What the hell is going on?
He runs back into the room with three folders full of papers in his hand and slams the door behind him, locking it again before he walks over to the dining room table and slaps them down.
“These are the girls. The club helped each one of them and shortly afterward, they were murdered. At first, we thought it was their boyfriends or husband or whoever we helped them get away from until this last girl…” He flips open a folder. “…Sammy was found dead. The guy we helped her get away from is dead so he couldn’t have been the one to kill her. That’s when I started looking into the cases but no one else believed that it was anything more than bad luck. With the work we do, it’s not impossible that a girl would go back to her man, you know? Abusive relationships and the emotions that go along with them are complicated.”
I nod, my mind starting to piece it all together. “And what happened today?”
“We came back from the carnival and their autopsy pictures were blown up and pasted on every wall in the clubhouse like some kind of demented wallpaper with a note that said, ‘I am winning’.”
“Winning?” I breathe, the implications crashing down on me. “Winning what?”
“The game? Fuck, I don’t know, Pip… Apparently we really pissed someone off and he’s been planning his revenge for a while.”
“Who is he?”
He throw his hands up. “I don’t know, that’s the problem. I have no fucking clue. For months I’ve been looking into these cases and I can’t find any evidence for who this guy is.”
“He’s a ghost,” I murmur, my mind reeling back to the night my parents died and the memory of the man who killed them that has been haunting me for years. Reality crashes down around my feet and I shake my head as tears well up in my eyes again. “Oh, God.”
Meeting Wyatt’s eyes across the room, I shake my head.
“What are we going to do?”
He abandons the files and walks over to me, pulling me close like he needs the security just as much as I do. “We are working on it, okay? The whole club is on board now and all of the guys are going to be pouring over these cases but in the meantime, we all need to be more careful. You feel me?”
I nod, trying to come to terms with everything but my mind is stuck on the fact that once again, a monster is coming for the ones I love. Only this time, I know it and I have to live everyday with that knowledge. The brothers and their wives pop into my mind as my chest starts to ache. They already feel like family to me and I can’t imagine losing any of them. And if something happens to Wyatt…
“I’ll drive you to work and I will pick you up at the end of the day,” he says, interrupting my thoughts as my heart climbs into my throat. “I don’t want you at the studio alone and I want the door locked at all times. You can let clients in and out but other than that, it needs to be locked.”
“Okay,” I breathe, not even bothering to argue with him. There is a part of me that wants to fall apart but there is another part that feels a little bit stronger with a plan to focus on. I’ll follow his rules and I’ll do what it takes to keep us safe. I meet his gaze. “Have you talked to the cops?”
He nods. “We work with one of the detectives on a regular basis and the second woman killed was his girlfriend so he’s already looped in. Blaze called him after we discovered the photos.”
“Good.” My voice is weak and unsure as I nod my head and drop my gaze to the floor.
Oh, God, this is so crazy. How am I supposed to deal with this on top of all my other shit?
I’m not strong enough.
I’m going to fall apart and then Wyatt will see how truly weak I am.
“Hey,” Wyatt says, pulling my gaze back up to his. “Lean on me, baby. I’ve got you and I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
I nod, feeling a little more secure in the knowledge that I’m not going through this alone. “You’ve already got so much on your plate. You don’t need to be constantly worried about my mental state, Wyatt.”
“I am your husband and I love you. None of this means anything without you so whether you let me help you or not, I’m going to worry.”
I shake my head, wishing I could be a strength for him in this crazy time, too.
But could I handle it?
Sucking in a breath, I look up. “You shouldn’t have to shoulder this alone. You can lean on me, too.”
“No, I won’t do that to you. It’s my job to protect you and take care of you and I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to you. No one is going to hurt you, not even yourself. Do you hear me, baby?”
“Wyatt,” I whisper, shaking my head but before I can say anything else he slams his lips on mine, his kiss desperate and full of the fear coursing through his body. I wrap my arms around him, pulling him closer. I don’t care what it takes or what I have to do. I’m determined to be the same unwavering support system to him that he is for me without letting my demons consume me. Wyatt and I have a life to live and I won’t let this stop us.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Wyatt
Jumping in the Bronco, I slam the door behind me before leaning my head back and blowing out a breath as I scrub my hand over my face. My heart pounds hard in my chest and I focus on my breathing, trying to calm myself down but it’s not working. Church just let out and despite the fact that every single one of my brothers and I have been looking into these cases for the last three days, we have absolutely nothing and I feel like I’m going to lose my goddamn mind. Right after we discovered the photos, Blaze ordered us to look into every single person we’ve had contact with since Dina was killed two years ago, every single guy we’ve rescued someone from, every single P.I. client we’ve had and anyone else we could think of that might have a connection to the club but we still have nothing. We’re still in exactly the same spot I was and it’s killing me.
“Fuzz,” someone says from outside my window and I jerk up as my eyes fly open. Kodiak holds his hands up in surrender and I release a breath as I relax back into the seat. “Sorry, man. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
I shake my head. “What’s up?”
“Fuck,” he breathes, crossing his arms over his chest and dropping his eyes to the ground for a second before he meets my gaze. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry… about not believing you. I didn’t want it to be true and…”
“Forget it, man. I understand. You have no fucking idea how much I wish I had been wrong right about now.”
He nods as he runs a hand through his hair. “With Tate pregnant, all I can think about is the worst case scenarios…”
“Kodiak, if anyone can protect themselves, it’s Tate,” I tell him with a smile I don’t quite feel and he nods, giving me a faux chuckle.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Silence descends over us, awkward and tense, as we both struggle with something else to say but there is nothing. This situation… it’s uncharted territory for us and with almost all of us in serious relationships with the women we love, we all have a hell of a lot to lose. A memory of Piper telling me to lean on her, too, pops into my mind and I sigh. She’s right. This mess we’ve found ourselves in sucks and there is nothing we can do about that but we can lean on each other, be the family that we’re supposed to be.