Bash, Volume III Read online

  “Detective Johnson, I don’t believe you’ve met Angelica, or her dad, Bud,” said Brain as they walked towards us.

  My dad nodded his head, and Detective Johnson did the same back. Dad looked to Agent Graham and said, “Thanks for getting to my daughter and taking care of her yesterday. She understandably doesn’t trust the city or county cops at the moment.”

  “The MC has respect for Detective Johnson,” Brain told my dad. “He’s straight up, and doesn’t think twice about arresting us when he has a case, but he’s also proven to be our friend a few times when a dirty cop tried to do us wrong.”

  “So what brings you by today, gentlemen?” my dad asked them.

  I rolled my eyes and sat up. “I know we can’t offer you a beer, but we have Coke, Sprite, and pink lemonade.

  Graham looked at the floor by the bar, taking in the noisy ice cream maker. “Looks like you’re about to have ice cream.”

  “Yeah, and it’s mine,” I said with a smile. “Not offering to share my ice cream with you.”

  Bash chuckled and went to the fridge. “Detective Johnson will take a cold bottled water. What do you want, Agent Graham?”

  “A water would be nice for me, too. Thanks.”

  I noted Detective Johnson studying my face, and I told them, “I don’t intend to be seen without make-up after today, so get a good look while you can.”

  “Mind if I get a few more pictures?” Graham asked.

  I shook my head. “I let you get all the pictures of my face and arms you wanted yesterday. That’s all you’ll need for court, should we make it there, and if you keep making me feel self-conscious about it, I’ll go put makeup on now, before we get started on our conversation.”

  “Tell me what you can about the five men who took you,” said Detective Johnson.

  “They were all black. One was lighter skinned and I suppose could’ve been Latino but is likely biracial. I can’t tell you anything about the driver other than his skin tone because I only saw a small bit of his arm. One of the four in the back with me seemed a larger build than the others, but the rest were wiry, thin. They all wore jeans, t-shirts, and masks.”

  “You were on the floor of the van, right? Did you notice their shoes?”

  Brain had told me to be honest about anything that happened in the van, with the exception of the conversation and masks. I realized I had noticed their shoes, and I said, “Yeah, I did. One of them wore royal blue shoes with grey laces. Another wore blue Nikes with a grey swoosh. Two wore white shoes — one was a white high-top with a lot of royal blue on it. There was a star, I think. Both pair of white shoes were so white, I remember wondering how anyone kept their shoes that clean.”

  Detective Johnson asked me if I knew which pair of shoes had come at me, at the end, and I shook my head. “Sorry, no.”

  “Can you walk me through it, again? How you got out of the rope, what you heard them saying?”

  I shook my head. “I’ll answer any new questions, but I’m not up to answering the same questions again. Agent Graham has the entire session on video, I don’t need to give you permission to watch it, but I’m doing so anyway.”

  Johnson looked at Bash. “Mind telling us where you were last night?”

  “I was across the street, at the bar. A bunch of us had planned to watch the game. When all hell broke loose, we stayed put and strategized. We had no clue where to start looking for her, so there was nowhere to go.”

  “I’ve already put together a USB drive with the video of them from last night, showing them in the restaurant area with last night’s game in the background,” Brain told him. “The rest of us were over here, watching the game and then strategizing, so we don’t have an electronic alibi. You’re more than welcome to track our activities on the traffic cams, though. We know you put them up on our street specifically so you can keep tabs on who comes and goes.”

  Paco had driven them all out of here in the panel van, and then they’d been brought back two-by-two, hidden in the back seat floorboard of various cars and SUV’s. If LEO tried to say they’d left in the van, they’d have to explain how they got back, because the van was at Paco’s girlfriend’s house today, so he could help her move.

  “Why do you need to know where they were?” I asked, incredulous. “They didn’t kidnap me! Bash and my dad were terrified, and the rest of the MC was either worried for me, or there for Bash.”

  Johnson looked at Brain. “Where were you?”

  “Doing what I do best, in the control room. I’ll note you kept all discussion off the police radio. I was listening at the time Angelica thinks she called the police for help, and no one was sent to a McDonald’s on Rossville Boulevard to talk to a woman who claimed to have been kidnapped.”

  Johnson smiled. “Standard procedure when dealing with anything involving the MC. We don’t know how, but we know you can listen in on our private frequencies as well as the public ones, so we dispatch by cellphone when possible.”

  “Haven’t checked, since I haven’t done it,” Brain said as he sat and leaned back, his long legs stretched out in front of him, a beer in his hand, “but I’m guessing someone’s written a law making it illegal to hack encrypted police frequencies.”

  “Here’s the deal,” I told Graham, meeting his gaze as I sat forward and away from my dad. “If you need to ask me questions to help you find the assholes who got me, you have my undivided attention. But, if you’re here to hassle the MC, I’m going to ask you to leave.”

  They tried to get me to give details about my kidnapper’s voices, but I couldn’t give them anything that stood out.

  “Do you have any of them, yet?” I asked. “Has anyone come back to the house? I’m assuming you have a warrant to check the cellphone records of the homeowner, at least, right?”

  “His cellphone was home all night. He must’ve taken a burner with him.”

  “Can’t you look through the phone company data to find five phones travelling together, and who were at this house together at some point? Maybe track the other four back to their houses so you can find them?” Brain asked them.

  “We’re working on it,” Graham told him with a smile. “Too bad you insist on working for the bad guys. Don’t know what your family did to turn you to the dark side, but it’s a shame.”

  My dad stood and walked to the door. “And with that, gentlemen, you’ve worn out your welcome.” He opened it, clearly intending for them to leave, and Agent Graham looked at me in question.

  “Yeah, bringing up Brain’s family like that was a low blow. I told you to stick to questions designed to help you find the bad guys, and not to hassle the MC. Brain’s my friend, he’s damned good with data and electronics, and he was offering free advice. Good advice, not smart-assed advice. Your response was uncalled for.”

  Detective Johnson offered his hand to Brain as he said, “Some of us know your hands are cleaner than your dad and brother’s hands. I’ll explain it to Agent Graham while he drives me back to my car.”

  Brain shook his hand without responding verbally. When the door had closed behind them and they were getting into their car, my dad looked at Brain and asked, “Tell me about Johnson?”

  “Like I said before, he’s a good cop. Won’t hesitate to arrest us when he has evidence, but defends us when he doesn’t think we’re in the wrong.”

  “He arrested me on an assault charge last year,” Bash said as he walked towards the ice cream maker. “Was polite, civil. Put the bracelets on me, read me my rights, and then talked to me about the ballgame from the night before on the ride to the station. He handed me off to a specific person for the booking, as if he wanted to make sure I was with someone he trusted, then put me in a room for my interrogation, and was an ass in there, but not as much as he could’ve been. I was out on bail the next day, and the charges fell apart within a week or two. He came to one of our parties right about that time and he was perfectly nice to me.”

  “You’d trust him with Angelica? If she n
eeds to ask for someone in the CPD, he’d be a good one for her to ask for?”

  “Absolutely,” answered Brain. “He’d be the first to arrest her if he found out she’d done wrong, but otherwise, he’ll even stand up to his superiors if he feels an injustice is being done.”

  Brain walked towards the control room hallway. “I trust Johnson but I’m still learning Graham. Hold up a minute while I sweep.”

  Brain walked the room with his gadget, paying special attention to the places the officers had been, and didn’t find anything.

  Bash had to fuck with the ice cream machine a bit, but fifteen minutes later, he handed me a bowl of ice cream and a spoon, and I moaned as I took a bite. “Fuck, Bash. You nailed it! This is perfect! If my dad weren’t here, I might tell you all the ways I intend to thank you.” I grinned at Dad. “Then again, you were never shy about talking sex stuff to Mom in front of me, but… yeah. No. Still not going to.”

  Dad laughed, and I gave him a bite of my ice cream.

  “You’re right, he did nail it… but I don’t want to hear about him nailing my daughter, please. So far, I’ve managed to keep my fists off his face, let’s not push it.”

  Bash got his own bowl and took a bite, and grinned. “Yeah, okay, it’s good. Couldn’t imagine it would be, but...” He took another bite and smiled, and I couldn’t help but smile back. Damn, I’d truly fallen in love with this man.

  My dad’s words came back to me, though. Everyone, including my father, seemed to be conscious of Bash’s temper. Daddy didn’t back down, but wasn’t quite as aggressive with him as he was most of the rest of the club. I looked at Bash and considered him and Dozer. Bash is Sergeant at Arms, which is a step above Enforcer. Did that mean Bash could win against Dozer in a fight? Dozer was close to double Bash’s size, and yet… “Have you ever fought Dozer, Bash? Not just a few punches, but actually fought him?”

  Bash shook his head. “I fought Tiny at an organized fight. Dozer and I’ve sparred, but never fought.”

  “He kicked Tiny’s ass,” said Brain. “Was back before we were making a lot of money, and Bash never told us now much he won. Tiny bought Sheila some new clothes and shoes, though, so it must’ve been a good payday for both of them.”

  “We negotiated for the winner to get five grand, the loser got two. Ringgold fights usually pay in the hundreds, but we agreed to fight three weeks in advance, and they promoted the hell out of us.”

  “You still fight down there?” I asked.

  He gave me a short nod, and I said, “You aren’t the only one with secrets, Bash.”

  I spooned myself another bowl of ice cream, and we all ate in silence.

  Chapter Seven

  Angelica

  I hung out in the MC clubhouse the rest of the day, usually between Bash and my dad. Dawg stopped by for a short time, but stayed away from me and left within maybe ten minutes. I didn’t know if he really needed to work, or if he just didn’t want to be around me with my dad. Gonzo figured it out, Dad probably would, too.

  I worked Wednesday and Thursday, and was surprised when I didn’t get the second degree from my superiors again. No interrogation, no lie detector test, just concerned coworkers.

  My dad showed me how to aggravate my bruises every couple of hours to keep them looking angry. I covered them with makeup, but you could still see them, just not as bad.

  Dad left Thursday morning, and when I got off work that evening, Dawg was waiting to follow me back to the compound. I probably should’ve been asking when I could go home, but I wasn’t terribly anxious to sleep in my own bed. I knew I was safe at the compound. At home… I’m not sure I’d have managed a good night’s sleep.

  Except, Dawg pulled up to my car as I approached it, and told me Bash was waiting for me at my apartment.

  My heart went into my throat, and I had to wonder why I was afraid to go home. Bash was there, Dawg would likely stay. I’d be safe.

  When I arrived home, Dawg parked and walked with me through the parking lot.

  “Why am I afraid to go home? They didn’t abduct me here.”

  “Was your abduction the first time you’ve been out of control? Taken by bad guys, with nothing you could do to save yourself, at least for the moment?”

  I remembered Sloane slapping me and forcing me to my knees, and I shook my head. “Second time.”

  “I assume there’s no more danger from whoever was responsible the first time?”

  “Of course.”

  He nodded. “Well, even if it’s the second time, it isn’t something you’re accustomed to. If the first time happened while you were still a child, you’ve probably assumed nothing like that can happen now that you’re an adult — you have a gun, you’re stronger, and you make better decisions.”

  “Damn, you’re good.” He was exactly right. I’d always put the Sloane situation into the “you were stupid, you were a child, and you asked for it” category. I’m now an adult werewolf, the daughter of the President of the Atlanta Rolling Thunder MC chapter, and I could damned well take care of myself.

  But, five humans had overpowered me and immobilized me, despite the fact I had a gun on my hip.

  “I want more training,” I told him.

  “We can arrange for that.”

  Bash opened my apartment door as we approached it, and looked at Dawg in question.

  “She feels safe at the compound. Doesn’t feel safe at home, anymore.”

  Bash pulled me into his arms, held me tight, and said, “We’ll stay at the compound at night for a while, but you and I need to have a private conversation. I’ve asked Dawg to come so he can mediate.”

  I relaxed into him, happy to be home since he was here, and because my house smelled like dinner was almost ready. But then my heart dropped to my stomach as I processed his last sentence, and I asked, “We need a mediator?”

  “I don’t know, we might. Sometimes he understands things about you I don’t get, and sometimes he explains me to you in a way I can’t.” He nodded towards the kitchen. “Steaks are ready to come off the grill. Everything else is on the table. I want a beer, get drinks for everyone and have a seat.”

  Two baked potatoes wrapped in foil were on everyone’s plate. Butter and sour cream were on the table, along with a huge platter of Texas toast. I got beer for all of us, and sat as Bash walked in with nine steaks piled high on a plate.

  “Have I mentioned lately how much I love you?” I asked him.

  “Love you, too, Princess.”

  Dawg chuckled at us as he put a steak on his plate and started cutting it, and I looked to him and said, “I care about you, Dawg. It isn’t exactly romantic, but it’s more than friends.” I looked at Bash. “Gonzo figured it out, and we’re probably fooling ourselves to think no one else has, especially after I let Dawg hold me and comfort me when Marlin took me to them. I know ya’ll kept him away around my dad because you were worried he’d work it out.”

  “You sayin’ you want to go public with our threesome? Or are you wanting to stop it?” asked Bash.

  “It isn’t just up to me. It affects all of us.”

  “So that means you don’t want to stop, then?”

  “If you want to stop, it ends.” I told him.

  “Yeah, that’s a given. I’m asking about what you want, though.”

  “I like things the way they are.”

  Bash nodded to me and looked to Dawg. “And you?”

  “I believe we’re all handling it well. Tink’s right about being closer to me, but she isn’t confusing stupendous orgasms with romantic love, and that’s always the biggest danger. She and I are developing our own friendship, and it seems healthy enough. Real test will probably be seeing how she reacts when I’m with another woman, though.” He looked at me. “How you gonna feel, if you walk in and see me and Gonzo sharing someone?”

  “I don’t have a say in who you fuck, and seeing you with other people won’t bother me. Though, if you get serious with someone, I’ll worry it might m
ean you can’t come play with Bash and me anymore. It won’t be jealousy, exactly, because I won’t want the kind of relationship you’ll have with her, but… if you’re exclusive with someone, it’ll mean we lose you in our bed, so I’ll be happy for you that you’ve found someone, but also sad.”

  He grinned and went back to cutting his steak. “No worries, then. I don’t do monogamous relationships.”

  “Neither did I,” Bash reminded him.

  “Tink’s your exception — someone you let behind your walls a long time ago. I got no one like that.”

  “Well then, you’ll just have to find someone strong enough to battle past them,” I told him.

  Chapter Eight

  Bash

  I was terrified about having this conversation with her, but I’d put it off as long as my wolf would let me.

  Work had kept me away in the evenings, and I’d had gentle sex with her one morning, but otherwise had mostly been hands off since I’d found out about her and Brain’s telepathic connection.

  And then, adding the knowledge she’d killed someone before she’d watched me kill Sloane… it changed so much about my self-identity. Could I trust her opinion of me as not being a monster, if she was one, too?

  Marlin had told me she’d been damned scary when she shot the five men. He’d said he didn’t think it was possible to recover from recoil, aim at another target, and fire again as quickly as she had, but she’d hit all five men in the chest, centered over their heart. Two of them had taken longer to die and the process had been sped along, but all of them would’ve died from her shots, had they been allowed the couple of minutes necessary.

  And he’d said the look on her face was that of someone who’d executed people before — no remorse, no regret. All business.

  I brought my mind back to the subject at hand, though — Dawg was here to help us navigate the minefield of how my wolf was reacting to her bond with Brain.

  I’d told her she’d face consequences for keeping her connection to Brain from me, and nothing had changed. It hadn’t been appropriate to bring it up in the aftermath of her abduction, but now it was time to deal with it.