The Biker's Chaos (Ghosts of the Prairie Motorcycle Club Book 5) (9 page)

“My phone died,” she said.

“No doubt. It’s one in the morning,” he said.

“Wow. Time sure flies,” she stammered. “How did you find me?”

“Trenton has a tracking device on the car in case it gets stolen,” he said. “He called to let me know Melinda finally connected with him. I told him I didn’t know where you were. So we found you.”

“How’s my sister?” she asked.

“She’s fine,” he said. “Like we thought, she and Bull are into each other. She got her divorce, and they celebrated.”

“Thank you,” she said as she stepped closer to him.

He bore down on her.

“What happened?” he demanded in a tone that clearly told her he was pissed.

“I was working-” she began, but he cut her off.

“Nope,” he said. “Try again.”

“I needed to go for a drive,” she replied.

“Try again,” he ordered her through gritted teeth. “And just honest.”

“I had a lot of feelings, and I had to sort them out.”

“There it is,” he said. “That’s what I needed to hear.”

John sat in the driver’s seat and turned the key. The car started. He walked to the head of the car and slammed the hood of the Nova. It felt like he was closing the hood on them. It was brutal.

“I’m surprised you came out here by yourself,” she said softly.

He smiled, but it was a sarcastic smile.

“I might say the same thing about you,” he said.

“I apologize,” she said stiffly. “Thank you for going through all this trouble.”

“That’s what people who care about each other do. Even if it’s uncomfortable, they respond to the other,” he said. “I’m mad because you shut me out.”

“Got it,” she said, sucking back her tears.

“Are you okay to drive?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” she lied. “Why did you take the bike if it’s this cold out?”

“Um, because I needed to go for a drive as well,” he said, using her words against her.

“That’s enough sarcasm, John McCarthy!” she blurted out. “I got overwhelmed, alright?”

She held her face in her hands. He gently pried them away.

“Okay,” he said softly.

He kissed her eyelids tenderly before traveling downward to her lips.

“Let’s go home,” he said. “You know your way back in case we get separated?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said.

“‘Kay,” he said.

Hannah watched in the side view mirror as John swung his leg over the bike. Erotic reflex made her press her eyes tight and draw in a deep breath. There was something so stirring about the sight of a tall, dark figure clad in a leather bomber jacket, chaps, and boots. John McCarthy was like her own personal superhero.

John accompanied her into the parking lot of her apartment building and walked her to her apartment. He didn’t stay, but he checked her apartment just to make sure she was safe. Hannah tried to be an adult. Of course, he was exhausted and cold. He wanted to go on home. But the choices she made, and the way she upset him made her extraordinarily needy. But when he said he wasn’t staying, she didn’t push.

It irked Hannah that her sister didn’t call her back. How could she let her worry like that? Melinda of all people knew what it was like to agonize emotionally. She could not understand how she would do that to Hannah.

But as she plugged her phone in to charge and saw all the texts from John, she realized she did the same thing to him. She made him worry. She disregarded the feelings of someone who cared for her. What was she thinking? She was sure John would’ve understood. She just needed to tell him, so he didn’t worry.

Hannah and John were supposed to go on a ride to Devil’s Lake and to have a romantic weekend at Spirit Lake Casino. Her heart ached. She had worked very hard to stuff all the pain she felt after losing her parents. She thought long and hard as she lay her head on her pillow, about whether she wanted to make herself vulnerable to more pain by getting involved with a guy. Or whether walking away from him to avoid risks, would hurt worse.

Chapter 14

The next morning, Hannah didn’t even check her computer for emails from the community college advisor about her community college application. She went to get something to eat. And it touched her heart the stuff he bought for her. Almond milk. Whole wheat bread. Salad stuff. Frozen chicken breasts. Oranges and bananas. Cookies with candy coated chocolate. Chocolate cereal. Coffee. Cookie dough ice-cream. 

She made herself a coffee and dosed it with the ice cream that she also sandwiched between the cookies. She laid on the couch, watching nothing television until it was time for her to go to work.

She walked into Park Cafe, her manager was grinning from ear to ear.

“What a shiny cool car that is,” Tara remarked. “Girl, what have you gotten yourself involved with? You have a sugar daddy for sure.”

“I don’t know,” said Hannah in a deadpan voice, “I may have screwed it up.”

She didn’t go into details. She waited on the few customers that came in and busied herself with cleaning the wait station.

“You have a table,” said Tara plainly.

Hannah approached the floor without any expectation. But there sitting in her station was John and Ghosts captain Danny White Feather. They were both in full biker garb. She couldn’t help but smile through her heavy moping at the sight of them. Especially John. She forced herself to look him in the eye. He looked up at her and winked. She wanted to throw herself in his arms and get lost in them.

“What’s good to eat for a couple of dumb asses riding on a day like today?” asked Danny.

“Why do you guys ride when it’s this cold?” asked Hannah.

“Same reason why we ride when it’s warm,” said Danny. “Because we love to. Actually it’s warmed up quite a bit. It broke fifty about an hour ago. I was thinking of wearing a t-shirt.”

“Two coffees,” said John.

He stood up. “And a hug. Because I’ve missed you so damn much.”

Hannah shoved her order pad and pencil back in her apron and buried herself into his body. It was the best hug ever.

“If you’re not doing anything after work,” he whispered. “Can you please come over to my place so we can talk?”

She nodded into his chest. He kissed the top of her head and released her.

“Okay pretend like that didn’t happen in case anyone complains about PDAs,” said John, sitting back down.

“Just your luck, you get arrested for hugging a waitress at the Park Cafe,” said Danny as he read his menu.

“My girlfriend,” corrected John.

Hannah’s eyebrows nearly flew off her face. She smiled from the inside out. Her smile was so broad and wide; she could not wipe from her face. She turned their cups up for coffee. As she leaned over the table, she craned forward and kissed John slowly.

“You’re going to get busted,” laughed John.

“Get Tara a guy,” she whispered.

“I like matchmaking,” said Danny. “Done.”

Sheriff Billy Weston entered Park Cafe with a very serious look on his face. He looked straight at Hannah, who had a feeling he was going to deliver horrible news for her. She knew that look. It was the same look that the police had when they came to tell her, her mother and father had been killed in a head on.

Billy was hard to miss besides the fact that he was standing in the entrance of the restaurant. Besides his presence which was huge, he had to be six foot four. He was stunning looking Native American man, but Hannah didn’t know of which of the three major local tribes he was a member of.

Sometimes Danny called him chief. Even though Hannah grew up in North Dakota all her life, she really didn’t know much about the local Native Americans. But what she did know, that if one Native American referred to another as a chief, he was probably a chief for real. The one thing that was obvious was he was a really decent man and Hannah trusted him.

Tara approached Billy and actually spoke with him. Hannah heard him ask her manager to cover her tables while he spoke with her.

She went on automatic pilot and stepped toward the waitress station, but a pair of strong hands gripped her hips. Suddenly she had a sneaking suspicion that Danny and John hadn’t just stopped by. They were there for support.

“What?” she asked to Billy with tears in her eyes.

“Tara says we can use her office,” said the sheriff.

“Is she dead?” Hannah came out with it.

“No, we don’t think so, but I don’t want to brief you here like this,” Billy rasped.

“Oh my gosh,” said Hannah collapsing.

John caught her and whisked her to the back of the restaurant. The sheriff followed.

“Why?” Hannah sobbed, going right to the worst.

“You got to listen,” Billy said as they closed Tara’s door.

John braced her firmly. She at least felt the comfort of his arms, but Hannah’s mind dulled over.

“They got the divorce,” said Billy. “Melinda is no longer married to that piece of shit. We evicted the tenants in your parents’ house, and we uncovered a lot of evidence. A lot of evidence connecting Cranston Cox to all manner of crimes from human trafficking, child porn, and prostitution. We knew that there was at least one bad cop, Mill. We think there were loads more.”

Hannah nodded. She was numb and tried to register what the cop was saying to her.

“So while Mill is out of commission, someone with the kind of access pretty much only someone in law enforcement would have, has been tracking our investigation and information exchange with Billings Sheriff’s Department and the state AG. They intercepted Bull and Melinda, who is the state’s chief witness outside of you.”

“Intercepted?” asked Hannah.

“They’re gone,” said Billy. “We can’t find them. Our thinking is that either someone got to them or, which is what we’re hoping, is Melinda recognized whoever it was, and she and Bull are in hiding.”

“You think Bull has her somewhere safe?” asked Hannah, her voice started crumbling.

“Danny and I think so,” said John steadily.

“We’re pinging their phones for location,” said Billy. “Tracking activity of their cash and phone use. Now, Highway 80 goes directly from point A to point B. It’s a little over thirteen hundred miles from here. If someone was driving for an entire day, barring bad weather or other incidentals, it takes twenty plus hours to get here.”

Our bad guys knew they were at Trenton’s wife’s place because it got tossed. There is no sign of anything violent happening to either of them. One of the cars that Trenton keeps there is missing. It’s looking like Bull may have gotten her out of there and is coming home.”

Hannah was sick and hopeless. She felt like a zombie; the pain was so deadening.

“How can we comb thirteen hundred miles of highway to know they’re safe?” she asked.

“Danny and I came by to let you know we’re riding. The Ghosts will find them. We’ve already reached out to clubs from here to there. They’re on the watch. It’s hard to miss the car.  It’s a classic Dodge Challenger. We think he took it just for that reason. It turns heads,” said John.

The sheriff rose.

“I’ll let you guys have a moment,” he said, walking away.

“So that stuff about seeing me tonight?” she smiled weakly.

“I’m hoping to be back by tonight. With your sister and my Ghost brother,” said John stroking her hair.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” she said.

“It’s ugly, but it’s ending. And that’s a good thing. These fuckers are showing themselves. They’ll be caught, and they won’t be able to hurt anyone again. Especially not when Deputy Hannah gets on board,” he said.

“I’m not so sure about that,” she said. “I would be seeing this kind of thing every day. I don’t know how Billy does it.”

“Because Billy had a shit life, and he wants to make a difference. We love him for it,” said John. “You’ll be a great cop just like him. If that’s what you want.”

He gave her an extra squeeze.

“We’ll find her. I can feel it,” he promised.

He touched her chin lightly with his fingertips and turned her to him. He edged his face forward, taking her mouth with his sweet, soft lips. His scent filled her as his tongue slipped in past her lips to take her mouth.

His tongue swept her mouth, tasting her, experiencing. She hungrily searched his mouth, trying so desperately to answer the intense yearning she had for him. She ran her fingers through his thick, unruly hair. The leather of coat creaked as he moved.

“Okay, sweetheart,” he said. “Here are the keys to my house. You go over there and keep the place warm. I’m hoping to have the place swarming with Ghosts by midnight.”

Hannah pulled herself together, and John left. She freshened her face in the ladies’ room and went back to the floor. She was surprisingly strong and clear headed. She tried to think positive thoughts.

Tara was working the tables. Hannah grabbed a coffee pot and went around filling cups. She met up with her boss.