Page 1 of Justice
Chapter One:Scarlet’s Secret
Justice
Scarlet...all I could think about was her. I had been at her side for the last three weeks. We had started sitting together at meals back when she first arrived at the ranch and it had moved from there to staying together most of the day here at Conner House. At first, it was just concern on my part as she had been in Deacon’s custody and she just seemed to act like she wasn’t comfortable here.
I understood how she felt. I wasn’t either as I felt out of my element for sure. With my skills, I hadn’t been able to really contribute to this war or fight. I could throw down with the best of Requiem's members, as I was as fully trained as any other MC brother. However, they seemed to have all the men they needed. With a Rebel Saints army at their disposal. It wasn’t like any of Deacon’s men could be sued. I rolled my eyes...or prosecuted for that matter, considering none of what happened in this war had a lawful side to it.
I did help in my own way though. Ma had really meant it when she’d said she had legal stuff for me to look at. The ranch had been bailed out of debt and belonged to the Walkers again. However, her taxes weren’t in line and neither was Ma’s own will.
Then I worked alongside Rip’s girl, Sofia. A real estate agent with a mess on her hands, all stemming from O’s activities with the properties she’d either bought or confiscated. Along with some she had outright stolen from Sofia’s clients. This journey through records and files took hours and hours toretrieve and get straight. Days were filled for me while doing that. It also led to more information we found to give to Logan and Liv. So, I did my part, but I stood at the edges of the happenings.
What had transpired with Prophet and Jewel had been something I regretted having to watch from the sidelines or anywhere else. Prophet had looked so miserable when he came back the day we moved into the Bed & Breakfast. He had come back without Jewel as that plan had gone up in smoke. He’d blamed himself for losing her. No one else did, but that man could be as stubborn as his father Zed.
I’d known Prophet all my life and I had never seen him like that. Maybe back when, during the time he’d lost his mom as a kid. But the look in his eyes, the way he walked through here in a rage. I never thought I’d see the day when that man totally lost his cool. He had always been a joking, funny, hard working guy without a care in the world. Then again, Deacon had taken his dad prisoner too. That alone had to be enough to toss anyone’s patience and sanity into the wind.
Scarlet was a good friend of Jewel’s and it was hard on her too. She had cried for almost the entire time Jewel had been missing. Again, was it me just comforting her? I didn’t think so. I still kept by her side even after Jewel returned.
Recently though, Scarlet had gotten quiet, something else was bothering her. I had tried to get at whatever it was but so far, she managed to evade even my lawyer-like technique. Like my name stood for, I did have an innate ability to get at the truth, reveal it, set it into the light.
However, she hid this problem from me. I'd thought we were at least friends and not just two strangers thrown together by circumstance. I wondered if she wanted to leave? This whole thing had plucked her from her life. Yes, her life as a stripper.I didn’t care about that, she wasn’t on drugs nor did she even seem to drink. She had rules for her life and even higher standards than I had. No, she was a decent girl inside and out.
Her outside had drawn my gaze at least ten times every day too. Long red hair in curling locks, a curvy figure and she moved gracefully like a dancer. Many times, I would just watch her walk toward me, enraptured by the way she moved. Yes, she told me she danced but not just on a pole. She had studied dance, she had taken ballerina lessons as a teen and she practically lived in a dance studio every weekday when she wasn’t at that club. She had told me many things about herself and she was not an ordinary stripper. Far from it.
She talked about it at length one night when we were sitting on the steps at the ranch. She had aspired to be a dancer on stage and even got parts over in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. I asked why she had stayed in Ramton of all places as I’d joked about it being as far away from Broadway as a person could get. She then told me she had family here and they needed her. That had been the only time she talked about her family at all.
Me? I talked up a storm about mine. With three brothers and a sister along with the whole Requiem MC, as they were also my family. She would laugh at some of my anecdotes about my brothers. Liberty with his swagger as he held so many MMA titles that we could melt all his medallions and trophies down to build an actual gold bar. Then there was Fate, who loved building design and knife wielding of all things. I told her whether he used a pen or a blade the man was too sharp for his own good. I’d gotten another laugh out of her with that line.
I had joked with herto not get me started on Redemption. The man could be even more annoying than an ego filled Judge who hated all lawyers. He was in charge, yeah, yeah I got thatbut he’d always been too much in charge, being the oldest of us. Bossing us around had not started with his presidency. I loved him, don’t get me wrong, but I’d fought with him in sparring matches just to kick his ass. When I told Scarlet this, she laughed so hard.
For the last few days though, her laughter had been scarce. Here I sat in the living room, waiting for her to show. She hadn’t. I know we didn’t have a date or anything or a set time to see each other but this wasn’t like her. I worried about her now.
I rose up from the sofa and went to look for her. I went all over the Conner House and it had lots of room, good thing as we had lots of people to house. I went into every public room I knew of. With 2 dens, 2 living rooms, 2 small kitchens and a large one, along with a massive dining room. It even had outside patio dining, but we couldn’t use it now with the danger out there.
I checked every place she could be. Except for her room. I’d managed to avoid going in there with her or inviting her to mine. I somehow knew she was skittish about men, so I remained as platonic as I could. I sure did not want to scare her away. I’d dreamed of kissing her but I knew it still wasn’t the right time. I’d always been a man who thought way ahead. Besides, I really cared about this girl, and she was worth taking it as slow as it needed to go.
Heading down what they called the Rose Hall, I stopped at her door. I paused as I got ready to knock.
Before I could the door swung open and she yanked me into the room.
I stumbled forward and stopped short of running into her. “What’s going on?” I asked her.
With red rimmed eyes that showed she had been crying for hours, she replied, “I need to leave here!”
I held still. I knew it, I always sensed the truth before I even retrieved it. “Why are you so upset, Scarlet?”
She swallowed heavily and shook her head. “I-I can’t tell you.”
I looked into her eyes and said, “You can trust me, you should know that by now.”
“I know,” she said softly as she took my hand. “You might just be the first man I have ever trusted.”
Her hand felt cold in mine as she looked so troubled. If she wouldn’t or couldn’t tell me, I sure wouldn’t force it out of her. “What do you need me to do?”
She wrung her hands and said, “Get me to Ramton.”
I paused. None of us were allowed to leave, just like back at the ranch. Unless we absolutely had to and dying wasn’t worth going to McDonalds or the mall.
“I mean I’m not a Walker, so all of this has nothing to do with me,” she went on. “But I talked to that Talon guy and he said that I wasn’t safe either because Deacon had taken me prisoner too.”
