Bucking Tradition, page 2
But one thing I would never forget was the sound of his voice and what he had said to me.
“You find the asshole who did this?” Dad thundered. Mom moved to his chair and rested her hand on his shoulder. She may have just called him a dumbass, but that didn’t change anything. Mom and Dad were as solid as a couple could be. They bickered and teased each other, but you never doubted the love they had for one another.
Hell, that was basically every couple in the Devil’s Knights. They gave us all an amazing example of what to want, but sometimes, it seemed pretty unattainable.
Ransom shook his head. “Guy turned into a ghost. There is no sign of his van after he drove away from the stoplight today.”
“How the hell does a fucking creeper van just disappear?” King demanded. “You have the fucking plate number, right?” he asked.
Ransom nodded. “Yeah, we got it off my dash cam, but the plates are coming back to a car that was stolen two days ago.”
“He planned this,” Dad sighed. “He fucking planned to kidnap and kill Luna, and there isn’t a damn thing you are doing to find him.”
“I’ve been working on this case for weeks, Troy,” Ransom growled. “I have chased down each and every lead we get, and they are all coming up empty.”
“Then find a different lead!” Dad pushed up from his chair. “There has to be a trace of this guy somewhere. A fucking camera at a gas station or something. It’s impossible how this guy seems to be able to just pop up, kill a woman, and then disappear into thin air. You’re missing something!” A charge sizzled through the air in the room, and you could feel the tension roll off my dad. I was twenty-four years old, but I was still his little girl.
“I know we’re missing something,” Ransom confessed. “I’m searching all over to find the key that will unlock this damn case, but right now, we don’t know what it is.”
“Maybe the town of Rockton needs a better detective than you are.” Dad’s words were harsh and forceful.
“Troy,” Meg called. She gingerly stood and wiped her hands on her pants. “I think we all need to take a breath and stop.”
King reached out for Meg and laced his fingers through hers. “I think letting Luna rest while we all go home to our own beds is what we need.”
“I’m not leaving,” Dad insisted.
I sighed heavily and everyone looked at me. “I don’t care what you guys do, but I am tired, so you can go out in the hallway to figure this out.” Normally, I needed to be fully involved in what was going on, but right now, all I wanted to do was sleep. Sleep, and not think at all.
“We’re going home,” Mom stated, “and we will be back in the morning after we get a good night’s sleep.”
Dad opened his mouth to rebuke, but Mom tugged his arm.
“Shut it, Troy,” Mom hissed. “Or you’re sleeping on the couch, and I’ll make breakfast.”
Dad scowled down at her. “So you’re not going to play fair?”
Meg smothered a laugh. “How about if you go home, and I’ll bring over coffee and muffins?” she suggested. “But only if you go home and stay there.”
Dad rolled his eyes. “None of you are playing fair.” He raised his finger and pointed it at Ransom. “If one hair gets out of place on her head, I am personally going to kill you.”
“Jesus,” Meg gasped.
Ransom nodded. “And I’ll ignore the fact you just threatened a police officer.”
“And I’ll ignore the fact that my daughter was kidnapped on your watch,” Dad shot back.
Ransom held up his hands. “I will personally make sure nothing happens to Luna until you get back here in the morning.”
“If that is supposed to be reassuring, it’s not.” Dad moved over to the bed and leaned down. He pressed a kiss to the side of my head. “Be safe, my angel,” he whispered.
“I will,” I sighed.
Mom gingerly gave me a hug and squeezed my hand. “I promise he’ll be better behaved tomorrow.”
She and I both knew that was a lie. When something got Dad going, he didn’t let it go. He wasn’t going to chill out until whoever tried to kidnapped me was behind bars.
Meg was right behind Mom and also gave me a hug. “You know I’ll bring you a muffin, too,” she promised.
“Apple cinnamon?” I asked.
“Would I really bring you any other muffin beside apple cinnamon?” she laughed.
Meg knew that my ultimate favorite food was her apple cinnamon muffins. I swore every time she made them that she needed to package them up and sell them to the whole damn world; they were that fucking good. “Better bring me two,” I whispered.
Meg winked. “You got it.”
She stepped back into King. “Try not to give the nurses a hard time,” he drawled.
“That doesn’t sound very fun. What if I get bored?”
King chuckled. While Meg was like a second mom to me, King was like my second dad. He may give me hell, but I always knew that he would be there the second I needed him.
“If you’re bored, sleep.”
“Maybe you should do the same thing,” I advised.
Meg glanced up at King. “That’s what I keep telling him.” There was worry in her eyes and she forced a smile. “I’m not ready for either of you to leave me,” she whispered.
King leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “No talking like that, babe. No one is going anywhere.”
Meg gave a stiff nod.
I knew she worried since King’s stroke. You could see it etched on her face. She was still her carefree and silly self, but she didn’t take a second for granted anymore. She lived in the moment and now knew that they may be her last. With any of us.
“We’ll be back in the morning,” Mom promised. “Try to get some sleep.”
King and Meg followed out behind Mom and Dad and closed the door behind them. Ransom moved to the chair dad had been sitting in and plopped down in it.
I laid my head back on the pillow. “You can leave, too.”
Ransom sat back in the chair and kicked out his legs in front of him. “I value my life too much to leave,” he chuckled. “I like to think your dad was joking about killing me, but part of me fully believes he would make good on his promise.”
“You’re afraid of my dad?” I chuckled. “That seems unlikely.”
“I’m careful of a man who I know will do anything to keep his family safe, and to avenge them if he needs to.”
“You do know he’s not actually a member of the Devil’s Knights, right?” I drawled. Dad always had the option to be a member, but he always said no. He always said it wasn’t who he was, though he had complete respect for King and the club. Hell, from where I stood, he was pretty much an honorary member even if he insisted he wasn’t.
“And you think that means anything? I know what kind of man your dad is, Luna.”
I raised an eyebrow. “And what does that mean?” I asked. Dad worked at the local factory in the warehouse. He had for the past thirty years of his life.
“I really don’t have it in me to talk about this, Luna. I’m bone tired from today.” Ransom sighed and leaned back his head.
“Then make sure the door doesn’t hit ya where the good Lord split ya on the way out.” I reached for the remote and dimmed the lights. “The cop at the door will make sure I’m safe.”
“I am the cop at the door,” Ransom sighed.
“You’re joking,” I snapped.
Ransom reached for the lever to lean back the chair and raise his feet. “I wish I was, Luna. The department doesn’t have enough bodies to post someone at your door tonight. I’m what you got.”
“Funny how you failed to mention that to my dad before he left.”
Ransom raised his arms over his head. “I respect your father, Luna, but I also know how to get him to do what I want. Him staying here and being your watchdog wouldn’t help anyone. You’re safe with me for the night.”
“You know they’re going to find out you lied to them, right.”
Ransom sighed. “And I’ll deal with it then. Right now, I need to sleep and so do you. I’m assuming the nurse is going to be in and out of here all night to check on you, so we should try to sleep when we can.”
I wanted to tell him I wasn’t tired, and he couldn’t tell me what to do, but I was downright exhausted. Sleep really was the only thing I wanted. “He’s going to kick your ass,” I mumbled around a yawn.
“You’re worth it,” he muttered.
“Huh?”
“Nothing, Luna. Just please go to sleep,” he pleaded.
My head was already foggy and throbbing, and I didn’t have it in me to figure out just what he meant by saying I was worth it. “I’m only going to sleep because I want to, not because you told me to.”
“Whatever gets you to shut your mouth, Luna.”
I huffed and closed my eyes. “And I was almost going to thank you for helping me today.”
“You’re welcome,” Ransom drawled. “Now sleep.”
“That wasn’t me thanking you,” I insisted groggily.
“Luna,” Ransom growled.
One word, and it silence me. It also made me feel something else, but I didn’t want to think about it. I pushed that feeling down and cleared my mind.
Minutes later, I was fast asleep, and unfortunately, the man in the chair next to me played in my dreams as much as I didn’t want him to.
But that was just like Ransom. He did whatever he wanted and didn’t care who did or didn’t like it.
Even in my dreams.
Chapter Three
Ransom
“YOU’RE STILL HERE.”
I cracked open my eye. “Did you think I was going to leave?”
Luna laid her head back down. “I had hoped.”
I closed my eye and sighed. “I know you got a concussion, Luna, but you might want to get it in your head that I’m not going anywhere.” Did I wish that I was in my bed and not in a hard as rock chair in the hospital? Yes, but I could handle this for a few days while Luna recovered.
“How are you going to find the psycho who is killing my girls if you don’t go anywhere?”
I reached down and lowered the footrest on my chair. “I’ve got a friend coming in today who is going to keep an eye on you and also help me find this guy.”
“You have friends?” Luna laughed.
I opened my eyes and glared at her. “I know you might think it’s hard to believe, but I actually am a nice guy with quite a few friends.”
Luna huffed. “I’ll believe that when I see it.” She reached for the remote to the bed and raised the back ‘til she was in a sitting position. “Which imaginary friend is coming to look after me?”
“Bear. I worked with him at my first department.”
“And he’s just leaving his job to come and help you?” she spat. “Does he know you’ve hit a huge brick wall?”
That mouth on Luna. Jesus Christ. It could make a normal man turn on his heel and run without a backward glance.
Good thing I wasn’t a normal man. I saw what she was hiding behind that sass and temper. What she was hiding was what I wanted.
Luna was complicated, and no one had ever taken the time to look beneath the surface. She was something special, and every other man was too damn blind to see it.
Hell, she tried her darndest to make sure no one could see what she was. The number of times she had told me to fuck off or get lost was in the hundreds.
And for a while, I had.
Two years ago, Luna and I had fallen into bed and stayed there for six months until the world forced its way into our bubble and popped it. Now Luna hated me, and it seemed to be her mission to let the whole world know it.
It probably didn’t help that I had arrested her a month ago, but she had it coming when she stomped on my foot like it was a cockroach.
“Bear doesn’t work for the department anymore. He’s a bounty hunter.”
“Oh.” Luna tipped her head to the side. “So he’s good at hunting people down.”
I nodded. “You got it.” That was exactly why I had called him. He was going to help keep an eye on Luna, but he was also going to help me track down this killer.
“Something you’re not good at. Obviously,” she drawled.
I shook my head and pushed myself up from the chair. “It’s a good thing that sharp tongue of yours doesn’t cut me anymore, Luna.”
“Because I’d hurt your feelings?”
“You in here hurting feelings the day after you got kidnaped?” Pie laughed as he opened the door and stepped into the room.
“Did you bring your pretty girlfriend with you?” she asked.
Pie stepped to the side, and a pretty woman stepped into the room. “I told him I had to come because you weren’t going to eat this hospital food if I had anything to say about it.” She lifted a basket she was holding. “Meg is bringing a cooler later when she comes.”
I had seen her before, but I didn’t know who she was.
“Meg should be sleeping,” Luna muttered. “It’s barely eight o’clock and you guys are here. You’re not keeping biker hours, Bristol.”
“That’s because I keep private chef hours.” She winked and set down the basket. “Pie is learning to wake up with the birds if he wants to have breakfast before I go to work.”
So this was the woman who had managed to capture one of the Devil’s Knights. These guys were tough and rough around the edges, but they all seemed to fall like bricks when the right woman came along.
“You mean I’m going to learn to get up to eat breakfast with you, and then fall into a food coma before eight o’clock,” Pie chuckled.
“Now that sounds like Pie,” Luna snickered. “He was always good at eating ‘til he was ready to burst and then taking a two-hour nap.”
“Don’t be mad at me that I was a proud member of the clean plate club, and you ate like a bird.”
Luna flipped her middle finger at him.
“Someone is feeling feisty this morning.” Luna’s doctor walked in with a smile on his face. “You must have been able to get a good night’s sleep.”
Pie and Bristol moved to the side of the room, and the doctor came to stand at the side of the bed.
“Between the nurses coming in and someone snoring”—Luna shot a glance my way—“I did manage to sleep for a couple of hours.”
“I don’t snore,” I muttered.
“You snore like a damn freight train, Ransom,” Luna shot. “It’s a miracle anyone was able to get some sleep last night.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “You got no proof.”
Luna raised her eyebrow. “That’s what you think.” Luna grabbed her phone from her lap and waved it. “I have all the evidence I need right here.”
“More than feisty,” the doctor chuckled. He sat down at the computer that was crammed in the corner and logged on. “She must really keep you on your toes.”
I glared at Luna who was beaming at the doctor.
The doctor went over everything with Luna for a few minutes while I leaned against the wall, and Pie and Bristol emptied the bag she had brought.
“I’m thinking you should be able to be discharged later today. The only thing that might delay that is if the swelling doesn’t go down enough on your arm, and we won’t be able to cast it.”
Luna’s face fell. “What? Why can’t you just put a cast on? I’m sure the swelling will go down eventually.”
The doctor chuckled. “I know it will, but it doesn’t make sense to cast it today with it still swollen, and then you need to come back in tomorrow to get a new cast because the cast is too big.”
Luna wrinkled her nose. “I got you, but I can tell you the swelling in my arm will go down enough today so you can get those discharge papers moving.”
The doctor shook his head and logged out of the computer. “I like your optimism, Luna, but I won’t start those papers just yet. I’ll be back in after lunch, and we’ll see where you are at then. Deal?”
Luna grunted but nodded. “Whatever you say, Doc.”
Before the doctor was even out of the room, Bristol had a plate filled with food and set it on Luna’s lap.
“That can’t be from the cafeteria,” the doctor muttered. His eyes were glued on the overflowing plate.
Bristol laughed. “Um, no.”
“Bristol’s food runs circles around the hospital food,” Pie scoffed.
The doctor sighed. “I was hoping you would tell me it was from the cafeteria, even though I knew that wasn’t possible.” He pasted a smile on his face. “Enjoy your breakfast, Luna.” He stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.
“I think you might have broken the doc’s heart, Bristol,” Luna laughed. She moved forward to sit up, and I reached for the remote to raise the back of the bed.
“I can tell you that having to eat cafeteria food after seeing what you’re eating is definitely heartbreaking,” I muttered. I was going to end up eating right next to the doc while we gnawed on stale bagels and dry cereal.
“I made extras,” Bristol chirped. “I honestly made enough to feed a small army.” She bent over and pulled out another plate. “You’re not allergic to anything, are you?” she asked me.
I was going to get to eat the same thing as Luna. Holy hell. “Uh, only if you put penicillin in your eggs.”
Bristol wrinkled her nose. “Um, no.” She pulled out a large ball of aluminum foil and peeled back the layers. “I don’t think that really goes with a bacon, egg, and pepperjack cheese biscuit.” She shrugged and laid it on the plate. “But what do I know.” She grabbed a cup filled with fruit and held out the plate to me. “Penicillin free just for you.”
Even knowing I should tell her I didn’t need it, I grabbed the plate. Just from the looks of Luna’s plate, it was clear that this was the type of food only a fool would turn down.
I sat down in the chair and balanced the plate on my knees. “You don’t even know my name, doll, but I can tell you, if Pie ever decides it’s over between the two of you, I’ll be next in line.”
