Page 17

Lacey

A fter another night in Rebel’s bed, I was all-in with building this relationship with him. So was he. I could tell because this morning he talked me into staying at his place while my parents were gone. I agreed almost before he got the words out of his mouth because not only was I shamelessly eager to spend more time with him, I wasn’t wild about spending so much time all alone in their huge house. It made me feel lonely, to tell the truth.

Since I hadn’t picked up a change of clothing after work yesterday, we went to my parents’ house to pack an overnight bag. On the way there in my car, he told me, “I was thinking that maybe you should just pack a suitcase or two rather than continue trying to stuff everything into an overnight bag.”

“My folks are only supposed to be gone for three or four days.”

“Well, they don’t need to be gone for you to want to spend some time with me.”

Without taking my hands off the wheel, I shot him a side glance. “And sleeping together is a great way to get to know each other better, right?”

“Don’t be like that. You know I’m not with you for the fringe benefits. I just like being with you and I’d be a fool not to at least offer you the opportunity to stay with me. I won’t get mad if you say no.”

Feeling guilty for being snarky with him, I immediately tried to make it right. “I’ll pack a suitcase. If I’m staying a few days, it makes sense not to have to worry about what I’m going to wear every day.”

“That’s my girl,” he said warmly, making me smile again.

I didn’t know why but when we pulled into my parents’ driveway, I started to feel really unsettled. Apparently, Rebel could tell something was up just by looking at my expression.

“What’s wrong, Lacey? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

We climbed out of the car and stood looking at the front of my parents’ house. It looked like it always did. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was off. My Spidey senses were going off wildly, cautioning me to stay away.

“I don’t know. My gut instinct is telling me something is wrong.”

His hand went for the holster he wore at the small of his back, “Look carefully, Lacey. Is anything out of place?”

The closer I looked, the more I realized what my unconscious brain had been picking up. “The blinds are closed. My parents normally keep them open and close the curtains instead when they’re not at home.”

“Anything else?”

“Yeah, the chair near the door is turned at an angle. My mom likes to have the back flat against the house.”

“Alright, that’s enough. I’m going inside. If I don’t come out within fifteen minutes or if you hear gunfire, call the police.”

“Let’s just call the police right now. I don’t want you to risk your life when that’s what law enforcement gets paid to do.”

“Nah, I’m fine. Just remember what I told you and do it.”

“Okay,” I told him, not knowing what else to do. Watching him walk up the front sidewalk gave me chills. I told myself that I was being absurd but still couldn’t shake the bad feeling.

I knew something was terribly wrong when he reached out and shoved the door open. Jesus, the door was not only unlocked, it was ajar. He walked in with his gun held high. As the seconds ticked by, I didn’t hear gunshots or any noise that indicated there was an intruder. Eventually, he came to the front door again and motioned for me to come close. The look of stone-cold fury on his face played in my mind as I headed up the driveway and stepped into the house.

What I saw inside was a sickening reenactment of what went down at my office. Someone had broken into my parents’ house, only instead of totally trashing the place, they just made a huge mess when they ransacked the house. The thought occurred to me that whoever did this had more ground to cover and therefore didn’t really have time to commit the kind of destruction of property that took place at the office. Then I realized that if I hadn’t been staying with Rebel, I might have been home when they broke in.

I dropped down onto the sofa while Rebel called it in. My brain was working overtime trying to figure out who did this and what they could possibly want from me and my family. If I was being honest, this didn’t seem like something our former employees would do. Zoe and I had turned our attention in their direction for lack of better options. And Rebel had been incredibly thorough in eliminating almost everyone else who might have harbored a grudge against me or my parents.

I was working so hard at trying to unravel the mystery in my mind that I didn’t realize he had called his club president rather than the police. I only figured it out when he used Storm’s name. I looked up at him, confused.

When his call ended, he announced, “My club brothers will be here shortly. They’re bringing our police contact from Griffinsford PD.”

“Why not call the police directly?” I asked.

Rebel shrugged, “You saw what a mess they made of your office and the half-assed investigation. Our contact is a good man. Having him be eyes on first at least gives us a chance of a proper investigation happening.”

It only took a second for my shock and disbelief at what had happened to give way to white hot fury. “I don’t know who in the hell is targeting my family, but I plan to get to the bottom of it.”

Rebel sat beside me. “I’ll be real honest with you, sweetness. That anger you’re feeling will be a lot more useful than that lost kitten, deer-in-the-headlights thing you do.”

I wanted to argue that I didn’t do that, but that would be a lie. My first response to trouble usually wasn’t all that helpful in terms of dealing with a crisis. In my own defense, I’ve never been through anything remotely this horrible before. Instead of admitting to that, I turned my head away.

When he put his arm around me again, I let him. I was angry at whoever did this, not at Rebel for pointing out the obvious. I didn’t want to misplace my anger, so I just let him hold me and tell me all about how everything was going to be okay. Inside, I was still simmering though.

Thankfully, it didn’t take Storm and their police friend very long to arrive. When they rang the bell, Rebel went to the door to let them in. Instead of coming in, the officer immediately wanted everyone outside. I walked to the door and followed them out.

Once on the porch, the officer explained. “I don’t know what went down with the investigation at your office. I’m the first officer on the scene here. That puts me in charge of the case. I’m going to control the scene because we don’t want to risk it being contaminated with extra fingerprints and DNA.”

Storm cut in. “Gimme a break. Our local police department ain’t gonna swab and process DNA evidence from a damn break-in.”

The officer shot him a dark look. “We have no idea what we’re dealing with. It could be a simple burglary, or we could find the occupants dead in the basement.”

“What?” My heart almost stopped at that. In the shock of finding the house trashed, it hadn’t even crossed my mind that my parents might have been home. Even as I reached for my phone, I realized that was unlikely because their car was missing.

I held my breath as the phone rang three times before my mom picked up. Hearing her voice made me release that last lingering doubt that foul play had robbed me of their company forever.

“Hello, Lacey, I wasn’t expecting to hear from you.”

“Hi, Mom. How is Dad doing?”

“He’s responding well to the treatment. How is everything going with you?”

I wasn’t looking forward to this bit. “I’ve got bad news. Someone broke into your house. The police are here.”

“What?” My mom’s voice was strained. “First the office and now our home. I can’t believe this is happening.”

“Neither can I, Mom. They didn’t want me in the house until they dusted for prints, so I can’t tell you what’s missing yet.”

“I’m just glad you weren’t hurt,” she said in a shaky voice.

“To be honest, I wasn’t home last night. I stayed at Rebel’s.”

“Thank God,” she responded, sounding all kinds of relieved.

Watching the officer turn to look at me and motion me over, I told her, “Look, I’ve gotta go. The officer wants to speak with me. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Call me later, Lacey.”

“I’ll keep you posted. If anything bad happens with Dad, please let me know immediately.”

“Will do,” she promised.

I approached the officer, and he asked for my statement. I told him that I didn’t suspect anything until I arrived and saw the blinds were shut and the chair was askew. I explained that we came so I could pack some clothing to stay with Rebel and had found that the house had been broken into. I added that we hadn’t touched anything inside the house, just sat together on the sofa until he arrived. He asked a few more questions, and I realized that he’d already taken Rebel’s statement. We were warned not to leave town. The process was eerily similar to what we went through when the office was broken into.

***

After the police had finished with us and the house was secured, we decided to go to the clubhouse to talk and unwind. My anger had ebbed away again, replaced by feelings of being overwhelmed. When Rebel held me close at the bar, I didn’t even feel embarrassed. I needed the comfort he provided. The conversation whirled around me, as Rebel talked to his club brothers about this latest break-in. It wasn’t even noon yet, and I was mentally and physically exhausted. I’d never felt more useless in my entire life and didn’t know where I would be if Rebel wasn’t in my life, supporting and comforting me.

Eventually, Zoe and Alison showed up. I wondered if it was to sit with me while the men went out to track down my former employees. I knew that’s what they were going to do because they talked about it as we sat at the table. Something about that didn’t sit right with me.

Rebel gave me a kiss before he left and told me to try not to worry. I nodded and tried to rein in my emotions. Hearing the throaty roar of their bikes fading in the distance and the concerned twin expressions worn by my childhood friends brought tears to my eyes.

Zoe spoke first, reaching out to take my hand. “I’m not going to sugarcoat this situation or tell you not to worry, but I will say that whatever’s going on here is not your fault, and Storm, Grit, and Rebel are not going to rest until they find out who’s doing this and they’re behind bars.”

Alison chimed in, “Zoe’s right. This is a shitty situation. One you didn’t ask for and don’t deserve to be in. We’re both here for you though.”

When I didn’t respond, Alison motioned for Rosie to bring a round of drinks. “Just a little something to take the edge off,” she murmured.

Zoe looked into my eyes and encouraged me, “You need to open up and talk about what you’re feeling. Get it off your chest, ya know?”

I nodded, and she let go of my hand. “There’s something about having my family home broken into that felt more of a violation than the office break-in. I don’t know how to explain it exactly.”

Alison spoke up, “I had my car broken into once when I was in college. It was weird that I got into the car and then saw that my glove box had been pried open and what wasn’t taken was scattered all over the place. It hit me right in the pit of my stomach that some lowlife dirtbag had been inside my vehicle, pilfering through my personal stuff. You do feel violated.”

“Yeah, that’s what it was like,” I told her. “That’s exactly how I felt when the office was broken into. Multiply that feeling by a thousand, and you’ll understand how I felt having our home broken into. I’m just grateful that Rebel had invited me to his house for the night because this could have been so much worse if I had actually been home. The intruder might have raped or killed me to shut me up.”

I brought up one hand and rubbed my right temple. It did nothing to ease the headache building there.

Zoe smiled at Rosie when she brought our drinks to the table. She gave my shoulder a squeeze and whispered, “I gave your margarita a double shot. Thunder told me what happened. I hope that they catch this bastard so you can sleep easy at night.”

Something about the vehemence in her voice hit me in the feels. I gave her a wan smile. “I hope they catch this bastard too. It would be great not to have to look over my shoulder all the time, wondering if and when whoever it is will strike again.”

When Rosie turned to leave, I took a sip of the drink she’d crafted for me. It curled my toes. When she said it was strong, she wasn’t kidding—she definitely made it extra strong and extra delicious. Part of me felt all kinds of wrong drinking this early in the day, but then I rationalized it with myself—it wasn’t every day you had to deal with a second break-in within a few weeks. Zoe and Alison both got tipsy fast, and their conversations were hilarious. I just sipped my drink and lost myself in the easy chat. I needed this opportunity to relax.