Every Breath You Take (Bayou Devils MC Book 3) Page 2

  “About?”

  “I would really prefer to speak to you about that inside, ma’am.”

  I study him for another moment before nodding and closing the door to release the chain. When I open it again, he steps inside and scans the room, his gaze lingering on the pistol on the table before he turns to me with a quirked brow.

  “It’s registered,” I assure him.

  “You always keep it on the kitchen table?”

  I shake my head. “No, but I’m a single woman living in one of the worst areas of town. It’s never far from me. Besides, you’re the one pounding on my door at two in the morning.”

  “I do apologize for that. The subject is… sensitive and I needed to speak to you before anyone else did.”

  I wrap my arms around myself. “Well, now you’re worrying me. What’s going on?”

  “Please,” he says, gesturing to the table. “Have a seat.”

  He sits at the head of the rectangular table and I choose the chair adjacent to him as he sets a folder down on the table. Sighing, he pulls a photo out of the folder and sets it down in front of me.

  “Do you recognize this car?”

  I nod, staring down at the dependable little Nissan she loves – now a mangled mess. “Yes, it’s my mother’s. What happened?”

  Worry twists in my gut and it only gets worse when Detective Rodriguez looks uneasy. “At eleven fifty-three this evening, I was called to the scene of a hit and run accident involving this vehicle. When I arrived, they were loading a woman into the ambulance. They rushed her to the hospital and after all attempts to revive her, she was pronounced dead at twelve thirty-six a.m.”

  “Are-are you telling me my mother is dead?” I stutter, pressing a hand against my chest in an attempt to restart my stalled heart. A roaring sound fills my ears and my mind blanks as I wait for his answer. An answer that I somehow already know – like I can feel it deep down in my gut – but I can’t believe it. Not until he says the words.

  “That’s the reason I’m here, ma’am. We need you to identify the body.”

  All the air rushes out of me and I nod. “Oh.”

  Detective Rodriguez pulls another photo out and places it face down on the table in front of me. “I know this is a difficult time for you, Miss Carter, but the sooner we confirm that it is your mother, the sooner we can shift our focus to figuring out what really happened.”

  The room spins as I stare at him, trying to process what he just said. How the hell am I supposed to do this? It can’t be true. Not my mother. She’s the strongest, bravest person I’ve ever met so there’s no way she was taken out by a simple car accident. It’s not possible. This doesn’t feel real. Like any moment, I’ll wake up and be back in my bed, under the covers. I set my shaking hand down on the table, my heart jumping into my throat as I try to convince myself to flip the photo over. My mind is screaming to do it but my hand won’t move as it desperately tries to save me from discovering the truth.

  Lightning streaks across the sky as I reach forward and gently turn the photo over as the world around me fades out of focus. A sob lodges in my throat and I stare down at the photo of my beautiful mother, laid out on a metal autopsy table with a pale blue sheet pulled up over her chest. Tears spill down my cheeks and the sob that I was barely holding back tears through my lips. Detective Rodriguez lays his hand on top of mine and another sob rips through me. He doesn’t need me to say anything because the sound of my cries is all the evidence we both need. It’s my mother lying on that cold metal table in a morgue somewhere across town and in her death, she’s taking a chunk of my soul with her.

  * * * *

  My stomach sinks like a stone and my feet are rooted to the concrete as I sit on a park bench across from the Baton Rouge Police Department, staring up at the formidable building that holds answers. Answers that I’m not even sure I want.

  “Ready to go?” Theo asks, sitting down next to me on the bench and I shrug my shoulders.

  “Yes. No. I don’t know.”

  “We’ll go in whenever you’re ready, T,” he assures me and I turn to him with a raised brow.

  “How the hell are you being so damn strong right now?”

  He shakes his head. “I think I’m just in shock.”

  Turning back to the building, I nod. Shock is a good word for how this feels. Theo is stationed in Charleston with the Navy and after Detective Rodriguez left my apartment two days ago, I called him in tears. After five hours and several calls to his chief, he was on the road to help me process all of this and bury our mother. But none of it feels real.

  “It doesn’t seem possible…” I muse and Theo turns to me.

  “What doesn’t?”

  “The car accident. I mean, this is the same woman who has a gun conveniently hidden in every room of her house, the one who built a panic room out of her bedroom closet, she made us train in at least three different martial arts, made us run drills for every disaster scenario and a car accident is what kills her? It doesn’t fit.”

  “I know,” he whispers. “I’m still trying to wrap my mind around it.”

  Shaking my head, I sigh. “I guess we won’t get any answers out here.”

  “Ready to do this, then?” He holds his hand out to me and I grab it as I push to my feet.

  “Yeah.”

  We cross the street in silence, hands clasped, and I can feel his nerves amplifying my own. Maybe it’s because we’re twins or maybe it’s because growing up, we only had each other and Mom to lean on but this is the way it’s always been for us. Sometimes, I swear I can hear his thoughts as loudly as my own.

  “Relax,” he whispers under his breath as he open the door to the police station and I shoot him a look. We’re both on edge so he has no room to chastise me.

  “Back at you, little brother.”

  He turns a glare on me and I smile. It’s a fight we’ve had too many times to count and it’s the fastest way to tick him off.

  “By three minutes.”

  “Can I help you, folks?” the officer behind the front desk asks as we approach and Theo squares his shoulders as he nods.

  “Yeah. We’re here to talk to Detective Rodriguez.”

  “Name?”

  “Theo and Tate Carter,” Theo answers, authority in his voice.

  The officer grabs the phone and glances up at us. “He expecting you?”

  Theo nods and the officer dials Detective Rodriguez before instructing us to sit in the waiting area. We claim the last two chairs up against the wall and Theo crosses his arms over his chest, his gaze flicking over the room continuously. Even now, he can’t stop himself from doing the things our mother ingrained in us.

  “You know, the other night I couldn’t remember how I had left the curtains in my apartment and it bothered me all night long.”

  He scoffs. “Try living with a roommate who doesn’t understand your obsessive need to scan the room before you leave.”

  “Have you ever wondered why she was like that?”

  “Every fucking day of my life,” he replies, meeting my gaze and I nod. Our mother’s strange behavior wasn’t something either one of us noticed until we were teenagers because up until then, we didn’t know any different. We thought all parents made their children practice at the gun range every weekend or act out what they would do if someone broke into the house.

  “Miss Carter?” someone says from the doorway and we both turn as Detective Rodriguez steps out and extends his hand to Theo. “Hello, I’m Detective Rodriguez.”

  “Theo Carter.”

  Detective Rodriguez nods and motions toward the door he just came out of. “Why don’t you follow me and we’ll go over the case so far?”

  We stand in unison and follow Detective Rodriguez back to an interview room with a table in the center. There are two chairs on one side so Theo and I sit there as Detective Rodriguez sits across from us and sets a thick folder down on the table. He pulls out several photos of our mother’s mangled car and plac
es them in front of us.

  “First off, I just want to express my deepest condolences for your loss. This is my least favorite part of the job but I promise I will do everything I can to find who ran your mother off the road.”

  “You’re sure that someone else was involved?” Theo asks, inspecting the photos in front of us and Rodriguez nods. He pulls out another photo and lays it in front of us, pointing to something in the shot.

  “There was white paint found on the back bumper of your mother’s car as well as tire marks indicating that a second vehicle was at the scene. It looks like whoever was driving that vehicle was very intoxicated.”

  Theo stares down at the photos before glancing up. “How can you tell that?”

  Rodriguez pulls out more photos; these of the road leading up to the accident where you can see tire marks swerving all over the road. “We can’t find anyone that witnessed the accident and unfortunately, traffic cameras in that part of town are down but based on the tire tracks, I would bet my career that the second driver was completely wasted.”

  “What part of town was she in?” I ask and he pulls out a map and lays it in front of us before pointing to the edge of town. “What was she doing out there?”

  I turn to look at Theo and he shrugs.

  “Your guess is as good as mine, Miss Carter,” Detective Rodriguez says and my gaze flicks across the map to where her house is as my mind spins. What was she doing there? Not that she would have ever told me if I asked. My mother liked to keep her secrets.

  “And you said there are no witnesses?” Theo asks, a scowl on his face as he inspects the evidence laid out in front of us.

  “Not that we can find right now. We’ll keep looking but in that neighborhood, the chances aren’t high.”

  A feeling of hopelessness weighs down on me. “So, that’s it, then?”

  “No, ma’am. You have my word that I will keep searching for answers but just understand it’s not going to be easy.”

  Theo meets my eyes and my heart breaks a little more knowing we may spend the rest of our lives searching for answers.

  “Y’all can have your mother’s body moved to a funeral home whenever you’re ready. The medical examiner has finished everything he needs to do.”

  A sob wells up in my throat and Theo wraps an arm around my shoulders. “Okay, we’ll take care of it and please keep in touch if you get any updates on the case.”

  Rodriguez nods and stands, holding his hand out toward Theo. “Of course.”

  They shake hands and he leads us back out to the waiting area before disappearing in the back. Theo leads me outside and I shiver as we cross the street and sit down on the park bench again.

  “I hate not knowing,” Theo whispers and I nod in agreement. Mom always taught us that knowledge is power so not having the answers we need only makes all this worse.

  “What was she doing there?” I ask again, almost to myself and Theo sighs.

  “Honestly, T, with Mom it could be anything.”

  I nod, watching the cars drive past us as I try to wrap my head around everything that’s happened in the last forty-eight hours and everything that still needs to be done.

  “Does Mom have life insurance?” I ask and Theo shrugs.

  “I doubt it. She would have considered it an unnecessary expense.”

  I drop my head into my hands and suck in a breath. “How are we going to pay for a funeral, Theo? I don’t have anything.”

  He wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me into his side. “We’ll have to cremate her and spread her ashes. It’s not like we have anyone to invite, anyway.”

  “We could do it at the beach she loved in Grand Isle,” I suggest and he nods.

  “Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll take care of everything, okay?”

  I nod, relieved that he’s willing to take the lead because I’m barely hanging on at this point and I can’t imagine adding anything else to my plate.

  Chapter Two

  Lincoln

  Aerosmith spills out of the bar’s speakers as our waitress, Kelly, stops at our table and sets a bottle of beer down in front of Moose and me.

  “Can I get you boys anything else?” she asks, flashing me a teasing smile that makes me want to pull her into my lap.

  “What time you get off tonight, Kel?” I ask and her grin grows.

  “Well, I suppose that depends on how good you are, biker boy. But I clock out at eleven.”

  With a wolfish grin, I reach for her and she slaps my hand away as she backs away from the table, shaking her finger at me. Kelly and I have been dancing around each other since the guys and I first started coming to this bar a couple weeks ago and I’m eager to make something finally happen between us.

  “There’s Smith,” Moose says, nodding toward the door and I glance up as our brother weaves through the crowd toward our table. As soon as he sits down, Kelly is back with a beer for him and she flashes me a wink before returning to the bar.

  “What a fuckin’ day,” Smith says as he grabs the bottle and raises it to his lips, chugging half of it. Two girls walk past him, makin’ eyes, but he doesn’t even notice them. With a sigh, he sets his beer bottle down and scrubs his hand over his face, looking exhausted.

  “Keep that up and you’ll be sleeping on the floor,” I point out, glancing down at the dirty bar floor with a grimace. He scoffs.

  “After all the shit I dealt with today, it might be an improvement.” He casts and annoyed glance at a group of college aged girls giggling in the corner and I bite back a smirk. Smith is usually a pretty easygoing guy but he’s had a lot on his plate lately and it’s making him short-tempered.

  Moose quirks a brow. “Your brother?”

  “Who fucking else?” he snaps and I can see the stress plain as day on his face. Since they were little, Smith and his little brother, Clay, only had each other to lean on and they were as tight as two people could be. Clay has always been a bit of a troublemaker, though, and a few years ago, he started getting into drugs. Now, it seems like all Smith does is clean up after his brother and try to save him from himself.

  “What did he do this time?” I ask and Smith shakes his head as he downs the rest of his beer and holds his empty bottle up in the air. Kelly nods in our direction and holds up a finger, indicating that it will be a minute. Sighing, he turns back to the table.

  “Rodriguez called me this morning. Turns out my baby brother got arrested for harassing some poor young lady yesterday and spent last night in a jail cell sobering up. When I picked him up, we got into it and he ran off. I’ve spent all day trying to find him.”

  “No luck?” Moose asks and Smith shakes his head.

  “Nope and I’m worried he’s somewhere with a goddamn needle shoved in his arm.”

  My thoughts drift to my sisters, Nora and Rowan, and I feel a pang of guilt as I raise my beer bottle to my lips. I don’t envy Smith’s position but I sure as hell understand it. And I know the hell he’ll be in if he isn’t able to save his brother.

  “Take a load off, brother, and tomorrow we’ll help you find him.”

  Smith nods as Kelly stops at our table and drops his beer off. She meets my eyes and I grin as my cock jumps in my jeans. Goddamn, I’m excited for tonight. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten a beautiful woman underneath me and I’m hungry for it. She turns and walks away, her hips hypnotizing me with their gentle sway and I lick my lips.

  “Man, I wouldn’t,” Moose warns and I blink, glancing in his direction.

  “Huh?”

  He tilts his head toward the bar, where Kelly is filling a glass with beer. “That one is trouble.”

  “Kelly?” I scoff, shaking my head.

  “Yeah, Kelly. A girl like that is old lady material.”

  “Careful, Brother,” Smith teases, a smile on his face for the first time tonight. “You dip your wick in that and next thing you know, you’ll be down on one knee with a ring in your hand just like Storm and Chance.”

  I sh
udder. Our brothers, Storm and Chance, both fell hard and got married recently and as much as I like their wives, I’m not about to make that mistake…again. Fool me once and all that.

  “Yeah, that’s not going to fucking happen.”

  “Pretty sure that’s exactly what Storm said before he met Ali.”

  “Or Chance before he met Carly,” Moose adds.

  I shrug. “I’ve got more willpower than either one of them and I’ve already almost made that mistake once before.”

  “I don’t know,” Moose murmurs with a shrug. “They seem happy.”

  “They seem whipped,” I quip and Smith snorts.

  I watch Kelly as she works behind the bar and a smile teases my lips. “I think you’re wrong about Kelly.”

  “Dun, dun, dun-dun,” Smith hums and images of my first wedding rush back to me as I kick him under the table.

  “Jackass.”

  I glance to the other corner of the bar, catching the eye of a pretty little thing in a denim mini skirt and tank top. She holds my gaze for a few seconds before smiling and looking away. I grin, grabbing my beer and taking another drink as I keep my gaze on her. She meets my eyes again and her pale cheeks turn pink. I picture her on her knees in front of me, pink still staining her cheeks as she wraps her lips around my cock and shift in my chair. My jeans feel tight and I swallow down some more beer but I can’t even taste it anymore. If Kelly’s off the table, I definitely have another option.

  “Also, a bad idea,” Moose says, and I turn to him with a frown.

  “Why the hell are you trying to ruin all my fun?”

  “Don’t do it, man,” Moose warns, shaking his head. “That girl’s got stage five clinger written all over her. She’ll have a tracker embedded in your nuts before you even realize what’s happening.”

  “Thanks for the visual, asshole.”

  He shrugs and my gaze is drawn back to the corner as I think about risking it anyway. Fuck, I’m so goddamn horny that I might just take on a stalker. No, scratch that. I swing back toward the bar and Kelly smiles, tempting me once again. Damn. You know what, I’m not going to catch feelings for the girl after one wild night. Never going to happen. Smiling, I push my chair back and stand up just as my phone starts ringing.