Page 46 of Screamer
“Well, her relationship is documented in her posts and pictures. Seems they were happy together. Now, we all know that was a front, at least toward the end. But you’d never guess it.”
“Okay, but do you have anything we don’t know?” Journey asks.
“I’m getting to that. So, Roxie used to post every day, some days more than once. Then her posts just stopped. I’m assuming that’s when she left Jace and came here.”
“Makes sense,” Python says. “She was running from him, and social media makes it too easy to be tracked.”
“Right. I thought the same thing,” Tracer explains. “The weird thing is, Jace never commented on anything untilaftershe left. And the comments were weird. He’d go from gushing over how pretty she looks in a picture to calling her a whore for wishing a male friend ‘happy birthday’.”
“So, he’s crazy,” Jackyl, our club doc, states.
“Pretty much,” Tracer confirms. “The only social media activity he has is those comments on Roxie’s profile. He also doesn’t have a criminal record. On paper, he’s a stand-up guy.”
“Tell that to Rae,” Shuffle bites out.
Tracer raises his hands. “Just giving facts, man.”
“I’m not buying that he’s squeaky clean,” Poker chimes in. “There’s no way that beating Roxie is the first wrong thing he’s ever done.”
“Agreed,” I add. “He’s just managed to not get caught.”
“Which makes this even harder because it means he’s smart,” Crow says.
“I have an idea,” Bear says from where he’s standing against the wall, and all eyes turn to him.
“What’s that?” Crow and Shuffle ask simultaneously.
“Rather than waste another minute on this prick, we should vote on what essentially would amount to a bounty on his head.”
“Explain,” Shuffle demands.
“I mean, if this guy is so hard to track down, then we have to assume that’s not going to change. I propose that Roxie be put under twenty-four-seven guard, and the rest of us keep our eyes and ears open. If we come across the bastard, take him out. It’s clean and simple. And it doesn’t alert him in any way if he’s watching us.”
“Roxie will never go for being under guard,” I say, knowing it’ll piss her the fuck off.
Shuffle smirks. “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”
“You want me to lie to her?” I counter. “After everything she’s been through, that’s not happening.”
Her brother sighs. “Fine. Tell her, but explain that it’s temporary. Shit, it can be you who’s with her at all times. At this point, I don’t give a damn as long as she’s safe.”
“You’re trusting me with her?”
“You claimed her, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“Then, yeah, I’m trusting you. If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that when a biker claims a woman, they will do whatever the fuck it takes to protect her.”
“Damn straight,” I agree.
“All in favor of Bear’s plan, thump twice,” Crow orders.
Every man in the room pounds the table or wall two times.
“Good. Now, Addison is going to continue to investigate Saint’s death. She knows how the club works, so when Jace turns up dead, there’ll be no heat from police.”
“You sure about that?” Creep asks, speaking for the first time since church started.
