Chapter 10: Byte

BYTE

"I'm getting you out of here," I said and scooped Gabby into my arms.

Once I had her safely in the truck with Shadow, I closed the door and called Phoenix.

"Prez, I need help," I said as soon as he answered.

"Tell me what's going on."

"I drove Gabby back to Cedar Valley today. We just got to her house, and the place is trashed. Almost everything she owns has been destroyed. And I think she's in shock. She hasn't said a single word since we went inside, and she's got this blank look on her face that is freaking me the hell out. I don't know what to do."

"Bring her to the clubhouse. I'll round up the brothers while you're on your way, and I'll get Harper to come over so she can stay with her while we have church."

"Thanks, Prez. Oh, Flint and Diesel were going to drive her car back to her place. They may have already left, but can you call them and let them know to leave it at my house or drop it off at the clubhouse?"

"Yeah, I'll take care of that. You take care of Gabby and drive safe."

"Will do, Prez. See you soon."

When I got into my truck, Gabby was staring blankly out the window. Shadow was sitting on the floor in front of her with his head resting in her lap.

She didn't move or even acknowledge me when I placed my hand on her shoulder. "I talked to Phoenix. I'm taking you to the clubhouse, and we're going to take care of this." Then I moved closer and gently kissed her cheek. "I'm going to fix this for you. I promise," I whispered.

I didn't wait for her to respond. Instead, I took her hand in mine and drove us back to Croftridge.

It looked like Phoenix had called everyone in because the forecourt was packed when we arrived.

"Do you want to go in through the back?" I asked.

She didn't respond.

"Okay, we'll go through the back, and I'll take you to my room," I said, as if she had answered me. I had no idea how I should respond to her, but I thought acting like everything was okay was better than letting her know how much she was scaring me. And she was. I was fucking terrified. I'd never seen anyone shut down the way she did.

I walked around the truck and opened her door. "Do you want to walk?" I asked, unsure if she even could, or would. She didn't answer verbally, but she got out of the truck on her own accord. Shadow jumped down behind her and waited by her side.

"Come on," I said softly and took her hand to lead her inside.

Once we reached my room, I led her to the bed and had to tell her to sit down. Then I took both of her hands in mine and squatted in front of her. "I'm not sure what's going on in your head. I know you're scared. And what happened today was very upsetting. I guess what I'm saying is it's okay to feel however you feel. And while I'd love to have some kind of response from you, I'm not going to pressure you for one. Take all the time you need, and I'll be right here when you're ready. In the meantime, you're safe, and we're going to take care of this for you."

I leaned forward and kissed her forehead right as someone knocked twice on the door, causing Shadow to bark.

I quickly stood and opened the door to find Phoenix standing there with a look of surprise on his face. "When did you get a dog?"

"Flint found him hanging around my property last week, and he's since taken a liking to Gabby. She named him Shadow, and well, now we have a dog."

"How's she doing?" he asked.

"See for yourself," I said quietly and gestured for him to come in.

Phoenix took one look at her and exhaled heavily. "Are you okay with Harper staying with her while we have church?"

"I can't think of anyone better." Harper and Keegan had always been close, so I knew Gabby was comfortable with her. Plus, Harper was an excellent therapist, and it was clear that Gabby needed help.

"I'll send her in," Phoenix said and left the room.

Harper must have been waiting right outside the door because she was in my room mere seconds after Phoenix left. She bypassed me and sat down beside Gabby, wrapping her arms around her. "Oh, sweet girl, you're going to be okay."

Harper looked at me over Gabby's head. "I'll stay right here until you get back. Lock the door on your way out. I don't want anyone coming in here except you."

"Thanks, Harper."

"Hold on," she said suddenly. "Who's that?"

"Shadow. He's friendly, and he adores Gabby."

"Perfect," she said, and patted the bed. "Come here, Shadow."

Shadow jumped onto the bed and situated himself beside Gabby. Harper smiled. "Sometimes dogs are the best therapy. Go on. We'll take care of her until you get back."

With that, I locked the door behind me and headed to church.

Phoenix filled the officers in on everything that had happened with Gabby.

"The cameras didn't catch anything?" Carbon asked.

"I haven't had a chance to check, but I'm going to assume they didn't since I didn't get any notifications of activity," I said and opened up my laptop. It only took a few moments to confirm my suspicions. "The cameras were disabled two days after I installed them."

"How was that possible?" Badger asked.

"Someone accessed her account remotely and made changes," I explained.

"So, her security system is useless?" Dash asked.

"In this instance, yes. Whoever is behind this knows how to hack security systems. Ironically, disabling residential alarms is fairly easy."

"This is exactly why I'm going to have at least two brothers stationed at Gabby's house. They can hide their bikes in her garage. If we want it to look like she's there, we can park her car in the driveway. This person has already entered her house twice. I have no doubt they'll try again," Phoenix said.

"Her house is a mess, Prez," I added.

"We'll have the cops come out so she'll have a report for her insurance company. Once that's done, we'll get her place cleaned up and put back in order. When does she have to go back to work or school?"

"Tuesday morning."

"All right. Let's have her stay in Croftridge through Monday. She can stay at the clubhouse or your place. Shaker and Keegan will be back on Sunday. We'll reconvene then and come up with a plan for next week if there are no developments between now and then. Any objections?" Phoenix asked.

When everyone agreed with the plan, Phoenix asked if I had any updates.

"Nothing, Prez. I haven't been able to find anything on Chad Higgins, or who he really is."

"Are we sure he's the one behind this?" Phoenix asked.

"No, not completely. But the timing, the lies he told Gabby, and his lack of an online presence strongly suggest he is," I said.

"Are there any other potential suspects?" Duke asked.

I shook my head. "No, just Chad. Gabby said he was the only new person in her life, and her troubles started right after she broke things off with him."

"Sounds like Chad knows a thing or two about computers," Carbon said.

"Yeah," I agreed. "And it's pissing me right the hell off."

"He'll fuck up sooner or later," Badger said. "And we'll be ready for him."

"Okay, I'll send Edge, Diesel, and Ink to Gabby's house. Once the police have come and gone, Edge can disconnect the cameras while the other two get started on clean up," Phoenix said.

"Wait. Why would he disconnect the cameras?" Duke asked.

"So the little wanna-be hacker can't turn them on remotely and see that Gabby's house is being occupied by a bunch of pissed-off bikers," I said.

"All right, I think that's everything. Are you two staying here or going back to your place?" Phoenix asked.

"I guess we'll stay here unless she says otherwise, which I doubt will happen since she's not talking."

"What do you mean she's not talking?" Carbon demanded.

"She hasn't said a word since she saw her house. She'll respond to directions, like ‘get out of the truck' or ‘let's go inside,' but that's it. Harper's with her now," I explained.

"Reese used to do that," he said quietly. "After we lost our family, sometimes she'd just shut down. She was like a damn robot."

"What did you do to bring her out of it?" I asked eagerly. I was willing to do anything to bring Gabby back from wherever her mind had gone.

"I held her and talked to her like I always did. I never acknowledged her zombie-like state. I carried on like everything was normal," he explained.

"And that worked?"

He shrugged. "I really don't know. Sometimes it was only minutes, while other times it took days, but she always came back around."

"I don't mean to sound like an asshole, but Gabby's reaction seems a bit extreme. Reese lost the majority of her family. That's far more traumatic than having your house broken into," Duke said.

"Not if the break-in has triggered something from Gabby's past we don't know about," Dash said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Keegan and Shaker adopted Gabby when she was five. We don't know what her life was like before they got her," Phoenix said.

"Fucking hell," I mumbled.

"She'll be okay," Phoenix assured me. "She's got one hell of a support system. Make sure someone is always with her while she's working through this."

"And don't hesitate to call Harper if you need her," Carbon added. "If y'all are staying at the clubhouse tonight, we can crash here, too."

"Thanks, brother. I'll see how she is and let you know."

"All right. Church dismissed," Phoenix announced and banged his gavel on the table.

I returned to my room to find Harper, Gabby, and Shadow in my bed. Harper had her arms wrapped around Gabby, who was resting against Harper's side. Shadow was wedged in between Gabby's legs with his head resting on her stomach. He barely lifted his head to look at me when I opened the door to the room. Apparently, I'd earned his seal of approval.

"How was church?" Harper asked.

"You know I can't tell you. Club business."

Harper rolled her eyes. "That line didn't work twenty years ago, and it's not going to work today. Besides, I think Gabby wants to know the plan," she said and widened her eyes, as if willing me to understand what she wasn't saying.

I took a seat on the edge of the bed and placed my hand on Gabby's foot. "Well, Phoenix wants us to stay in Croftridge for the weekend. He said we can stay at the clubhouse or my house, whichever you prefer. He's going to send Edge, Diesel, and Ink to your house. They're going to have the police come out and make a report for your insurance company. Then they'll get the place cleaned up. He also wants them to stay there for a few days to see if anybody tries to break in again. If someone does, the boys will be waiting for them."

When Gabby didn't respond, Harper chimed in. "That sounds like a good plan. Do you want to stay at the clubhouse tonight? Harlow and I can spend the night, too, and we can have a movie night like we used to when you were little."

I was at a loss. So, I followed the advice Carbon gave me and carried on like everything was normal. It seemed like that's what Harper was doing, too. "Hold on. Before anyone agrees to a movie marathon, I need to know what we're watching. I have no interest in watching anything that's going to end with all the girls crying."

"If you're referring to the night we watched The Notebook, I believe your eyes were rather shiny, too," Harper teased.

"Lies! It's all lies!" I protested.

"How about a comedy?" Harper suggested. "Though I wouldn't mind trying to make the brothers cry again. I won so much money that night."

"You're an evil little woman."

Harper raised her hands in mock surrender. "It was Keegan's idea. I'm only guilty of placing wise bets."

"Keegan and her bets," I chuckled. "She loves to make them, yet rarely wins them."

Harper snapped her fingers. "Didn't you two make a robot or something like that?"

"Yeah, we did," I laughed. "And we placed bets on who would be the first to shoot it. I won fifty bucks off her."

"It was Carbon, wasn't it?" Harper asked.

"Carbon and Savior," I confirmed.

"I can't believe y'all didn't get in trouble for that."

"We probably would have if it weren't for everything else going on with Keegan at the time. Phoenix knew she needed to have a little fun. I think that's why he let it slide," I explained.

"Why is it that whenever we find our women in another brother's bed, it's always your bed?" Carbon asked as he entered my room.

"What can I say? The ladies love me."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but this is the first time I've ever been in Byte's bed," Harper said.

"He's referring to Keegan. Shaker found her in here a few times. His freak-outs were so epic she did it a couple of times just to piss him off," I laughed. "It would've been nice if she'd let me know that's what she was doing."

"Where's the fun in that?" Carbon chuckled.

"So, what's the plan for tonight?" Harper asked.

"I thought I'd go get Harlow and pick up pizza on the way back," Carbon said. "Do you want to stay here?"

"No, I'll go with you," she said and turned her attention to Gabby. "We'll be back soon, sweet girl."

Once they were gone, I took Harper's spot on the bed beside Gabby. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. "I know you've been through a lot over the last two weeks, but we're going to get you through this."

Unfortunately, movie night wasn't the magic cure I hoped it would be. Gabby barely ate and never uttered a word. She sat between me and Harlow and fell asleep before the movie was over. I carried her to my room and tucked her into bed, hoping things would be better in the morning.