I look in the corner of one screen she indicates. Nine thirty at night. “Okay, what about it?”

  “Just watch,” she says.

  I do so, and seconds later, Autumn comes into view, going to her apartment. She looks exhausted and ready to collapse at any second. She makes her way into her apartment, and that’s it.

  “Each night, she comes home around the same time. Now, watch this,” Athena remarks and fast forwards a bit. “Listen.”

  It’s muffled, but you could hear screams. Blood-curdling screams.

  Athena moves forward in the feed and stops again. The time stamp registers barely two a.m. Seconds later, Autumn steps from her apartment, dressed and looking like she’s heading to work.

  “Each night, it’s the same,” Athena admits. “Lark looked at this video. He enhanced the audio so he could head the screams and if she said anything else. She cries out her sister’s name.”

  “What about her sister?” None of us bothered to look into it when we found out. She wasn’t a part of the club, just a friend of the ol’ ladies. It wasn’t our business. As long as it didn’t affect the women.

  “Her sister was killed in a murder-suicide while Autumn watched, unable to get to her,” Athena answers, not beating around.

  “How did no one know about this?” Brass asks, sounding pissed.

  “Cops kept it quiet on behalf of the family,” Athena explains. “Supposedly, Avery’s ex, Rick, was a jerk and stalkerish. According to the report, he shoved his way into the house Autumn and Avery owned, forced Autumn through the front doors, leaving the solid oak door open for her to see inside and locking the glass paned storm door. Autumn reportedly yelled and screamed for him to let her in the house. To let her sister go. Then he killed her. Reports from neighbors said Autumn had banged on the storm door and yanked up on handle to get in, but she’d been beside herself unable to do so. All she could do was scream for her sister and the man to let her inside.”

  “Oh fuck.” No wonder she sold the house and moved, but she hadn’t lived in the apartment that long. If I remember correctly, she moved in around the time Athena started working at the café. “Where did she live after that?”

  “My guess? The café or her car. She might have gone to the house to shower and change, but I doubt it.” Athena takes a moment to take a breath and I twist to see she’s closed her eyes to get her bearings.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  Athena nods to the screens again as she opens her eyes. “Yesterday, Lark decided to put some cameras and audio in her apartment while she was at work. After her kidnapping, he figured it could have triggered her somehow. That and that she could be targeted again.”

  “How do you figure again?” Brass asks cautiously.

  “She was taken from outside her café. Someone had to know her schedule for them to get her. They had to watch her. And you two might have missed it, but I haven’t, Autumn is stunning.”

  I hadn’t missed it that day. Her wearing that shirt with the club’s logo on it. The way it fit her tits, yeah, I didn’t miss it.

  “And?” Brass speaks up before me, waving a hand, motioning for her to keep going.

  “Well,” Athena takes a breath and lifts the remote, pointing at the screens, “this was this morning after we left.”

  On the screen, two men moved up the steps and to Autumn’s door. One seems to be on the lookout while the other unlocks and opens her door. I glance at another screen that shows the inside of Autumn’s apartment. For the most part, the place looks bare, with only essentials. But my attention sticks to the men who were in her apartment. They were looking around, and I saw one pick up what looked like a vase. He reaches into his pocket, pulls something out, and then puts whatever it is in the vase.

  “What did he put in the vase?” I find myself asking, eyes glued to the cameras. My gaze shifts to the other guy who was in Autumn’s bedroom. He opens a drawer, pulls out a pair of Autumn’s underwear, a thong, and brings it to his nose, sniffing it. “Fuckin’ hell.”

  Athena fast-forwards until it’s playing live. “She’s up and in the shower,” she says, turning the camera off to the bedroom. “I went in and got what was planted in that vase. It was a listening device. I also was able to get a still image of them. I sent the image to both Gadget and Lark just a bit ago. I’m guessing they work for ‘Marionette’ guy. He up and disappeared when we got those girls back.”

  That he did, he all but vanished. “You’re thinking he’s back at it?”

  “A hundred percent so, and I think he’s after her,” she says, nodding at the cameras.

  I nod and watch the screens, seeing her come into view as she leaves her room, then leaves the apartment.

  “She needs help and doesn’t even know it. More so, she needs to heal,” Athena remarks softly.

  “She’s the only one who can heal herself,” I tell her, not liking the way she’s looking at me.

  “She’s into you, Striker. You could help her. If anything, maybe you can keep her safe.”

  “We’re not talking about this.” I’m not about to discuss something like this with Athena. She’s out of her mind if she thinks she can play matchmaker. I get Autumn needs protecting. This shit with ‘Marionette’ guy, it’s serious business and can’t be dismissed. “We need to talk to Twister and Horse about this. They need to know what’s up.”

  “Agreed,” Brass nods curtly. “We’ll do it later today after we both get some sleep.”

  “Meet you at the clubhouse at noon?” I suggest.

  “Works for me,” he agrees.

  “Good, I’m outta here.” I look to the cameras and watch as Autumn makes her way out of the building and into the night.

  Something twists inside me, not liking the fact she’s leaving so early. If she were in my bed, there’s no way in hell she’d be going to work this early. She’d be too damn exhausted. I’d have her worn out to the point she wouldn’t be able to have nightmares.

  I leave the office and make my way out of the building. My mind going over all of this new information about a woman I didn’t even want to know at first.

  Now, I find myself wanting to know more.

  CHAPTER 4

  Autumn

  One Week Later . . .

  “If this weather doesn’t make up its mind what it’s going to do, I’m going to lose it,” Tiffany rants, coming through the front doors and closing her umbrella. “It’s colder than hell out there.”

  “Oooh she just said hell.” Lila giggles, making us all laugh. It’s a joke that started a few days ago after she first started, and she cursed by accident in front of Tiffany, who told her ladies didn’t say bad words. This started Lila on the action of her calling us out whenever a bad word was said.

  To say Lila fit right in working with us is an understatement. Even Chris thought so. Chris is my other full-timer, who will come in closer to lunch and stay past dinner. He’s an older guy who doesn’t even take shit from no one. He’s funny and onery at the best of times. But he’s a good cook.

  Lila started working on Tuesday after I set the schedule to add her on. She’s been following mostly to learn the ropes, but today, she’s going to be doing more.

  It’s Friday, and she didn’t have school. I find it weird, but her schedule is funky. Evidently, the school doesn’t have students in school every other Friday, and the ones they are in school, she’s out before eleven. So . . . I put her on the schedule. She works after school for three hours, part of Friday, and gets more hours on Saturday.

  Lila’s sweet and funny. She’s good at talking with customers and even helping in the back. This works for me greatly.

  “Oh, hush it,” Tiffany huffs, rolling her eyes. “You’ve been out there. you know how cold it is.”

  “You know, going into spring, the weather changes constantly once you hit March. It’s constantly up and down. It’s also when we get flooded with the rain.” I remind her. She’s not originally from the area.

  Neither am I, though I’ve lived in Virginia all my life. But I’m from the Warrenton area. It’s about two or three hours, and depending on traffic, it could be longer, but that’s on a bad day. I also learned the different routes to be able to get there and back without hitting the major traffic areas.

  “I get it, but it’s annoying.” Tiffany moves through the café, rounds the counter and goes to the back to where she’ll store her stuff.

  Coming in early, as I have been for months on end, everything is already prepped and ready to roll. She’ll just be working on getting the minimal things and making the biscuits if someone orders. Otherwise, her focus is on manning the kitchen through lunch.

  “Can’t help what Mother Nature decides,” Athena says, shrugging and taking a sip of the coffee Lila had made.

  We’d been training her on the coffee/espresso machine, and she’s really good at it. Lila took to it easily, which is a blessing. Making the coffees, though not hard, can be a pain in the ass if not done properly. No one wants a horrible-tasting coffee. Even black done wrong could be gross.

  “Mother Nature always goes through PMS, and it’s like this time of year is her favorite time to do it,” Lila adds.

  “I think it depends on the region,” I say, deciding to put my two cents in. “If you think about it, some states are looking at this time of year as tornado season coming up. Others are gearing up for a drought, while we deal with the up and down weather that brings out the pollen that makes our allergies go haywire.”

  “Ugh, don’t get me started,” Tiffany groans, coming back out front. “The twins are suffering from major allergy issues. Dan is complaining about his. And they all refuse to listen to me when I say take a dose of the local honey I buy. It works. I swear it does. Your body gets immune to the pollens because of it or something like that. I’m not sure. I just know it’s something I’ve always heard. The first thing I did when we moved here was go to a local farmers market and buy honey.”

  “I’ve heard people do it. They also use cayenne as well,” Athena states.

  “Wouldn’t that just burn your sinuses?” Lila quips.

  “Don’t know, but I’m not trying it either.”

  We all laugh as Athena shrugs, grinning.

  The bell over the door rings, and my laughter ceases at the sight of the man coming inside.

  “Hey, jerkface,” Lila greets him, skipping around the counter, straight to him, and throwing herself in his arms to hug him.

  “What’s with calling me jerkface?” Striker asks, though his arms go around his sister in a tight hug.

  I nearly swallow my tongue when his gaze comes up to meet mine. I quickly drop my gaze and look to Athena. “I’ve got to do some work in my office. You guys going to be okay out here?”

  Athena slowly drags her gaze from Striker to me. “Yeah, we’ve got it,” she says, nodding.

  “Great.” Without making it a big deal, I quickly get out of Dodge.

  “Hold up a second.” Striker’s deep voice calls out, coming from behind me. Right behind me.

  Oh boy.

  He came around the corner and was now right there.

  I twist around to face him, only to find him directly in my space. “Um, you’re not supposed to be back here,” I try to keep my voice calm. To keep from showing his effect on me.

  “If you hadn’t run off, I would have said what I had to say out there,” he states. His brows creased in the middle, and he looked annoyed.

  “Oh, well, I thought you’d come to see your sister, not me.” God, kill me now. “I mean, she is your sister, and it would only be right if you came to see her where she works. She’s doing a great job so far so you don’t have to worry about her working he . . .”

  “I didn’t want to talk to you about my sister,” he says, interrupting me, the corner of his lip twitching slightly. “Came in ‘cause I wanted to talk to you.”

  I blink, completely startled by his comment. “Me? Why?”

  “There has to be a why?” he asks.

  “Um. . . yeah,” I answer. Striker’s never spoken a word to me before, so I have a hard time believing he wants to speak to me about anything that doesn’t have to do with his sister and her working here. And he just said he didn’t want to talk to me about her. So, what else could there be?

  Rather than answering, he grabs my hand and drags me farther down the hall, away from anyone who could be eavesdropping.

  My heart speeds up, and I find it difficult to breathe. “What are you doing?”

  Striker halts and spins me until my back is to the wall, his body coming in close to mine.

  “Um . . .”

  “You scared of me?” he asks, stopping me from saying anything else.

  “Ugh, no,” I utter and lick my bottom lip nervously. “Why would I be scared of you?”

  “You won’t meet my gaze for one,” he points out.

  I swallow, my brain cells working harder than ever to focus with him this close to me. I also force myself to look him in the eye. “I’m looking you in the eye now.”

  “Right.” The corner of his lip quirks a bit more.

  “You wanted to talk to me about something?” I try to get us back on topic.

  “Yeah, first off, I wanted to thank you for givin’ Lila a job. She hasn’t shut up about this place since she started. Second, wanted to ask you out to dinner.”

  “Dinner?” There’s no way Striker wants to have dinner with me. He’s joking, has to be. I’m not his type.

  “Yeah, dinner. I’ll pick you up at your place tonight at six,” he states like it were a done deal.

  “I can’t.”

  “Why not?” he asks, cocking a brow.

  “Because I don’t close until after seven and then don’t leave here until after nine,” I explain, giving him the truth.

  Striker moves in closer and dips his head down, and with him being so much taller than me, I have to tilt my head back to keep eye contact. “That’s not gonna work for me. You got girls here that I’m sure will close up for you and handle things. You and me, we’re gonna do dinner. You don’t wanna go out, I’ll bring it to your place, and we’ll watch a movie and eat there. You cool with going out, we’ll do that. Regardless, your ass is with me this evening.”

  “I don’t get why all of a sudden you want to have dinner with me,” I blurt out.

  “I’ll tell you the answer to that this evening,” he says, the quirk of his lips turns into an outright smile. “Now, tell me you’re gonna be at your apartment at six.”

  “Um . . .”

  “You’re not. I’ll come here and get your ass, and Autumn, that’s something you won’t want me to do.”

  “Why?” I ask, confusion clear in my voice.

  Striker dips down farther, and our noses touch, his lips right there, so close they brush mine when he speaks. “‘Cause I’ll come in and carry you out over my shoulder.”

  With his parting words, he jerks back altogether and leaves me standing there completely speechless at his little announcement.

  CHAPTER 5

  Autumn

  Standing in my kitchen, I’m freaking way, way the hell out. The clock over the stove is glaring at me with the time. It’s five ‘til six, and Striker will be here any second.

  After he left, Athena came and found me. I’m sure she saw how freaked out I was because she pulled me into my office and demanded I talk to her, tell her what’s going on, what Striker said to freak me out. By the time I finished, she was staring at me with a huge grin on her face.

  When I asked her what was so funny, she told me right off that she thought it was a good thing. That I needed to be home at six. She would handle closing the café for me, and I didn’t have anything to worry about.

  That wasn’t true. I had tons to worry about. One of them being what I’m going to wear. Essentially, I’m going on a date with a guy I’ve crushed on since the first time I saw him. Today, he’d spoken to me for the first time and in doing so, freaked me out even more than I thought possible.

  I’d come home, showered, shaved, brushed my teeth, lotioned my skin, and did minimal makeup. I wasn’t big on heavy, never was. I stick to a light foundation, a bit of blush, eyeliner, and mascara. I dressed in another pair of jeans, these with rips in them at the knee and on the thigh. I went with another T-shirt, this one with an Alice in Wonderland theme that says ‘We’re all mad here’ and has the Cheshire cat on it with his grin.

  I probably should’ve gone with something more appealing, maybe even sexy, but I didn’t. He’s the one who said we were going out. Not me. I didn’t want to. A part of me is screaming caution, stop, and don’t go any further. But since he’s supposed to be here imminently, I’ve no choice but to yield and see what happens.

  A knock on my door draws me out of my thoughts, my panic nearly getting the best of me. I could possibly not answer the door. He’ll go away. Maybe go to the café to find me, but I won’t be there. I’d be here, hiding, closed in to my apartment.

  I couldn’t do that, could I?

  Another knock comes, and I find myself moving toward the door.

  I look through the peephole and nearly lose my breath at the sight of Striker standing there.

  Oh my.

  His hair looks damp, like he’d taken a shower. Or it’s most likely coming from the rain since it’s still pouring outside.

  Either way, he looks great. I shouldn’t be opening the door to him. I should make him think I’m standing him up.

  “Open up, Autumn. I already know you’re in there,” he says, loud enough for me to hear through the door but not exactly shouting.

  Taking a breath, I step back, unlock, and open my door. I barely get it fully open before he’s pushing through, bags in his hands.

  “Close the door, babe,” he says, heading toward my kitchen.

  “What are you doing?” I ask though I do it while closing the door, eyes on his backside. The way the jeans form to his ass is an impeccable sight.

  “Figured with the weather being shitty, you workin’ all day, we’d do Mexican and put a movie on.” Striker sets the bags on the counter and starts unloading. “Didn’t know what you liked, so I went with a bit of everything. That way, you could pick and choose what you want.”

 

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