19. Listen Up, Buttercup

Chapter 19

Listen Up, Buttercup

G rizz

I was in a restaurant, for fuck's sake. The moment her ass was over my shoulder, the room went eerily quiet, but no one stepped in. They didn't ask if she needed help, nor did they whip out their cell phones to record.

"Put me down, Grizz," she yelled at me, hitting my back with her fists and kicking her legs.

I waved to the grandmother in the kitchen as I walked towards the front door. She smiled at me and waved back. No one would have stepped in if Meredith had been in serious trouble. Fucking shame.

Meredith continued her tantrum as we walked across the parking lot towards the bikes. I heard her call out to Pretty and Wreck as they walked behind me. She thought they would rescue her. I could have told her that was a lie. Pretty was enjoying the excitement, and Wreck was only here to protect Pretty. They wouldn't step in. She wasn't their problem.

Suddenly, Wreck whistled low. "Shut her up. We have company."

I smacked her ass, and she instantly went silent. When we had been dating, it had been fun to tame the attitude. She was a spoiled brat on a good day, but I didn't mind. A few good spankings, and she'd melt in my hands. However, Meredith the Bitch was wearing on everyone's last nerve, including mine. It was hard to sympathize with someone when all they did was spew hate.

We double-timed it to the tree line where the bikes sat .

I sat Meredith on her feet, turned her around, and placed my hand over her mouth. I didn't trust that she wouldn't try to run. Crouching with her in front of me, I whispered in her ear that she was alright. I'd make sure of it.

A black SUV with tinted black windows pulled into the parking lot. It drove down the aisle where Meredith had parked her car and pulled into the spot that Brandon had vacated. They knew exactly who they were looking for.

Two men exited the SUV and walked over to the driver's side door. They popped the door open with a Slim Jim and swiftly silenced the alarm. These were professionals. As one man hot-wired the car, the other went back to the SUV. Once he closed the door, they sped off, Meredith's car in tow.

Brandon had been up to no good. Meredith had dodged another bullet.

I should have started calling her Tef because nothing dangerous ever stuck to her. Yeah, she'd hate it, but it made me smile on the inside as I tried to process what my next step was going to be.

She pulled my hand away from her mouth. "What the fuck just happened? That's my car. Why didn't you stop them, Grizz?" she whined.

I ignored her. I had planned on staying at Meredith's condo, but that wasn't an option anymore. Looking over at my brothers, I could tell we were all on the same page.

"I recorded it so that we can send it to Cyph, but we have to get out of here," Pretty said. "Not just a pretty face." He framed his face with his hands and smiled wide. It was cheesy but typical.

"Where do we go? We can't go to the Knights without an introduction," I said. "I can't call Sabre until we're somewhere secure."

"I don't want to be you when you call him. He's going to be livid," Pretty sing-songed with a smile.

"My aunt's," Meredith whispered.

"I am not putting her in danger." I liked Aunt Elizabeth, and I wouldn't include her in this fucked up mess .

"You won't. There's a back way in. If you walk your bikes, you won't make noise, and you can hide them in her garage."

I didn't have a choice. It would have to do. I grabbed the extra helmet I had brought and plopped it on her head, making sure the chin strap was tight. She looked at me with tampered fury. This wasn't over yet, just postponed.

As she was swinging her leg over my bike, Pretty called out to her. "Hey, Mer?" She turned her head to acknowledge him. "If you're thinking about jumping off the bike, don't. Flo makes me potato salad. I have no problem running your ass over." He smirked.

***

Meredith

What the fuck have I gotten myself into?

This was a high-speed roller coaster that was going to go off the rails, and I wanted off. I wasn't a thrill seeker, and I'd unknowingly planted myself in the middle of a TV drama. I wasn't handling anything well, and it felt like I was drowning in a sea of despair.

I should have burned my wedding dress to ward off bad omens. Instead, it was hanging in a closet upstairs in my aunt's home. Nothing had seemed off the morning of my failed wedding. My hair was done, and I was dressed, sitting in the bridal suite, waiting for my time to shine.

I didn't know why I did it. I wish I hadn't, but I had stood from my chair and walked towards the mirror. The girls chattered with each other, not even realizing that I was having an internal crisis.

The woman in the mirror had been stunning as she looked back at me. She wore a lace wedding dress that was fitted to every curve until it flared out into a satin skirt at her waist, stiletto heels on her feet, because when she had suggested white ballet shoes, her fiancé had told her no. She'd argued that no one would see them, but he'd said it was appalling. I didn't think she was real. She was perfect, and I had raised my hand to wave at her. Her hand came up at the same speed and angle as mine to wave back at me. She was real, but all I could see was my sister.

I was selfish. I'd never asked Grace if she was happy, even though I'd never seen her fully smile. Staring at my reflection, I had tried to smile. My lips had turned up at the corners. I tried again, but instead of a smile, I frowned. I wasn't happy, and I hadn't been for a while. All I could see, laid out in front of me, was the monotony.

I'd promised myself not to stifle my desire to flee. Yet, here I was again, stifled and unhappy, walking into my aunt's. I called out as we walked into the main living space from the garage.

"Meredith, honey? Is that you?" I'd sent her a text to warn her we were coming so that she wouldn't think the house was being robbed.

"Yes, and I have unwanted guests with me."

"Nah, your aunt loves me," Pretty posed. "I should have been a pool boy," he sang. "Should have learned to clean and skim." He added some dance moves. Wreck just shook his head.

Aunt Elizabeth came around the corner in her robe and grabbed me in an enormous hug. I couldn't hold it in anymore. I shook. "Oh, honey. What's going on?"

"Brandon tried to kidnap me," I answered into the collar of her robe.

"You let him live?" she asked Grizz. My aunt was serious.

"For now," he replied. When I pulled away from my aunt, she hugged each brother. When had our lives become infiltrated by a motorcycle club?

"Is anyone hungry? I have enough for sandwiches." She didn't even stop to get their responses before she set out a spread on the dining room table.

"Hey Aunt E? Do you have potato salad?" Pretty asked her.

She laughed as she said, "That good, huh? I told Grace if she didn't win you over, the food would."

Of course, Grace was the star, and the MC hated me. It was fine. I didn't care .

I wasn't hungry, but I sat at the table, patiently waiting. I just wanted to go home and pretend that nothing had happened.

Grizz sat at the head of the table and pulled his phone out as the rest of the brothers made sandwiches.

"It was nice knowing you," Pretty said to him.

Grizz rolled his eyes as he hit a button on his phone. He could only be calling one person—Sabre. Grizz didn't shit without Sabre knowing. Now that he was with Grace, I wanted nothing to do with it. It wasn't jealousy. I didn't care what she did. It was more like I was so afraid of becoming her I had run in the opposite direction as fast as I could. It had landed me in the same boat.

The phone rang.

"Hey, I need to put you on speaker," Grizz said. He clicked a button, laid his phone on the table, and then detailed the night's events.

"Where are you?" Sabre asked.

"Aunt E's."

"Did anyone follow you?"

"No."

"Have Twig and Berry checked in yet?" Sabre asked.

I hadn't known they were along on this trip. Twig and Berry were both enforcers that I had met before.

"No."

"Fuck. Shit's going to go down."

"Yup."

Wonderful conversation they were having. It didn't explain how I was going to get home.

"I need a ride home," I said.

"You're not going anywhere," Grizz retorted.

"I am going home." He'd called me a brat in jest, but Grizz was really going to get the full effect.

He leaned on the table with his arms crossed. "What the fuck is your problem? "

"I am going home." I was digging my heels in.

"Brandon was supposed to kidnap you tonight. He would have succeeded. Do you get that, Meredith? If you had gone willingly with him, he would have dropped you off on the cartel's doorstep and washed his hands of the whole thing. They were making you disappear. That's why they took your car — so that you wouldn't leave a trace. I would have never found you, and it wouldn't have been for lack of trying."

"Point for Grizz," Pretty popped up, making a tally in the air with his finger.

"Why do you care what happens to me?" I didn't care what happened to me as long as I could go home.

"Eh, point for Meredith. Although it's under duress." Pretty made a tally mark a little further away.

"Guess I shouldn't." Grizz leaned back in his chair.

"Nope." I popped the P sound. I would never tell him he'd been the only man in my condo. If I used my imagination, I could pretend that it still smelled like him. I could picture him throughout the place. It was my haven.

"Meredith," Sabre said through the phone.

I didn't say a word. He wasn't my biggest fan, and it stemmed from the night Grace had gone missing. Sabre thought I should have paid more attention. How could I have? I wasn't a mind reader, and she'd sounded fine when she'd called.

"Listen up, buttercup. You better thank your fucking lucky stars that Grizz still gives a shit. He's the only reason that you're sitting there, all high and mighty. Most of us have already written you off."

"Why should I care what you think? Go play house with perfect Grace." I stood up from my chair and walked out of the room.

"Don't leave this house," Grizz called after me.

I turned into the den and paced the length of the room.

My aunt walked in a few minutes after I did, sitting on the couch. She said nothing as she watched me walk back and forth.

"Are they still on the phone?" I asked her .

"Yes, they're trying to come up with a plan. They're not really sure what they're up against."

I sat next to her on the couch and she wrapped her arms around me. I curled into her body and laid my head on her chest, like I had as a little kid.

"It's alright. Let it out," she soothed me.

The tears rushed down my cheeks. It was much easier to be flippant than to tell Grizz the truth. I was pregnant.