Page 77 of Claim Me

“The police won’t get onto the property without a warrant,” Natasha explains. “My family is aware of what’s happening. Our lawyers will keep them at bay.”

Natasha sees me about to break down, so she turns to the kids and her nanny. “Today was scary. Bear and all the other bikers will take care of it. Aunt Fred is on her way from the farm.”

“Grandma,” Deirdre mumbles and tugs at my hand. “Can we go to the farm?”

“Not yet,” I mumble. “I want you to stay in the playroom with Jacinda and Hector. I need to make phone calls to find out where Indigo is.”

“Daddy?”

“I’ll find out where Daddy is, too. But I need you to play,” I say and stroke each of their heads. Glen exhales sadly, thinking of Indigo. “We have to be strong.”

The words sound right in my head, but I start crying as soon as the kids are out of the room. Natasha hugs me and promises the club will fix things.

“I panicked,” I whimper. “I didn’t know how to help Indigo.”

“You couldn’t do anything besides protect the kids. You got them here. Now let the club and the Syndicate handle things.”

Though I nearly mention how they might kill Indigo, I don’t dare say the words aloud.

Natasha must sense where my head goes because she insists, “These cops know if they kill Indigo, there’ll be war.”

We both understand the dark undercurrent running through Banta City. I want to believe the cops aren’t dumb enough to do more than rough up Indigo.

With me huddled up with Natasha on the couch, we get Hunter on the phone and wait for my mom to arrive.

To quiet the chaos in my head, I picture waking up this morning to find Indigo watching me. He looked so vulnerable. I sense he was talking himself into believing negative thoughts. When I smiled at him, his expression flipped immediately. Indigo remembered our last eight months together. We went from friends to lovers to soul mates. I love everything about him, even the stuff that drives me crazy.

I choose to believe Indigo will return to me. He’ll also be at my side when our son is born. We’ll raise our five kids together. Nothing can stop that future from happening.

INDIGO

The ride in the back of the patrol car is the only time when I think the cops might kill me. Tommy talks to someone on the phone while another cop drives. I can’t hear most of what’s being said since the asshole slammed my face and ear against the door frame while shoving me inside the car.

However, I can tell something’s gone wrong with their plan. I catch a few words here and there to sense Siobhan went to Natasha’s house. I’m relieved she’s safe. I never would have considered they’d chase her. Whatever move Alec Brennan is pulling today has drawn a huge target on his back.

I can’t hear if motorcycles are tailing the cars. As we raced away from the Play Hut, I spotted Golden and Pork Chop turning onto the road. I instantly felt more secure.

Except time passes, and the drive seems too fucking long for us to be headed to the nearest police station. Did Golden and Pork Chop follow the cruisers?Am I on my own right now?

I find myself thinking of my brother as the police cruiser pulls into a precinct on the East side where the Brennan family exerts the greatest pull. Bubby practices law in Virginia at one of those firms with a half dozen names. Years ago, when he was in college, I reached out to him online. I only wanted to get to know the kid I loved and lost, but he never responded.

We were walking on different sides of the law. He no doubt needs to keep up appearances. I still wondered if he saw the videos of Tack and me saving Hunter last summer. They were all the rage for a while. People recognized me around town, but I don’t know if Bubby even cares if I’m still alive.

As the cops yank me out of the cruiser, I’m overwhelmed by a renewed sadness over what I lost when Bubby got a stable family who didn’t want me. I always understood why they rejected me. Bubby seemed so normal while I was quiet and moody. They never would have loved me, and I doubt I would have been happy with them.

Bubby feels like a ghost by the time I’m dragged into the bullpen by Tommy and his partner. My head hurts, and I can’t hear shit out of my right ear. My eye is also swelling shut. While my brother is a long-ago wound, I have newer issues to focus on.

As Tommy storms into the precinct chief’s office, I get fingerprinted. Then, the lady cop wants to take my mugshot.

“Are you fucking stupid?” sneers a cop from the Play Hut. “Look at his fucking face.”

The lady cop’s just doing her job, going through the motions, not part of the in-crowd. I see how she struggles to adjust to how she needs to act differently in this situation. So many people are on autopilot, including the chief who looks confused as fuck as Tommy yells at him inside the closed office.

The Brennan family holds immense power over these cops. That’s why a street cop like Tommy can boss around top brass.

For the next thirty minutes, the other uniformed pigs from the Play Hut glare at me from their spot near the back office. I memorize their faces for later. If the Brennan family demands a war with the Backcountry Kings, I want to be sure to target the right assholes.

A half-hour after my ass hit this seat, a cop hurries through the office, glancing quickly at me before knocking at the office door. By now, Tommy and the chief seem to be talking to someone on the phone. I assume they're receiving new orders from Alec. Meanwhile, the antsy cop knocks with more fervor.

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