Page 39 of Poker
“You’re okay,” I murmur against her hair, although I think it’s more for my benefit than hers. She nods against me. “Show me the package,” I demand after I’m satisfied that she’s alright.
Meri pulls away from me and points to the box on the coffee table. I was so tuned in to her that I didn’t even notice it.
“It has to be from Diego. That’s the only thing that makes sense. He brought this shit to my house and disappeared like a coward before I could confront him.”
I take in the contents of the box, as well as the short note, and my vision blurs with fury. “It wasn’t Diego,” I seethe.
“How do you know?” she counters. “I mean, I know I didn’t see who delivered it, but it’s signed ‘D’. And the note suggests it’s him.”
“I guess he could’ve had someone else bring it,” I allow. “But he’s not who was here.”
“But how do y?—”
“Diego’s dead,” I blurt. At her shocked expression, I thrust a hand through my hair and heave a sigh. “I’ve been with him for the last few hours, so I know he couldn’t have brought it here himself. And if he is behind the contents, he’s dead and no longer a problem.”
She eyes me curiously. “Okay. I’m guessing this isn’t something I should ask questions about.”
I smirk. “Probably not.”
“Fine.” Her tone is clipped, but there’s no heat behind the word. She might not like it, but she understands. Meri rubs her temples. “None of this makes sense, Poker. This makes three notes. The flowers, the one on my door, and this. All of them are signed by different people. What the fuck is going on?”
“I don’t know, but we’re gonna figure it out, okay?” She nods. “Go grab whatever you need for the night. You’re coming back to the clubhouse with me. We’ll sort this out and get a game plan.”
I expect her to put up a fight, but she doesn’t. Thirty minutes later, we’re strolling through the clubhouse toward the meeting room. I texted Crow before we left her house to call church so everyone would be ready when we arrived. I also got his permission to bring Meri into the meeting because only she can answer some of our questions.
“Hey, Meri,” Crow greets when we walk into the room. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. Just pissed.”
“Pissed is good,” Journey tells her.
“Pissed will keep you alive,” Screamer adds.
“Jesus, you think someone wants to kill me?” she asks.
“We don’t know,” Ghost states. “But that’s what we’re gonna figure out.”
Only, we don’t figure shit out. By the time church is over, the only thing we’re sure of is I’m staying with Meri at her place until further notice. She quickly agreed, which surprised me, but I don’t question her reasoning. We’ll put in a security system, and one of the brothers will be outside on guard duty any time she’s home, whether I’m there or not.
We discuss the possibility that this has something to do with the club, especially since my picture was included in the package from tonight, but it doesn’t seem likely. Everything so far has been geared toward Meri, and it started before she and I were together.
As of now, we’re operating under two possibilities: This is one person who is trying to throw us off by using different initials, or this is multiple people working together to cause the most amount of fear and destruction.
Either way, Meri will walk away from this whole. I won’t let anyone hurt her, not as long as I have breath left in my body.
CHAPTER20
MERI
I focus on all the ways this man invades my senses and ignore the fact that there’s someone out there who’s hellbent on terrorizing me.
Two weeks later…
“Everything okay with you?”
I smile reassuringly at Lance. He seems to have finally gotten the hint that I’m not interested, and now that there isn’t tension between us, he’s actually a pretty nice guy.
“All good,” I say.
