19. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Tripp - Two days later

I was about to head back into the hospital to see my girls when my phone started ringing. "Whatcha got?"

"Are you at the hospital?" Scout asked.

"Yeah, just about to head back inside. I couldn't track the bitch down anywhere."

"Yeah, she's off the radar for now. We're looking though. I'm here, in the cafeteria. Can you meet me, so we can discuss what I found?"

"Be right there."

I hung up and took off into the hospital at a good clip and followed the signs to the cafeteria where I found Scout seated in the back corner, hunched over her laptop while dipping her fries in what looked like mayonnaise. That was nasty.

"What the fuck are you eating?"

She glanced down and then shrugged her shoulders before popping another white-sauce drenched fry into her mouth. "It's Ranch. They didn't have tartar sauce, which is what I prefer."

"You're fuckin' weird."

"You shouldn't knock it before you try it." She shoved her tray my way, but I shook my head.

"Pretty sure you didn't call me here to taste test your bullshit. What's up?"

All playfulness left her eyes as they met mine. Everything about her change in demeanor suddenly screamed how serious the shit was about to get.

"I don't know where she is right now, but I do know where she has been, and it isn't good."

"Fuck!" I groaned. "How did I not know she was up to shit?"

"Probably because you were living your life and not stuck up her ass 24-7." When I dropped a scathing look Scout's way, she grinned at me. "What? It's the truth. This broad is a bunny-boiler. It wouldn't surprise me to find out she's been tailing you and your whole family since high school."

My brows rose at that. "Are you serious?"

Scout nodded. "She is weirdly fixated on you and your family. I think we need to put security on your girls. Kip can handle his own shit. I know Star is capable, but she also has Bagger and he'll make sure she's safe once I give them the head's up as well. As for Davina and Coral, they need someone on them."

"They have me." I didn't miss the way Scout's face scrunched in displeasure when she said Davina's name.

"When you're not here?" She asked.

"I'll make sure someone is with them. What's your problem with Vina? I thought you two used to be friends."

"I thought so, too. Then I found out she wasn't sure if her daughter was Kip's."

"You can't hold that against her."

"I know," Scout huffed. "It doesn't mean that shit doesn't affect me. She slept with my boyfriend."

"You guys were broken up and she was a club girl. It was literally her job back then to go off with whatever man chose her for things. I think that's something you can understand, considering it's the reason you and Kip ended."

"You can't even say it, Prez. It bothers you too."

"Not in the way it bothers you. I'm telling you now, she's going to be around a lot. You need to get over it. You, of all people, should know the score. The only exception I ever made to the club girl rules of being available for every brother – no matter what – was for you. I did that for my son's sake. She didn't have the option to take an out when Kip was pissed off with you and Ash and came knocking on her door. I won't have you hold that against her. You want to hold it against my son for choosing to be with another woman – then do so. You will not give my woman a hard time about her past, though."

"Your woman?" Scout asked in a quiet tone.

"Most likely, if I can convince her to have me."

Scout's brows rose damn near into her hairline. "You're serious? You do know that people can coparent without being together in a relationship these days, right?"

"Smartass. Of course, I know that. The thing is, I had it bad for Vina before."

"Why didn't you claim her then?"

The breath I heaved out felt as heavy as the weight on my shoulders. "Thought it would cause issues with my kids because of her age. I already screwed up with Star, not having a better plan for her when she aged up and couldn't linger around the club without being claimed or being a part of things. I didn't want to drag a younger woman into the mix as the stepmother to my kids and also have it shoved in their faces that she used to be a club whore. At the time, I just pictured them comparing Kim to Vina and I don't know, it seemed impossible."

"You men and your hangups about the club girls." Scout rolled her eyes. "That was the biggest issue with Kip. He didn't want to claim a whore all his brothers might have been with, but then he wanted to be mad at me for having to do my job. For the record, I don't think either of your kids are the type to judge Davina based on her age and Star wouldn't care about her past as a club girl either. She's not judgy like that from what I've seen."

"Kip isn't either."

"The fact that we're not together and he had a kid with another woman begs to differ. He might not judge you for your decisions, but he certainly couldn't let my past go without shoving it in my face at every turn."

"Between you and me, I think he learned his lesson about that, sweetheart."

"Doesn't change everything that happened as a result of that lesson."

"You think you and my boy can ever work that shit out?" She shrugged and wouldn't look me in the eye. "If you can't handle that Knox is another woman's kid, then you need to make it clear as fuck to Kip that you'll never work. Don't give two shits how the two of you handle your business, as you're both grown-ass adults. I do, however, give a fuck when it comes to my grandson's well-being."

"I would never take my frustrations out on an innocent child," Scout countered.

"But can you love the child your man had with another woman?" She didn't answer right away and that led me to believe that she wasn't so sure. "Don't go there until you can answer that question without hesitating." I stood then. "Need to get back to my family, so get me that info. I want to know exactly where she's been and when she was there. Times and dates, Scout. Keep Kip and Bagger in the loop about staying vigilant and keeping the girls safe, too."

Scout nodded, but never lifted her eyes off her screen again. I let her have the moment, knowing how fucking hard it must be for her. The fact that she was helping me with an ex-girlfriend who might have gone off the deep end because I got another woman pregnant did not escape my notice. She was living her own similar nightmare out while watching my son be a father to a child he didn't make with her.

Thinking back, if either of my kids had turned out to be Kim's with another man, I'm not sure how I'd feel when put in that position. I loved my wife with everything I had, but the whole reason we got there was because we had a child binding us together. It forced us to try harder than we might have otherwise. I can see where the strain of a third party involved in the relationship might fuck up the dynamic and weaken the link. Scout was wise to take her time before she decided if she could handle it. I only hoped we didn't lose her as a result one day.

"Tripp!"

I turned to see June's cousin, Anna, jogging to catch up to me. "What do you need?"

"Um, well, I thought you should know that no one in the family has seen June or heard from her."

"That it?" I asked, still itching to get back to my girls.

"Well, her father is in critical care on the fourth floor and pretty bad off. He's not expected to make it, but she may use that as an excuse to get around inside the hospital."

"Thanks for letting me know. If you see her, you need to contact me immediately." I passed her a card with my number on it and she quickly slipped it into her pocket. Just as I started to walk away, she called me back again.

"Tripp?"

I turned, annoyed as shit that the once bold girl I knew back in high school suddenly seemed like she couldn't string a whole fucking sentence together without pissing her pants. "What?"

"It's just…" Anna paused and bit her lip as her eyes scanned the hallway we stood in. "June used to follow Kim around, too."

She had my full attention. "Something on your mind seems to be a bit more important than June simply following my wife around years ago. Spit it out, woman. I don't have time for a bunch of shit. Your cousin is already causing me enough headaches when I should be putting all my focus into my sick daughter."

She nodded her head and then gulped. "The day of the fire, we ran into Kim at the newspaper. She was there doing whatever it is that she did. I guess she took pictures for the paper sometime."

"I know what my wife did. Don't need a lesson in it, so get to the point."

"June was nasty to Kim and your wife turned it right back around on her. Embarrassed June and put her in her place where you were concerned. She flaunted how happy you guys were and how you never even thought about June at all."

"And?"

"My cousin was madder than a hornet comin' out of a kicked nest. She was angrier than I've ever seen her or any other human for that matter. Tripp, that was the same day as the fire at your house."

My stomach clenched tightly at what she insinuated. "You think she started that fire?"

Anna nodded. "June also went to the funeral. She watched you bury Kim and swore then that she'd get you back now that your wife was out of the way."

"And you didn't think to tell anyone this back then?"

"I didn't think she was crazy enough to kill her," Anna pleaded. "It wasn't until I saw that look in her eyes when she was asking me about your little girl that it really started to sink in that maybe that's exactly what she did."

"Jesus fucking Christ," I muttered before spinning around, so I could get back to Scout before she took off. When I got back to the cafeteria, Scout was still there, but so was my brother, Mack.

"I need you to remain calm when I tell Scout what I'm about to divulge. We're in public and I can't have you making a scene, I told my brother-in-law."

He pulled a chair out and took a seat while keeping his eyes locked with mine. "Fuck man. This better not be what I think it is." I tilted my head and really studied the man then. Had he always suspected June of setting the fire that killed his sister?

"I just ran into Anna," I explained. "June's cousin," I added when he didn't seem to know who Anna was.

His shoulders sagged and he turned his eyes down to the floor. "Fucking spit it all out already. It's not like she wasn't my number one suspect."

"It would have been nice to have known that all those years ago," I admitted. That was something we were going to have to discuss later, though. "Anna is worried because no one has heard from June. Her father is dying in this very hospital, giving her an excuse to hang around if she chooses to."

"Bet her father dying right at this very moment isn't all that coincidental," Mack muttered. He had a point, but I needed to get all the information to Scout so she could do some digging.

"Anna said that June used to follow Kim." Mack flinched as I said her name. It had been a good long while since either of us had spoken about her to one another. "She said that the day of the fire Kim ran into her and June at the paper. June tried to run her down verbally and Kim spouted some shit back and left. It was enough to rile June up enough that her cousin described her reaction as the angriest she had ever seen a human in her life."

"Fucking Kim. She never could just shut up and walk away."

"Nah, that shit isn't on her."

"No. It's fucking not."

"Not on me either, brother. I left that bitch behind in the past a long time ago."

"Yeah, except from what I hear you've been running around with that fucking cunt for months now behind everyone's back."

"Be glad to explain that situation to you, but I thought we were just rekindling a friendship, considering she's been married this whole time."

"So, you weren't dating her?"

I blew out a frustrated breath, because knowing what I did now, it killed to admit that I was. "It took that turn recently, though we hadn't been physical yet. Then Davina came into the picture with a daughter I didn't know was mine."

"If that cunt gets her hands on either of Kim's children, or Davina's for that matter, you and I will not be okay. You invited this trouble back into all our lives by not being able to leave the trash in the past."

"That's not true," Scout stated before I could agree with my brother.

"What do you mean?" I asked at the same time Mack demanded, "Explain."

"You told me to do a deep dive on her, and since she seemed to have a problem with your kids, I pulled the surveillance we had on Star. Bagger wasn't great about taking video proof of life for you, but his replacement was." She turned her laptop so we could both see what was there. "Trench obviously didn't realize there was a problem, since he probably had no clue who June was."

"Jesus," I hissed.

"Is that from five years ago?" Mack asked, his eyes just as wide in shock as my own had to be.

"It's a little over four years ago."

"Where was she when this was taken?"

"Wyoming, according to the file name," Scout answered.

"What the fuck was June doing in Wyoming?"

I pulled my phone out as Mack asked the question. "Baby girl, we need you to answer a question for us, and I need you to think really hard about your answer."

"Okay," Star responded hesitantly. I realized that I hadn't even greeted her when she picked up the phone, but it was too late for niceties.

"When you were in Wyoming, say four or five years ago, did you have any problems?"

"What kind of problems?"

"Unexplainable car troubles, getting sick out of the blue, someone knocking you around and making it seem like an accident."

"Holy shit," Star whisper yelled. "Do you think someone was targeting me?"

"Need you to answer the question, Star."

"Yeah, I had to put my car in the shop because the brakes weren't responsive. I nearly killed myself trying to stop when an elk stepped out on the road in front of me. Thankfully, I hadn't been going that fast. When I got the car stopped, I called for a tow."

"Your shadow didn't show himself to help out?" I asked.

"I sort of ditched Trench earlier in the day. In fact, the only reason he was able to follow me after was because of that stupid incident and having to put my car in the shop. I was headed out of town."

"Son of a bitch."

"Don't blame him. I sort of slipped something into his drink."

"You could have been killed, Star."

"And there would have been nothing he could do to save me if I'd been speeding out of town trying to get him off my ass as I drove."

"Fair point. Look, I gotta go deal with your uncle and Scout."

"Bagger is going to want to know what this was all about. He's been listening in beside me."

"Mack will fill him in when we're done here. Kip too. Love you, baby girl."

"Love you too, Dad."

I hung up and turned worried eyes on my brother. "Get a security detail on Knox, Kip, Star, Davina and Coral," then I turned to Scout. "And one for you too, darlin'."

"I don't need a security detail," she huffed.

"If June has been following my family around that long, then she knows you mean something to my boy and me."

"We should just arrange a lockdown," Mack suggested.

"I think you're right. Fuck's sake, we'd need to call other chapters in to get security for my family and they'd probably laugh their asses off when they found it was an ex high school girlfriend causing so much fuss." I shook my head, dismayed at the situation that we found ourselves in because of shit that happened when I was in high school.

"I don't get it. She may have been a little possessive at the end because she didn't want to be on the losing end, but we were already on the winddown to a split before shit went down with Kim. I never saw June as a psychopath capable of this shit."

"People change, man. Never liked the bitch because she had designs on changing you and never intended to stick around to be part of the club, but never saw this level of crazy from her either."

"I need to get up to my girls."

"Put the word out about lockdown for me, yeah?"

"I got you."

"Your old lady good?" I asked, remembering why he must have been at the hospital to begin with.

"Yeah, she's in radiology getting scan. Hoping everything's clear again, but they wanted to be sure."

"Hope like fuck my Coral can get that all clear before too long, as well."

"We're all praying for that, Tripp."