Never Trust the Living (Battle Crows MC Book 7) Page 15

“Sure.” He paused. “Where?”

  There were a few places he wouldn’t go, according to the last time I’d invited him out to eat with us. One of those places being the restaurant on the bay that he’d sent us to last time.

  “What do you suggest?” I asked. “We’re not picky, and I’m fairly sure my wife won’t be able to eat a single thing anyway after stuffing her face so full of cupcakes.”

  “Worth it.” Dory patted her belly.

  I looked down to see her belly do a slow roll, indicating that our child was, indeed, doing somersaults inside of her.

  Smiling, I pressed my hand to the side of her belly where I’d seen the movement, and the baby kicked.

  I snorted and pressed in more firmly. Which he didn’t like at all.

  The boy already liked his space.

  Just like his father.

  “Head downtown,” he said. “I’ll meet you in that parking lot along the bay, and we’ll walk from there.”

  “Ten-four,” I said and hung up before addressing the rest of the room. “Wake suggested we head downtown,” I said as I eyed Dory. “That all right with you?”

  Again, she was a bit wary when it came to restaurants, but she’d eat just about anything if I ate it first.

  Which ended up happening more often than not at this point.

  I’d order something for me, eat enough of it to show her it was okay, then transfer the plate over and start on the other order of uneaten food that she’d ordered.

  It was a weird game we played that worked really well for us.

  “Sounds great.” Dory smiled. “Do y’all want to ride with us?”

  Shine and Iris agreed, and we met Wake downtown where we then walked to the restaurant that ended up being on the beach.

  “Wow,” Dory breathed as she saw the sunset we were walking up to. “This is gorgeous.”

  CHAPTER 23

  Am I taken? Yeah, taken for granted.

  -Dory to Bram

  DORY

  “This is gorgeous.” I must’ve repeated for the thirtieth time that day.

  But seriously, the restaurant on the beach really was beautiful. But the sunset went from a bright yellow to a deep orange, and now to shades of purple and almost brown. It was seriously breathtaking.

  Wake snorted. “I think you need to expand your vocabulary.”

  I flipped him off, causing him to laugh.

  When I shifted my gaze to Shine, I saw that he was staring at me with confusion on his face.

  “What?” I asked.

  He gestured to me. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you flip anyone off before. Or say ‘fuck.’”

  “I curse.” I snorted. “I just usually don’t do it around anyone, because it draws attention to me, and that’s not something I generally want.”

  Shine looked like he’d been hit.

  Iris patted his chest and leaned into him as she reached for another slice of bread.

  She ate half of it before offering the rest to Shine.

  I eyed the bread and really wished I could have some.

  I’d gotten a lot better about eating lately, but some things, like shared food in the middle of the table, were a hard no for me still.

  Bram flagged the waitress down and said, “Do you think you could bring us another basket of bread?”

  The waitress snagged one quickly and brought it back, and before she could put it in the middle of the table, Bram caught it and placed it directly in front of him.

  That’s when my chest warmed.

  “Thanks, baby,” I whispered quietly.

  “Damn, I forgot that you couldn’t deal with people touching your food.” Shine looked down at the roll in his hand. “I’m an ass. I’m sorry.”

  I felt something warm and sweet start flittering through my chest.

  Another crack in the wall of my heart repaired itself at Bram’s brother’s words.

  “I’m getting better.” I shrugged, looking at Shine. “Six months ago, I wouldn’t have even considered eating here, let alone eating a piece of bread.”

  Shine’s head tilted. “Explain to me what we can do to make things easier when we have family get-togethers. I’d like to make sure we make things better. So that you’ll come and actually enjoy yourself.”

  So that was how we spent our next thirty minutes as we ate our dinner. I explained things about myself to someone besides Bram. And Shine listened as if his life depended on it.

  And I knew that he actually cared.

  In the end, after my explanation, I knew that from now on, Shine would be different with me.

  Once he knew what’d happened, because I’d all but blurted it out to him and Iris, he’d become sympathetic to my plight. And horrified that I had a brother that was disgusting.

  “Let’s talk about other things,” Bram suggested. “Like how we’re going to find the dude that’s fucking with my wife.”

  “I can get down with that.” Wake dropped into a seat at the end of the table, fitting right in with the two Crow boys.

  And so we did.

  Over dinner, we discussed how we were going to find him. What we would do differently, how the new security system would work for our house, and other things that pertained to the person we knew nothing about.

  In the end, it was a hurry up and wait scenario. Until the man struck again, we wouldn’t be able to do a thing.

  CHAPTER 24

  I like my men how I like my coffee. Sliding off the roof of my car as I drive away.

  -Dory’s secret thoughts

  DORY

  So shit got weird over the next few months.

  One, I got as big as a house, and got bigger every damn day.

  I was now on month eight and a half of my pregnancy, officially thirty-six weeks pregnant, and counting.

  Two, after Shine’s invite down to Florida, the Crow family was down every weekend. As in, there wasn’t a single day that our guest bedroom wasn’t utilized since.

  First it was Shine, then it was Haggard and Sophia. Followed by Easton and Banger, Tide and Coreline, Price and Sabrina, Bram’s parents, Derringer and Reedy. Will and Cannel came last with their kids. And then the brother brigade started all over again.

  Jeremiah and Gracelynn had sent their condolences on their inability to come down due to their bakery’s business, but they’d sent cupcakes in their stead. And let me tell you something, I’d gained damn near thirty pounds in those few weeks. So, I wasn’t sure how much I liked his apologies.

  Though, Bram always said that I looked more and more beautiful with each day that passed.

  Though we both knew damn well he was lying, that my ass was definitely growing, and the stretch marks were becoming rather unsightly, I chose to take his lies and bask in the glory of being pregnant.

  What was really weird, however, was the uptick in my stalker’s appearances.

  With each week that passed since his defiling of my car, he’d gotten bolder.

  He’d started to make even more advancements in how he fucked with us.

  One week, he’d come on our bedroom window.

  The next, he was sending me nudes.

  And no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t find him.

  He was a ghost, and Bram was getting to the point where he was becoming obsessed with my protection. He was even considering taking time off of work so he could help me.

  Wake was spending more time with us, exhausting all of his avenues, too.

  But it was like the man that was doing all of these things was skilled in the art of being invisible.

  The one and only time we’d gotten close to catching him in the act, he’d gotten away and become even more careful.

  Which was now why I had a guard following me around twenty-four seven, except to the bathroom in my own place of business.

  That was the only way that Bram could physically go to work and get stuff done with any peace of mind.

  And since I loved him, and loved our baby, and knew that this was the best way to keep me safe, I’d allowed the guard.

  Hell, Bram and I had even gone to the sheriff at this point, though a fat lot of good it’d done.

  Which led to now.

  It was the weekend, and as far as I knew, there wasn’t a single brother, uncle, or parent coming down this weekend.

  And Bram and I were beyond excited.

  Because, not that I didn’t love that his family was trying with me, I was seriously in need of a weekend with my husband.

  A husband that’d done everything in his power to make me realize that he would take care of me, and my heart.

  Not that the weekdays together hadn’t been great, but both of us had to work, both of us were extremely tired, and both of us went to bed at nine o’clock. Leaving us about three hours to spend with each other before we went to bed. And a lot of those hours were spent cleaning up, or cooking, or doing something in general.

  I was now fully convinced that I would be staying with Bram after our child was born.

  I was also fully convinced that, although I loved Florida, we needed to go back home.

  I wanted to have our child in Texas, where his family was near.

  Where my family was, too.

  The Crows, once they put their mind to something, knew how to get what they wanted.

  And what they wanted was me.

  Me to be a part of their family.

  Which was why I’d be talking with Bram tonight about going home.

  I knew he loved his job, but he loved his family more.

  I also loved my job, but this wasn’t the place for me.

  I could do my job in Texas just as well as I could do it here.

  And though I loved Dutch, I loved Texas and the Crows more.

  So going home it was.
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  “KD, you ready?” I asked my bodyguard.

  His real name was Kyle Davis, but I’d shortened his name to KD when he’d said he would rather be called ‘Davis’ than ‘Kyle.’ And, because I’d loved teasing him, I called him what I wanted, which was a variation of the two.

  Even though KD was more than professional at all times, it was still fun to jack with him, just to see if he’d come out of his crusty, hard shell.

  Which, apparently, was never going to happen.

  KD was one of Wake’s friends. An ex-con that Wake had met while in prison. Apparently, according to Wake, KD had been in prison for murdering the man that’d beaten, and paralyzed, his big sister.

  Which was A-okay in my book.

  “Been ready,” he answered coolly. “What about you?”

  I gave him an eye roll and headed to the desk where I kept my purse during the day.

  I’d just pulled it out of the drawer when I bobbled it, and all kinds of shit poured out.

  Practically getting to my knees to gather all my shit, I didn’t see the blinking light at first.

  I’d grabbed my pens, a couple of tampons that I hadn’t had to use in months, and my ChapStick before the blinking red light caught my eye.

  “What is…” I looked over at the wires that ran out of the blinking black box and felt a sick sort of realization hit me. “KD?”

  KD, at the sound of my voice, looked up where he was already bent over, helping me pick up my things to the side of my desk.

  “Yeah?” he asked.

  I felt my voice quiver as I said, “I think there’s a bomb connected to the underside of my desk drawer.”

  There was a long, thick silence and then a curse.

  “Son of a bitch,” he whispered.

  We were up and moving before I’d consciously told myself to move. That likely had a lot to do with KD, though.

  Honestly, I’m not even sure it was my feet making me move.

  The explosion rocked the entire office.

  Pieces of glass, dirt, and debris filled the air around us, and we hit the ground so hard outside of my office that I physically heard my kneecap crack.

  The deafening boom filled the air, and then… nothing.

  • • •

  I’m not saying that life was going to take me down forever with hit after hit, but the bitch definitely had hands.

  “Damn,” I heard. “That’s certainly unfortunate.”

  I blinked open my eyes, more than aware that something bad had happened.

  “Think your bodyguard might’ve done more harm than good when he tried to save you,” I heard said.

  I blinked a few more times, trying to get my eyes to focus.

  “Over here,” I heard.

  I looked that way and instantly regretted it.

  My head exploded in pain, and I felt warmth start to track down the side of my forehead.

  “There you are,” the man said.

  I blinked a couple more times until the man that was doing the speaking came into focus.

  “Ahh.” He smiled.

  The man that’d delivered us our food months ago was kneeling beside me.

  He appeared to be in the middle of what looked like a warzone.

  “Hello,” he chirped. “Glad that you finally got to make it back with us.”

  I swallowed hard past the nausea and felt the whirl of my baby in my belly.

  Oh, holy God.

  The baby.

  Harker.

  Was he okay?

  Moving was a good thing, right?

  “Us?” I croaked.

  “Well, me.” He shrugged. “I think your bodyguard is alive, too. But I am currently kneeling on him.”

  I looked down and saw an arm peeking out from whatever piece of wood that the man, the food delivery guy, was standing on.

  What the fuck?

  “Move off of him,” I hissed.

  The man didn’t.

  He did, however, shift his weight to look at me sideways as if I was an interesting creature.

  “You don’t know who I am, do you?” he asked.

  I blinked.

  My brain was foggy, sure, but was I supposed to ‘know’ him?

  I didn’t think so.

  “I guess nine years is a long time.” He shrugged. “Or more like ten now. The last time I saw you, your husband punched the shit out of me in the parking lot of the courthouse.”

  Pieces started to fit together like a puzzle I couldn’t quite figure out.

  The courthouse parking lot the day of my brother’s trial. Bram punching the man that Amon had hired to ‘follow’ me. The guy leaving saying I wasn’t worth the pay.

  But I’d seen a look in his eyes that day that’d promised retribution.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Your brother was a genius,” he said. “I can’t believe that you wouldn’t have wanted to get in on that. Before he died, he helped me invest thousands of dollars that he helped me make. I’m now a millionaire about thirty times over.”

  This was making no sense.

  Another trickle of what had to be blood ran down my forehead to my hair.

  “You obviously don’t have the genius gene, or you would’ve figured this out a hell of a lot faster.” He sighed. “It’s quite disappointing, really. I’ve left you clues everywhere.”

  I had no clue what he was talking about.

  “I used to help him watch you sleep.” He giggled then. “But I guess you wouldn’t have seen me with him smothering you with a pillow.”

  My stomach sank.

  “I’ve been hoping you’d figure this out for months. But you and that husband of yours just aren’t a challenge whatsoever.” He sighed. “I got bored with you. Though, you weren’t supposed to get this hurt. That bodyguard of yours is dumb as a box of rocks. I thought for sure he’d find the bomb before it detonated.”

  I didn’t know what to say.

  “Who are you?” I asked. “Why?”

  “Guess it doesn’t matter now,” the man said. “My name is Travis Haynes.”

  He said it in such a way that I was supposed to know who he was.

  But I didn’t.

  I didn’t think I was dumb, either.

  I did, however, think that this man was just as Looney Tunes as my own brother had been, though.

  “Not even my name rings a bell?” He rolled his eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that, so I didn’t.

  Really, couldn’t.

  It was becoming harder and harder to think.

  “Dory!”

  The sound of Bram’s tortured voice had me wanting to open my eyes despite the pain that I was in.

  “Dory, baby! Dory!”

  “Guess that’s my cue to go.” Travis stood and leaped off the board and I heard a groan come from the man underneath it. “Have a good one.”

  Then he was gone, disappearing as fast as he’d arrived.

  There was another groan, but when I tried to turn my head farther, there was such an intense shade of agony that pierced through my skull that I knew there was something seriously wrong with me.

  “Dory, oh sweet fuckin’ Jesus,” Bram breathed.

  He started to step on the wall that’d partially collapsed on KD, but my weak yell stopped him.

  “No,” I cried out. “Davis is under there.”

  Bram stepped around it, hefted the wall off of KD, and then turned toward me.

  He dropped down to his knees so that he was face to face with me on the ground, lying on his stomach.

  That’s when I knew it was really bad.

  “I can still feel the baby moving,” I whispered.

  He swallowed hard, and I watched his Adam’s apple bob.

  “Yeah?” he asked.

  For once, he didn’t reach down and touch my stomach.

  He didn’t reach and touch me anywhere.

  And it was then that I knew that I was about to die.

  “H-how bad is it?” I asked him.

  He swallowed hard again, and I watched his face turn a shade paler.

  “Bad,” he murmured. “Can you feel your legs?”

  Now that he mentioned it… no.

  Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

  There was another groan from beside me and KD came up to an elbow and stared at me blankly.

  He turned his head to study Bram, realized who Bram was, then turned his head back to me so fast that I knew there was something wrong with how I looked.

  His eyes widened in horror as he took me in, and I knew that I would die right where I was at.

  If I looked that bad…