Chasing Down Changes (Moroad Motorcycle Club) (22 page)

"Harboring abused women and keeping them safe," Jeremy mumbled. "To the town, she came away looking like a fucking guardian angel to the needy."

"The chick Pack met asked him to meet her secretly the next time she had to go to the doctors." Jacko squinted his eye. "You'll learn Pack can get around and not be seen, though why he never blew off meeting a woman getting checked for STDs makes me think Pack's insane." Jacko burst out laughing. "Anyway, Cam ordered me to follow Pack, and that's when I overheard her telling our brother what she did upstairs for Tiff. She wanted out of the network and was scheduled to go to the next bordello in a few days. She worked Pack over good trying to get him to keep her. I informed Cam about what I learned, and we decided as a club to sit on the information."

"Did Pack help the woman?" Jeremy asked.

"Fuck, no." Jacko rocked back and forth in the chair. "Cam sent him on a run to keep him away from the Sterling Building."

"Tiff has the women stay three months, and then new ones come in. To anyone watching, they'd never question the short stays." Jeremy rubbed the whiskers out of the corner of his mouth. "For the pay they receive, they're freedom is taken away. She's got them locked up tight, only letting them walk outside during the day to visit the doctors once a week for tests, and she always escorts them herself. The only other time they get fresh air is when they go out on the balcony that's above alley when the town dies down for the night."

"It's a hell of a setup." Johnson cleared his throat. "Just thinking of how she's grown the business and the magnitude of running a line of prostitutes under our noses impresses the hell out of me. Never thought she had it in her."

Jeremy couldn't argue with that. He still was trying to figure out why Tiff decided on owning an illegal business instead of following her dreams of going to college and leaving town. He pulled out a can of chew and rolled it in his hand. Besides Cam, Moroad had no idea the sheriff was working for Tiff. His baby pulled off something others had failed at doing successfully, and the risks were high.

It wasn't the eighties anymore. The Feds were thick in the Silver Valley between the EPA recording every speck of rock getting moved over the old mine sites to making sure illegal gambling stayed out of the private bars. Tiff resurrected prostitution after AIDS and the Feds killed the industry off.

Merk thumped the table with his fist. "I need to go. I told Desi I'd be home by three."

"What time is it?" Johnson tipped back his head and finished his beer.

"Three-thirty." Merk stood from the table.

"Jesus Christ." Jacko gained his feet. "I told Amy I'd be home to take the damn dog out at midnight, so she could go to bed early. Never get a puppy. That damn animal leaks every time it wags its tail."

Merk stayed behind as Johnson and Jacko walked out the back door. "You okay?"

Jeremy nodded. "How are you and Desiree? The bar doing good?"

"Yeah, we're fine. A few years ago, every business around here took a hit with the layoffs at the silver mines, but things are bouncing back. Desi's got a smart head for business, and when things get tight, she plays a few games of pool to keep things comfortable." Merk grinned. "She still shoots a hell of a game."

Jeremy leaned forward. "Money should never be a problem. The extortion money coming in from the other gangs has kept Moroad afloat for almost eighteen years. Nothing will change, because I'm president. When and if things change, I'm confident we can overpower any threat. The members will remain secure."

"Nah, no worries. I'm confident of what you can do for the club." Merk hooked his thumbs in his front pockets. "Desi made a choice long ago never to use club money for the business if things became tight. I let her do what she wants and sock the extra away. As long as she's happy, it doesn't mean shit to me what she does with the bar. I always thought we'd get a house outside of town, but I think we're going to continue with the bar until she decides she's done, or we get too old to give it our full attention."

"You talk about Desiree wanting to stay at the bar. What about you?" Jeremy asked.

Merk shrugged. "Home is wherever I sleep. As long as nobody shoves me in a cell, I'm good. Plus, she's made a life for herself in town. I thought she'd want to get out, have a real house, yard, and all that bullshit. But, she's happy. That's all a man can ask for."

Jeremy gazed over at the stairs. Right now, Tiff either fell asleep waiting for him to get his ass upstairs or she paced the floor waiting for him to come to the suite to rip into him. Either way, he needed to face his current problem of Tiff refusing to do what she's told.

Merk slapped him on the shoulder. "Remember, you and Tiff need to stop by the bar soon."

"We will." He stood and shook his uncle's hand. "Ride safe."

"Always do." Merk walked to the back door and stopped. "Will you take a word of advice?"

Jeremy dipped his chin.

"Don't underestimate your girl." Merk hesitated as if he was going to say something else and then walked out the door.

Jeremy locked everything up tight and set the alarm. He'd never underestimate Tiff. When the school, her mom, the community thought she'd never amount to anything but end up in some trailer park outside of town dealing marijuana out of her screen door, he wanted her to push herself. The years he should've been here to support her, he sat on his ass in prison planning for his future.

He climbed the stairs and went through the ritual of setting the alarm for the second floor. The quiet hallway, the shut doors, the potted plants and decorative art depicting a time in the past all gave the appearance of a tasteful lodging for women seeking shelter. He rubbed the back of his neck. Tiff even kept evening hours for the women upstairs, and kept the focus on the dancers—the legal, barely dressed and not naked dancers—at night. Nobody would question her activities, because she had a deputy around for crowd control, two motorcycle clubs, and half the males in town visiting Silver Girls.

She played right in plain sight under everyone's nose, and nobody had any idea.

He opened the suite door, stepped inside, and worked his way halfway across the room and turned on the lamp beside the couch. He froze. A small female form huddled under the blanket in the corner of the couch. Blonde hair trailed over the arm of the sofa. The tension in his jaw eased. Tiff hadn't even gone to bed, but crashed in the living room, clutching a pillow to her chest.

She continued to shut him out of her insight to the businesses she ran, her goals, and her worries about him. She guarded everything that had to do with her personal life and instead put on a smile and believed she fooled him into thinking she was adapting while keeping him a foot away from anything having to do with Red Light. He sat on the coffee table and gazed at her beautiful face. She had every reason to trust him and no proof to rely on him.

Everything was right there in front of him, every day, every hour. He could reach out and touch her, feel the rise and fall of her chest, feel her breath on his skin, her racing heart against the palm of his hand. He loved her. He'd told her before he went to prison and she swore her life to him.

He stood, leaned over, and picked her up, being careful not to wake her. Tied up in club business lately and getting a solid footing in as the president had taken him away from her and allowed her to put a barrier up in front of her. Tomorrow, he'd make sure she understood he was going nowhere, and he wanted the wall between them torn down.

T
iff spotted a stray coffee cup on the table in the main kitchen and picked it up, wiping the brown ring underneath it with the dishcloth in her hand. The group of women working Red Light this quarter lacked any kind of housekeeping skills.

"Let's go." Jeremy stood behind her.

"What are you talking about?" she mumbled, straightening her shoulders.

Jeremy reached over and removed the wet rag from her hand. "We're going on a date."

"I don't feel like going anywhere." She walked around him and grabbed the extra clothes off the back of the chairs.

In fact, the only reason she was talking to him was because she had no other choice. She was still mad about Lola being in her business and Jeremy humiliating her in front of his brothers. Last night, she promised herself to slow down and take a healthy assessment of what she was doing.

She ran a business where women put their hearts on a shelf and used their heads. Jeremy would learn that she had no time to nurture a relationship with him if he was going to continue undermining her authority when it came to how she ran her businesses, and she wasn't going to lose everything because he continued to have a friendship with Lola.

She groaned and tossed the clothes into the basket with more vehemence than she wanted Jeremy to witness. Last night she'd come to the conclusion that Lola and her had changed positions in Jeremy's life once again.

Before Jeremy went to prison, she was there for him emotionally. They were best friends, soul mates, yin and fucking yang.

Every waking thought had centered on him, and she believed in their future together. There were times when she was afraid of closing her eyes to go to sleep because she didn't want to lose one minute with him.

With pre-prison Jeremy, Lola got the sex. Tiff was sure of that.

Jeremy would hang out at whatever place Lola was living, knowing she was sleeping with every member of Moroad, and still want to spend time alone with the older woman. Tiff turned around and scrunched her nose. Post-prison Jeremy was definitely having sex with Tiff, but he still slipped off to be with Lola. And for what? Support?

"You're done here." He wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Go out with me."

"Why don't you ask Lola," she mumbled.

He kissed the side of her neck and worked his way up to her temple. "Because I want you."

"I don't even like you right now." She shrugged her shoulder in a half-ass attempt to get him to stop kissing her.

"You love me, and that's why you're pissed." He turned her around. "Grab your phone if you need it, and let's get out of here."

"I'm furious with you." She followed him around the table, grabbing her phone. "I'll go because you won't leave me alone. But, this changes nothing between us. Things have got to change between you and me, Jeremy."

He looped his arm around her shoulders. She had no choice but to wrap her arm around his waist or keep walking at a weird angle where her arm beat against his side with every step.

Outside, he got on his Harley and waited for her to get on. She slid on behind him with no guess where he planned to take her. Only two restaurants were open before noon, and it wasn't as if Federal was hopping with date-material places to go.

The citizens of Federal walking on the sidewalk stared at them as they rode down Main Street. She laid her chin on the back of his shoulder and gazed straight ahead at the road, ignoring the curious stares, the pointed fingers, the men walking closer to their women as if the mere sight of a biker riding on the street at twenty-five miles per hour was a threat.

News traveled fast in small towns and though she preferred to stay away from the locals to protect her need to answer questions about her businesses and lie to familiar faces, the gossip of a Moroad member getting out of prison after fifteen years for murder put Jeremy as the hot topic of the month.

Jeremy rode under the viaduct. She patted his stomach to get his attention when he turned right on the first road they approached. Her plan to tell him they could go back to the Sterling Building and avoid the gawkers fled. Cam and Christina were the only people who lived at the end of the road they traveled.

Was he really taking her to his father's house?

The last thing she wanted to do was spend time with Cam or make polite conversation with Christina, pretending everything was normal when she was trying hard not to talk with Jeremy at the moment.

He rode through the curves, hugging the corners on his Harley. She leaned with him and held on.

Cam's two-story, bright, red house with white shutters came into view. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Why was he bringing her here?

He parked at the end of the gravel road and toed the kickstand. She slid off and stood beside the bike. As soon as he cut the engine, she said, "I'll wait by your motorcycle while you talk to your family."

"Nice try, baby." He grabbed her hand.

She hurried to keep up with him. "Jeremy, really. I don't want—"

"Watch your step." He climbed onto the porch, pulling her the whole way.

She tugged his arm to get his attention. "Your dad hates me," she whispered.

"He hates everyone." He raised his hand and knocked on the door.

"Well, then." She scowled. "I hate him."

Jeremy's eyebrow raised. "So does everyone else."

The door opened. She straightened at the sight of Cam filling the doorway.

After a quick stare down and without a word spoken, Cam stepped back to let them enter. Jeremy pulled her along. She kept her gaze on Cam's black boots only stealing glances once she was inside the house. Any moment, he'd toss her outside where he believed she belonged.

Jeremy stopped in the foyer. "Christina around?"

"Yeah, she's in the kitchen." Cam turned his head at the sound of footsteps.

Christina walked into the room, squealed, rushed forward, and came to a complete stop before she touched Jeremy. "You're here."

Jeremy leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Go on, get it over with."

Christina beamed and wrapped her arms around Jeremy's waist. "It's so good to have you back in the house."

The whole time, Jeremy held on to Tiff's hand, not letting her pull away from the family gathering. Her face warmed under the heated inspection coming from Cam and his silent questions, pushing her closer to Jeremy when Christina let go of him.

"Can you both stay for a while?" Christina looked between Jeremy and Tiff.

"Yeah." Jeremy squeezed her hand. "Can we sit out on the porch?"