Love Heals (The Love Duet Book 2) Page 17

  “How is Memphis, Creed?” I asked the road captain, taking my seat across from him.

  His tense posture and the deadly look on his face answered my question, but he told me anyway.

  “She is fine, a little shaken up but only because she couldn’t see what was happening. She is more worried that she hurt Kelsey going down,” he said in a low, deep, dangerous tone.

  “Kels is okay. I left her sleeping in our room, she has some scratches and bumps, nothing too bad. She too is more worried about Memphis, I don’t think she believes what happened could have been deliberate.”

  “Well, she should be.” Ford entered the room, a laptop under his arm. His statement taking me and the other men at the table by surprise.

  “Come again,” Booth said, his whole body going rigid.

  Ford placed the computer in front of his assigned seat, then bent down to kiss his man before sitting. Normally, I didn’t give a shit about their affection, still didn’t, but after that nugget of information time wasting was just pissing me off.

  “Ford?” I prodded the club’s computer genius.

  “Pres, we might have another problem. I pulled the footage from Memphis’ bookshop. I thought we would see the driver considering it happened not far from it, but all you can see is the car, not the driver. So, I pulled the footage from Stella’s because Kelsey said the noise of the car came from that direction.” Ford didn’t bother looking up as he spoke, his attention was on booting up his computer.

  “And, for fuck’s sake Ford stop stalling and tell us what you found,” Creed demanded, his fists hitting the table in sheer frustration.

  Lucky leaned to his side over Ford. “Brother, don’t,” Lucky warned. Lucky might look like the proverbial Aussie boy next door, with his suntan, buzzed blond hair and inkless skin, but the man was a human weapon. His skills in martial arts were only equalled by his husband. Lucky’s personal fight to stand beside Ford as his partner hadn’t been an easy one, but now there he wasn’t shy in letting people know Ford was his, and anyone that messed with that… really shouldn’t.

  Creed on the other hand brought pure raw, brute strength to the table, add his wife being in danger, my money was on Creed. I have seen him beat down his opponent in the ring and a few pub fights in our youth.

  I could go a few rounds in the ring myself, the rage inside me thinking that someone wanted to hurt my woman on purpose was only siting below the surface. Making love to Kelsey then admitting my true feelings, that I loved her, only pushed the rage to the back burner. I wanted to unleash the beast- the biker, it was only the cop in me that was holding me back and if Ford’s information had anything to do with Belinda, the beast was going hunting.

  “All right fellas let’s calm down. Creed, you know Ford is just being Ford, of course if he doesn’t start talking soon I will take it upon myself to make him talk,” Booth spoke directly to Ford, Lucky’s dangerous scowl like water off a duck’s back to Booth. The Pres wasn’t scared of anyone or anything. My admiration for him ran deep, going right back to my early years when Deck first brought him home as a nine-year-old. Even then he carried himself with a sense of leadership, born to lead.

  Ford and Lucky shared a look of unspoken words, ending with Lucky acquiescing and sitting back in his chair.

  “Right, so as I was saying. I thought Stella’s place being in the general area from where the car came from might show more of the driver and I was right. Look at this and tell me I am mistaken and aren’t seeing who I think I am seeing.” Ford pressed a few keys on the keyboard, and on the big monitor we used to make things easier to see as a group, a clear image of a brown Range Rover appeared to be sitting idling in one of the parallel parks literally straight out the front of Stella’s Slices, Sweets and Treats. A few seconds into the video, we could hear the powerful V8 engine revving, a small amount of smoke appearing at the rear tyres. The driver was most certainly gunning the motor in a hostile manner, my skin started to crawl knowing the driver’s intention.

  “Now this is what shocked the shit out of me,” Ford said, pressing a few more keys and the screen image zoomed in further giving us a crystal-clear picture of the person behind the wheel. A person I knew, had interviewed and arrested over five years ago.

  Curses flew around the room, some I said and then there was some even I had never heard before. Steel’s chair was suddenly thrown across the room and a mobile phone went sailing by my head, missing my face only by the grace of God.

  “Jason get a copy of this to Jobe ASAP, I want to know where she is, when she got out, fuck I want to know what she ate for dinner last night,” Booth boomed at me, my arse already out of the chair and heading over to Ford.

  “Mannix get a handle on Steel, he is not to go after Callie,” Booth instructed his enforcer. “Jason pull her records and find out who her cellmate was in Barwon, I don’t believe this is anything to do with Mia, I am leaning more towards Kelsey. Something in my gut leads me to Belinda.”

  My footing stalled slightly at the mention of the bitch.

  Fuck was this because of me, my visit to protect Kelsey seemed to only put her in more danger. There was no time to dwell or presume anything about my impulsive behaviour, first things were first.

  “I need to go see Kelsey, hold her, kiss her before I get moving on this,” I announced to the room. Deck looked my way, his expression was annoyingly all knowing.

  “You finally tell her?”

  “Yes, tonight,” I answered honestly. No point in bullshitting him, that would just prolong my agony with an interrogation and I wanted to get back to Kels.

  “Why?” Deck asked.

  And here starts the agony anyway.

  “Because, I do love her, have for a while I just wasn’t ready to admit it.”

  “Again, I ask why?”

  “Jesus Christ Decker, why didn’t mum drown you at birth? For fuck’s sake, it is easier now, for me to love her I mean, and before you ask why again and piss me off more, it’s because she can’t have kids,” I told him then wished like hell I could take the words back. Seven sets of shocked eyes stared at me, the blue ones so much like mine held a look of sympathy.

  “Jason, have you been holding your feelings for Kelsey back only because you don’t want to have kids with her?” Deck asked me quietly, his insight way too spot on making me feel like a douche. Hearing it in my head, me justifying it, was one thing- it made sense. Hearing it said out loud not so much.

  Taking a defensive stand, I glared at my brother. “You know what I went through when I lost Zoe, the first few months afterwards dealing with you having Shiloh. As stupid as that was, it gutted me Deck. I swore that I wouldn’t put myself in that position again, but then Kelsey and I happened and I starting wanting those feelings back again.”

  “But you resisted, kept your heart from her just in case she wanted a family with you?” Mannix asked me incredulously.

  “I won’t put myself in that position ever again, women die in childbirth, Zoe died in childbirth. Kelsey will not die giving birth because she can’t. Enough said!” I shouted, glaring at my brother using his own catch phrase.

  “Jay,” Booth began but I cut him off, not wanting to discuss it anymore. Things with Kelsey and me were great, fucking fantastic, we were in love with each other preparing to spend the rest of our lives happy and in love. She wasn’t going to die, this thing with Callie will be sorted and her mother taken care of as well.

  But most importantly, no dying.

  The office used specifically by the station’s detectives was a buzz of activity by the time I arrived an hour later. After the uncomfortable way the meeting in the war room wrapped up, me being the centre of some unneeded attention, I took forty minutes to say goodbye to Kelsey and of course make love to her again, this time in the shower. I tended to her scratches, my teeth ground every time she hissed with pain.

  Kelsey saw right through me of course, blaming the driver for being careless, she had no idea of my visit to her egg don
or or that she possibly was hurt because of it.

  “Johnston, how is your girlfriend and the other lady?” my sergeant asked, as he came out of his office.

  “All things considering, they came out of it with just scratches and bumps. It could have been much worse,” I told him grimly.

  “We got the footage from your club, all we need is a positive ID from the sister,” Jobe said joining me at our shared desk.

  “Mia? Why do you need an ID from her? Her face is on the tape as plain as day, we already identified her,” I argued, not liking the idea of bringing Mia into the station. Jobe had the lead on this investigation, it was too close to home for me to be neutral, so thank god I wasn’t going to be the one to ring the compound and request for Mia, who was pregnant, to come in. Then again there was another person Jobe should be much warier of anyway.

  “Good luck mate, Cooper Steel is a mite territorial of his wife. He won’t take kindly to his pregnant wife being upset by this,” I informed him knowingly. Steel might be a jokester, the pretty boy with the Hollywood looks, but he hit hard, and there was nothing more important to him than Mia and his girls.

  “Jason, there is something you should know about Callie Stone,” Jobe hedged, looking at me with a look he perfected, a look that usually meant I was going to lose my shit.

  “What about her?” I asked slowly, preparing myself for the worst.

  “It seems in the year before Callie Stone was released from prison, her new cellmate was Kelsey’s mum. Stone and Donovan got pretty chummy when they found out they had something in common.” Jobe’s announcement was not what I was expecting, in fact this new information, though disturbing, gave new light as to the who and why Kelsey was targeted and that it was deliberate. But why Callie? What did she have to gain by hurting Kelsey and Memphis? Rogue was dead, surely, she didn’t have any sense of loyalty to him, a need to seek revenge for his demise. As far as public records on the death of Rogue, he was killed by an officer, me. Any involvement of the club and Booth never made it into the official reports on the matter. Callie, or anyone for that matter knew the real truth. No one except for the men that were inside the compound that night.

  “So, Belinda and Callie worked out that they both had a connection to the club? Mia and Me? And by association, Kelsey,” I surmised correctly.

  “Yes, so I called that prison farm Belinda is currently residing at and asked them to pull the phone records,” Jobe paused, while he dug through the mess of papers on his side of the double desk, “ah, here it is, Belinda received ten calls from a Mrs Callie Steel in the past year.”

  “Original, isn’t she?” I drawled unimpressed. Now there was no getting out of bringing Steel in, using his last name as an alias, stupid or not meant a shit load of headaches.

  “Any recordings of the calls?” I asked hopefully.

  “No, the security level is low. The inmates are there for the last stint of their sentence, the main focus is on rehabilitation. The prison logs the calls, but doesn’t record them.” Jobe tossed the papers at me in frustration.

  “How long exactly has Callie been out? I remember Steel mentioning they were informed of her release.”

  Scanning the pages in front of me I noted that she was living a good four hours from Ballarat, a long drive to make and chance getting seen by a member of the club. Callie must have been promised something pretty substantial to take such a risk.

  “We can’t prove anything concerning Belinda’s involvement. Not unless Callie turns on her,” Jobe commented thoughtfully.

  “She rolled pretty quick on her lover, I don’t see why she wouldn’t do the same if we pressed her hard enough,” I replied. Callie had spilled the beans on Rogue less than five minutes into the interrogation I conducted five years ago.

  Callie’s sentence of six years for the list of offences against her didn’t go past three years due to parole and good behaviour. Belinda received fifteen for her part in the home invasions, kidnapping, and the malicious attack on Kelsey. She served nine before she was moved to start her yearlong rehabilitation. Not enough time for her crimes and something I told the parole board several times. My testimony to the parole board stopped her parole at year seven, then again at year eight. Year nine, she won.

  “You better give the Souls a heads-up mate. The club may stay on the right side of the law, but given this new development I’m worried the guys and you will want to take care of it yourselves.” Jobe looked pointedly at me. To my knowledge he didn’t suspect anything suspicious about that night at the club when Booth killed his stepfather, but Jobe wasn’t stupid either.

  “You know we won’t do anything illegal, but I get your point. Creed is itching to get his hands on Callie not only for Memphis but also her connection to the man who killed his first wife.”

  “And you?” Jobe asked quietly. “Kelsey is the main target here, or maybe you are. You arrested Belinda, and her boyfriend. He got killed in the remand centre, she has to be feeling the need for retaliation.”

  “Possibly… probably,” I agreed reluctantly.

  “The club has state of the art surveillance at their disposal, fuck they have half the town wired up. If anything goes down they will see it coming. Just keep an eye on your girlfriend.”

  Nodding, I rose to my feet and pulled my phone from my pocket and dialling Booth replied, “Oh you can count on that mate.” Pressing the phone to my ear, I walked past Jobe slapping him on the shoulder as I passed. “Nothing is going to happen to her if I have anything to say on the matter,” I vowed while waiting for Booth to pick up.

  “Booth.”

  “Brother? We have a problem,” I said as soon as he spoke.

  “Callie and Belinda were cellmates for a year,” Booth answered instead of asking what.

  Shaking my head, I couldn’t help grinning. Of bloody course he knows, what the hell doesn’t that man know.

  “Better get someone on Steel mate. She has been in contact with Belinda, using Callie Steel to throw off the corrections officers. The attack on Kels and Memphis was no accident or spur of the moment decision on Callie’s part.”

  “Fucking fuck. Jesus Christ, I do not want to deal with Steel going ape shit when he hears that,” Booth growled, in the back ground I could hear a smashing sound.

  Oh god here we go.

  “Belinda is probably paying Callie to get to Kelsey. We get to Callie, I know I can make her rollover.” I pushed on, ignoring what Booth threw and more than likely broke.

  “Agreed. I will get Ford on this exclusively. That means I will need you on the wall at the target range Jason. The council is digging so far up my arse I know what that cow mayor has for breakfast.”

  I heard the annoyance in Booth’s voice, then I heard a soft gentle voice calling out to him.

  “Handsome?”

  “Come here honey.” Booth’s voice suddenly soft. Taking that as my cue to hang up l said my goodbyes.

  “Righto, I will be there tomorrow as much as I can,” I agreed readily. Sometimes being a detective and a member of the club spread my time pretty thin. We all had other commitments with the businesses, though I was the only one with an outside job that didn’t include the club. Shouldering my share of club duties never bothered me until now, keeping Kelsey safe and pulling double duty was not going to be easy. Fitting all my responsibilities in and sleep and be with Kelsey—

  Fuck I need a holiday, somewhere quiet and deserted. Just my Mermaid and me.

  “Keep Kelsey close Jason. Belinda is dangerous, bringing Callie into it means she is also desperate. Not a good combination brother,” Booth warned me before he disconnected.

  Shoving my phone back in my pocket, I thought about what Booth said.

  No one was hurting Kelsey, I had lost previously and just barely survived it.

  Losing Kelsey? A tidal wave of fear gripped me just contemplating that notion.

  No life is worth living if she wasn’t with me.

  None.

  Chapter 20


  KELSEY

  Stepping over the rocky terrain at the bottom of the property belonging to the target range owned by the Wounded Souls, I mused again why I was here and not in my garden.

  “Because your mother is a deranged maniac,” I reminded myself out loud, glad that I was far away enough from the men so they couldn’t hear me.

  My business was not suffering from my absence happily, while Jason was at work at the station, Seb was with me at the house and with his help and brute strength I was staying on top of the planting and harvesting. Then, when Jason got off and came here to the work site, Seb did my deliveries for me, so there really was no reason for me to be complaining. Guilt was more my problem.

  My mother was the cause of all the tighter security at the club, and by association, I was too. If not for her thirst to punish me for existing, the accident with Memphis and I would never have happened and poor Mia wouldn’t have had to relive the drama of her sister.

  Jason told me everything about Callie Stone, who she was and what she did to the club. Her involvement in Vegas’s death and the man who killed Darth.

  He also informed me of Callie’s worrisome friendship with mum. That they shared a cell in prison for a year, and kept contact after Callie was released.

  Callie had disappeared from town, and from the city she lived in, her boss telling Ford that she gave notice a week ago. Steel took a ride to her new place, his hatred of his wife’s sister pushing him to find her whereabouts. The club was working hard to find her, but from what I could gather from the information Jason allowed me to hear, all roads led to my mother.