“You should go up,” I tell her. “Get away from the smoke.”
She nods but doesn’t step away. “The cops are on their way. Lisa called when that guy grabbed my arm.”
“Good. That was quick thinking.” I pull Sierra to me, never wanting to let her go.
The cops show up minutes later, and with the entire bar as witnesses, the Haynes brothers are arrested right away.
Wanting to get out of the smoke, Sierra goes upstairs while I give a statement, explaining everything I know about those cocksuckers. The bar is slowly going back to normal, with people talking and laughing again.
I help Corey clean up the mess made from the fight, and get things back in order again. He’s frazzled, having never been involved like that in a fight before. Hearing the threat of someone burning down the bar sent him over the edge.
Lisa, Katie, and Bella are sitting at the table in the back. Katie is so drunk there’s a slim chance she’ll remember any of this.
“You guys okay?” I ask.
Bella’s eyes widen. “That was insane. But yeah, we’re fine. Sierra’s okay, right? She said she was going upstairs.”
“Yeah. Just shook up. Nice work with the broom,” I tell Lisa.
“Thanks. I realize it’s not the most lethal weapon, but it was the first thing I could get my hands on.”
“I think you’re wrong there. That thing has swept up the unimaginable. All it takes is one sweep across face and you’re infected with God knows what and it’s only a matter of time before you turn into a zombie.”
“So that’s how the apocalypse starts,” Lisa jokes. She’s looking at her phone, feverishly texting someone. Then her screen goes black. “Mother fucker,” she swears. “You don’t happen to have a charger, do you?”
“Not for that type of phone.”
“Dammit. Rob is freaking out right now and I need to tell him to chill the fuck out.”
“You can use my phone,” I offer.
“Thanks. He’s going to keep freaking out until I call. He’s at the station tonight and not being out here is killing him. He’s not convinced we’re okay yet.”
Wanting to get upstairs to Sierra, I pull my phone from my pocket and unlock the screen. “It’s quieter in the back,” I say and hand the phone to her.
Lisa takes the phone and disappears behind the bar. I mop up a spilled drink and take an order for a burger and fries to the kitchen. The bar-goers have settled back into their usual routine of drinking, talking too loud, and dancing along with the music. I fill another drink order and clear one more table before Lisa comes back out, holding my phone out like it’s the missing piece of incriminating evidence in a murder trial.
“I opened the phone app to dial Rob’s number,” she starts, “and it went right to your voicemail. You must have been on that page last time you shut off your phone.”
My blood runs cold, and each heartbeat echoes loudly in my ears. Fuck. No. It was the last screen I had open. Knowing Sierra and I are going to have a child together in the coming months, I knew I needed to delete all the messages. Pretend it never happened and move on.
But I didn’t because I looked up from the bar and saw Sierra walking through. And with my mind on Sierra, it didn’t even occur to me that the voicemails would be the first thing anyone sees when they use the phone.
“I saw all the messages.”
The messages. No. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, Fuck.
“I was going to make fun of you for being lame and keeping all of Sierra’s messages. Then I realized some are from over a year ago. What the fuck? I mean, how is that possible?”
I inhale, and in that moment, everything changes. I don’t want to lie my way out of this. I don’t want to build the foundation of my family on a lie.
My.
Family.
My stomach twists and I feel like I’m going to puke. What the fuck have I done? I look at Lisa, her face full of accusation. I need to come clean and get it out in the open. Sierra and I are having a baby after all. I need to tell her everything.
“When my niece broke my phone, Josh felt bad and got me a temporary one in its place in its place. He went to that secondhand electronic store in town. When I got it, I realized that the memory wasn’t properly cleared out. Out of curiosity, I listened to the first message before I deleted them all.”
Lisa’s mouth opens. She keeps her eyes on me and shakes her head. “Wait…what?”
“That phone…it belonged to Jake. The messages from Sierra are for him.”
Things start to click into place for Lisa. “I knew she called and left messages after he passed. We all tried to get her to stop and it took months. You said you listened to the first one before you deleted them. But they’re still here.”
“I know.”
“So you listened to them?” she asks.
“Some of them.”
“Does Sierra know?”
“No.”
“You have to tell her.”
“I will,” I say. “I want to. Hell, I’ve wanted to. I didn’t know it was her when I heard the first few. They were so…so tragically beautiful I kept listening. I hadn’t even met her yet when I heard the first one.”
“Then you did meet her and still listened to the messages she left for her dead boyfriend.”
Fuck. When she says it out loud, it sounds awful. I cringe. “Yes.”
Lisa rubs her temple. “This is all kinds of fucked up. And Sierra has no idea at all?”
“No.”
“You need to tell her. Or I will.”
Chapter 29
Sierra
“Let me look at it one more time,” I tell Chase and turn on the flashlight on my phone. We just got out of the shower, and I’m not convinced he is ‘fine’ like he says he is. I make him lay down on his bed so I can inspect the incision site.
“See? Told you it’s fine. I didn’t split my skin open.”
“You’re lucky.”
“Yeah,” he agrees. “I probably am.” He pulls the blankets down and waits for me to get in bed next to him, spooning his body around mine. He’s been quiet since he came up from the bar, which was why I thought he might be hurt and didn’t want to tell me. He said he felt bad for what happened, was pissed at Jax for not being more careful, and was worried I was hurt, if not physically, then mentally. That asshole did grab me, after all. I was really shaken up. Seeing them go after Chase and make threats against me was upsetting. And scary. Very scary. The moment he grabbed my arm and yanked me forward, terror filled me. Yet I knew Chase was there to protect me.
It wouldn’t be the first time he saved me.
“I love you, Sierra,” he whispers, nuzzling his lips into my neck. My heavy eyelids close, and I’m asleep in minutes.
At three in the morning, I get up needing to pee. “I thought this only happened when you have a big belly,” I grumble and slowly get out of bed. The cramps are back and the moment I get up, I know something is wrong. “Chase,” I say sharply. “Chase!”
“What’s wrong?” he asks, shooting up from a dead sleep and reaches for my spot in the bed. “Sierra?