks
like a cell phone registered to an Andy Carmichael. I have an address for them
in Willowvale, but that’s about it. I am going to keep looking though.”

“I wonder what the payments are for and why he all of a
sudden stopped making payments,” I said more to myself than Wolf.

“Well Bleu, there could be a number of reasons. One, he
was paying some type of voluntary child support. He might have questioned the
paternity of the child and the mother caused some kind of issue. He might be
hiding out from her. Second, he may owe someone money. They could have
threatened him in some way and he fled. There are so many scenarios. Do you
know if he had any enemies?  Or if he had a gambling problem?”

“Well I
do
know that he liked to fool around with
rich girls. But I highly doubt he would borrow money from them or anyone. As
far as a baby? He would tell us. I mean, how in the heck do you hide having a
kid from your family and friends?”

“It’s easier than you think,” he said with a shake of his
head.
“Do you know the name of his current girlfriend? “he asked after a moment.

“Yes I do. It’s funny though, she disappeared around the
same time that he did. We are not on speaking terms she and I. It seems when we
get into a room, sparks fly, and not in a good way,” I replied. He chuckled.

“Her name is Candi Carmichael. She owns a gallery in NYC.
That’s how she met my brother I guess. She had been spending a lot of time with
him,” I replied.

“Okay. That’s perfect. Seeing as how her last name is
Carmichael, which could be the number he was calling. It would make sense if he
is dating her. I am going to go to the address that I have and see if I can dig
up any information in regards to the withdrawals. Since you have worked at the
shop, have you noticed anything strange?” he asked.

“Aside from my brother’s behavior, I
did
have my
truck vandalized. At first I thought it was his girlfriend, but I also know the
neighborhood is less than stellar. Also, his truck and mine are similar, so I
also thought maybe it could have been a scorned one night stand seeking
revenge,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders.

“It could be connected to the break ins at the shop too.
I am going to look into all of this. Hopefully, my contacts come back with the
information I need and we can figure this whole mess out,” he replied, patting
my hand in reassurance.

“Yes. I will be here until tomorrow. You have my cell
right?” He nodded.

“I will hopefully give you a call later this afternoon.”
He stood and I stood as well and we shook hands.  I was hoping he could
find out something from this person he was going to go see. I needed my brother
back, my family whole again.

After the coffee date, I went back to my hotel. I hung
out in the hotel gym for a bit and then went back to my room. Channel surfing,
I waited for Wolf’s call. After all my puttering around, reading my Kindle and
taking a nap, it was almost dinner time and I was overly anxious. I jumped as
my cell phone rang. Glancing at the screen, I saw it was my dad’s cell number.

“Hey Dad, what’s up?”

“What did the detective say?” he blurted out gruffly.

“No hi? No how was your day? Okay I will start. Mine was
fine. Had an exceptionally mediocre cup of coffee this morning, thanks for
asking” I teased. He growled into the phone.

“Bleu stop being a smart ass!” he said. I laughed.

“Ok, ok Dad. Mr. Barnes told me that before I started
working in the shop, like in the past 18 months, there have been three break
ins. The first was just an act of vandalism, but the last two, stuff was
stolen,” I told him.

“Okay, was that all he had to say?” he asked impatiently.
I could picture him running his fingers through his hair nervously, just like
Axel did. I would bet anything he was also pacing.

“No. He said the shop was fine though. It’s Axel and his
personal stuff that raised a flag. There have been some questionable payments
being made out to this one account, well this one person. But they stopped last
month. Mr. Barnes, the detective, he has an address that he is going to check
out today.”

“Why would he be paying someone? How much was it for?”I
sighed.

“One thousand dollars, every month for the past year,” I replied,
twirling a strand of hair around my index finger.  Dad whistled.

“Sounds fishy to me, I agree. Wonder if he is paying
child support or gambling debts? He does not exactly “share” with me, if you
know what I mean,” he replied.

“Normally, he would share with me. Sometimes, he tended
to overshare. But in the last few months, well you know he was a closed book. I
just hope that he is alright. That he did not do something super stupid.”

“Just let me know if you hear anything,” said my Dad,
with a deep sigh.

“How are things at Aunt Almeida’s?” I asked. He chuckled.

“She is driving your Uncle nuts. She is having twins,
both boys. He is sleeping on the couch. I have been fixing stuff up around here
for her.”

“Twins. She does know it’s not Uncle Tangler’s fault for
that right? Grandma was a twin right?” I asked him.

“There is no reasoning with your Aunt when she is
pregnant. Sid and Iris joined sports they don’t even like just to be out of the
house,” he said, referring to my 13 year old cousins. I laughed.

“I am going to go Dad. If I hear anything at all, I will
call you. I promise.” I did not mean to cut him off, but this whole search and
rescue of Axel was getting to me.  I was tired of talking about my
brother, I was pissed that he ditched me and did not tell me what was going on.
I told him everything. And if he was paying child support, and he did not tell
me about a niece or nephew, I was going to kill him. I was just tired.

“Okay princess. I will look forward to hearing from you.
I love you,” he said gruffly.

“Love you too Dad,” I replied and hung up. I lay back on
the bed, staring up at the ceiling. I put my phone on my chest and just wished.
I just wanted my family whole again.

I must have nodded off, because I awoke with a jolt to a
heavy knocking on my hotel door. Getting up as quickly as I could without
breaking my neck, I padded over to the door and slid the deadbolt.  I
gasped as my brother Axel stood before me. He leaned against the doorframe and
looked up at me with his dark eyes.