Chapter Sixteen

Teagan

AT FOUR-FIFTY-FIVE, I knocked on my dad's office door and peeked my head in. "Hey."

He looked away from his computer and smiled. "Hey, baby. You takin' off?"

"Soon. Cash is picking me up and taking me to dinner, then I thought I might stay at his place tonight since I'm at the shop tomorrow. Are there any unforeseen issues with me doing that?"

Dad sighed. "Other than the fact my baby girl's growing up too fuckin' fast, no."

I chuckled. "Can't help you with that one, I'm afraid."

"What's this about Gloria comin' to Cash's over the weekend. Hatch said they had to change codes and shit."

"Oh yeah, Cash said Maisie fired her today."

He waved his hand toward one of the chairs in front of his desk. "Fill me in."

"I don't know much. Cash can probably tell you more. But she showed up at his place after Huck's jump in wanting to patch Cash up. We didn't know how she'd gotten Cash's address. I guess she broke into the file cabinet in the office. Super creepy. And she dyed her hair red."

Dad frowned. "Not good, T."

"No, I know. She's been sniffing after Cash for a while now, but she's gone and blacklisted from the club, so we can all relax."

"Yeah," he said and smiled.

"Um, another thing."

"You wanna quit, huh?"

"Yes." I grimaced. "Are you mad?"

"Why does everyone think I'm gonna be mad?"

"Because you're Mack," I said. "You growl more than you speak."

Dad chuckled. "Okay, maybe so, but when have I ever done that with you kids. Or your mom?"

"Ah, let's see. When Harper dated that guy Sophomore year, and he ended up rear ending that old lady the night of their second date. When Huxley wanted to go to homecoming with the tight end on the football team. When Mom was talking to that model guy at one of her book signings and he was getting a little too close and you—"

He raised his hand, cutting me off. "Okay, enough."

"I haven't even gotten to Grayson yet."

"You've made your point."

"Have I?" I sassed.

"Have you signed up for classes?" Dad asked, rolling his eyes.

"I have. Cash guided me on which ones to take. I've already got my associates, so I can get my automotive credits in less than two years. And Hatch said I can work at the shop full time."

Dad smiled. "I'm really proud of you, baby."

I let that sink into my soul. "Thanks, Daddy."

A knock on the open door brought Cash and I jumped up and slid into his arm. "Hey, beautiful."

"Hi," I breathed out. "You're early."

"Finished the Mustang."

"Yay," I said.

Cash grinned, giving me a squeeze, then greeted my father.

"Heard there was some drama today," Dad said, leaning against his desk and crossing his arms.

"Fuckin' Gloria," Cash breathed out. "She broke into the employee files to get my address, then showed up at my place this weekend. Maisie fired her, which meant all the locks and codes had to be changed."

"Lucky she fucked up bad enough Maisie had cause to fire her."

"True," Cash said.

"Hatch let you know about the all-hands Wednesday?"

Cash nodded.

"Right, you two enjoy your night," Dad said.

I grinned, hugging my dad. "Love you."

"Love you too, baby girl." Dad gave Cash a death stare. "Keep her safe."

Cash nodded. "Precious cargo, brother."

I grabbed my bag and then led Cash down to my car where Grip, one of the new prospects, was waiting by my car.

Cash handed him my keys. "Drop her car at my place, lock it up and take the keys back to the club. We'll swing by and pick them up later."

"No problem. I'll take care of it, Teagan."

I smiled but couldn't stop myself from moving closer to Cash. "I appreciate that, Grip."

Grip took off and Cash focused on me. "Does he still creep you out?"

There had been an incident not long ago where Grip and his best buddy, Hammer were talking smack about Daisy, more specifically, Hammer was talking about how he'd like to fuck Daisy and fuck her dirty. Huck overhead this and laid Hammer flat. Hammer had since been kicked out by Hatch and Grip was hanging on by a thread because he was behaving himself. For now.

"No, it was Hammer that was the real creep, but they're buddies, so I'm still a little leery of Grip, you know?"

"I'm not sure that's true," Cash said, unlocking his truck and holding the door open for me.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I climbed up in the cab.

He closed my door and then climbed in beside me and started the engine. "I think he cut him loose after all the shit with Ducky. Distanced himself. He wants his time with the club to work and he knows it can't if he's associating with assholes like Hammer."

"Well, that's very true."

We pulled out of the garage and headed down Broadway. "You want to eat in the Pearl or go somewhere down by the water?"

"You pick."

"Pink Priest?"

"Yes, please," I said excitedly.

The Pink Priest was a nondescript restaurant in the Pearl and it was one of our favorites. You'd never guess that inside the foyer of the restaurant was a hodgepodge of gold leaf and hot pink, not to mention, glitter covered floors. The Burning Saints VP, Clutch, always said the place looked like gaudy and elegant had a fistfight after drinking one too many lava lamps.

"Welcome to the Pink Priest, my name is Friar Chuck, the Ma?tre'd, do you have a reservation with us this evening?" an extremely large bearded man, wearing a purple paisley robe and a white feather boa asked us.

"No," Cash said. "Table for two please, if you have it."

He raised his head and a giant grin settled over his face. "Teagan Reed?"

"Hi Chuck."

"How's your sweet lookin' daddy?"

"He's good," I said on a chuckle.

"Follow me." Chuck grabbed two menus and sashayed his way toward the back, remarkable considering he did it in platform heels.

We were seated by a window overlooking the Willamette and had just ordered drinks when Cash got a call. He frowned. "Hey, Grip." Cash flopped back in his chair with a scowl. "What the fuck? Yeah, yeah, send it to Booker and we'll be there after dinner. Yeah, good call. I appreciate it. Okay, yeah. Thanks." He hung up and set his phone on the table.

I raised an eyebrow and sipped my wine. "What's wrong?"

"I don't think I want to tell you until after we eat."

"Shit, that bad?"

"After."

"You have to tell me now, Cash. I won't be able to keep anything down if I'm worrying."

"Grip dropped your car off at my place, and Razor picked him up, but as they drove off, they noticed someone drive up. Razor pulled over and Grip got out and doubled back. Someone was fuckin' with your car."

I gasped. "What?"

"It's okay, baby, Grip got video of whoever and whatever they were doin'. He sent it to me and he's sending it to my dad. We're going to figure it out when we get back to the club."

I bit my lip. "What the hell is going on?"

"I don't know, but we'll stay at the club tonight."

"I don't have any clothes at the club."

"We'll swing by your house and pick up whatever you need."

"Was it Gloria?"

"It wasn't Gloria," Cash said.

"Well, shit," I bit out. "Who the hell would fuck with my car?"

"We're gonna figure it out, Turtle." He reached over the table and squeezed my hand. "Now, drink your wine and try to forget about it."

Easier said than done, but the wine was great and the food divine, so by the time we climbed back into the truck and headed to my house to pick up a few things, I had started to relax. Arriving at the club, however, set me on edge again.

* * *

Cash

"I'll set your stuff in your parents' room, then we'll talk to my dad." Teagan nodded, handing me the key to her dad's room distractedly, and I wrapped an arm around her waist. "Hey."

She met my eyes. "Hm?"

"We're gonna figure this out."

She sighed. "I know. I just feel a pit in my stomach, you know?"

"I know, Turtle. It'll all be okay." I gave her a squeeze. "Go grab some wine. I'll be right back."

I had just dumped Teagan's bag and locked the door when Dad stepped out of his room. "Hey, what are you doin' back here?"

"Did you not get Grip's texts?"

"Turned my phone off for a bit. Your mom and I needed some time." Dad slid his phone out of his pocket. "Jesus fuckin' Christ."

"What?"

"We need to get Hatch in on this," Dad said, cryptically.

"Shit, really?"

"Yeah."

"You know who this guy is?"

"Yeah." Dad scowled, opening his bedroom door and sticking his head inside. "Baby, I'm gonna be a few. Gotta situation. Cash and Teagan are here."

"Cash," she called.

"Yeah, Mama?"

"I'll be right down," she said.

"Don't rush, baby," Dad said. "We're going to be meeting."

He closed the door and then we headed downstairs. Teagan was sitting on one of the large sofas with a large pour of wine in her hand. I leaned over her and kissed her neck. She reached up and slid her fingers into my hair. "Dad and I are gonna talk to Hatch real quick."

She craned her head and smiled. "Okay."

"Mom's here, I think she's going to come down and hang with you."

Teagan nodded.

"Love you."

I finally got a smile out of her, and she nodded. "Love you too."

I headed down the hall and walked into Hatch's office. Dad was bent over Hatch as they watched his laptop screen.

"Pissant," Hatch hissed.

"Yep," Dad said.

"Who is he?" I asked, leaning in to study the image. "He's wearin' Spiders' colors."

"Yeah," Dad confirmed. "They call him Rail."

I crossed my arms. "Why do they call him Rail?"

"Because he used to work for the New York Subway system, but he kept fuckin' with their computer systems. Got caught and did a ten year stretch in Sing Sing. He's their Temu version of me and he's half asshole, half idiot. He rides the third rail of dumbassery."

"So, what the fuck is he doin' to Teagan's car?" I bit out.

"Won't know until we get it back here and inspect it," Hatch said.

"Could be a Trojan Horse," Dad said. "Might not want to bring it here."

"Good point," Hatch said.

"She's gonna argue that she needs transportation," I said.

"She can stay here until we sort this out," Hatch said. "Or you can shuttle her where she needs to go."

I nodded. "I'll tell her."

"If she has an issue with it, she can talk to me," Hatch continued. "I'll lay it out for her."

I chuckled. "I'll take care of it. I wouldn't want her to remove your spleen."

Hatch grinned, glancing back at the laptop. "Maybe you should both stay here for the moment. I don't like the Spiders knowing where you live. Have Arch hole up here too."

"You can always come home for a few," Dad added. "Mom would love it."

"Got Teagan to think about," I said.

"Teagan is welcome," he said. "You could stay at Mack's as well."

I raised an eyebrow. "Not sure Mack's ready for me to stay in his baby girl's bed just yet."

Dad nodded. "You may have a point."

"I'll talk to her and see what she wants to do."

"We'll sort this out, Cash," Dad said. "You take care of Teagan."

I frowned. "Don't want to be left out of the loop, yeah?"

Dad stood straight and focused on me. "Son, we'll handle this."

I fisted my hands at my side.

"We'll also keep you in the loop when we can," Hatch added.

I knew it was all I was going to get, so I forced myself to stay calm and walk out of his office.