Page 19 of T-Bone (Steel Demons MC #11)

Faith

T oday was the first day since I left the police force that I actually felt fulfilled in my job.

Being a private investigator wasn’t what I imagined for my life, it was a fallback plan because of the transferable skills but it was never something I enjoyed.

It paid the bills, allowed me to save more than I did when I was a detective, and it gave me plenty of time to look into sightings of missing little girls who looked like Gemma.

But today, spotting the bikers who trailed us up to Shiloh Valley, doing the criminal-cop dance with the Ghost Riders president, and an undercover search?

It all felt like I never left the force.

Sitting on the floor inside Ashley’s dark bedroom, going through her boxes of personal belongings in search of any clue about Rachel and Amber Grey.

There were no photos, at least not any physical photos but all of her digital gadgets were missing.

No phone or laptop, no tablets or hard drives. “Well, fuck.”

“Find anything?” T-Bone stood in the doorway, a towering, imposing figure with his thick arms folded over his massive chest.

“No,” I sighed heavily. “It’s more interesting the things I haven’t found,” I answered before telling him about her missing electronics. “There’s not even a flash drive in this whole place, which is odd for an artist.”

“Someone took it.”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “My guess is one of the two men who showed up here tonight. They think Ashley knew something, and they were sure enough to murder her for that knowledge.”

T-Bone’s expression was grim, his lips stretched into a flat line.

“Did you find anything in the other bedroom?” That itching feeling, the one I got on the back of my neck when something was just out of my grasp was back.

“Not really. The place was neat and tidy, didn’t even look tossed.”

I frowned. “Did you check under the mattress? The rugs? Any kind of hidden compartments?” Why did he seem so laidback about this? Did it have anything to do with why he was looking for a reason to avoid coming here tonight? I didn’t like it, not at all, but I kept my thoughts to myself for now.

One of the best lessons I learned as a detective was that sometimes it was okay to wait when you didn’t have all the answers. I didn’t want to cram so-called facts into a theory, I wanted the truth. I stared at T-Bone, looking for any sign he wasn’t being honest.

“I checked the whole fuckin’ room. If you don’t believe me, check it yourself.”

“It’s not about believing you,” I assured him. “But men have a tendency to miss things that are right in front of them.”

He snorted. “Your view of men is really fucking bleak, Faith.”

I shrugged. “Not bleak just realistic.” I turned to the final box inside Ashley’s closet and slid the lid off.

Inside were photos. Finally, some clue about her life.

There were photos of her and her brother when they were young with dirt-smudged faces and wide smiles.

Photos of her as a budding artist with clay on her hands, paint on her shirt and another wide smile on her face.

“She was beautiful.” She resembled her brother a lot, at least if he were a beautiful woman.

“It was just Ashley and Pike growin’ up, a lot like me and my sister.

They grew up on the outskirts of Vegas, desert rats is what Pike called them.

He was so damn protective of her, that’s why she moved to Red Rock, to put some distance between them.

She didn’t want him and biker buddies cockblocking her. Her words, not mine.”

I smiled. She was young and vibrant, like so many of the deaths I investigated in my old life. Another life snuffed out for no good reason. “Are you sure nothing ever happened between you two?”

He let out a frustrated grunt and dropped down on his haunches, so we were eye to eye. “Look, I know you hate men. We’re all liars, cheaters, and assholes, I got it. But I am not lying to you, goddammit. I never dated, never kissed, and definitely never fucked Ashley.”

His insistence was believable, but it felt like there was a piece of the puzzle missing. “Well, I had to ask.” Before he could respond, I flipped over one of the photos so he could see the reason for my questions.

T-Bone snatched the photo from my hand and flipped on his phone light. “What the fuck?” His shock seemed genuine.

“There are plenty more,” I finally shared with him. “Seems like Ashley had a crush.” The photos were mostly taken from a distance, and T-Bone seemed to be unaware that he was being photographed so I believed him, but I had to be sure.

“I had no fuckin’ clue.” He shook his head and handed the photo back.

“She was flirtatious but nothing over the top. I figured she did it mostly to get a rise out of Pike, which it did.” He smiled wistfully and I ignored the way that look slithered down my belly and settled at the pulsing nub between my thighs.

“Your friend will want these photos. We should take them to the clubhouse for him.” I had very few photos of Chloe from adulthood, mostly because Marcus isolated her, so we didn’t spend a lot of time together during those final years, but also because she was pregnant for nine and a half months with Gemma, and afterwards she didn’t want to take pictures because she always had bruises in various states of healing.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” He stared at me for a long minute as if he didn’t recognize me.

I shook off the daze his look had caused and sighed. “We won’t be able to carry it on the bike but, I’m worried that something will happen to this stuff. Maybe I’ll just take a rideshare back to your clubhouse.”

“I don’t fucking think so.” He stood to his full height, a dark scowl on his face as he flipped over his phone. “Let’s put this shit in bags we can carry, and let’s get out of here.”

“Sounds good. Check the linen closet or the downstairs closet near the front door, it’s where I’d keep luggage.”

He stared at me for a long time, hands on his hips and a dark scowl marring his ruggedly handsome face. “You’re bossy.”

“So are you,” I shot back. “Looks like that’s something we have in common.

” I flashed a smile up at him and then shooed him away because it was fun to ruffle his feathers.

The moment he was gone, I grabbed the two journals and stuffed them under my jacket.

I would give them back to Ashley’s brother… as soon as I finished reading them.

Ten minutes later we had a ton of stuff packed into duffel bags, backpacks, and a small carry-on suitcase, which was the easy part.

Navigating the fences, backyards, gardens, and motion lights was harder, especially given the late hour.

It took twice as much time getting back to the bike as it did getting to her house, but a nice surprise waited for us.

I turned to T-Bone and grinned. “You called your friends.” My tone was surprised and teasing, which made the other two bikers snicker.

He pulled his lips into his mouth like he was trying not to laugh. “We needed a way to get this shit to Pike.”

“So considerate,” one of them said in a faux feminine voice.

“Fuck off, Gio.”

The man, Gio, threw his head back and laughed as he relieved me of the bags I carried. “I’ll get these into the trunk.”

“Thank you.”

“Anytime, darlin’.” He was young, but even more good looking than he was charming. “T-Bone being good to you?”

“Mostly,” I shrugged. “Think I can hitch a ride in the car? My ass has had enough motorcycling for one day.”

His dark brows shot up. “Motorcycling?”

I nodded. “Yeah, you know riding on a motorcycle all day for hours at a time? Motorcycling.”

Another round of laughter exploded until I shushed them.

“It’s late and your laugh will have little old ladies peeking out of their blinds.” I marched to the dark sedan, yanked open the passenger door and dropped down inside. “Let’s get out of here.”

I pulled the door shut and sat, lost in my thoughts while the cool evening wind blew through my hair. The first thing I needed back at the clubhouse was a shower, and then I’d lock myself in a room and read Ashley’s diary.

“What are you thinking about?”

T-Bone’s deep voice startled me. “What are you doing?”

He grinned. “I thought it was obvious, but since it’s not, I’m driving us back to the clubhouse.”

“Obviously but why aren’t you driving your bike.”

“Riding,” he corrected. “Because your sweet ass needed a break, which means my fine ass gets a break.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re just worried I’m going to run when your back is turned.” I thought about it a few times, but I don’t go back on my word.

“Well now I am.”

“Don’t worry,” I waved off his words. “You’re stuck with me until we have answers.” And once we had answers, whatever they were, I could focus on what to do with the rest of my life.

“You don’t trust me, but I should just trust you?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I won’t double-cross you because I just won’t. You and I have aligning interests right now, finding out what happened to Ashley. You because she’s your best friend’s sister and me because she died protecting my niece.”

There was a long silence before he spoke again. “I’m not the one with trust issues.”

His words teased an unexpected laugh out of me, and I turned to face him. “Oh, somehow I doubt that. I’ll bet that you don’t trust anyone outside of your MC.”

“I’m trusting you.”

“Yeah, but that’s situational. Once this is all over, you’ll go back to not trusting me.” Why that thought made me feel anything at all was beyond me, but I felt that pang of disappointment and I was determined to ignore it.

His response was an incoherent grunt.

We fell into another comfortable silence for a few minutes, which let my mind wander to thoughts of Rachel Grey, Gemma, and Nate Ferris.

I needed to get to that cabin, to see who that little girl was with my own eyes, or I’d never be able to get a moment of peace.

But now that we knew the Ghost Riders were watching us, we had to be extra careful.

“I think we should head back to Shiloh Valley overnight. And we should take the car.”

“You really hate bikes, don’t you?”

Yes. “No, but this is a practical matter. At that time it’ll be easier to spot a tail if we have one. And in a car, I’ll have a better view of our six while you focus on the road. Like actual partners.”

The rest of the journey was spent in silence, and once we arrived at the clubhouse I grabbed the bag with the diaries and headed towards the room where my belongings were and closed the door behind me.

A few minutes later the door opened and there was T-Bone, staring at me like I’d done something wrong. “I need some fucking sleep, and I need to talk to the guys about what we learned today. Tomorrow night we’ll head back up.”

A closer look revealed the dark circles under his eyes and the exhaustion that had settled around his wide shoulders. He’d done all the driving today because he had to, so I nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good. See you in the morning.”

He disappeared as quickly as he arrived. I shook off the disappointment that he’d be sleeping somewhere else and focused on what I needed to do. Shower first and then dig into Ashley’s diaries.