Treats Aren't Always Sweet (14 page)

Bic frowned. “This is a lot of work for a
lean-to and some food, Boony.”

“Yeah, but that’s the way I roll, chicas,”
Boony said.

“But…” Treat said and he shook his head and
looked at both women.

“Nah, trust me, if I need something I will
ask, right now I am groovin’ with what I have,” Boony said and then
looked around the office. “What you have going on here is
righteous. Maybe I need it as much as the women do, a purpose…and
hope. Been without it for a long time, and it is good to finally
have it back.”

He hit the desk with his palm twice and
stood. “I have connections that will help you out. I will give them
a buzz. I can probably get you set up on a list that they have in
some of the rooms I am in, you know in the deep web, where only the
cool dudes go. Suits who do the same thing on the outs, in the real
world, they are overloaded and always looking for another avenue,
word of mouth is how this will spread, I can help you with
that.”

Both women sat back and looked at the scruffy
man as he walked out of the room whistling. He was an enigma,
something neither of them would ever figure out.

“You know if he cleaned up a little, he could
be hot,” Bic mused.

“I was thinking the same thing,” Treat said
and then Boony yelled back into the room.

“Hey, thanks for the compliment chicas. Free,
your woman says I am hot, you got some competition,” he yelled and
both women giggled.

“I am going to go get the rest of the office
supplies ordered, the guy from the furniture place said some of the
items we were looking at are on backorder, but he has some other
ideas. Plus, I will swing by the hospital and check on Jilly, the
doc said she would be released tomorrow if all was good,” Treat
said.

“Boo and Buddy are doing real good together.
And the guys have made sure the house is guarded at all times. But
if anyone is watching, they could easily find out where he is if
you go over there. It is too dangerous, and we have to be safe,”
Bic said.

“I really want to just hold him, you know
since all of this happened, I haven’t had the opportunity to be
with him. Free thinks it is too dangerous,” Treat said sadly.

“When your sister is released and we find the
asshole who is responsible, everything will calm down. You and your
sister will be able to sort shit out,” Bic said.

“Yeah,” Treat replied and then walked away
thinking of everything she had to do before she was able to come
back and spend a little time relaxing before tomorrow when finally
her sister would be home. She was excited, but she wished they
would find Lane and deal with him. Then everything would be perfect
and they could move on. That is what she wanted now. They needed
closure. Her mother’s funeral was going to be hard enough, Bic and
Free were setting it up for her already for the weekend. Just
enough time to get Jilly settled, plus all the security they were
getting for it, some of the guys were coming from Nevada.

War and Stone were talking to the security
company, working out alarm systems that would ring to their phones
when the perimeter was breached on three specific houses. Free had
agreed the two men would be in charge of that.

They were just finishing their meeting when
War’s cellphone rang. Stone was walking to his bike when he heard
the tone in War’s voice and he turned around and waited.

“Wanna tell me why we’re just figuring out
that he was sitting across the street this whole fucking time,” War
snapped into the phone. “Yeah I know the cameras don’t go that far,
the bastard was sitting just out of view.”

He listened for a second and then hung up the
phone after barking an order to whoever called.

“What?” Stone said.

“Lane was in a stolen truck across the street
from the compound about twenty minutes ago. Z saw him when he
pulled away from the curb. Took him a minute to grab his bike and
follow, but Tiny said he caught up with him after a few blocks.
Tiny has the gate now; he is locking the place down until we all
get there. They are doing a head count to see who is still out,”
War said and the guys got on their bikes and moved.

Treat was on her bike when she heard the roar
of another bike coming up behind her. She looked over her shoulder
and frowned. She couldn’t see who it was; there was a truck bearing
down on her fast. She squinted and saw it was Lane behind the
wheel. Shit, he was headed right for her.

She turned and gunned her engine and shot off
right through the intersection, narrowly missing two cars as she
heard the honking behind her but didn’t look back. Dammit, she
needed to get off the street, too many people could get hurt. She
maneuvered her bike through traffic until she saw a parking
structure she could hide in. Treat looked in her rearview mirror,
Lane was far enough back that he wouldn’t see her veer off if she
did it right.

Taking a deep breath, she moved quickly,
sliding in front of a large delivery truck where she knew Lane
could not see her. Then she swiftly cut into the garage, pulled
into a spot, and looked over her shoulder. It was only moments
before she saw Lane go by, never looking in her direction, instead
she could tell he was still looking ahead. Then Z went by,
shit,
he was by himself
.

Treat pulled her phone out and called War
first who didn’t answer and then Stone. Neither answered, she
called the gatehouse right when she heard the most horrific sound.
Metal on metal crunching, Treat sucked in a breath, got off her
bike, and ran to the sidewalk. Two blocks down, she saw the
accident, the truck Lane was driving, and the motorcycle, which was
in the bed of the pickup. The bastard had slammed on his
breaks.

Not thinking of anything other than getting
to Z, she ran. When she got close she called out for Z,
where
was he
? The bike had no rider. There were people out of their
cars and running to help. Treat saw the driver’s door of the truck
was open and no one was in the cab. The fucker had run.

She heard the sirens and still looked
desperately for Z. Finally, her eyes latched onto a group of people
who were bent over a body. She froze, was he dead?

Her phone was ringing, but she ignored it,
slowly she walked to the crowd and pushed herself through until she
could see the man lying on the ground. His eyes were closed and
there was blood on the right side of his body, his leather jacket
peeled back and exposed an arm, which was a mess. His leg was at an
odd angle and no one was touching him. She felt the tears as she
looked at his still body. Then with a roar, he jerked and
yelled.

“Motherfucker tried to kill me.”

The club was on lockdown, Jilly was
discharged from the hospital for her safety after War and Stone
explained to the doc what was going on. Thankfully, he agreed Jilly
would be safer away from the hospital. Unfortunately, Treat hadn’t
been able to go and visit yet, as the whole club was in meetings to
figure out what to do next. Lane tried to take out one of their
guys, the Warriors wanted blood.

Z was sporting a cast on his leg and about
thirty-five stiches in his arm but he was alive. And right now, he
was pissed the fuck off.

“He grinned at me in the rearview mirror, the
fucker, then slammed on his brakes,” Z recounted the last thing he
remembered. “But he was following Treat. I could tell, took me a
minute to see her.”

“Yeah,” Treat said. “Probably thinks I will
give him Buddy.”

“Right now, Jilly and Buddy are in the safe
house. They have guards and security, no one is getting to them.
But, Treat, you are going to have to stay away. Until we catch him,
if he sees you go there, he will know. Now that Jilly is out of
hospital, Lane will know we are hiding her. He is gonna watch, and
we are gonna let him,” Free said quietly.

“Let him? Are you serious?” War snapped.

“Deadly,” Free said and looked around the
table. “We protect what is ours, and right now, that is Jilly and
Buddy. No one in or out. Lane has made a few calls and gotten some
help with the promise of a big payout. I am assuming he knows Treat
has a stash. Now, Creed sent Joker, Kink, and Raven back, they will
be here in the morning. Not coming to the gate, they are going to
find where he is hiding at. Because he can’t sit on the street
anymore. We are making contact with the people who Lane made all of
these promises too, offering them a higher payoff if they turn on
him. All of this is gonna take time. We meet again tomorrow.”

The room dispersed while Treat and her men
remained in the room. Free looked at them and shook his head.

“Go home, take the night, we regroup
tomorrow.”

“But…” Treat started and he looked at her
closely.

“I know you want to see her, and you will,
when we catch this fuck. Treat, there is a lot going on here that
is going to need to be dealt with. However, we are going to take
one thing at a time. Lane is first up,” Free said, and Treat
noticed the look he threw in Stone’s and War’s direction.

“What else needs to be dealt with?” Treat
asked, looking between the men.

“Nothing you need to worry about right now,”
Free answered.

“Free, it is my family who is involved and
the cause, this is my mess,” Treat whispered.

“This stopped being your business and became
ours when he tried to kill Z. For now, we take over, nothing is
gonna happen to your nephew or your sister.”

Treat nodded and stood. “Meet you out front,”
she said to War and Stone who nodded and waited until she left.

“He wants her, doesn’t he?” War said and
looked at Free who nodded.

“That is the word, he is going to go for
Treat and the baby,” Free said and both men nodded and stood.

“Not gonna happen,” War said. “Find where he
is, we deal with him.”

“What else was found out?” Stone asked.

“Data found the information that filled in
the blanks about Treat’s real mother and how Chet ended up with
her,” Free chuckled and continued, “Boony may be out there,
brothers, but the man knows his shit. I had him in the office and
Data was there working and hit a wall, he was having a bitch of a
time breaking through the codes to get where the information was he
needed. Boony asked if he could help so Data looked at me and I
shrugged. No shit, the man sat down, grabbed the keyboard, and in
about two minutes he was in where Data was trying to go.

“So yeah, if he can do that faster than Data,
he is going to work nicely for what the women need him to do.”

“You going to fill in the blanks for us?” War
asked.

“Sure,” Free said and proceeded to tell them
exactly what Data, with the help of Boony, uncovered.

“Holy fucking shit,” Stone and War said in
unison.

“Yeah, that about sums it up,” Free
replied.