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CHAPTER FOUR

Declan

I’ve been staring at this pile of papers on my desk for most of the afternoon, and though I’ve sorted through a lot, it doesn’t look like I’ve scratched the surface. I wish I could delegate this part of the job to someone else. Thankfully, I can pawn the payroll and receivables off on Jayde. She loves that kind of shit.

My cell phone ringing gives me an excuse to not deal with paperwork for at least a few minutes, and I welcome the distraction.

“Hello.”

“Mister O’Malley?” a woman’s voice asks.

“Yes.”

“This is Mrs. Monroe at Oakridge Elementary. I’m calling because Carter Dupree is here in the office. His mother never showed up after school to get him and she has your name listed as his emergency contact. Would you please come and get Carter, sir?”

Checking the clock on the wall, I see it’s nearly six o’clock.

“The after-school program will be closing soon, and we haven’t been able to reach Ms. Dupree.”

I’m already out of my seat and headed out of the office to get my bike.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in a few minutes. Can I speak to Carter?” I ask.

I listen as Mrs. Monroe speaks with Carter. Her voice is muffled.

“Hello. Mister Declan,” Carter says, his voice sounding unsure.

“Hey Little Man, you all right?”

“Y-yes sir. But Mama didn’t show up to get me. I think maybe she got busy at work. She’s not answering my calls.” He’s speaking softly into the phone, like he doesn’t want the people around him to hear. “She told me you might have to pick me up today.”

“She did, huh?” That’s interesting since she didn’t say shit to me. “You sure you’re okay, bud?”

“Mmhmm.”

“I’m going to call Ethan as soon as I hang up with you and find out what time your mom is getting off, okay?” I’m outside Garrison’s office now, mounting my bike, ready to take off. “I’ll be there in a few minutes. You stay in the school office until I get there. Got me?”

“Yes, sir.”

We hang up, I start my bike, throw on my helmet and call Ethan. His phone rings twice before his voice comes over my blue tooth.

“What’s up, Dec?” I hear the sounds of gloves slapping and people talking in the gym's background.

“Is Violet there? The school called me and said she didn’t show up to get Carter.”

“Uh, no man. She called out this morning. Said she wasn’t feeling well. I didn’t argue, not wanting her to come in here sick.”

Maybe she fell asleep and forgot.

“Skyler’s finally gotten past her morning sickness. It would suck if she caught some kind of bug.”

I smile at the pride in Ethan’s voice. He and his wife, Skyler, announced she’s almost five months pregnant at the club a few nights ago. He’s been driving her crazy with his overprotectiveness. They lost a baby many years ago and are both so fucking happy now. It’s the only reason I think Skyler’s letting Ethan get away with his bullshit. The night they announced her pregnancy to the club, Ethan slapped a virgin pina colada out of her hand, thinking she was drinking a real one. He’s been hovering over her about what she eats lately. I give it a week before she goes off on him or drops him on his ass. Little Mama has some fighting skills of her own.

“Did you try Violet’s house?” Ethan asks.

“Not yet. I need to go grab the kid first. After-school care is closing and they want him picked up.”

“All right. You want me to head over there and check on her?” The motion in the background tells me Ethan’s already on the move. “If she slept through picking up Carter, she could need a doctor. I can meet you over there after you grab Carter,” he offers.

“Yeah, that’ll work. Thanks, brother.” We hang up just as I’m pulling into the school parking lot. I back my bike into a space near the office and set the kickstand down, pulling my helmet off and setting it on the seat.

Making my way to the front of the building, I stop and wait for the guard to buzz me in. That’s new. We didn’t have that shit when I was growing up. It’s weird to see.

When the lock disengages, I enter to the sound of kids’ voices echoing down the halls. I make a left and head into the door marked office and am nearly knocked off balance by Carter’s body slamming into me.

“You came.”

I rustle his dirty blond hair with my hand. “Hey, kid.”

“Thank you for getting me,” Cater says as he pulls away.

“Did you think I wouldn’t?” I smile down at him, and he shrugs, not meeting my eyes.

“Hi. You must be Mr. O’Malley. I’m Mrs. Monroe. We spoke on the phone.” She’s an older woman with a white bun and red cat-eyeglasses. The way she looks me up and down, her eyes locking onto my cut, tells me I’m not at all what she expected to see picking up Violet’s kid.

It makes sense, I guess. Violet is a conservative dresser, shy, unless she’s had a few drinks and is very private. This lady probably expected someone in a suit or nice polo shirt to walk through her doors. Not a biker in faded jeans, a t-shirt, and a leather cut.

She doesn’t know I own a bar and work for a security company. Doesn’t matter. My little dove chose me to take care of her kid, so that’s what I’m here to do. Pearl clutching old bitty be damned.

“If I could just verify your ID, then if you would sign Carter out here, you boys can be on your way.”

I do as she asks, handing her my ID and signing the paperwork releasing Carter into my care.

“I do hope Ms. Dupree is all right,” she says, handing my ID back. Her brows raise expectantly, as if I’d tell her shit even if I knew. Instead, I tell her the same bullshit Violet told Ethan.

“She’s home, sick from work. I’m sure she’s just resting and had her phone turned off.” I don’t have a fucking clue if Violet is home or sick, but my gut says she’s neither. Carter’s confused expression only serves to further my suspicions.

Carter follows me outside, his eyes lighting up when he sees my bike.

“I get to ride on your motorcycle. Sweet.” He takes off running for my bike and I chuckle.

“Hold up a minute, kid. We need to go over the rules first.” He skids to a stop just before his hands reach the seat. He holds them up and turns to face me.

“Sure,” he says, standing tall as he tightens the straps on his backpack, rocking on his heels.

“First, we need to put my helmet on you. It’s going to be a little big, but it’ll have to do for now.”

“What will you wear?” he tilts his head, curious.

“I don’t need a helmet. But I’m already going to get a verbal lashing from your mom when she realizes I put you on my bike and not in a cage. So, do us both a favor and wear the helmet. Maybe she’ll be a little less pissed if she sees I at least took the time to protect your head, yeah?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Motorcycles scare her.” She seemed to be fine with it after the ride we took yesterday. She was still nervous on the way back to work, but I chalked it up to the conversation more than the bike.

“Good man. Now, you’ll need to hold on tight to me. Since this is your first ride, you can hang on to my waist or hold on to my shoulders. But you hold on tight, got it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Once you get used to it, you’ll be able to hold on to the seat.” His eyes sparkle and his smile widens at the promise he’ll get to ride again. “Third, you sway when I sway. If you don’t follow my movements, we’ll have problems.”

Carter nods enthusiastically. “Yes, sir.”

I step close to him, ready to put the helmet on him, when he quietly asks, “Do you think my mama is okay? She wasn’t sick this morning. But she told me you might pick me up. But not this late.”

“Sorry about that, kid. I must’ve missed a message telling me to get you today. It was pretty busy at work today.” I hate lying to the kid, but I don’t have enough information to know what I should or shouldn’t say.

Leaning down with my hand on his shoulder, I look him in the eye. “How about this? We’ll ride over to your house and see for ourselves. She told Ethan she was feeling sick this morning. Maybe she went to bed and slept through her alarm to get you.” I doubt it, but I don’t have any other ideas that would be suitable to tell a kid without proof. Besides, there’s no reason to worry him any more than he already is.

I put my helmet on his head, and it looks ridiculous, but he doesn’t care. He thinks he’s the shit and I’m going to let him believe it. I climb on first, then instruct Carter on how to climb on behind me and to keep his feet on the pegs.

“Is this what the guys mean when they say riding bitch?” Carter asks, and I can’t help the laughter that rumbles out of me.

“Yes. But you shouldn’t talk like that, kid. Your mama will have your ass, and mine, if she hears you say that.”

“But I hear Hawk say stuff like that all the time. And I wasn’t cussing at you. I was just asking a question,” he says, sounding so innocent.

“First, Hawk is someone you look at and determine what not to say, not the other way around. He’s not what you would call a good example. And while I get that you hear me and the guys talking like that all the time, your mom doesn’t want you saying shit like that.” I reprimand.

“Do you cuss around your mom?” Carter asks.

Smart kid.

“Hell no.” The lie slides off my tongue easily. My mother’s heard far worse, but I’m not stupid enough to tell a kid it’s okay to swear around his mother. Especially when I’m trying to get her to trust me and take a chance on this thing we’ve got going on between us.

“Listen. Sometimes men say things, they talk a certain way around other guys, but we don’t say those things in front of our mothers. It’s disrespectful.”

Carter tilts his head as if thinking over what I’ve said. “You mean like a guy code?”

“Sure. We’ll go with that.”

“Okay. So, I can curse around you and the guys, but not around Mama.” I see him smiling in the mirror.

Little shit.

I turn my head to look at him over my shoulder. “I’m not going to say yes to that, Little Man. Your mama would be pissed at me, and I need her to like me. You get what I’m saying?”

“Okay. How about we make a deal?” he says, crossing his arms over his chest. I turn as far as I can to see his face, knowing I’m about to be swindled by a ten-year-old.

“What do ya got?” I ask, amused.

“I’ll put in a good word for you, help you get on my mama’s good side, and you let me say curse words when she’s not around.” He puts his hand out for me to shake. “Deal?”

I throw my head back and laugh.

“You’re pretty good, kid.”

“Is that a yes?”

I take his little hand firmly in my big one and squeeze. “Deal. But if Violet catches you cussing, I’ll deny we ever had this conversation. You got me? You get caught; you are on your own.”

“Got it.” He smiles. I slam the visor shut on his face and the little punk laughs harder.

I turn back around to face front, start the bike, and take off for their apartment.

It takes us fifteen minutes to navigate traffic and arrive at their building with Carter whooping and hollering the entire way.

Ethan is waiting in the parking lot, leaning against his bike with his arms crossed. I park beside him and cut the engine.

“Did you go up?” I ask.

Ethan nods. “No answer. Called her phone, too. Nothing.” He looks over my shoulder at Carter, who's taken off my helmet and now looks nervous. “You have a key, kid?” he asks Carter. He takes my helmet off, setting it on the seat, and nods.

“Come on, kid. Let’s go see if your mom’s okay.”

The three of us make our way into the building and up the stairs. When we get to their door, I knock three times, announcing our presence.

Nothing.

Carter is looking at the ground playing with his backpack straps, shifting the bag around the front of his body. He opens the small pocket in the front where he has a key safety pinned to the inside. Unhooking the safety pin, he removes the key and hands it to Ethan.

I look at Ethan, and he nods. I move Carter behind me and keep my hand on the pistol I tucked into my pants back at the bike before following Carter into the building. Ethan opens the door.

Ethan enters first. I follow, holding Carter back with me. Ethan moves through the apartment, his gun in hand.

Reaching around, I move Carter in front of me, not taking my eyes off the hallway over his shoulder. Ethan moves from room to room, nodding as he passes.

“Carter, did your mom say anything to you this morning when she dropped you off at school?” I ask, watching him closely as he continues to fiddle with his backpack, putting it back on over his shoulders.

“She told me to be good. She loves me, and to listen to you when you came to get me today.”

“Wait. She told you I would be coming to get you today,” I ask, confused and frustrated. “Why the hell didn’t she tell me?” I grumble to myself. I don’t mind helping Violet with the kid if she needs me to, but why wouldn’t she call and ask me? At least tell me she was going to drop him in my lap for a while.

“She said she had something to do and if she didn’t make it back in time, you would come get me and I’m supposed to listen to you until she gets back.” He wipes his hand across the back of his neck. “Are you mad?”

“Not mad, just confused,” I answer honestly. “Why didn’t you tell me this at the school?”

“Mama doesn’t like strangers knowing our business.”

“Did your mom say where she was going? What she had to do?” I ask.

Carter shakes his head.

“The place is empty,” Ethan says, coming back into the living room. “Nothing looks out of place. But I found this.” He hands me an envelope with my name scribbled on the front.

I nod, standing to my full height. “Grab your things for the night, Carter. Whatever you’ll need for bed and a change of clothes for tomorrow. We’ll come back with a cage if it looks like you’ll be staying longer than tonight.”

He heads down the short hallway to his room. We hear him opening and closing drawers, doing as he was told.

I rip open the envelope and unfold the handwritten note.

Dear Declan,

I’m sorry to drop my problems in your lap, but I need your help. I need to leave town for a few days, and I need someone to watch over Carter for me while I’m gone. I would ask Skyler, but she has enough on her plate with her morning sickness and trying to keep Ethan from worrying over her.

I hope you don’t mind, but you were the only other person I knew I could trust to keep him. Carter trusts you. He looks up to you and the guys. If you could just keep him with you for a few days at your place and watch over him for me, I’d greatly appreciate it.

I’ve left a business card for a lawyer as well as the attached written consent for you to be his guardian in my absence. I’ll explain what I can when I return.

Please tell Carter I love him and take care of him. You told him once he was a little King, and the Kings take care of their own. I’m trusting you to keep your word and take care of him as if he was yours.

Thank you.

Love,

Violet

“What’s it say?” Ethan asks. I fold the letter and tuck it into my pocket.

“She had to leave town for a few days, and she’s made me his guardian in her absence.”

“You think she’s in trouble?” It’s not a question.

“I have no fucking clue, but she told the kid if she didn’t come to get him, I would. This letter grants me guardianship over the kid. She even left me a business card to her lawyer.”

“She planned this.” Ethan’s expression mirrors my own frustration. “Why? She wouldn’t just leave her kid unless she was afraid of something.”

“Or someone,” I suggest. “Call Hawk. Have him dig deeper into her alias. See if he can find anything else. Maybe he can comb through the footage of the outside apartment cameras with Wyatt. Whatever is going on, she doesn’t know if she’ll be back. It’s the only reason I can see for her to give me legal custody of him.”

“Why you? Why not Skyler?” Ethan asks, his hands raised when I scowl. “I just mean Skyler and Lilah have been helping keep an eye on Carter whenever Violet needed a sitter. It would make sense to ask us to keep him if she needed to go somewhere.”

He’s right. They would be the more likely choice.

“Something tells me Violet didn’t just need a sitter for the kid. She wants him protected.”

“We’d protect him,” Ethan says, sounding offended.

“I know you would, brother. Violet was terrified about her information getting out the night she had to go to the hospital after the fight in Devil’s Canyon. When they gave her some pain meds, she kept asking me to promise I’d keep Carter safe,” I confess. “I didn’t know what she was talking about. Thought maybe she was concerned about how he would take the news about her being accidentally stabbed. I’ve asked a few times since, but she always shuts me down.”

“You think the kid knows something?” Ethan tilts his head toward the bathroom door, where Carter has just disappeared. It sounds like he’s digging through the cabinets, letting the hinged doors slam as he does.

“I’m not sure what he knows. But I’m going to find out.” I pull my phone out and shoot off a text to Wyatt at Garrison.

Me: I need a sweep of the cameras in Violet’s building over the last twenty-four hours. Get Hawk to help you. Look for anyone suspicious coming or going. I also want to know when she left and if she’s been back.

Wyatt: On it.

Me: Can you check traffic cams and find out which way she went?

Wyatt: I’ll see what I can find.

Once I’m sure Wyatt will do as I asked, I text Gabe.

Me: Pres we may have a situation. Violet is missing.

Gabe: What do you mean missing? Where’s the kid?

Me: With me and Ethan. I’m taking him to my place.

Gabe: Cops know?

Me: No. She left a note, but something isn’t right. Wyatt’s skimming the camera footage now. I asked him to get Hawk on it with him.

Gabe: Get the kid situated. Church tomorrow seven a.m.

Me: Make it nine. I have to get the kid to school first.

Gabe: Nine then.

“I’m going to check her room. See if she left any signs of where she’s headed. Watch the kid for me,” I tell Ethan.

Violet’s room is nothing like I would’ve expected. It’s plain, except for the floral cover on the bed. There are no other accents that would suggest this is a woman’s space. No colorful pillows or curtains. No photos on the walls or the nightstands. Even the lamps are white, nothing special.

It’s like she doesn’t want anyone to know she lives here.

Opening her closet door, I shift the clothes around. I’m not sure what I’m looking for, but something in my gut tells me I need to find it. I slide her clothes to the side and see her shoe rack on the floor, neatly organized by color. The top shelf of the closet has a couple of small duffle bags folded over and a box marked Christmas, but the rest of the shelf space is relatively empty. Turning to the other side, I find several jackets hung up in a row with a few dresses. Again, nothing fancy, but again not what I would expect to find in a woman’s closet.

I’ve seen women’s closets. Even the club whores’ closets have more clothing in them than Violet’s does.

Moving over to the bathroom, it’s the same. Tidy and plain, except for a couple of light blue rugs on the floor. I check the drawers. Nothing seems to be out of place. It’s all typical girly shit. It doesn’t even look like she took her toothbrush with her. And I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have left without her birth control pills unless she was in a hurry and just forgot.

My hackles are raised.

I don’t know enough about my dove to know what could spook her enough to leave her son, and not tell anyone what’s going on, or where she’s gone.

On my way out of the bathroom, as I’m passing the dresser, a shiny piece of black paper catches my eye. It’s sticking out from under the lid of a box made of colorful popsicle sticks with a sticker glued to the top that says Happy Mother’s Day, and I’m sure Carter made for his mom. I lift the lid and grab the piece of paper out. It’s a business card for the Velvet Pearl. It’s not uncommon for the women to go watch the shows there from time to time, so I don’t find it particularly concerning. But what I find laying under the black card has my protective instincts on high alert and my blood running hot. It’s another business card—one I recognize immediately—one that belongs to someone my dove shouldn’t even know exists.

Trident Elite Forces

Kayce Eaton

Owner

“Fuck!”

My life just took a turn I never saw coming, and my little Dove has some serious explaining to do when I find her.