Page 29 of Shadow’s Protection (Hurricane Heat MC #1)

Shadow

Four weeks later…

I roll into the parking lot of the Shady Lane Motel.

The last time I was here was the afternoon after Violet left.

Malcolm didn’t have the money he owed the club ready, and I may have taken out my frustration on Malcolm’s face.

To be fair, I would have done that either way.

He had extra days to pull the cash together, and in the end, he had it. He just didn’t want to pay it back.

They never do.

I yank open the door after parking my bike in the completely empty lot. Business ain’t booming, but unless my beating last month meant nothing to Malcolm, he’ll have what I’m here to collect.

But Malcolm ain’t the one at the counter when I walk through the door. An older woman, maybe in her mid-fifties, with hair dyed an obnoxious shade of purple-red and a cigarette between her lips, waves at me with five long, painted fingernails.

“Hey there, hon,” she says, plucking the cigarette from her mouth and setting it in an ashtray right there on the counter. “You looking for a place to stay?”

She’s looking me over like I’m an afternoon snack. Normally, a woman’s appreciation would have me turning on the charm. Not today. Not here. Definitely not now.

“I’m looking for Malcolm,” I say curtly. “He around?”

She shakes her head. “I’m filling in. I’m his cousin Dana. You wanna leave a message?”

I lean my elbows on the counter. “He’s expecting me, Dana. I’ll wait.”

She leans her elbows on the counter so our faces are so close, I can smell the stench of cigarettes on her breath. “Baby, must have been some kind of mistake. Malcolm ain’t here.”

I turn away, cursing under my breath. This is the one time it would be damn convenient to give my clients my number. I want to call him. I want him to know I’m after him. He got extra time out of us and half the normal rate of interest last month. And he still tried to default on his debt.

“Call him,” I say quietly. I turn to face Dana. “Call your cousin and put him on speaker.”

She crosses her arms over her chest and gives me a smirk. “Baby, you’re hot, but you can’t waltz in here, snap your tattooed little fingers, and have everybody around here asking how high to jump.”

I’m across the lobby in the blink of an eye. “Dana, I’m not the kind of man you want to fuck with. Not today. Not any day. Have you seen your cousin’s face? Does he still have a black eye and a busted lip?”

She suddenly grows serious, as if she’s doing the math in her head. Yeah, bitch. I’m the one who rearranged your cousin’s face.

“Get him on the phone now.” I wait, glaring at her while she fumbles her cell phone in her hand. A thin line of smoke rises from the burning cigarette beside her.

Malcolm must answer on the first ring. “It’s me,” Dana says, glaring at me. “There’s some guy with a real shit attitude here to see you. He says you’re expecting him.”

I curl my hands into fists, my blood boiling over. I have had to be hard on women in the past, but I try to make a policy of not doing business with anyone I am not willing to work with—no matter what the job requires.

Malcolm says something I can’t hear, and I slam my fist on the counter. “Put him on goddamn speaker,” I tell her.

She does as I ask, though, and drops her phone on the counter.

“Tell him I’m sick, literally shitting up my guts, Dana. I’m not fucking around. I’m?—”

I pick up her phone and talk right into the speaker.

“Listen up, you fucking maggot,” I tell him.

“I’m the one not fucking around. I don’t care if you have to wear an adult diaper or come to this shitbag motel with a load of your own crap in your pants.

If you’re not here tomorrow with what you owe me and double interest, I won’t be alone.

And you won’t need to worry about shitting yourself when I’m done with you.

There are worse things waiting for you if you don’t show your face, Malcolm. ”

“Turn off the cameras,” I tell her.

She doesn’t move, but I hear Malcolm through the speakerphone. “Do it, Dana.”

She frowns at me, those glossy lips going thin.

“Don’t panic, Dana. I’m not here to hurt you, but I have to do this.”

Dana gives me a puzzled look as I walk to the front glass door. I lift my foot and kick with all my strength, sending my boot through the plate glass. It shatters into pebbles but doesn’t fall to the floor. Safety glass. I guess that’s a good thing.

I turn and point at Dana. “I’ll be back tomorrow,” I promise, then I pull the door open and walk through it. When I slam it closed behind me, then the glass crumbles, falling to the floor like a million marbles.

When I get back to the compound, I’m on fire.

Fury burns through my body, sparking in my limbs and making me so furious I want to fight something else.

I go to the back lot, where we have a shed with gym equipment.

I work out hard, punching the bag, doing pull-ups, and lifting weights until I’m dripping with sweat and spent.

I storm back through the compound and head to the bar.

“You need a water or something stronger?” Stella leans forward, putting on a show.

I look away. “Water,” I bark.

She hands me two bottles, and I twist the cap off one and take a long drink. I’m only slightly cooler, but she doesn’t deserve to be on the shit end of my wrath. “Thanks, Stel.”

I’m getting up off the stool with both waters in hand when she stops me dead. “Talked to Violet?”

I freeze, but I don’t answer.

“I didn’t get her number before she left,” Stella says, her voice practiced and careful.

I turn to face her, but Stella turns away, wiping the counter clean and chattering on as if this isn’t the first time in a month that anyone has brought up Violet James.

“I just thought, you know, when you talk to her next that you could tell her the girls say hi. She never really liked calling us bitches, so I’m sure she’d say something PG-rated like girls or ladies. She was sweet like that, don’t you think?”

She’s not looking at me, and I can’t decide whether to storm away or break something else. Since I can’t do either without looking like a pussy, I drop back onto the stool.

“I haven’t talked to her.”

“Oh.” Stella’s pouring on the fake surprise a little thick, but I let her.

I actually like having someone mention Violet to me. It’s a relief to get her out of my head where she’s lived constantly for the last month.

“You know, Shadow, you could do that. Text or call her. Just check in on how she is.” Stella cocks her chin at me. “Sometimes it’s nice to reach out when someone’s on your mind. Assure yourself that they’re doing okay. It doesn’t always have to mean anything or go anywhere.”

I don’t say anything, just glare off into the distance.

“Or you know,” she continues, “you could invite her over for a drink or dinner. Take her out, even. Maybe the phone call will lead someplace. I don’t think you’ll know unless you try. God knows I’d call her if I had her number. I think about her all the time. Don’t you?”

I surprise myself when I admit it. “I can’t get her out of my head. Not for one goddamn minute. My room smells like her. My books remind me of her nerd shit. I hate everyone and everything that isn’t her.”

Stella covers her mouth with her hand, but I can tell she’s laughing behind her fingers. “I miss her too,” she says. “And who knows. Maybe she’s as miserable without you as you are without her.”

I hold up my hands, the knuckles scarred and marked with bruises. “Our lives aren’t exactly compatible, Stel. I don’t really walk the straight and narrow, and she’s…”

“Nerd girl,” Stella supplies. “I know.” She leans back against the bar and sighs.

“Shadow, you know people change. I’m not saying you’re ever gonna stop all this.

” She waves her hand around, motioning toward the shelves of alcohol bottles, the dart board on the wall, or the massive TV.

“But a lot of guys find old ladies. They manage.”

“Shades of gray don’t work,” I tell her, shaking my head. “In this world, you’re either good or you’re bad. You’re powerful or you’re weak.”

“Shadow, I can smell a line of bull like that a mile away, and you’re sitting in sniffing distance.” She shakes her head. “Black-and-white is for checkerboards and floor tiles. Real life, real people, aren’t like that. Love isn’t like that.”

I snort when she says the L-word. “It ain’t like that.”

“Okay. Maybe you’re not head over heels for this woman. Maybe you’d just be a little bit happier if you could see her once in a while. Fuck her brains out on the GTO and take her home at the end of the night.”

She gives me a look. “Life is hard, Shadow. The people around here know that better than anybody. But that doesn’t mean we don’t deserve a little happiness. A little fun. You had something with Violet. I think you owe it to yourself to at least see how she’s doing.”

She turns around, opens the fridge, and grabs two beers.

She pops the tops off and hands one to me.

We clink the bottles at the neck in a toast and drink.

“If you won’t text her,” Stella adds, “I will. I wouldn’t mind having another set of hands cooking some nights. Jackie’s fucking trash in the kitchen.”

I shake my head, the first smile I think I’ve felt all month on my face. “Thanks, Stel.” I take the beer and the bottles of water back to my room. I’ve just turned on the shower when there’s a knock at my door.

I flip the water off and open the door to Phantom. “You’re back,” he says. No other explanations are needed.

I nod. “I’m going back tomorrow. He had the runs and had a woman, some cousin, running the lobby.”

Phantom thinks for a minute. “Malcolm’s abusing our patience.”

“He is,” I say. “But I made sure I left a little something to remind him of that.”

Phantom studies my face but says nothing.

“Ranger called while you were out. That fuckwad with the baseball bat’s pled out.

He’s going away for fifteen. He’s waived extradition, so he’ll be transported up to Georgia to serve out his sentence.

That ain’t public knowledge yet, but I thought you’d want to know. ”

“Thanks.”

Phantom looks like he wants to say more. I wonder if he knows about the door at Shady Lane. I know him well enough to know that he wouldn’t think I did nearly enough. If it were up to Phantom, we’d be at Malcolm’s bathroom door right now.

He heads out, and I close the door behind him. I turn the shower back on, but before I get in, I fire off a text.

Me: Got some news today. Your ex is going away for a long time. 15 years up in GA. Thought you’d want to know.

I debate saying more or calling her. Even just to hear her voice on her voice mail, but I can’t. Whatever Stella says, whatever romantic fucking notions anyone has, this shit can’t work. I click send, drop my phone onto the bed, and go rub one out in the shower.

When I get out a half hour later, I’m unsatisfied and starving. I dress fast and grab my phone. I have two new messages.

Violet: Wow, hey. That’s good. Thank you so much for telling me. How are you? Been okay?

And then, finally.

Violet: Maybe I’ll give you a call in a day or two. I’ve been really, really sick. I’m just about to drag myself to the doctor. X

I grab the phone and fire a message back.

Me: Sick, how? Are you alone? Send me your address in case you need something, and text me when you’re home safe.

She sends me her address and another X, but then she doesn’t say anything more.

I pace the floors furiously. If she’s sick enough to go to the doctor, maybe she shouldn’t be alone. Maybe she’ll get light-headed or dizzy. I pack up an overnight bag before I can even stop myself. I want to be ready. If she needs groceries or soup.

I run out to the kitchen, where Cammy and Penny are baking cookies.

“We got any soup?” I ask.

The women trade confused looks. “You mean like a can, Shadow? What are you looking for?”

“Soup, goddammit. What’s hard to understand about soup?” I throw open the pantry, my heart thumping in my chest. I can’t cook. I don’t know anything about soup or tea or ginger ale, but I think about everything I crave when I’m sick.

Problem is, I’m almost never sick. And I don’t know what Violet likes. “Can you just send Stella in here?”

Penny gives me a look, and Cammy heads out to the bar. I’m scouring the shelves, grabbing anything that looks like sick-people food.

“Shadow?” Stella speaks to me like I’m a toddler holding a bomb. “What are you doing with those potato chips?”

I look around to make sure we’re alone, then I lean close. “I texted Violet like you told me to, and she’s sick. I don’t know what she needs. What does she need if she’s sick?”

“Not those.” Stella grabs my arm. “Let’s take your truck. We’ll hit the grocery store, and we’ll get her everything she could need. You drop me off back here and take it to her. Sound like a plan?”

I nod, then head out toward the lot like my ass is on fire.

I check my phone every five minutes, but there’s no word from Violet.

Maybe she went to urgent care or some shit.

Maybe there’s a line, or she needs to go to the pharmacy.

I’m going to shop for supplies with Stella, and then, if I haven’t heard back from Violet, I’m going straight to the address she sent me.