She picked up the phone, tapped his number into the keypad, then took the next ten minutes trying to remember how to send a text on a phone that flipped open and closed. Grier would be pissed if he found out she was communicating with Hamilton. Phones could be tracked. Even burner phones. But she couldn’t just sit here on her hands. If he knew her at all, he would understand. Still, her stomach rolled.
She typed in the message, then looked at it for a minute before she slapped the phone closed and threw it on the bed. “Shit.”
The baby cooed next to her, and Fiona closed her eyes, trying to imagine how things back home would go. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get past the fact that Tyler Sedotal was ruthless. And determined. And cocky enough to be dangerous.
There was some comfort in knowing the guys trusted Grier now, but dammit, it should have been her back there with Hamilton and Jim and Sage. It should have been her forming the plan to take that bastard down. This was her club, her birthright, handed down to her by her father who’d built the damned thing into what it was. Yet, she was three-thousand miles away, holed up behind an iron gate, hiding like a coward.
Eli knocked on the open door and stood just outside the frame. She didn’t move, as if she was waiting to be asked into a room in her own house. “You want to go to the market? They have… all kinds of…” She twitched her mouth to one side. “Stuff.”
Their relationship hadn’t progressed much past awkward and without Kye and Grier there to keep things going, no way could Fiona see how this would transform to anything more than stilted conversation and uncomfortable silences. But if Eli was willing to try, maybe Fiona could too. It would be nice to have someone to talk to about… everything. Since she didn’t have Hamilton and Grier had gone home to take care of her business, this was her only choice.
She smiled at Eli, although it probably looked more like she was constipated, and nodded. “That sounds great.” Who didn’t like spending time with a former enemy? With someone she’d been taught to hate?
Still, she picked up the baby and walked out into the hallway. And shopped. Tasted. Sampled. Pretended she cared about the wares and products she’d purchased. Even made small talk, but Pine Hill was never further than a thought and a blink away.
The baby, neither impressed nor interested, fell asleep halfway through the market and stayed asleep until right around bedtime. The was the time that Grier would have taken over for a while, reading to her from motorcycle magazines or an old dog-eared western he’d apparently had for years, then giving her a bath and even singing to her before he handed her back for Fiona to feed.
This went on for the first few days and made Fiona miss Grier even more. He hadn’t called or sent a text. If not for Kye talking to Eliana the first night, Fiona wouldn’t have known anything. Not about the influx of bikers in town. Not about the slowdown of street sales. All of which Grier should have told her himself. But he didn’t. He didn’t say a damned word about anything because he never called.
At three a.m. on the third day, she’d had enough. That was her husband, her club, and her fight. And by God, she was done hiding behind a gate letting Grier handle her business. The baby on the other hand…
London would have to stay with Eliana. That was all there was to it. Eli was like wonder mom. She could handle two babies. And Fiona could afford a nanny to help. What she couldn’t help was the need to go back home and make those sons of bitches pay for putting her in hiding. It was time they learned the cold hard fact of life. Fiona Strong-Owen didn’t hide. Not anymore.
By sun-up she was packed and ready. And she’d made a big pot of bribery coffee and a giant plate of persuasion pastries, cut some fruit and laid out a spread of eggs, bacon, and sausage.
Eliana walked into the kitchen and stared at the counter full of food. Without speaking, she poured a cup of coffee and sat at the table across from Fiona.
“I’m going home.” No need for beating around the burning bush. If Eli put up a fight, there was always money, and she would pay dearly to ensure London’s safety.
Eliana nodded. “I know.” She frowned. “Are you sure you can’t wait until next week?”
What would waiting until next week do to help the situation? Fiona shook her head. “I need to go now.”
“Of course.” Eli shrugged. “But just so you know, you are solely responsible for a very ugly French maid uniform I have to prance around in when Kye gets back.” She sighed. “I bet you’d last at least two weeks. He said you wouldn’t make it one.”
They had an easy kind of relationship Fiona envied. Light-hearted. She and Grier hadn’t managed to get there yet. They’d had moments, but their relationship had suffered so much from all the club stuff and the kidnapping and hiding out that drove them both crazy.
“I suppose London is staying here?”
And it was killing Fiona, but she couldn’t take her baby into what would only be able to be described as a war zone. “Yeah, please.”
“Damn!” Uh-oh. Eli’s reply didn’t bode well. “I told him there was no way you’d leave the baby with me. He said you wouldn’t risk her safety no matter what the past said about us.” She clicked her tongue.
Fiona cocked an eyebrow. “Sorry. But I can’t take her back with me. It’s too…” And there was no one else she could trust to care for London.
“Dangerous.” Eli nodded. “I get it, you know. After what they did to you…” She pointed to her throat. “I would go back, too.”
Eli had never been part of the biker world. Never liked anything about the club, and so Fiona’s way of life probably didn’t make a lot of sense. But she was grateful for Eli’s support now. Grateful enough her eyes went misty again.
“Thanks.” She hadn’t had a lot of friends growing up. Too many big biker types hanging around scared the private school parents away from letting their daughters be friends with her, so Fiona spent most of her time with Hamilton and Grier. It was nice to have at least the hope of friendship now. But now, it was time to go. She had business to attend to back home.
The minute he stepped off the plane the FBI picked him up. More threats, more breathing down his neck and he didn’t have time for it. And they’d kept him four days. Four extra days for Sedotal’s tab. And because when the Demons discovered he’d been the one to kill Dave, the undercover FBI who’d posed as a driver for the Screaming Demons shipments of parts stuffed with drugs, they’d chopped Kale into pieces and sent him back to Sedotal a limb at a time, Grier couldn’t even give the bastard up to the FBI. So, the FBI still wanted Hamilton and seemed rather hellbent on getting him, if the smackdown Grier had taken in an unmonitored interview room meant anything.
They’d given him a week to get them proof before they promised to come back with a SWAT team and a warrant for Grier’s arrest for the same murder they were trying to pin on Hamilton. A week to find and kill Sedotal and figure out how to get them off his back.
He walked into the clubhouse. The empty clubhouse. He listened, heard only the sound of his own boots on the floor. Then he stopped. Not empty. Fiona’s office door was open, and murmurs came from inside. He walked toward the door. Every remaining Demon in the city who wasn’t out looking for Sedotal or tracking down leads stood circled around her desk.