Page 43 of Lies Beneath Secrets (Skeleton Crew #1)

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Con

Moving around the room, trying to be as quiet as possible, I pull on a pair of jeans and grab my boots before closing the door behind me, taking one last look at Lauren asleep on the bed. Her hair is splayed across the pillow, and the blanket is kicked all the way down to the bottom of the bed with only the sheet covering her still-naked body. Leaving her here doesn’t sit right with me, but I need to check on my daughter. She has been with Kendra for far too long. Being an absentee dad isn’t on my list of things I want to accomplish. I almost wake up Lauren and make her come with me, but King would most likely cause more trouble if I were to do that. The women who come to the club to become members aren’t allowed to leave until their kill is complete, and they’re a fully patched member. Lauren won’t be any different.

I give her one last look before closing the door and locking it behind me. No one else has a key to this room, and that means she won’t be leaving it either. It’s early enough that the club is still quiet. Everyone has gone to their rooms except for Brucie, who’s passed out on the floor under the pool table with a woman I haven’t seen before. I pay them no mind and step outside. It’s a stark contrast from the weather we’ve been having today. The sun is out, and it seems like a forty-degree day already, and it isn’t even noon yet.

The ride to Knox’s place is short and when I get there, Gabby is already awake, having breakfast with Kaleb. “Daddy,” she squeals and runs over to me, syrup from her pancakes sticking to the leather of my cut. I laugh and pick her up into my arms.

“Hey, kiddo. I missed you.” I hug her close until she wiggles for me to put her down. “Been having fun?” She nods, and I look over at Kaleb.

“Where is Kendra?”

“Asleep.” He shrugs. “I don’t think an earthquake would wake her up.” I laugh and take a pancake from the stack he most likely made. Rolling it up, I dip it into the syrup still on Gabby’s plate and take a bite.

“Some unexpected stuff went down in the last couple days and it needs my attention,” I say swallowing down the last bite. “Are you and Kendra okay helping out a little bit longer? It’s not ideal but?—”

“We got it.” He waves me off. “Don’t even have to ask. We’re family.” He looks over at Gabby and winks, getting a smile from her.

“We are,” I agree, then bring my focus over to Gabby. “I know I’ve been gone a lot, but that doesn’t mean I’m leaving.”

“You need to get the bad men,” Gabby says, catching me off guard.

“Bad men?” I glance over at Kaleb in question.

“Not sure. She said something similar the other day, but I didn’t know what she was talking about.”

“What bad men, Gabby?” She shakes her head, so I don’t keep trying to ask. “Okay.” I nod in understanding. “I’ll get the bad men,” I tell her and stand. She seems happy with my answer, so I leave it at that.

* * *

“Con, I want you and Jasper riding up to Michigan to bring that shipment back. Flatliners are paying double for this one. Law enforcement is crawling all over the place, they’re going to try a different route,” King says. It’s day fucking four of Lauren being held at the clubhouse, and I’ve only been to see my kid once each of those days. I know she’s safe at least. Unlike Lauren, who has been submerged in the den of wolves. All King would need to do is say he changed his mind, and the guys would be all over her. So being assigned to go on the run is too suspicious. Either way, I nod and accept.

“Knox. There’s a meet up I want you to be my proxy for. Small rally in Ohio, see if you can’t get some recruiting done. Our club needs to grow.” Murmurs of agreement come from the brothers.

“Weather looks good. Should be a smooth but cold as fuck ride.” Knox laughs. “Maybe we should relocate further south?” he jokes. Being in one of the coldest fucking states and part of a motorcycle club seems stupid, hell we don’t get to even ride our bikes over half the year sometimes. This is still home though.

“Maybe we invest in some snowmobiles this winter?” Pace says, and everyone laughs. King is unimpressed though.

“Shut the fuck up. Think this is a comedy club or something?” He smacks the gavel down and glares at everyone. “Now. Pace, you can go with him, no mentioning fucking snowmobiles again, or I’ll shoot you.” King stands up from the table and storms out of the room.

“The hell is up his ass?” Pace says and stands up as well. We wait for the others to leave the room before talking to each other.

“A recruiting run?” Knox says, brows raised. “When the fuck have we ever done that?”

“He wants us to split up.”

“Yeah.” Knox looks over at the door, then back at me. “He’s going to take you out on that run.” I nod in agreement. I pushed it too far in front of everyone with Lauren. Tested his patience, and now he’s going to remove me from the situation all together.

“We need to get her out of here,” Pace declares. “Siena can help. They seem to be getting along. Lauren would trust her.”

“I agree. We need a distraction though. When do we play the cop card? Shane could come by asking about Boe’s murder. He's done it before. He can say they’re following a lead. Get them all out here so Siena has a chance to sneak Lauren out the back.” It’s a shit plan but damn, I can’t conjure up any other ones right now.

“Works for me,” Knox says. “I’ll hide in the truck with you and Jasper. Pace can trail behind and keep an eye out for anything that might go down.” I shake my head, laughing.

“Fuck, if we come out of this alive, it will be one hell of a miracle.”

“That’s for sure, brother.” Knox shakes his head.

“We got you the whole way. Just be alert. My guess is when the drop goes down, they will use the Flatliners to off you. Cause a shoot-out so they don’t seem liable. That’s what I would do.” Knox shrugs. “It’s a mess but takes blame from the club. Might even start a war.” King would benefit from a war with them. If the club wins, they can take over the supply chain.

“You just make sure you don’t catch a stray bullet. If something happens to me, I’m going to need someone to take care of my girls.” The thought pains me, but Knox would do right by them. Knox nods in understanding.

“Speaking of, did you happen to catch how Lauren reacted to that picture I gave back to her the other night?” Knox asks. “She looked almost shocked to see it.”

“Maybe.” I try to recall that moment. She was a bit quiet when she put it in her pocket.

“I copied down those numbers on the back before I gave it to her. One is a routing number to a bank. The other one is the account number. Account is in her name.”

“Suppose writing that on the back of a picture would be strange,” I admit, wondering where Knox is going with this.

“Got me thinking, so I checked out the mother.”

“The mother? Lauren’s?”

Knox nods. “That one. Went over the visitors log. You know who saw her once a week since she was put there? Our very own Gabe. Right up until two weeks before Boe was killed. He must have thought it was so far off the club’s radar since he used his actual name to sign in as a visitor.”

“What’s the connection?” I ask, wondering what the hell he’s trying to get at. Sometimes, the guy really does take his time making a point.

“Found an empty picture frame in the woman’s room, tucked away in one of the drawers,” he says.

“So what? The picture came from the mom’s room?” Pace now asks, getting involved.

“Gabe’s handwriting too,” Knox declares.

“You know Gabe’s handwriting?” Pace scoffs.

“Fucker was the club treasurer. When I first started, he showed me how he kept track of all the money the club made. Where it went and who it went to,” Knox says as if offended at Pace’s question. “So yeah, I know what the man’s writing looks like, you fucking ass.”

“All right.” Pace holds up his hands in surrender.

“So, this account, you think Gabe wrote those numbers on there, then what? Left the picture in Lauren’s apartment the night he died?” If that’s correct, then the next question is why.

“Could be. And it could also be why King didn’t kill Gabe right away. I think King has been looking for that money.”

“I did think it was strange he didn’t just off him right then and there. Anyone would have. Probably was tracking him that night too. Staged Len cutting him loose in hopes he’d lead him to what he wanted.” Only it led him to Lauren unfortunately. There are too many questions and not enough answers.

“What’s the connection to Lauren’s mom then?” Pace asks bringing the conversation back to Laurens mother.

“Fuck if I know. Maybe Gabe knew her from before? That old lady of his, Maria, they’d been together for years. So going to see some woman in assisted care doesn’t fit together unless there was a connection. Far as I can tell though, they didn’t know each other. Lauren’s mom had a stroke two years ago. Before that, she was married to that real estate guy who died in the car accident.” I think back to when I heard about that. This being a smaller town and all, when something like that happens, people tend to hear things. Car crashes happen every day but when the car crashes and goes up in flames, burning the person inside alive, that story seems to get told more than usual.

“Lauren doesn’t say much about her mom, and she sure as hell hasn’t mentioned him to me.” Matter of fact, Lauren is a damn closed book. I think back to the other night when I walked in and found her burning herself. I had seen the scars before on the night she was drugged when I needed to change her clothes but witnessing her in the act was something entirely different. All I wanted to do was wrap her in a hug and protect her, even if that meant protecting her from herself.

“I could question the sister,” Knox suggests.

“The sister? What do you think you’ll get from her? From what I can tell, she has avoided this place and their mother.” The last thing I need is for Knox to get Lauren’s sister involved in this shit.

“Just think she could shed a little light is all.”

“Don’t even think about it,” I warn him.

“Think about what?” He chuckles and feigns ignorance.

“She’s a married woman, to a damn mayor even. That’s a whole lot of trouble you’d be asking for,” I warn him.

“I’m no home wrecker.” He looks over at Pace as if he will come to his defense.

“Don’t look at me, brother. I know how much you like a challenge.” Pace laughs, shaking his head.

“Just leave it be. I’m on thin ice enough as it is with Lauren. I don’t need you busting up her sister’s life because you were wiggling your bean,” I scold Knox.

“Bean?” Knox barks out a laugh. “Try beanstalk.” I shake my head. “You talk to Siena. I’m going to make sure Lauren knows the plan. Let’s try not to get fucking killed.” I leave them both to go to the room Lauren is locked up in. Taking out the key, I open it up to find her sitting up at the head of the bed arms wrapped around her legs with her head resting on her knees.

“Bad dream?” Without moving, her gaze flicks up to me, and she gives the slightest head nod. “This nightmare will all be over soon.” I try to reassure her as I go to sit by her side.

“It’s not a nightmare.” She raises her head now. “Just an… inconvenience.” I chuckle at her take on the situation.

“You would say being kidnapped by a biker club was an inconvenience.” I reach up and run my fingers through her hair. It’s draped over one shoulder and slightly tangled. When I reach a snag, I decide to go back up and grip it in my hand to drag her closer to me. She whimpers slightly when our lips connect before my tongue demands entry. “Come here,” I say and pull her from under the covers so she’s straddling me. My hand leaves her hair to palm each side of her face. “I need you to listen very carefully to what I’m going to say.”

Chapter

Lauren

When Con pulls me to his lap, I don’t think there will be much talking. I am very wrong. “King is going to try to kill both of us today,” he says, and I can’t help the laugh that bubbles from my chest.

“Really? Today? How is today different from any other day?”

“It just is, okay?” he growls and smacks my ass as best he can, given the angle. “Now listen.” His brow crease deepens, and a darkness drifts into his eyes. “I need to go on a run. Siena is going to get you at some point today and sneak you out of the clubhouse. You’ll need to walk to Knox’s place. He has a safe-room in the basement. Gabby, Kaleb, and Kendra will be there. If anything happens, that’s where all of you will go. Stay there and do not under any circumstances open that door unless me, Knox or Pace comes for you. Got it?” As much as my mind is screaming at me to make a joke and break the seriousness of this conversation, I know now is not the time, so I nod. “Say it, Lauren.”

“I understand, Con. I won’t open it.” He nods, then pulls something out from behind his back. He produces a black gun with a gray handle.

“You ever shoot a gun before?” I nod, remembering how hard the thing flung me backward.

“My mom dated some redneck guy who had a room full of them. He was adamant that aliens would land on earth, and we would have to defend…” I pause, noticing that his face has gone from serious to more of a surprised slash curious look. So, I decide to just get right to the point. “Yes. I have.”

“One of these days when we aren’t buried in so much shit, I want to hear everything about your life before me.” I laugh at him.

“Sure.” Con shakes his head, knowing full well that my ‘sure’ means no.

“If anyone who isn’t Siena comes through that door,” he points at the door to the room, “I want you to kill them.”

“What about?—”

“Anyone,” he says, cutting me off. “I won’t be back before she comes to get you.” I nod and take the gun from him. “It’s loaded.” I nod and move to get off his lap, but he holds me still. “One more,” he whispers and brushes his lips against mine. This time, much softer than when he first came into the room. Nothing about Con has been soft since I found out who he really was. While Conner was who I started to fall for, Con is who I crashed into at full force. There isn’t any going back. I’ll be a part of this now whether I like it or not. Deep down, I know that.

I just might not have fully accepted it.