Out of Darkness (25 page)

“This house is super cute,” Denise beamed. “I never would have thought of this for Tyler, at all. He really is surprising. I’m beginning to wonder what else I don’t know about him.”

“He does have a lot of facets to his personality,” Meredith agreed. “It scares me sometimes, but I know with him usually what you see is what you get. I do wonder what the hell is going on tonight. He was so adamant about this being for him. Liam’s apparently only been here once or twice, and now he’s asking me to host both of y’all for dinner.”

“That is a bit odd,” Denise nodded, putting the fresh flowers in a vase they had purchased.

Hours later, the food was finishing up as Tyler and Liam pulled into the driveway. They walked in together, both sniffing the air at the same time.

“Something smells fucking fantastic in here,” Liam praised as they took off their shoes and jackets.

“Hopefully you’ll like it,” Meredith grinned, walking over to give Tyler a hug.

His stomach growled loudly. “I’m pretty sure I’ll eat it and love it if my stomach is any indication.”

“You’re cold,” she accused, as he wrapped her in his arms.

“It’s a little over a week to Thanksgiving. I
should
be cold,” he laughed, walking into the kitchen to wash his hands.

Liam followed suit before grasping Denise up in a hug. “This place looks great, really, you’ve done a lot of work in here Tyler.”

“Thanks, it’s been a slow go, but it looks really nice tonight. The two of y’all did an amazing job with the stuff you bought.”

Meredith felt a rush of pride and was happy to know that he liked what she had picked out. “I’m glad you like it. We’ve been smelling this food all afternoon, let’s eat.”

As she said that the timer went off, and she moved over to the oven and pulled out a cast iron skillet. “Is that homemade cornbread?” Liam asked, his eyes wide.

“Sure is.”

“I love you in a purely platonic way, but just know that I love you,” he grinned, already walking towards where she had sat it on the stove.

A Dutch oven sat on one of the burners. “What else do we have?” he peered inside, groaning. “Seriously? Homemade pot roast and cornbread? I’m in heaven.”

Tyler shot him a glare. “Quit flapping your damn gums and get the food so the rest of us can eat too. I’m just as hungry as you are, damn.”

The ladies laughed as they went back and forth with each other before they all sat down together at the table. Dinner was comfortable with the four of them, like it always was. Numerous times throughout the meal, Tyler and Liam had exchanged glances, almost like they didn’t want to look at the information that had been given to them. They seemed to be having too good of a time.

Tyler and Liam cleared the table and put away the leftovers while the girls washed the dishes they had dirtied up. Afterwards, they all had a seat at the kitchen table again, drinking coffee and just talking.

“Why did you really invite us here?” Denise asked out of the blue. “I’m a mother, and I’ve noticed the looks that the two of you have been shooting at one another all night. I’ve seen those looks before between the twins. Why don’t you just be honest with us?”

Tyler swallowed hard. He didn’t want to ruin the easy camaraderie that had developed over the night, but he didn’t want to lie to them either.

“We talked to Rooster the other day. We asked him if he could get us a complete dump on William’s phone. That meant text, pictures, calls, emails, GPS locations. He was able to get us what we wanted, and he gave it to us today. Liam and I want to be straight with the two of you, and we thought we should go through it together. We had to get somewhere that William couldn’t just walk in. So we chose here.”

Meredith felt a lot of the warmth that had seeped into her bones leave, but she understood this and the reason for it.

“Well what are we waiting for?” she asked. “Let’s do this.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

M
eredith sat in shock as she watched a video of the night of her attack. In the envelope there had also been a USB Drive. She hadn’t been sure she had wanted to see what it held, but knew that after all the other incriminating evidence they had viewed, it had to be something big. Someone had been in the bushes that night filming, they had heard her scream for help and hadn’t come to her rescue.

Denise choked back sobs as she held onto Meredith’s hand beside her. “Let’s turn this off,” she pleaded.

“No,” Meredith stopped her. “I have to see this. I have to see what he saw while he heard me screaming for help and didn’t come to my rescue. I need to know what kind of a bastard he really is.”

“I’ve seen enough,” Tyler whispered, getting up from the table and making his way to the other room.

He had a seat on the couch, putting his head in his hands. Most of the information they had received had been text messages and voice mails that detailed the planning of her attack and set up that would bring the club down on her. What William hadn’t counted on was the depth of Tyler’s feelings for her, that was apparent. He had a need to kill William. To feel his bones break and to see the blood pour from his body.

“You okay?” Liam asked as he walked over to carefully sit next to his friend.

Tyler’s temper could sometimes get the better of him. The beast could sometimes come out, and Liam knew it was close.

“Not at all. I want to murder your father, my President, with my own two hands. I want to slowly put knife marks in his body and let him bleed out a painful death. I want to take the guy that did this and cut his cock off so I can shove it down his throat.”

“We
have
to sit on this. We still don’t know who the guy is that actually raped her. We get both of them at the same time. Otherwise, William will tell him and let him run.”

Tyler knew the words Liam spoke were truth, but it didn’t make anything easier.

“That was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my life. The fact that a man can sit by and watch as a woman screams for help while her body is violated…” he stopped and took a deep breath. “I just can’t fathom it.”

“That’s because we are way better men than my father will ever be.”

Liam sensed he needed to turn this conversation onto another direction or things would get very dark in his friend’s head. “We need to figure out what to do about the other information we found. He’s been playing both sides of this goddamn protection business. Getting paid by us and then getting paid by the Vojnik on the runs he leaks the information to. No wonder these trucks need protection. The Vojnik know exactly what’s on them and where they’re going.”

Tyler leaned his head against the couch. “There’s not a damn thing we can do tonight. We need to think about this carefully, and we need to figure out
who
actually raped her before we go pointing fingers.”

“Agreed, we go on with life as normal as possible. You keep that savage temper of yours under control.”

“I will,” Tyler promised. “I’ll do it because I want justice for her. I want her to be able to feel comfortable again, and that won’t fully happen until we find this fucker.”

“I’m trusting you, Ty. You keep your shit locked down.”

“I know.”

Liam got up and went back to the kitchen, collecting Denise.

After they left the house filled with a thundering silence. It was so loud it roared in his ears. He didn’t know what to do, what to say to Meredith. Before, when he hadn’t
really
known what had happened, it had been easier. Now, he just wasn’t sure how to approach her.

An hour later, she walked slowly in the living room. Her face was pale, her eyes red. He opened his arms to her, and she collapsed next to his body.

“Are you okay?” she asked him.

His laugh was hollow. “I should be asking you that.”

“I lived through it once. You, on the other hand, had never seen it. I’m sure it was a shock.”

He cleared his throat. “It was a lot more savage than I thought. A lot more violent. You’re so well-adjusted now, I just thought it was different. If that makes sense.”

It didn’t really to her, but she decided to just overlook that. It was obvious he was still trying to come to grips with what he had seen on the video. “I’m that well-adjusted because of you. You’ve made me who I am today. I can never repay you for that.”

“Yes you can,” he told her, tightening his arms around her. “Don’t ever leave me.”

She smiled up into his face. “I hadn’t planned on it.”

The two of them sat in silence, enjoying each other’s company. After a while, she turned to face him. “How do we play this? Now that we know he ordered this. What do we do?”

“I know you’re gonna hate hearing this, but we’re going to act like nothing has changed. We can’t let him suspect we have this information. If we let on that we do, he could tell your rapist and then he could run. I don’t want that. I want the pleasure of the kill.”

She nodded, understanding why they wanted to play it like this and even looking forward to it. Over the past few weeks, she had decided that enough was enough. “I want that too.”

Acting like nothing has happened is driving me nuts. I even started packing the gun that Tyler taught me how to use. I carry it with me at all times. It’s small and couldn’t kill anyone, but it gives me peace of mind. I know that both Tyler and Liam believe that it’s what’s best for now, but I would give anything to let William know just how precious his time left here is. I want to see Tyler beat the shit out of him. Maybe I’m beginning to become a little savage myself.

“You’re coming to my show right?”

Meredith glanced up from her journal into the mischievous eyes of Jagger. “What show?”

“I’m playing
Wet Wanda’s
the day after Thanksgiving, it’s gonna be bigger than normal. I’m officially inviting everybody.”

“Like with a band and everything?” she asked, excited for the young man she had come to know so well.

“Just me and my guitar. I’m a little nervous. I’d like for you to be there.”

She had heard him humming around the clubhouse, singing softly to the radio every once in a while. He did have a good voice. She was excited for him. “I will
totally
be there. I’ll get Tyler to come too, and he can muscle my way to the front row.”

Satisfied with her answer, he grinned, already looking for something else to do.

“What was that about?” Tyler asked as he had a seat next to her, putting his big arm around her shoulders.

She sank into the weight, welcoming it. “Jagger is apparently playing a show at
Wet Wanda’s
the day after Thanksgiving. He wants me to come, and I want you to use those big, powerful muscles to get me up front.” She emphasized the words big and powerful with a breathless voice.

“Oh, you’re good,” he grinned. “You know I’ll do anything you want me to do.”

“Great. Then it’s a date.”

He liked the sound of that. “Sounds like a good time.”

“Anytime I get to spend with you is a good time. Speaking of time spent together, can we go to the dorm room for a minute?”

He lifted his eyebrows up seductively. “Yeah? It’s the middle of the day.”

She hit him in the stomach. “Not for that. I want to talk to you about something.”