Page 15 of Jake

Jake shook his head and wondered how Hex always seemed to know when there was something he wasn’t saying. Was he leaving some clue out there that the other man was reading? He needed to figure it out so he could cover it, whatever the tell was. He took a deep breath and spit it out. He’d already determined how much he’d be willing to tell Hex, and what he would be keeping to himself.

“I’ve had some inquiries, and I need to know what you might know or if you can find anything out.”

There was no response for long enough that Jake wondered if the call had been disconnected. He pulled the phone away from his ear and checked the screen. No, the call was still connected. He put it back to his ear and waited.

This time he didn’t have to wait long.

“Tell me.”

“I need to know anything you can find out on a guy named Mitch Coleman. We’ve been contacted about collecting on a debt he owes, and something seems off.”

“What do you mean?”

“Why contact a club fifteen hundred miles away? Is he up here or what? Does he have some assets up here we’re supposed to acquire? I’m not sure about the whole thing and before I let my club get involved, I need more information.” He paused, wondering if he should say more. “Have you heard anything?”

“The name’s not familiar, so I’ve not heard anything, but I can do some checking. What kind of place has been in touch? Any clues where to start looking?”

“I don’t have much. One of the prospects brought it to me. Some connection of his brought it to him, said there was some kind of reward for collecting on this one, but he couldn’t tell me much. He said some club down your way was looking for him to collect the debt. I googled the name and came up with one in Mobile and thought you might could help me find more details.”

“I’ll look into it. I can’t guarantee I’ll find anything, but I’ll look. How’s life up where it’s cool?”

They chatted a while longer, catching up in a way neither had had time for in far longer than Jake cared to admit, then rang off. When he’d finished that call, he checked the gear from today, making sure the prospects had taken care of things like he’d instructed, then walked out behind the barn where he knew he wouldn’t be overheard and dialed the number he’d been aching to call since he’d programmed it into his phone hours before.

12

Heatherjumpedwhenherphone rang, vibrating against her leg while the rock song she’d set as her ring tone played at full volume.

“You okay?” Matt asked.

“Yeah, it just startled me.” She pulled the device from her pocket and checked the screen. Her heart seemed to skip a beat before speeding to what seemed like its normal usual pace. She swiped her thumb across the screen.

“Hello?” She hadn’t even thought about not answering it, which was what she would have done if it had been Mitch, or an unknown caller, but this was neither.

“Hey.” The voice that rumbled across the line calmed her nerves like nothing else had in days. It had been the same this afternoon, once she’d realized who it was calling her name. Something about him made her feel safe, even safer than being here with Matt, and that was saying something. Because for a long time, going several years back, at least until this morning, she would have said being here with Matt was the safest she’d felt since she was a kid.

Thinking about that made her miss her parents. Or at least the parents she remembered from her childhood. They were still around, but not the same people they’d been then. And it wasn’t just her perception of them now that she was an adult.

After she’d moved out to start college her parents had split. She’d been able to see for a while that they weren’t happy and had expected they’d be happier apart and even now she had to admit they were. But she hadn’t been ready for the other changes they’d made.

If it had just been the ways they were living, that wouldn’t have bothered her, but her father had married a woman only a few years older than her, and while he’d called her occasionally, he didn’t seem interested in seeing her much. She didn’t know if he didn’t want others to know he had a daughter as old as she was or not, but that was the feeling she got. It had caused them to grow apart in ways she didn’t have a remedy for.

Then there was her mother. That change took longer but was no less jarring than what had happened with her father. Mom had nothing nice to say about her father, and while that wasn’t a huge change, in the nearly ten years since her parents’ divorce, she’d only become more angry and bitter. It had gotten to the point that Heather actively avoided talking to her mother because she didn’t want to hear an angry rant about her father or whatever male had pissed her mother off this week.

All the changes didn’t keep her from loving her parents, but they had meant that when the problem with Mitch and those bikers he’d been spending time with came up, she hadn’t been comfortable going to either for help.

“Did I lose you?” Aaron’s voice in her ear reminded her of what she was doing and pulled her mind from her thoughts of her parents.

“No, I’m here. Sorry. I just got lost in my head for a moment. I’m glad to hear from you. I take it you had no trouble getting home?”

“None. That’s part of why I was calling. I wanted to make sure you made it back safe.”

“We did. No problems, at least not that I’m aware of.” She glanced up and found Matt watching her, a crease between his brows. ‘Aaron’ she mouthed to him, before standing and started walking around the room while she talked. “It was a nice ride. We stopped once for a few minutes, but I think we made good time. How about you guys?”

“We’ve been back a while, even had time to get everything unloaded and put away. I waited to call to make sure you guys had enough time to get home. You had a longer ride than we did.”

“Wow, not only home, but all unloaded too? You guys are on top of it.” She had no clue if the stuff they’d taken today was unloaded or not. Matt wasn’t part of whoever did that.

“I wanted to get it done so it wasn’t waiting on us tomorrow,” Aaron said. “What are your plans for the rest of the evening? Going to have a good time?”

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