Meant To Be (Heaven Hill Series) (4 page)

“What’s happened?” the other woman asked, worried about the single mother.

Reaching under the couch cushion, she pulled out the foreclosure paperwork. “I got served with these yesterday, and I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

Grabbing the papers from Denise’s hand, Meredith looked over it, her eyebrows drawing together in concentration. “Shit,” she breathed. “This amount isn’t going to be easy to come up with.”

“I know,” Denise cried. Usually she wouldn’t be putting her business out there for just anyone to know, but besides Roni, Meredith was the only friend Denise had at this point. “I just don’t know what I’m going to do. This is the only home my children have ever known, and now they’re going to lose it.”

Meredith’s heart ached. She had grown up in a family where money wasn’t an issue. It wasn’t like they were extravagantly wealthy, but there had never been a week where they had to order off the dollar menu because they weren’t able to afford food. This was not her reality, and she wasn’t familiar with it, but she could at least be sympathetic.

“Do you want me to give you money?” Meredith asked. She didn’t have the amount that Denise needed, but maybe she had enough to keep the wolves at bay.

That caused tears to come faster and sobs to wrack Denise’s body harder. She had never had anyone she could count on or ask for money when she needed it. This was one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to her.

“I truly appreciate it, but I can’t take your money. I’m serious when I say I probably will never be able to pay you back, and that just makes me uncomfortable.”

Meredith’s eyebrows drew together. “That’s why Liam was here, right?” This time her tone didn’t carry the question that it had earlier. This time she knew. Desperate people did desperate things, and Denise was the epitome of desperate.

“I’d really rather not talk about it.”

“Okay, let’s head over to my duplex and have some lunch before I have to go to work. You need to get out of this house. If you sit here, you’re just going to think of things you can’t control.”

Denise knew she was right. She
was
hungry, and she had next to no food in the house. “That sounds great.”

“Did you convince her to help us?” William asked his son as Liam pulled his bike up in front of
Walker’s Wheels
and shut it off.

The shop provided legitimate income for the club, and everyone was expected to put time in there. They did everything from oil changes to repos and towing.

Before he took his helmet off, Liam looked around at the activity bustling around them. It was at moments like this when he wished he was exactly what he looked like. A son helping out his father at the family business. Business was booming, and every extra hand they had was busy – either changing oil or doing bodywork.

“What do I need to do today?” Liam asked, ignoring his dad’s question.

“You need to tell me if Denise is goin’ to help us or not.”

“That’s not what I’m talkin’ about, and you know it. If Denise is going to work with us, she’s going to work under me. You’ll know what the fuck’s goin’ on – on a need to know basis. Now what the fuck do I need to do to help out here today?” His tone said there would be no arguing.

William cut his eyes to Liam, not happy with the way this conversation was going. “There’s two bikes that need oil changes, and then I need you to check the car that we’re sending with Denise tomorrow.”

“Will do, Dad.”

Liam sauntered off, grabbing Tyler away from the job he was working on to go under the hood of a late model avocado green Cutlass Supreme.

“Whose car is this?” Tyler asked. He hadn’t seen it on the work order for the day.

Throwing a glare at William, Liam answered. “This is the car that we need to take to Denise’s tonight.”

“She agreed to it? I thought she was smarter than that.”

“I did too, but she’s desperate. You and I both know that desperation can make you do stupid shit. We count on that to get the things we want in this club. It sucks a big one when that’s used against people it shouldn’t be.”

It was on the tip of Tyler’s tongue to say that desperation really shouldn’t ever be used against anyone – no matter who they were. But the club was the club, and they did things the way they had to in order to get what they wanted. He could understand where Liam was coming from though. This woman wasn’t a hardened criminal, she didn’t even want to do this to get in good with any of the Brothers. On top of that, she had absolutely zero experience. This would either be the best plan they had ever had, or it would blow completely up in their faces. He just hoped no one got hurt.

“Thanks for lunch, Meredith. You were right, I really did need to get out of that house,” Denise said as she walked to the front door of Meredith’s duplex.

“Glad I could be of help,” she smiled. “I hate to kick you out, but I have to get ready to do the news in a few hours. I still haven’t gotten the script going yet either.”

Meredith was the usual anchor at 6 o’clock, but she really wanted the 10 o’clock or early morning job. Those were the most prestigious in this small town. Tonight she’d had to switch in order to cover the later shift, and she planned on making it count.

“Good luck.” Denise told her as she walked out onto Meredith’s porch and then the short way up the street to where her house sat.

There on the front door was a yellow tag. Not sure what it was, she grabbed it and flipped it over. It told her to call the Sherriff’s Office. It didn’t take a scientist to figure out that everything she had been running from was catching up to her at warp speed. She had to do this job, and it had to be now. For her survival and the survival of her children, this had to happen.

Chapter Four

A
car was parked in your driveway during the night with keys located in the visor. Once you get in the car, plug in the GPS. Follow the directions, and it will tell you where to go. After the drop is made, someone from the club will pick you up. Further instructions await you at your destination.

Denise read the text message again to make sure she understood what it was saying. Last night before Liam left, he provided her with a pre-paid cell phone and told her to wait for someone to contact her. With stunning realization, the fact that she was about to break the law hit her. Never in her life had she broken the law.

“Why am I doing this?” she whispered as she glanced around her kitchen.

A stack of unpaid bills caught her attention where they lay on the counter. Beside them sat open house fliers for her kids. If she didn’t do this job, there would be no clothes for school, no supplies. They would be forced once again to go to the resources office. Denise knew that the other kids made fun of those who needed financial help. The twins had already had to put up with that last year, she didn’t want them to have to go through that again. The answer stared back at her. Squaring her shoulders, Denise realized there was no time like the present to make the change from law abiding citizen to biker gang lackey.

She hadn’t been sure what to expect when she shut and locked the front door to her home, but the car in her driveway wasn’t it. A late model Cutlass Supreme, avocado green in color, sat behind her little four door sedan. It reminded her of the cars that so many young people were beginning to fix up as classics from the early 1980s. Walking over, she got in and opened the visor. Sure enough, keys fell into her lap. A GPS was already mounted on the dashboard, and all she had to do was plug it into a modified cigarette lighter. Turning it on, she waited for it to find all its satellites and then listened as it instructed her to turn left out of the driveway. She took a deep breath and steeled herself. A car this old was bound to be loud and draw a lot of attention. When it started up, however, she couldn’t even tell it was running until she gave it a little gas.

As she made her way out of her neighborhood, she wondered just exactly what was in this car. What kind of drugs was she transporting, and how much time could she get for it if she were to be caught?

A few minutes later, Denise was merging west onto the William Natcher Parkway in order to head north towards Owensboro. She had made this drive many times in the past. With Bowling Green being centrally located, she often took trips to Owensboro, Louisville, or Nashville. This time however, she was nervous. Even though this stretch of road wasn’t usually monitored by the police, she found herself checking her side and rearview mirrors almost obsessively. Her hands gripped the steering wheel much harder than they had to, and she could feel the tension in her shoulders as the car ate up the miles.

The closer she got to Owensboro, the more her stomach churned. Listening intently, she waited to see where the GPS would tell her to go next. Following its instructions, she turned onto West Petit Road until she came across a set of train tracks with a house located in front of them. The driving directions seemed to end at the house. Her mind ran a million miles a minute with the many scenarios that could happen here. Was someone going to kidnap her? Hurt her? Hold her for ransom?

Awareness pricked on the back of her neck. Without seeing them, she knew that others watched her. Not sure what to do, she pulled next to the house and waited. Once the GPS registered that she had reached her destination, a message popped up on the GPS that told her to leave the car where it was and wait to be picked up. She didn’t realized how hot she was until she got out of the car. Sweat clung to the nape of her neck, and she felt as if the world was closing in on her. Stepping further from the house, she sought out the breeze that would surely be blowing. If she wasn’t mistaken, this land bordered a creek and perhaps the coolness would be flowing off of it.