Page 33 of Rough Patch

Oh, that question. Over the last two days, she’d imagined a hundred places, a hundred houses with white picket fences, a minivan, London in soccer shorts or a tutu or a princess dress with fairy wings and a wand whirling circles on the lawn, unaware and unafraid that some rival biker gang would want to snatch her up as a bargaining tool… or worse.

“Mayberry.” Where the only thing she had to worry about was Barney giving her a ticket for parking in front of a hydrant. She could get a job that let her be home with the baby. Maybe she’d even buy one of those cooking aprons and learn how to fry chicken and steam vegetables.

“Wouldn’t you miss all of this?”

Because she couldn’t be sure if he meant him or the club or even the weather, she leaned over him for a kiss. “As long as I have you and London, nothing else matters.” When she moved to pull away, he held onto her and pressed his lips against hers again in a kiss so slow and sweet, she ached for more. But he released her. And she settled into his side. “Someday.”

It was a nice dream anyway.

One that held her over until the baby woke an hour or so later demanding food and to be changed. “I’ll get her.”

Grier pushed back the blankets and climbed out of bed. When he returned, London in his arms, he smiled down at the baby as he handed her to Fiona. “You changed her?”

“Yeah.” He slid between the sheets and sat up, letting the baby hold his finger, and for being such a little thing, nothing in her life had ever made Fiona’s heart fuller. “She looks like you, babe.”

“And you.”

He grinned. “I don’t think I’m overstating anything when I say I have one beautiful family. The most beautiful family.”

Instead of replying she took it all in. Her husband. Her baby. Her life. What more could she have asked for?

She looked up at Grier. Not asking about the club had kept her sane. A new baby, the ever-changing body, the unexpected demands of motherhood all gave her enough to worry about without adding rival clubs, added security and a man-hunt on top of it all. But now, in the darkness, with Grier by her side, she needed to know. “How are things?”

“We have Carr under surveillance. No sign of Sedotal.” He spoke in a cute little baby voice as he shook London’s hand with his finger. “He could teach a class in going off the grid.”

“Do you know anything?”

“Not much. Carr is over in Manchester with his woman. Takes her out for coffee in the morning, a little mayhem before lunch, then returns in the afternoon.”

Fiona nodded. Maybe they were going about this wrong. “Every day?” Grier shifted to look at her. “I was just thinking… maybe instead of him, someone should talk to her. See if his pillow talk is as interesting as I would bet it is.”

The thing about guys like Willy Carr was that they loved to brag about their accomplishments. And who better to tell than the woman he was banging? Maybe they could use the woman to find out if he had any aspirations that would affect the club. And if she knew where to find Sedotal, that would be a bonus.

“I could send Jez.”

“Maybe.” But everyone knew Jez. Knew she was a Demon Hell Kat. And if Carr had been friends with her father for any length of time, chances were, he already knew her and it would be risky to send Jez in to make friends with the woman. “Or you could send…” Had it not been her best option, she would have rather slit her own throat than say the name. “Autumn.” Jez apparently trusted Grier’s former girlfriend enough to take her off the wall and that was enough for Fiona. And she would push her jealousy aside long enough to use Autumn for what the club needed. Besides, if Autumn screwed them over, Fiona would end her. And that would be that.

* * *

Grier and Sage sat across the street from the three-story house in Manchester. The kind of house he wanted to give Fiona. With a place like this, whoever owned it could have made a fortune by splitting the house into apartments, but it looked like a single-family had taken residence. There were bikes in the yard of all sizes, apparently for kids of all ages. A car wedged between this house and the one next to it. A chain-link fence surrounding the front yard. The gate wiggled in the breeze and the clanking of the metal kept Grier focused, more alert than he ever remembered being.

They hadn’t wired Autumn, and now he wished they had. Not only because he didn’t trust her—their relationship had been born of nothing more than sex, so he didn’t know her well enough to know whether or not he could—but because she was in there, and if Sedotal had managed to get past them out of the funeral home, he certainly could here, and he would recognize Autumn from his time at the club.

He didn’t breathe freely until she walked out the gate and onto the sidewalk. She climbed in the backseat and pulled the door shut behind her. “Well?”

Sage twisted in the seat as Grier took off toward home.

Autumn chuckled. “She’s nice.”

Grier rolled his eyes at her in the mirror. “Didn’t send you in there to make a new best friend, Autumn. What did she say?”

“She said Carr has never been around so much, and now she’s pregnant. He’s big on family.”

What the hell did Grier care whether or not he liked Sedotal or hated him? He sighed. This wasn’t the intel he wanted.

“Apparently he has kids all over creation. The only one she knows is Tyler. Said she’d set me up if I want.” Autumn giggled. “Anyway, Carr has a cabin, somewhere South. On the ocean.” She pulled a picture from somewhere behind her. “I don’t know if this will help, but I took it. It’s the cabin. Looks like Florida, maybe California. See the palm trees? Tyler is probably holed up there waiting for… whatever to happen before he reappears.”

For whatever to happen? Goddammit. She was supposed to find out exactly what whatever meant. Sounded more like she’d enjoyed a leisurely tea while he suffered in the car listening to Sage sing along with the radio. “Anything else?”