The UN Series Complete Box Set (126 page)

I give her a cocky smile. “Yes.”

She gets a slow and sexy smile of her own. “Make me believe it.”

I yank her head back and she lets out another strangled cry. I kiss her exposed neck and can feel her pulse beating wildly and my cock twitches. Tonight, I will fucking own her like she has never known.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

SAMANTHA

Morning comes way too soon. I smile as I realize my entire body hurts and my muscles are sore. I let Slade have his way with me last night, and God was it amazing. The man took more from my body than I knew it could give.

Once I shower and get ready, I make my way to the kitchen. I get out everything we have and begin to make the biggest breakfast of my life. Grits, biscuits, and gravy. Pancakes and bacon. Whatever we have, I use. After my fight with Slade last night I realized I wasn’t mad at him. I was mad at myself. I was mad at what was in front of me all along, and I never even questioned it.

I want Tate to know I’m here for him. I want Slade to know that I’m a different person than who I was when I ran out on my mother. You only get one chance at life, and I have decided to just roll with the punches. Take them with a smile.

“Something smells good,” I hear Slade say as he comes down the hallway before entering the kitchen.

“Breakfast,” I say placing a few plates on the table.

He comes over and gives me a kiss on the forehead and then pulls back placing his hand over my belly. “How are you this morning? Feeling okay?” His eyes drop to his hand covering my belly.

I smile. “We feel great.”

He looks back up to me, “I wasn’t too rough with you last night?” he questions. “I don’t want to hurt you or the baby,” he says seriously.

I shake my head, “Not at all,” I assure him.

He smiles and slaps my ass when I turn around. I squeal, and he chuckles.

“You guys are being too loud,” Tate mumbles as he enters the kitchen.

Slade sits down at the table and looks over at him. “No such thing. You are just hung over.” He takes a bite of bacon.

We all turn to face the front door when someone knocks on it. “I’ll get it,” Slade says shoving another piece of bacon in his mouth before he stands to go answer it.

I should not be surprised when I see him open the door and Parker walks in. The guy seems to always be around.

Parker smiles as he sits down where I set my plate. “Well, I couldn’t have timed this any better,” he says with a smile on his face.

“What are you doing here?” I can’t help but ask as I pour him a cup of coffee.

He starts to place food on
my
plate when he speaks. “I have to go in today to do some paperwork, so I thought I would come by.” He looks at Tate. “I was wondering where you were last night. Get lucky?” He wiggles his dark eyebrows.

Tate chuckles. “Yeah, with a bottle of tequila. She’s kicking my ass this morning.”

After I finish making the guys breakfast I walk back to our bedroom, grab my purse, and make my way back to the kitchen. “I’m gonna head up to the bakery. I want to do some cleaning and shop for some paint colors. You guys have a great day. Love you,” I say before turning and walking to the garage.

As I open the truck door Slade steps out into the garage. “You didn’t eat breakfast.” He frowns

“I’ll eat something on the way.” Cake sounds really good right now. I can’t wait until I can go to the bakery and just bake a cake for myself.

He smiles. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

He leans up against the open truck door and kisses me on the lips. “For Parker.”

“What can I say?” I shrug. “I’m just in a really good mood.”

He smiles. “Have a great day and be careful.”

“Will do.” We kiss one last time, and I head off to the bakery.

As I pull into the parking lot I spot Missy’s little red sports car. “How did you know I would be here?” I ask as we both climb out of our cars.

She shrugs. “Just a lucky guess.”

I take in a deep breath. “I’m really worried about you, Missy. Is everything okay?” Her hair is blonder than it has ever been before. And she looks like she has lost a little weight.

She nods her head once. “I’ve just needed some time alone.”

“Is there something that I can help you with?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “I promise. I’m okay.”

“Okay,” I say unsure but if I have learned anything in the last twenty-four hours, it’s that you can’t push someone to tell you what they don’t want you to know.

I jiggle the keys to the bakery in my hand. “I’m going to pick out some colors and order some things for the bakery today. Wanna help me out?”

She gives me a small smile. “I would love to.”

*****

SLADE

I just get home from a busy day at work and walk into the kitchen for a bottle of water, when my cell starts to ring.

“What’s up, man?” I say when I see Parker’s name.

“I have a few questions for you,” he says.

“Shoot.”

He takes a few seconds before he speaks. “First. Did you know that Sam’s name is on a no charges filed report?”

Why would her name be on a no charges filed report? “Oh, yeah. That was when she and Jax broke up back in September.” I know he had skipped town before they could serve him anything the first time.

“That would be a negative,” he states.

“How so?”

“This report refers to a Jeremy.”

Jeremy? We don’t know a Jeremy. “You must have read it wrong.”

“No. It’s right here in front of me. It is dated back in November. The officer was called to her place of business for a domestic dispute.”

That’s almost six months ago.
“I don’t know what that could be about.”

“Well, I normally wouldn’t think anything of it. But it also says that her statement was lost.”

I sigh. “Bring it over to my house.” I wanna see this for myself.

“Slade I can’t…”

“Bring the fucking paperwork over to my house. Now Parker,” I demand.

He lets out a breath as if conflicted. “I’m on my way,” he says reluctantly.

I scroll down to her name and am about to call her when I decide to wait. I want to know what the hell is on this report. It has to be a mistake. Maybe it was when all that shit went down before the holidays. It was like we were calling the cops left and right. With the house getting broke in to, the truck window being smashed, and her being attacked outside of her work…That’s probably it. That’s where he saw Larry’s being involved. Even though Tate had taken her to the police station it had still happened up at Larry’s. But why would it have Jeremy written on it? And why would it say domestic dispute? She and Tate both said they never saw the guy who attacked her.

I walk over to answer the door when I hear a knock. I open it to reveal Tate standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. “What are you doing here?” I ask.

“Sam told me to come over yesterday for dinner tonight.”

“Well, Parker is on his way over. He has some papers for me to look at.” I look at the clock. Angel will be home in less than thirty minutes. When I spoke to her earlier, she and Missy were ordering stuff online for the bakery. She was going to run to the store on her way home.

“Okay.” Tate goes straight for the fridge and pulls out a beer for himself before he hands me one.

“Thanks.”

“Do I need to leave? Is this work related?”

I shake my head. “You can stay. It has to do with your sister.”

He doesn’t say anything as he makes himself comfortable at the kitchen island.

It isn’t more than ten minutes later when Parker walks through the front door in uniform and lays down a file in front of me on the kitchen island.

I open the file and scan the paperwork as Tate leans over and reads it as well. “Why is Missy’s name on there?” he asks standing quickly.

I scan a little further down and see her name along with Holly’s. “What the fuck is this?” I ask to no one in particular.

“It’s a police report,” Parker says annoyed. “Apparently Sam called the police. It says that this Jeremy guy started a fight in the bar. Holly and Missy are mentioned as witnesses. I don’t know what’s off, but it doesn’t make sense.”

“What part doesn’t make sense?” Tate asks no longer concerned. “Holly and Sam were working.” He shrugs it off. “I’ve seen my fair share of bar fights happen.”

Parker shakes his head. “It doesn’t add up. It also says that their statements have been lost.”

My head shoots up to him. “What do you mean?
All
of them?”

“Maybe the officer forgot to finish the process. Or passed it off to someone else who didn’t do it. It’s very rare, but it has happened before,” Parker offers.

“Who was the officer?” I ask scanning the document.

“Officer Howard.”

Tate looks up at Parker with a frown. “That’s the guy you replaced,” he states.

Parker nods. “Like I said, shit is not making sense.”

“Did you say he just quit coming to work?” I ask.

“Yep. No one has heard from him since then.”

I hear the door to the garage open and close and a few seconds later Angel enters the kitchen. “Hey guys,” she says cheerfully.

“Can you explain this to us?” I ask not bothering with pleasantries. I want to get to the bottom of this.

“Explain what?” she asks with a smile.

I lift up the folder. “This.” I open it back up and skim through it until I land on the name that I’m looking for. “Explain why you called the cops on a man named Jeremy while you were working up at Larry’s. Domestic dispute?”

Her smile drops off of her face, and her eyes go big. She looks from me to Tate before Parker.

If I’m not mistaken, I would say she looks like she just got caught doing something she knows she shouldn’t have been doing.

“What is this?” I ask again this time more forcefully.

Her eyes slam back to mine. “Where did you get that?” Her voice shakes.

I feel Tate sit up straighter in his seat, and Parker even narrows his eyes at her.
Something is definitely up. What the fuck has she done?

“Doesn’t matter.” My jaw clenches. “Tell me why it even exists in the first place?” I demand.

Her eyes move to Tate as if she’s pleading for him to save her. When he doesn’t say anything she looks back at the folder. “It doesn’t matter. He pled guilty.”

I look over at Parker. Where in the hell did it say that in there? I don’t remember reading that. It said the charges were dropped.

“Who? Jeremy did? For what?” Tate asks.

She shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter,” she repeats once again.

I slam the folder down onto the kitchen island, and she jumps back. “All of it fucking matters. Now tell me why in the fuck your name is on this police report. Along with Holly and Missy,” I shout, losing my patience.

When she takes a step back and looks like she is about to bolt, I snap. “Tell me what the fuck this has to do with you. Right now.” I walk around the island to get in front of her. “Tell me,” I demand getting in her face.

Her green eyes look up into mine, and she looks like she is about to cry. “I…it…He wasn’t supposed to be working,” she says quietly.

“Who?”

“Jeremy.”

I run a hand through my hair. “Start making sense,” I say getting tired of this bullshit. I don’t recall anyone named Jeremy working there.

She takes in a deep breath. “It was my last night at Larry’s. I walked in and ran into him. I asked Holly why he was there.” She swallows nervously. “She said she had called him in so I could have the night off. She wanted me to just relax and enjoy the party.”

I nod remembering our plan for her not to have to work. But I don’t remember Holly mentioning a Jeremy filling in her spot.

“You called and I walked over to the restrooms to talk to you. Holly was in the bathroom. After we went back up to the bar Missy said Jeremy had made her a shot. I noticed it didn’t look like ours.” Her eyes look over at Tate nervously before they come back to mine. “I wanted to test it,” she says quietly.

“Test it how?” Parker asks.

She looks down at the floor and speaks. “I made Missy a new shot and asked Jeremy to join us.” She swallows nervously again as she eyes the kitchen floor. “I gave him the one that he had made for Missy.”

“How is that a test?” Tate demands also sounding irritated. She needs to get to the fucking point.

She doesn’t answer his question instead she continues her story. “We waited about ten minutes then we all went to the freezer where he was. I asked him if he was feeling okay. He told me yes then asked me why.” She pauses for a long second. “I told him I gave him the shot that he had made Missy. He freaked.”

When she doesn’t continue I ask, “Freaked how? What did he do?”

She takes in a slow deep breath. “He shoved me against some boxes and started choking me,” she says quietly as her eyes fill with tears. Not tears of her remembering it. Tears of having to confess something she kept from me.

My hands tighten to fists down at my sides. “What the fu…?”