Page 20

Chapter Twenty

Griffin’s Beach Lex

“ O kay, explain this to me again,” Lex says as she stands with a few of the men in the clubhouse, including Grayson.

The kids are staying with Lily and Phoenix while Lucas has a sleepover at a friend’s house. She’d been hoping for a night of fun with Colt when she showed up at the clubhouse, not Grayson pulling her into whatever plan he has concocted.

“There’s a woman who claims she worked with Nina. In the escort business, albeit not a well-regulated or high-end one that I’ve been able to link them to,” Grayson says. “Nina was seen with this woman multiple times as we tracked her movements over the last few weeks.”

Undertaker growls, and it sounds like thunder. “Nina wasn’t a hooker.”

“You haven’t talked to her for thirteen years,” Brock says. “And we have more than one person admitting they worked together.”

“You don’t fucking know her!” he shouts, slamming his fist on a table so hard it breaks in half. “ I know her.”

No one quite knows how to respond, and Lex looks around the room. She hasn’t seen Jamie in a while. “Hey, where’s your girlfriend?”

“Is that a sick joke?” he asks, his eyes angry.

“Uh… no?”

“She’s fucking dead!”

Eyes wide, she snaps her head to Colt. “Jamie’s dead?”

“Oh, no…” Undertaker says, his tone lower. “She’s fine.”

His entire demeanor has changed, and Lex doesn’t particularly like the picture this whole scenario paints. “Why isn’t she here?”

“Because this is club business.”

“I haven’t seen her in—”

“She’s fine!”

Brock, Colt, and Grayson all gape and take a step backwards while Undertaker glares at Lex. She just smirks at him. “Yell at me again and see how well that goes for you, buddy.”

“Can we just get back to the plan, please?” he asks between clenched teeth.

“Lex, you’ll come with me,” Grayson says, but Lex doesn’t look away from Undertaker to prove a point.

She’s not one he can push around. “The woman, Debbie, is supposed to be at the hotel tonight. She hangs out around back until someone opens the door for her to sneak in the employee entrance to the rooms, and we’re going to catch her before she does. ”

“And you need me because…?”

He smirks, and she finally looks at him. “Because she doesn’t trust men. Not with our clothes on, anyway.”

“And you chose me for this over, say, your wife?”

“I’d rather not put Ashley in danger.”

Stepping back, her eyebrows lift as she scoffs. “Thanks?”

“You can hold your own. You know what I mean.”

“I suppose I should be flattered. Too dangerous for his wife, but just right for Goldilocks who grew up in the club right along with said wife. Yeah, okay.”

“I want to go, too,” Undertaker says.

“Yeah, I’m not going if he does. This isn’t a fun dynamic right now,” Lex says.

The men seem to agree that it would not end well because Brock says, “We have Church. We should be done by the time they’re back from talking to this woman, and we’ll see where to go from there. Let’s give you a distraction.”

Lex kisses Colt and follows Grayson out to his SUV, and they ride to the hotel in silence. She can’t take her mind off of Jamie. The young woman is in an unconventional situation with her man, and the way Undertaker seems to have forgotten who his girlfriend is worries Lex.

“Does Nina look familiar to you?” she asks as they park in the front lot.

Grayson turns to her. “No. Should she?”

“It’s weird, but she kind of looks like me. When I straighten my hair. Which is kind of creepy, but I hope Jamie hasn’t seen her picture. I know she already has insecurities.”

Climbing out of the SUV, Grayson leads her to the side of the building. “I suppose Nina kind of looks like you. Petite, blonde, and blue-eyed. But that’s not really unique or uncommon.”

“Just out here giving me all the complexes tonight, aren’t we?” she jokes as a scream fills the air.

“That might be Debbie,” Grayson says as they run around the side of the building.

Between two dumpsters in a small fenced-in area, a man holds a brunette by the throat as he hits her. “No, that’s Marnie! Come on!” she hisses and leads him back to his car.

“What are we doing?”

“Gimme your keys. He has a gun in his waistband.”

Tossing her the keys, he asks, “How’d you see that?”

He moves to get in the passenger seat, but she stops him. “First of all, if you think I can’t spot a gun in dimly lit places, I’m not sure how much I trust your PI skills. Second, get in the backseat. You’re gonna have to pull her in, and she’s already bleeding.”

She peels out of the parking lot and pulls around the back, flipping on the brights to distract and blind him.

“What are you going to do?”

“Make him a hood ornament if he doesn’t move,” Lex says and presses the pedal to the floor.

The man leaps to the side as Lex whips the wheel to the left and slides to a stop right in front of the dumpsters. Marnie lies on the ground next to them, and Grayson opens the door, pulls her inside, and shuts it.

“Got her,” he says. “And holy shit, that was like movie driving.”

Tossing her phone back to him, she glances in the rearview mirror as she says, “Call the emergency contact number. Put it on speaker.”

Marnie groans, and Grayson looks conflicted. “Uh, okay.”

“You’re going to want to get down and cover her,” she says.

The call rings only twice before Colt answers. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

“Get everyone outside, guns blazing,” she shouts. “We’re about three minutes out—Grayson, get down!”

Gunshots shatter both windshields as Lex ducks down, doing what she can to get out of the line of fire without crashing into anything.

“Lex! Lex!”

“Fucking glass in my hair,” she mutters.

The line goes dead, and she glances back to see Grayson covering Marnie as two cars swerve in behind them. They keep up with every turn and weave she makes.

“More bullets!”

Marnie screams, and Grayson moves them to the floor of the backseat to cover her. “You’ll be okay,” he assures her.

“Duck!” Lex shouts.

“You’re the only one in direct sight,” Grayson mutters.

More gunshots fly, and she turns into the clubhouse parking lot as the back tire is shot, almost causing her to lose control. The guys swarm around the stopped cars, guns aimed. Small guns, big guns, and a grenade launcher.

Where the fuck did we have a grenade launcher?

Most of the men run after the cars as they turn around and hurry away from the lot. Gunshots ring out, and it’ll be a small miracle if Julian or Travis don’t show up tonight.

“Lex!” Colt shouts.

Lex climbs out of the car and hurries to the backseat to help Grayson. “I’m okay, but Marnie’s in the back. We showed up to a guy beating her.”

They help Marnie out, and she staggers on her feet. Lex moves to help stabilize her, guiding her to the clubhouse. “He said I know something,” Marnie says, her head falling backwards. “I was just taking out the trash.”

“Let’s get her inside. Gunner, grab the first aid kit,” Lex calls out. “Come on, babe.”

“I don’t know anything,” she says, her head falling onto Lex’s shoulder. “I’m just the bartender.”

Worried she may need the hospital, Lex sets her on the table. “You’ll be okay.”

“You have glass in your hair.” Reaching out, she picks a piece out and drops it onto the table next to her. “That has to suck.”

Lex laughs and looks into her eyes, checking her pupils. “You have no idea. Your pupils are the same size, which is a good sign. What’s my name?”

“Lex Nichols.”

“Where are you?”

“The clubhouse. I’ve never been in a Chapel before. Not without getting into trouble.” Marnie looks around, her nose crinkled. “You should really look at painting or something. This is a lot of brown.”

Again, Lex laughs. It’s pretty much a running joke at this point. The fake paneling, wood floors, and brown ceilings make it brown on brown on brown.

“I’ll see if I can get Colt to agree to a change. It is rather dull, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know what he thinks I know, Lex,” she says. “Wait…”

Gunner walks in with the first aid kit as Marnie hops off the table, much steadier on her feet now, and she points to a picture of Nina on the board in the corner of the room.

“You know her, babe?”

“She’s the one.”

Venom nearly falls into the Chapel with Undertaker hot on his heels. The relief he feels nearly has him dropping to his knees, but he keeps himself steady as his eyes never leave the brunette.

“What do you mean by that, Marnie?” Lex asks.

“She’s the one who came in and asked if I could get in touch with Frances, but I don’t know anyone with that name. The tattoo, though, I remember memorizing it. She’s the one… I knew… Oh God, I was right.”

Undertaker gasps. “Right about what?”

“That she was going to die.”

“Why didn’t you fucking come to us?” he shouts.

Pushing him backwards, Venom slams him against the wall. “She did!”

“No, she fucking didn’t!”

“Yeah, she did. You went off with your girlfriend you seem to have completely forgotten about,” he says. “The one none of us has seen since that night.”

He points over Venom’s shoulder at Marnie. “You should have come here immediately!”

“Back the fuck off,” Lex warns, stepping in as a secondary barrier between them. His attitude and aggressiveness has officially pissed her off.

“Nina tried to get help because she knew something was off about the guy she was with. The one who did this to her!” Undertaker shouts. “And we’re too late to save her!”

“She wasn’t even looking for you,” Brock says as he and Colt join them. “Did you say she was asking for Frances?”

Marnie clings to Lex’s arm in fear, hiding behind her as Undertaker shouts, “Because I’m Frances!”

Leaning back in surprise, Lex snorts. “Wait, seriously?”

“It was my name before it was changed in the service. Nina was trying to get me to help her.”

“She didn’t know your road name,” Marnie says and peeks around Lex. “Or, I guess, your new name. She was dirty and a bit disheveled when I saw her. Who would’ve thought I actually knew something?”

“How long ago was this?” she asks Marnie.

She swallows and refuses to look at Undertaker. “Um, almost four weeks ago, I think. Give or take.”

“Okay, Brock, can we get video from the hotel restaurant from that time? See if we can find her and the guy she was with?”

He nods. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Oh shit,” Marnie gasps. “Jamie.”

“What about Jamie?” Undertaker asks, and it makes Lex want to reach out and throat punch him for, once again, forgetting his fucking girlfriend.

“She’s at my place. What if they go there to get me?”

Moving towards them faster than Venom can stop him, Undertaker leans over Lex. “What the fuck is she doing at your apartment?”

“Back the fuck off, Frances. Why don’t you know she’s there?” Lex asks, pushing against him. When he doesn’t budge, she kicks him in the knee while Venom and Colt try to pull him backwards. He falls to the ground, and she leans over. “Come at her like that again, and I’m taking out an eye.”

Marnie swallows. “She came to stay with me about a week ago. Said you didn’t love her anymore, and she had nowhere else to go.”

“What?” Lex asks, relieved somewhat at the confusion on Undertaker’s face.

“She heard him tell someone she wasn’t important, and she packed up her stuff. When she came into the bar, she said she was going to have to get a room until she figured out where to go, and I offered to let her stay with me.”

“Where’s your apartment?”

“The building off of second about a block from the hotel. Apartment 2B on the second floor.”

Undertaker takes off, and Lex rolls her eyes. “I wish I would’ve taken out an eye,” she mutters.

“Are you okay?” Venom asks, his eyes locked on Marnie. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

Swallowing, she shakes her head and won’t meet his eyes. “No, I’m okay. I think. Guess going home is out of the question, huh? I get a discount at the hotel—”

“You’ll stay with me,” he interrupts. “That motherfucker won’t be able to get close enough to spit on you.”

Lex tilts her head as Colt moves over to her and removes some of the glass from her hair. “Why would he spit on her?”

“I meant before he could get close enough to her.”

“That’s kind of a gross way to put it.”

He chuckles. “Fair.”

“You don’t have to—”

“Yes, he does. He really, really does,” Lex says. “You’ll want to shower, too. You kind of look like an extra from a horror film, and you probably have some glass in your hair, too. Not like me, but still enough to cause damage.”

“Yeah, it’s like I’m working with barbed wire here, babe,” Colt says. “Let’s go see what we can do in the apartment. Maybe I’ll get lucky and cut off all my fingerprints. The system won’t mean shit.”

Her eyes widen. “Let’s not aim for that because I don’t really want pink highlights. Blood and this hair is basically like washing white shirts with a red sock.”

They leave Venom and Marnie alone, and Lex hopes this jolts him out of his conviction to keep Marnie away. He could have lost her, and he should take advantage of having her safe and sound in his apartment.