He motioned to the door. “I gotta talk to the men.”

“They’re in the middle of something, man.”

“How long you gonna make me wait out here?”

“They’re in the middle of something,” he repeated sternly.

The familiar looking man that I couldn’t put a name to glared at Damien, impatience seeping out of him. Even though he was a huge guy himself, he was still half the size of Damien. Seeing him in front of what I would have taken as an everyday big guy made my eyes pop out even further. Damien was a wall of muscle and intimidation, and he stared down at the bikie without a care in the world that he was a vital part of a violent gang whose crimes ran incessant around these parts.

The man turned to leave when he stopped abruptly. Taking notice of me, he froze. He recognized me too. Question was from where?

The door opened finally and relief swept me like a blanket when I saw Jaxon. Damien cleared the way for him, stepping to the side so he faced the man.

Jaxon was looking at the man strangely as he extended his hand out to me. I took it quickly and stood up.

“Remy,” he acknowledged the man with a single nod.

“Jaxon,” the man replied, glancing at our joined hands with an indecipherable expression.

“Did you want to see Finley?”

“Wanted to see Finley and you. I got a problem.”

Jaxon clenched his jaw. He wanted nothing more than to get out of there, and the inconvenience was clear in his demeanour. He exhaled wearily. “Come on in then.”

Remy flashed me a look again. “This your girl?”

“It is.”

“She staying at the Manor Motel by any chance?”

How had he known –

I held my breath as realization dawned on me.

“She was,” Jaxon replied.

“So was my brother, Brett. I saw her there.” Why was he talking about me like I wasn’t standing two feet away from him?

Jaxon didn’t respond. Remy pursed his lips. “I’ve been looking for my brother for a couple days now. I’ve got no word from him. He’s just up and disappeared. I came here to see if you guys have been in contact with him. Wonderin’ if he’s been hanging ‘round one of the whore houses I might not know about.”

I felt like I was going to be sick. My skin broke out in cold sweat as I looked up at Jaxon, and then at Damien. Jaxon looked void of emotion, not one thought hung on his sleeve. Damien was straight faced too, but he was locking eyes with me as if he knew my reaction might be ugly. He raised his eyebrows only slightly, but enough for me to notice and see the warning. I kept my mouth shut and focused on not looking like an open book.

“No,” Jaxon said casually. “I haven’t seen Brett since a week ago when he was caught raping one of our women. Finley told him to pack it away and saddle up in your clubhouse instead.”

Remy appeared unhappy with this answer. “How about your girl here?” he asked, pointing to me. “You seen my brother around the motel recently?”

I shook my head vigorously, tightening my grip around Jaxon’s hand as much as my sweaty palm would allow.

“She hasn’t been there for a couple days now,” Jaxon said gravely. “I took her out of there. It was unsafe for her in that part of town.”

“Couple days, huh?” He was looking at me intensely now, studying my reaction closely. Those eyes… I hadn’t seen them in the parking lot that night, yet they did something to me. I’d seen them before. Where?

“Anything else?”

Tearing his eyes away from me, he nodded at Jaxon. “Yeah, I’ll need to ask Finley and the boys. Then I need to discuss some things with you guys that would be… beneficial to our situation lately.”

Jaxon nodded and opened the door again. He gave me an apologetic look as he let go of my hand and disappeared inside with Remy. My stomach churned and I felt like I was going to vomit right there on the spot.

“Sit down,” Damien said gently.

I collapsed in the chair and tried to fight the shaking in my body. That was his brother. That was… I closed my eyes and recalled that big monster of a man pointing his grubby fingers at Remy at the parking lot that night I returned from Lucinda’s. They’d stopped and looked at me, the two of them. I didn’t think Remy would actually remember me. He’d seen me in the dark of night, after all. Now he was here asking around for his brother…

“Did you kill him?” I’d asked Jaxon.

He looked at me, half amused, half annoyed. “No, I didn’t.”

“I’m gonna be sick.” I got up and looked around for the toilets. When I saw the sign, I hurried through the crowd and pushed the door open. I collided with a few women before locking myself inside the first empty stall I saw.

Twenty Two

I don’t know how long I was kneeling over the toilet. Nothing had come up, but my stomach was still twisting in nausea.

Images of that night, of my near rape and the fear I’d felt were fresh as ever.

After a few minutes, I managed to steady my breathing and sat down on the toilet seat. I wasn’t sure how to take any of this. I was too stunned to process the obvious fact that Brett had met his demise, and most likely in Damien’s hands. But it would have been Jaxon that made the order.

I rubbed my eyes, smelling the sweat from my palms against my face. I tore off some toilet paper and vainly attempted to wipe the wet sweat from my skin. Then I pulled out my cell phone to send Lexi a text when I saw an unread text from a number I didn’t recognize.

Hi Sara, this is Rita. I was good friends with your mother. Father Mark said you might be interested in talking to me.  I will be out of town for the next two weeks, but if you’re still around after, I’d be more than happy to meet you and discuss whatever you wanted to know about Joanne. Call me anytime and we can arrange a date.

My heart thudded. I didn’t actually think she would contact me. In fact, I hadn’t even made up my mind on whether I wanted to talk to her either. A flame of jealousy reared its ugly head when I thought of how close she had been to my mother.

Not contacting her back and moving on would be the easiest action. However, I didn’t want to run away from this either. I reminded myself I had questions I wanted answers to.

I read the message over and over again when two pairs of heels clicked into the woman’s restroom. Two girls were laughing hysterically, not a care in the world that they were in this kind of place – a place where men with questionable motives and dirty hands reclined.