Ravage MC: Inflame Me Part 11

My mother places her hand on my arm. "You want to talk about it?"

"No." I shake my head. I definitely don't want to discuss it in front of Dagger of all people.

"Sweetheart, from the noises coming from your room, he didn't sound upset." Mom's hand on my arm squeezes.

I feel the heat rise through my body and up to my face as embarra.s.sment hits me. My mother and Dagger heard us, but in that moment, all I cared about was Rhys.

"It's fine. When are the cops supposed to be here?" I deflect as Dagger shakes his head. I don't want to talk about Rhys. Maybe, if it was just my mom, I would tell her more, but the embarra.s.sment I feel makes me want to move on to something else.

"Couple of hours. You'll be fine. I'll be in the hallway, listening. I won't show my face unless I have to. You stick to the story and the shock of James being dead, and you'll be good," he says like he's done this so many times, and it's not a big deal at all. I don't know whether to be scared as h.e.l.l or impressed.

"Is there food here?" I ask him, needing a distraction. If food is in my mouth, I can't talk.

"A few things. After the cops go, we'll head back to the clubhouse," Dagger says.

My eyes grow wide as a rock falls into my stomach. "I thought we were staying here." The idea of going back to the clubhouse when Rhys is p.i.s.sed at me is not sitting well.

"Nah, it's safer there until we know what these guys want." He sees my lip curl. "You're going to see Rhys, so you better get over whatever s.h.i.+t you to have going on."

"Way to stick up for your daughter," I grumble, leaving the room.

"Tanner." His voice is deep and authoritative. It makes me stop in my tracks. "Club life means brothers and club before everyone, including women and children."

Things start clicking in my head fast: the reason my mother left, the reason she didn't tell Dagger about me.

"That's why ... because you'd never put my mother first in your life," I say to him.

"Tanner." This comes from my mother who eyes me to silence.

"Sweetheart, I would have given your momma everything," he says, which makes my mother gasp. "But that's not your business. You need to remember that whatever happens in the club is none of your business. The only reason we are helping you right now is because we take care of our own, but none of this s.h.i.+t comes down on the club."

So, pretty much I'm s.h.i.+t on the scale of who gives a d.a.m.n.

"Whatever. We'll be gone soon, anyway, and then you can go on with your life." I dart into the kitchen, needing some s.p.a.ce.

DISAPPOINTMENT. Rhys, you're nothing but a disappointment. The sentence trails through my head on repeat. Normally, it's my mother's voice saying it over and over again, but this time, it's Tanner's.

I ride my bike hard and fast down the country roads, trying to clear my f.u.c.king mind. Regardless, those words keep running through my thoughts, pulling me down a path I thought was closed forever.

My mother always told me how much I lacked. Even if she was strung out all the f.u.c.king time, she always made it a point to put in as many jabs as she could. To a kid, that s.h.i.+t sticks with you. It's a f.u.c.king wound that never totally heals.

I know Tanner wasn't aware she struck a chord with me, but f.u.c.king h.e.l.l, she dredged up some s.h.i.+t that I didn't want to put on her lap.

She's right, though. Hooking up with her should have been a onetime gig. I shouldn't have kept going with it. I should have backed the f.u.c.k off right away. I definitely shouldn't have f.u.c.king slept with her in my arms. That was a huge f.u.c.king mistake.

She's way too innocent for this life. f.u.c.k, she's way too innocent for me, even if she melts like b.u.t.ter under my touch. It isn't like I am going to suck her into this life and have her stay with me. f.u.c.k that. I don't want to be tied down. Right?

I shake my head to clear the webs of Tanner out of there. It's better this way, anyway. She needs one of those a.s.sholes who are put together or whatever.

I need to erase Tanner from my mind.

A HEAVY KNOCK comes from the front door.

Dagger grabs my arm and pulls me into the hall. "Remember, I can't protect you and your mom unless you do as I say," he tells me, the sincerity blaring in his eyes.

"I've got it. It'll be all right." I move to the door, looking through the peephole. The first man I see is Griff, whom I met at a couple of my mom and James's parties.

I turn to my mom and nod as she closes her eyes and lets out an exasperated sigh. I then turn the k.n.o.b and open the door, my nerves. .h.i.tting me full force as I stare into the eyes of James's partner and best friend.

"h.e.l.lo."

"Evening, Tanner. We need to ask you and your mom some questions," Griff says with all the formality and power he can muster. c.r.a.p.

"Sure. Come on in." I hold the door open, and Griff and another officer I haven't met before come in.

"Mearna, sorry to have to see you under these circ.u.mstances," Griff says to my mother, moving over to the chair across from her.

"I still can't believe he's dead," Mom says. I have to say she's pretty d.a.m.n good with it. Or maybe she really does feel that way. Whichever, this is good.

"Me, either. This is Officer Miller."

Mom nods at him while I take a seat on the couch at my mother's feet. Before these guys came, I pulled out my makeup and gave her a h.e.l.l of a lot of cover up, just leaving enough to make the car accident a plausible story.

"You said on the phone that you and your daughter decided to go on a road trip. It just happened to be the same day that your house was burned to the ground with James's body inside."

I turn to my mother and see a lone tear fall from her eye. My mother hasn't had it easy in life, working her b.u.t.t off for everything that we had, including helping James pay for that house. s.h.i.+t!

"Yes."

"Why did you decide to leave that morning?"

My mother wipes the stray tear from her face and sniffles. "Tanner kept asking me about her father, and I finally gave in. I told James where we were going, and he told me to be safe." That wasn't a total lie. I had asked about my father over and over again, but not recently.

Griff's eye twitches. "James told you to be safe. Is that all?"

c.r.a.p. Griff knows James. James would have thrown a fit had my mother said she was going to see my father. He didn't like other guys even looking at my mother, let alone for her to pick up and leave.

"Yes," my mother says with the calm of a cat purring.

"Mearna, I've known James a long time. You want me to believe that he said that?" Griff asks.

My mother looks him dead in the face. "He did."

"I don't believe you." He looks at his partner, who eyes him wearily. "There is no way he'd let you out of his sight, let alone to go find Tanner's father, who is part of the Ravage Motorcycle club from what I hear. Didn't know you were a biker b.i.t.c.h." The sneer in his voice has me sitting up in my seat. Here comes the Griff I've met, the one who always made my skin crawl just by being in the same room as him.

"Officer Miller, go out and check the car," he orders. "Where is it?" he asks my mother.

"Garage," she responds.

"Are you sure?" Officer Miller says, and Griff gives him a stare that would breathe fire. I really don't want the other officer to leave right now. "Okay." He gets up and walks out the door.

"I know you did something," Griff starts in the minute the other officer is out the door. "There's nothing of the body left but bones, but I know for a f.u.c.king fact that James would never let you step out of the door to go to another man. You are full of s.h.i.+t. Tell me what you did to him." His eyes pierce my mother and me, and my stomach falls, remembering the knife in my hand and how it felt going in and out of his flesh.

"I did nothing," my mother says honestly, because she didn't.

"Bulls.h.i.+t. I learned that your baby daddy is part of a gang full of criminals, gangsters, murders, drug dealers, and thugs. You want me to believe that James would allow that? What happened? He put you in your place, Mearna?"

Fury builds in my stomach and slowly begins to rise. How dare he feel that everything was okay because James was putting her in her place!

"That's enough," I cut him off.

His icy glare comes to me. "Enough of what?" he spits. "The truth? Maybe I need to start looking into this club you came to."

The fury mixed with panic rises.

"Why? We have nothing to do with what happened to James," I tell him.

"You're a lying, little s.l.u.t. James told me how you threw yourself at him, begging him to f.u.c.k you. Each time, he refused."

My mouth falls to the floor, and I suck in a deep breath. "I never-"

"Save it," he cuts me off. "I believe James over you any day. You're both worthless trash." He rises from the chair, his presence making me quiver.

He moves quickly in front of me, grabbing my arm and pulling me up from the couch with a yelp.

"What are you ...?" Griff's hand comes around my mouth, m.u.f.fling my words, and my mother tries to get up from the couch.

"You stupid little b.i.t.c.h. Maybe I'll just f.u.c.k the answers out of you," he says loudly enough for my mother to hear as he presses his hard erection into my a.s.s. Panic like no other hits. I shake my head and scream no.

"Get your f.u.c.king hands off her," Dagger's voice comes from the entryway of the living room.

I stop struggling and thank G.o.d that Dagger stayed. Dagger's arm is extended, and at the end of it, his hand holds a silver gun. Oh, h.e.l.l. He's threatening a police officer.

"Who the f.u.c.k are you?" Griff stops for a beat. "Oh, you must be the baby daddy."

"d.a.m.n f.u.c.king right, and if you don't let go of my daughter, I'll put a bullet in your f.u.c.king head," Dagger replies.

My eyes move to my mom. She's not saying it with words, but telling me though her eyes that everything is going to be okay. I sure as s.h.i.+t hope so.

"You won't. Officer Miller out there would have your a.s.s," he gloats.

"Oh, you mean Matthew Miller, who owes thirty-seven thousand dollars in credit card bills, not to mention a house on the verge of getting repo'ed. Oh, and he has a wife and three children to take care of. That, Officer Miller?" Dagger's eyes are cold and stony. "You don't think I have something that will make all his problems disappear?"

Griff audibly swallows. "Bulls.h.i.+t."

"You didn't do your research very well." Dagger shakes his head. "We don't put up with bulls.h.i.+t. Let. Go. Of. My. Daughter."

A pin p.r.i.c.kle of fear slides up my spine as Griff pushes me head first into the couch, making me hit my mother's legs.

"Give me your gun, Taser, and whatever the h.e.l.l else you have on you. Slide them across the floor."

Slowly, Griff does what he says, pulling out three guns, a knife, and Taser along with pepper spray.

"Now sit your a.s.s in that chair and tell me everything about the case." Dagger pulls out his phone, and then it looks like he's sending out a text. "Tanner, go outside and stall Officer Miller. When you hear the bikes, you'll know it's time to bring him in."

I nod, not really knowing what the h.e.l.l else I am supposed to do. My mother says to trust him, and I really don't have much of a choice at this point.

I rise and head out to the door. Shakily, I move up to Officer Miller, surprised that Dagger wanted me out here alone, but he must not see this guy as a threat.

"Get everything you need, Officer?"

He turns at my words from examining the car. I suck in a gasp at the look of it. When we drove to the house it was fine, but Dagger said a couple of the guys fixed it. I hadn't seen it until this moment. The front end of the car is completely smashed in, looking exactly like it ran into a tree, just as we told Griff over the phone. I try to hide my reaction quickly.

"Looks cut and dry to me. Are you all right after this big of a hit?" he asks in concern.

"I'm fine." I place my hands in my back pocket. "My mom got a little banged up, but we're good."

He goes around the car, snapping a couple of pictures and writing some things down in his notebook while I stand there and watch him.

"Shame what happened to James," he says at the front of the car.

"Yes. My mother loved him." That isn't a lie. She did until he kept hitting her.

"Understandable."

While the seconds tick into minutes, I feel the anxiety building up quickly. Finally, the low rumble of a motorcycle comes from the distance, and I close my eyes, feeling the comfort surround me with the sound. As the bikes pull into the driveway, Officer Miller comes to stand next to me.

My eyes are glued on Rhys: the way his muscles flex as he maneuvers the bike-heck, the way he looks on the bike. I've never pictured myself having a thing for a guy like Rhys, but it's there.

Even though when he left earlier, it freaked me out, I have never been so happy to see him. He along with several of the club members turn off the engines to their bikes.

"Your father?" Officer Miller asks.

"No," I answer.

I don't wait and practically run up to Rhys and wrap my arms around his neck tightly, sticking my head into his leather and s.h.i.+rt. I feel the tears threatening to fall, but I breathe deeply in and out as his arms come around me. His gloved hands come to the top of my head as he just holds me, my body deciding it's the time for tremors to begin. I don't care that he went out of here p.i.s.sed only a little while ago. None of that matters. What matters right now is that I feel safe in his arms.

"Sprite, where's Dagger?" he asks into my hair.

"In the house. He told me that, when you guys showed up, I was supposed to bring Officer Miller back into the house," I tell him, not lifting my face up, sucking in his scent like I'll never get a whiff of it again, instead.

"Has he been bad to you?" Rhys asks. When I shake my head into his chest, his hand rubs up and down my hair. "Good, baby. Good."

"Rhys," Pops calls out.

I jump, almost forgetting that all of the guys are there and the h.e.l.l that I'm in.

"House," he answers. "Officer Miller, come with us."