Fanning the Biker's Flame - Piper Davenport Page 0,55
He gave me a squeeze. “Sleep.”
“Did you beat Freddie into oblivion.”
He sighed. “You’re not gonna sleep, are you?”
“Please tell me you at least broke his nose.”
“I’m not telling you anything until tomorrow.”
“You broke his nose,” I said, and smiled.
“You have a violent imagination.”
“Maybe so,” I admitted and snuggled closer. “I’m gonna sleep now.”
“Good idea,” he said, kissing me gently.
I closed my eyes and let sleep take me, safe in the arms of my savior.
* * *
I awakened and rolled over to find the bed empty. I sat up and called out, “Shadow?”
“Kitchen,” he returned.
I threw the covers back and slid off the mattress, my legs sore at the movement. “Are we alone?”
“Yeah, baby. I closed the drapes, too.”
I padded out to the kitchen and smiled. Shadow was standing at the stove wearing a pair of running shorts and a black T-shirt, frying up bacon. It appeared he’d also started a pot of coffee. I made my way to him and slid my arms around him from behind, kissing his back. “Hi.”
“How’d you sleep?”
“Good. You?”
“Good.” I gave him a squeeze. “Are you going to answer my questions now?”
He sighed. “Was hoping you’d forget.”
“Oh, I know you were,” I said, pulling away and grabbing coffee mugs from the cabinet. “How badly did you hurt him?” I poured a cup of coffee. “And Carl?”
He sighed, turning off the stove, draining the bacon fat, then facing me. “I’m gonna give you what I’m gonna give you and that’s it, Posey. Understand?”
I nodded.
“I worked Carl over pretty good, Doc says he’s probably got a busted jaw, but considering the fact he’d violated his restraining order, I doubt he’s going to say anything, wired jaw or not.”
I frowned. “What restraining order?”
“The one Rabbit backdated and slid into the county records.”
“Oh my god,” I breathed out, my stomach roiling. I didn’t know how I felt about someone having that much power to bring another person down. I tried to remind myself that Carl had stalked me, put a tracker on my phone, and threatened me multiple times, but I still felt the law should deal with him.
“I don’t think he would have ever hurt me,” I said.
“He put a goddamn tracker on your car, Posey. That’s not the action of a sane person.”
“But to go so far as to backdate a restraining order?”
“This is why I didn’t want to tell you.”
“We shouldn’t have that kind of power,” I said. “I would never want someone to go after another just because they hurt my feelings or something.”
“Jesus,” he hissed. “Carl didn’t hurt your feelings, Posey. He stalked you. That’s illegal. And quite frankly, we should have filed a real restraining order the second we found the tracker.”
“We didn’t have time.”
“Exactly.” He settled his hands on my arms. “I promise you that none of us will ever fuck with someone to this level if they hurt your feelings. This is bigger than that. Understand?”
I blinked back tears. “Yes, I think so. What about Freddie?”
“Freddie was dropped off at his home, wasted and passed out, right before the cops were called. He killed his mother, so his wounds look like defensive ones. He will most likely be on the hook for your studio fire as well.”
“When did he kill his mother?”
“The same day he took you.”
“Where did it happen?” I asked.
“Upstairs.”
“She was in the house?” I squeaked.
“Yeah, baby, she was.”
I rushed for the sink, unable to stop myself from dry heaving into it.
“That’s enough,” he growled, settling his hand on my back. “Story time is over.”
I took deep, gulping breaths. “Yes. That’s enough.”
“Do you need a Sprite or something?”
“He was going to kill me,” I whispered.
“No, there was no way in hell that going to happen.” He pulled me against him. “Come here, baby. I had you. The second you hit that panic button, we were on the way.”
“What if I couldn’t get my hands free?”
“Rabbit was working on reverse pinging your necklace. I would have found you.”
“What if you hadn’t?”
“I did, Posey.” He gave me a squeeze. “He can’t and won’t hurt you ever again.”
“You found me.”
“I did.”
“He’s going to jail.”
“Prison, honey. He’s gonna go to prison.”
“You could get in trouble—”
“Nope. It’s all good. Trust me.”
“What do I say if the police want to talk to me?”
“Nothing. You say nothing. You don’t know anything, so you can’t really give them much.”
“I can tell them that Freddie kidnapped me, tied me up, and hit me. I can tell them you rescued—”
“He hit you?”
“A couple of times. Those are the bruises