“Hey, why don’t we plan like a big family dinner or something?”
He arches a brow. “You really think it’s the best time for that?”
“It’s like Blaze said,” I answer with a nod. “We need to be solid and we need to lean on each other to get through this.”
Studying me for a second, he nods and reaches in the window to slap me on the shoulder. “Okay. I’ll go talk to Blaze about it.”
“Sounds good. I’ve got to go get Piper from work.”
Taking a step back from the truck, he nods and I start the truck before pulling out of my parking space. As I pull out of the lot, I see him walking back to the clubhouse and I nod to myself. It will be good to get everyone together and maybe even laugh a little bit. Right now, we are all broken off into our little couples and families, silently losing our shit over what is coming. The feeling is so strong now that I can feel it in every fiber of my being, like the deadly calm just before a massive tornado strikes. Whoever this guy is, he is coming to get whatever twisted sense of revenge he thinks he is owed and we need to be ready for it.
The night of the break-in, Piper and I laid in bed talking until three in the morning. I told her all about each of the cases and explained the timeline to her, trying to make her understand how dangerous this guy is but that is not what happened. Instead, when confronted with all the evidence, she pointed out that this guy has been playing a long game since the beginning, slowly torturing us for maximum effect and she doesn’t think he’ll change tactics now. When I started to argue with her, she said it would make even more sense for him to go dark now that we know about him because we will all be going crazy.
As much as I didn’t want to admit that she was right, it makes fucking sense. With no new crimes, we have no new evidence to look into, and we’ve clearly gotten no where with what we have now and all of us are feeling the tension. If it goes on much longer, we’ll all start losing it. She also pointed out that he’s never gone after an old lady and it would be a big escalation but I can’t afford to let my guard down where she is concerned. Just because he’s never gone after anyone close to us doesn’t mean he won’t and she needs to keep her guard up until we find this son of a bitch.
I glance behind the passenger seat where the new pistol I bought Piper is sitting. It was a spur of the moment, reacting to the crazy kind of decision and I have no idea how she will feel about it but I’m going to teach her everything I can about the weapon and teach her to shoot it so that I feel a little bit better. If Tate wasn’t pregnant right now, I might even ask her to teach Piper some self-defense moves but there is no way in hell Kodiak would be okay with that. Although, I’m certain if I asked Tate first, she would tell him to suck it up. That girl doesn’t like anyone telling her what to do but I can’t do that to Kodiak, especially now that we’re on good terms.
As I get closer to Piper’s studio, I sigh. My stomach twists and my throat feels tight as I think about her and Eden there all alone. It’s so dangerous and anything could happen despite what Piper thinks. On top of everything else, I am really worried about how she is handling all of this and I hate myself for bringing this down on her shoulders when she is already dealing with so much internally. I’ve thought of every single possibility - hiding her away somewhere, telling her to leave me, following her everywhere she goes - but none of them are ideal. This guy has obviously been watching us for a while so he already knows about Piper which means either one of the first two options will put her in even more danger and she might kill me if I try to be her personal bodyguard. I need to do something, though.
Pulling up in front of the studio, I see Piper in the doorway, waving to a cute little family of three as they get into their car and for the first time since I dropped her off this morning, I feel like I can breathe again. Her gaze flicks in my direction as I get out of the Bronco and she smiles, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the door frame. I flash her a smile but it feels forced.
“Hey, baby.”
She smiles as I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her close, needing to feel her in my arms. Pressing her forehead to mine, she releases a breath and I feel a little bit of the tension slip out of my body.
“Hi,” she whispers, stealing a quick kiss. “I missed you.”
I shake my head. “I missed you way more, baby. You done for the night?”
“Yeah. Eden’s still here, though.”
As soon as the words leave her mouth, Eden walks into the front of the studio and when she sees me, she narrows her eyes and props her hands on her hips.
“Hey, I’ve got a bone to pick with you.”
“What?” I growl, not in the mood to deal with Eden and her attitude. After her little scheme to get us back together, she rubs me the wrong way and I get the sense that she’s jealous of the time Piper spends with me. I mean, it makes sense. Before I came back into her life, Piper spent a large amount of her time with Eden and Lillian so it will take some adjusting on her part but I really hope, for Piper’s sake, she and I can work through our differences.
“All the extra security,” she says, motioning to the door. “Is it really necessary?”
When I dropped Piper off at work this morning, we filled Eden in on the gist of what was happening, that someone was coming after the club and they needed to be more careful, but we didn’t tell her many details about how serious the threat was. Even though it makes it hard for her to take this seriously, it’s for the best. This is club business and the less people know about it, the better. I nod.
“Yeah, it is.”
She rolls her eyes.
“It could be worse, you know. I could have one of the guys come babysit y’all.”
A smile stretches across her face as she arches a brow. “Would it be a single guy?”
“No,” I answer with a laugh and her face falls.
“Fine. Ruin all my fun.”
“Honestly, Edie,” Piper says, shaking her head. “As two women who stay here late at night sometimes, we should have been doing this way before now.”
She sighs, reluctantly, nodding her head. “Yeah, okay.”
“Are you finished for the night?” I ask her. “We’ll walk out with you.”
“No, sir,” she replies, shaking her head with a stubborn look on her face as she pulls a pistol out of her bag and my brow shoots toward my hairline. Well, shit. “I have one more shoot tonight and I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
I study her for a second and consider arguing with her but there is something about the look in her eyes that tells me she has been through some shit and she is more than capable of taking care of herself. Although, judging by the shocked look on Piper’s face, it seems to be something she doesn’t talk about much. Finally, I nod.
“Yeah, okay. But call me if you run into any trouble.” I release Piper and pull one of the club’s business cards out of my wallet and scoop a pen up off of the counter before scribbling my number down on it. I hand it to her and I see a flash of vulnerability in her eyes before she covers it up and nods.
“Thanks.”
“When in the hell did you get that, Eden?” Piper asks as she finally recovers enough to speak and Eden shrugs like she didn’t just pull a firearm out of her purse.