Page 26

Chapter twenty-six

When Bailee calls me about Miranda, it takes all I have not to lose my shit. Since I have Lyric with me, I got to make sure I keep her safe as much as I do Bailee. The club will be converging on that alley as soon as they get the call about Miranda’s body being found, and I need to get Bailee out of there before then. She tells me she didn’t touch anything in the alley, and the places she did touch can be explained by her being an employee there. Hopefully, that shit doesn’t come up, though, because then Wraith and them will find out and want to know. If I find out that Miranda is in any way connected to Killer’s shit, there’s no more putting off bringing them in. If she’s not, that means the club has even more problems and won’t need even more issues piled on top of that.

I tell her to come to me out front so I can get her out of here, and I keep her on the phone because even if she may not act like it, fear shakes in her tone anytime she speaks.

Pulling up to the front of Sinful Saloon, I turn and peer back at Lyric. “Just goin’ to be right outside the door waitin’ on Bailee.”

Lyric replies with a smile and a nod before turning back to watch out the window.

I lean against the hood of the Bronco as I wait for her to walk out. When our bouncer, Cecil, speaks to her, I tell her to talk back to him as she normally would because the last thing we want is for anyone to be suspicious of her that usually wouldn’t be.

Any other time, I’d find his flirty tone amusing, but considering we don’t know who the fuck to be suspicious of, I’ve become suspicious of fucking everyone. Including our flirty bouncer. Bailee must feel the same way too because I can detect the unease in her tone when she replies back to him.

The door opens, and I straighten from my position when they both step through, him holding it open for her by leaning his shoulder into it. Cecil glances up at me, and I give him a respectful nod of thanks. He returns it without question, and surprisingly, his eyes don’t bounce between me and Bailee in curiosity. Either he already knows, he’s a plant for Killer, or he just honestly doesn’t give a fuck who my woman is fucking. Never really got any bad feels from him, so I’m going with the latter.

I put an end to the call with Bailee now that I don’t need it and slide my phone into my pocket as I stride over to meet her partway. As soon as I reach her, I wrap my fingers around the back of her neck and pull her to me, dropping my head down to plant a hard kiss on her juicy lips. Partially so I know she’s okay, but mostly because I missed the fuck out of her and I’m unable to resist grabbing a quick taste of my woman.

“Come on, baby girl. Let’s get you out of here,” I rumble as I pull away and entwine my fingers with hers.

As soon as our fingers are tangled together, her body trembles as the emotions she’s been holding at bay surge through her now that she knows she’s sheltered from harm.

Tightening my hold, I reassure her that I’ve got her and that she’s safe, but I’m not sure that does much, so I wait until she’s about to climb into the cage before I turn her to face me so I can look into her eyes.

I grab her chin and lift her face. “Not goin’ to let anything happen to you. You know that, right?”

Tears shimmer in her eyes at the intensity of my voice, but I need her to fucking hear me and understand.

When she brings her hand up and curls her fingers around my jaw, I fight to control the shiver of pleasure that her touch elicits. I’m unable to keep from leaning into the warmth of her touch, though, so I don’t even try fighting it.

It’d be nothing more than a losing fucking battle anyway.

“Yes, I know that. I trust you, Jericho. I wouldn’t have come to you if I didn’t.”

Pieces snap together inside me at the surety of her tone.

“Good.” My fingers tighten on her chin, holding her in place, and I dip down to place another kiss on her lips before I step away so she can climb inside. “Get in so we can go.”

I listen to my two girls greet each other as I pull away from the club, and I bottle up what I’m feeling at this moment because I’m not sure it’s something I’ll ever be able to experience again. Especially when Bailee calls Lyric her heart song in that gentle voice she’s reserved for my daughter.

Lyric and Bailee talk in quiet tones as I drive us to my place, and for once, my mind is empty enough to enjoy listening to the two of them bond.

“The club will probably be callin’ before much longer wantin’ me to come help them. I’m goin’ to need you to stay with Lyric while I do that.”

“You trust me with her?” she asks quietly.

I peer over at her in surprise, having thought it was obvious since she had met Lyric. “Of course, I do, Hummingbird. Don’t just bring anyone into her life. You matter. Saw the way you were with her the last time and know you’ll give your life for hers if needed, but that’s not something that’s goin’ to happen because I got both of you.”

Bailee smiles at me softly and does that fucking humming thing that drives me crazy. It’s where her pet name came from. Don’t hear it from her often, but when I do, fucking hell, desire dances up my spine. Bailee places her palm against my thigh, her touch hot and heavy on top of my jeans.

Reaching out, I wrap my hand around her thigh, and her sigh of pleasure goes straight to my dick. As much as I want to order her to tell me what happened tonight, I don’t want to bring up anything that’s going to leave nightmares behind for Lyric. Luckily, it’s not much longer before we’re pulling down my driveway and climbing from the cage.

I follow behind my girls as we head into the house. “Lyra, shower. Pizza good for supper?”

“Yes. Bee, are you staying?”

Bailee smiles at her and runs her fingers down her cheek. “You bet I am, my heart song.”

The way Lyric leans into her touch, you’d think she’d never felt another human’s touch in her life. Maybe, though, she just ain’t felt a touch as warm and loving as Bailee’s. Outside of mine, anyway.

“Yay,” Lyric says softly before skipping out of the room and down the hall.

Bailee watches her go and then turns to me with a gentle smile and misty eyes. “You’re so lucky, bossman. She’s so amazing that it stuns me.” She walks up to me and places one hand on my chest, lifting the other to tangle in my beard. “Do you realize how much she is you? Your looks, your attitude . . . just everything. It’s all you. I would’ve loved her on that principle alone, but you can’t help but fall in love with her just because she’s her.”

“Yeah,” I reply gruffly, not knowing what else to say to that.

I know how lucky I am to have my girl. Lyric has been the best thing in my life from the moment she was born. Despite the way her mother fucking manipulated her conception, I don’t regret her being conceived. Never would. She’s my life.

Leaning in, I brush a kiss across her lips. “Goin’ to order this pizza then you good to tell me what happened tonight before Miranda?”

Her eyes darken with fear, and my fingers contract at her hips. I slide my hands around until they cup her ass and pull her to me more securely, needing her to feel safe.

She nods and buries her head against my chest as I take my phone from my pocket and pull up the website to the pizza joint.

“What do you want?” I ask after putting in my and Lyric’s order.

“Just some cheesy bread and a soda. I’m not too hungry. Not after tonight.”

I nod and settle my lips on the top of her head while I add her stuff to the order and check out. “Be here in thirty. Probably won’t be here, so if you don’t mind, just stick mine in the fridge and I’ll heat a slice or two up when I get home. Ready to tell me what happened?”

She shakes her head but then blows out a breath and nods right after.

“There were some more threats to a few of the girls,” she finally says.

“Fuck. Same shit?”

Bailee nods. “Note and a black rose. The notes said the same thing as the others.”

Something works behind her eyes, and she nibbles on her bottom lip before I can get my thumb up to pull it out of her mouth.

“Do you think it’s connected to Killer?” she asks.

“Don’t think so, but not going to rule it out, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Before I get the chance to continue our conversation, my phone goes off with a series of text messages, and already knowing who it is, I pull away with a sigh. “That’s goin’ to be the club.”

Bailee kisses the middle of my chest and steps out of my arms. “I’ll go check on Lyric.”

As she starts to walk away, a growl erupts from my chest, and I grab her arm, spinning her around to pull her back to me. “Mouth.”

She lifts a brow. “Bossy,” she mumbles with a smirk, rising to her toes and covering my mouth with hers.

I trace the outline of her lips with my tongue until she opens to let me in, and once she does, I shove inside. We roll our tongues over each other, sipping and savoring the quick taste of one another until I pull away with a groan.

“Now, you can go check on our girl.”

As soon as she’s gone, I pull out my phone and read over Crow’s message telling me to meet them at Sinful Saloon because we had someone litter in the alleyway outside. Deciphering the code is easy as we’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember.

After I reply that I’m on my way, I shoot off a text to Emmy Lou asking if her people are available to keep an eye on my place while I go take care of this. It’s only a few minutes later that she replies to inform me they’ve never not had eyes on my girls when her people weren’t on a case of their own. I asked her the other day how many of them there are, and she told me four. Information about them is sparse, but they own Killer Kitty Inc., a grooming service for fucking cats. That’s the legal cover, anyway. Ain’t fucking stupid, though, and know there’s more to that damn business than grooming some goddamn pussy. Not really got time to make it my business right now. As long as they keep my girls safe, that’s all that matters to me.

I head to the bathroom so I can tell my girls goodbye. When I knock on the door, I hear some giggles, and then Lyric calls out for me to come in. Her tiny head pokes around the mostly closed shower curtain, and Bailee is sitting on the closed toilet lid.

Leaning against the doorjamb, I fold my arms over my chest and smile at the two of them, finding contentment in the smiles on their faces. “You ladies up to no good in here?”

Lyric laughs again and nods, peeking at Bailee before glancing back at me with twinkling eyes and a mischievous smile. Before I can even get out the words to ask her what she’s up to, I’m being pelted in the face by water.

I straighten from my perch and narrow my eyes at her. “You got a water gun hidin’ in there, Lyra?”

“Of course, Daddy,” she says, smirking and holding up her hot pink water gun around the curtain.

“Well, at least you have great aim,” I reply, grabbing the hand towel from the rack and drying my face off. “Gotta go meet the brothers at the strip club. Pizza will be here soon. Bailee, come with me. Need to show you how to arm the security system. Lyra, love you, kid. Make sure to get to bed. Got school tomorrow. I’ll be takin’ you.”

“‘Kay. Love you, Daddy.”

Bailee slides her hand into mine, and I wrap my fingers around hers tightly, not wanting to let go until the last minute. Sometimes, it seems like she’s going to be taken away the moment I’m no longer touching her. Ridiculous bullshit, but it’s shit thoughts that cross my mind anyway.

I run her through the basics of rearming the alarm system after I leave, having her repeat everything back to me until I’m satisfied that she’s got it down. Then I press the keys to my Bronco into her hand.

“Em has people sitting on the house to keep you and Lyric safe. You won’t notice them unless you need to. If they have to introduce themselves, they’ll make sure to tell you that if you got the pussy, they got the time.” I chuckle when she crinkles her nose. “I’ll explain later. Not what you’re thinkin’ inside that pretty fuckin’ head. You got everything remembered?” She nods. “I’ll have my phone on me. Call if you need me. Here are the keys to the Bronco if you need it for some reason.” I drop a bruising kiss on her lips and step back with a swat to her ass. “Lock up.”

I can’t spot the women anywhere, but their eyes are like sharp venomous teeth along the skin of my back as I march toward my bike.

It’ll be an interesting day if I ever get to meet them in person.

The dancing red and blue lights from the cop cars glint off the chrome of the bikes parked in the back alley. They flicker along the grim faces of my brothers and the LEOs milling about as they go over the scene.

Jake, the Chief of Police, is barking orders at his officers while my brothers stand off to the side by Miranda’s body.

Wraith and Crow walk up to them as I climb from my bike. Needing to hear everything that’s being said, I hurry over to them. I get there in time to catch Jake telling them that he’s never seen anything like this, even when he was chasing a serial killer. That little bit of news shocks me because I thought we knew everything about this man we’ve had as a friendly in our pocket.

Whoever killed Miranda is one sick fuck. She’s posed naked with her hands folded over her stomach. The killer shaved every part of her body. They were methodical about it and extremely careful because I can’t spot a single strand anywhere on her. That also means there’s no hiding the bruises that litter the inside of her thighs from the sexual abuse she’s endured along with the bruises around her throat from being strangled.

I fold my arms across my chest as I watch the medical examiner do his job. When the light hits Miranda’s face, something through the narrow parting of her lips catches it. The medical examiner gently pries her jaw open and uses a pair of tweezers to snag the Ziploc bag that was stuffed inside her mouth. Inside the clear baggie, there’s a piece of folded paper.

My body tightens as my mind latches onto the similarities with the way the other women in the club have been getting messages too. Brooke was attacked, and now Miranda was killed. They’re escalating. Maybe this has fuck all to do with Killer and everything to do with whoever the fuck is stalking and terrorizing our employees. Or maybe it’s all fucking Killer.

I pinch the bridge of my nose as my frustration mounts with all of this. We need to catch a fucking break somewhere in this, and there’s not going to be a possibility of that happening until Bailee and I bring everything to Wraith and the rest of the club.

Jake reaches down and grabs a few pairs of gloves from one of the kits sitting on the ground and passes two sets to Crow and Wraith. They all snap them on and then Crow reaches out and snatches the note from the medical examiner’s hand when he holds it out to him.

I step closer, not wanting to disturb them but wanting— needing —to be able to see what the note says because it’ll give me an idea of whether we’re dealing with one person or if there are two fronts I need to be on at the same damn time.

Crow glances at me quickly before returning his attention back to the baggie in his hand.

One, Two, Baldy is coming for you.

One by one, the muscles in my body loosen as I read the note. It’s got a different tone and overall feel to it. The wording is also different. So, it’s safe to assume it ain’t Killer. This Baldy person is related to what’s going on with Crow and the club.

The medical examiner informs us that she died from asphyxiation but stresses that he refuses to give an official result until he can get back to the morgue and do an autopsy to rule out anything else.

Once Crow finishes reading, he passes the note to Wraith, who reads over it as the crews load Miranda’s body up for transport and the LEOs work on clearing up the crime scene.

Crow’s body has turned into a block of cement next to me, and when I glance at him, it’s like staring into a deep, dark void of nothingness. He’s retreated to somewhere else in his head and if I’d have to guess it’s got something to do with his family being murdered.

Wraith calls his name, and Crow turns toward him in such a way that reminds me of one of those damn robot videos Lyric is always making me watch. There’s someone in that body, but mentally, there’s no one home right now.

“Ah, fuck, brother. Don’t do this. Don’t fucking shut down,” Wraith cajoles.

“What did you find out?” Crow asks, ignoring the desperate pleas for him not to shut down.

Wraith sighs. “Not much. He says she died from asphyxiation, but he can’t give official results until he’s been able to perform the autopsy. We already know this is connected to the club and, obviously, your past. Do you think your contact will be able to find anything about this Baldy character?”

Crow grunts. “I’ll send Chimera the information as soon as we finish here.”

“Then you’re going home to Sage, right?” Wraith presses.

I tune them out as they argue about Wraith being up in Crow’s love life. Hell, don’t blame Crow for getting pissed. I’d be pissed too if someone was trying to tell me something I didn’t want to hear regardless of how much truth there was to it.

“Y’all deal. Goin’ to go talk to Reva and the others. See what they know,” I chime in.

“Let me know what you find out,” Wraith orders before turning back to snipe at Crow.

I smirk because it seems Crow wasn’t having any more of that stupid-ass shit and is walking off.

The club is already in closing mode after everything happening, so it’s not as rowdy inside as usual. There’s a few stragglers who are taking longer to clear out, but they’re regular faces around here, so ain’t no one really saying much to them as long as they continue to pay for their drinks. Still another hour before actual closing time anyway.

Don’t spot Reva around anywhere, so I stop by the bar and knock my knuckles against the wood countertop to snatch Carter’s attention.

“Boss, what can I get you?” he asks.

“Reva.”

Carter tilts his head toward the office, and I give a sharp nod of thanks before storming that direction. When I peer through the open door, she’s got a glass of whiskey in her hand, swirling it around, as she stares out the window pensively.

“Goin’ to eventually find them,” I say, startling her enough that her body jerks and a bit of whiskey splashes out of the glass and onto her hand. “Shit. Didn’t mean to scare you. Wasn’t thinkin’.”

She empties her glass into her mouth, swallowing it down with a deep grimace, and waves away my apology. “Don’t apologize. I left the door open because I didn’t want to feel so isolated. Is Bailee okay? Oh, hell, please don’t tell me that’s why you’re back here instead of at home protecting her.”

“My girl’s good. Checkin’ in on you.”

“This shit, Steel. It’s getting bad around here. The girls are fucking terrified to come to work anymore. Threats are coming in faster than we’re expecting them to.”

“We’re gettin’ closer to findin’ this fucker. Hopefully, the girls will trust us until then. What all went down tonight?”

Reva leans back in her chair with a sigh, running her fingers through her hair. “Same shit. Threats and the black roses being delivered. Sometimes, I’m sure the threats are meant to be specific and have a reason behind them. Could it be connected to what’s going on with Bailee?”

I shrug, propping my shoulder against the jamb of the door. “Not sure. It’s something me and Lee talk about, but don’t feel like Killer to me. Wouldn’t be the first time my intuition was wrong, though. Anyone else get threats tonight?”

“One of the girls did. And there was something going on with Lee, but you know how she is. She didn’t tell anyone. I did the best I could to keep my eye on her tonight, but this place gets too busy and it’s easy to lose track of her.”

“Something else besides what happened to Miranda?” I ask, her words causing my gut to swirl with dread.

“Yeah. This was before she’d found Miranda. She tried hiding it, but I could tell from the way her eyes bounced around the building, cataloging all the faces, that she was feeling the threat again. She didn’t say anything, so I don’t know for sure whether she’s gotten any threats in private or not. Need me to check the footage from the security cameras?”

“I got it. Goin’ to be a little while out there cleanin’ up the crime scene. Go on home if you want.”

Reva shakes her head, coming to a stand and twisting her body back and forth until the crack of her spine echoes through the small office. “There’s too much shit for me to do to head home right now, but I’ll get out of your way so you can do what needs to be done. I’ll go down and help Carter close out the bar and clean up. Then I’m going to run through and see what we need to put an order in since I got to send one out tomorrow.” She squeezes my bicep with affection. “Make sure to keep an eye on my firefly.”

The only thing I give her in reply is a grunt as I move out of the way so she can head out the door. I watch her for as long as I can to make sure she gets to where she’s going safely. As soon as she’s out of my sight, I take a seat behind the desk and bring up the feeds from the security monitors.

It takes a good hour of me going through the feeds before I find what I’m looking for. When I get to that part, I press play and watch as Bailee’s phone goes off. She pulls it out of her pocket and stares at it with a tense jaw. Then she moves her fingers to bring the message into focus. At least, that’s what I’m assuming she’s doing, because as soon as she reads what’s on the screen, she loses all color and terror rushes over her face. Her hand trembles as she stands still and peers down at her screen blankly. It’s only a few seconds, then she’s tossing her phone away from her.

That’s when I know she got a threat.

She got a threat and didn’t even think for a second to mention it to me. Sure, I could be wrong, but knowing my woman like I do, the only thing she was covering up with that blankness was her fucking fear.

I’m going to blister her fucking ass when I get home.

How the fuck am I supposed to protect her when she hides something as important as this from me?