Beautiful Outlaw by Emily Minton

A Widow

Bowie

“Is Shay with you?” Lock asks in a voice filled with anger and worry.

“Yeah, man.  She’s right here,” I reply, wondering what in the fuck is going on now.  I talked to him a few hours ago, and he said everything was good. 

“Marcus is heading your way,” Lock shouts into the phone. 

I jerk away from Shay, going to my knees between her legs. My body is vibrating with anger. “What the fuck?”

“I got called in for a double yesterday, so I didn’t get to check in on him for about twenty hours. By the time I got home, he was already gone to work, so I didn’t think shit about the radio silence.  I went ahead and went to sleep, figured I’d go back to see if anything happened when I got up.”

“I don’t need a play-by-play, brother.  Just tell me what the fuck is happening.”

I can hear him slamming the door of his truck and starting the engine before he replies.  “About two hours after I left for work, he received a phone call from a man he called Alexander Bailey.”

Hearing my own name, the name I share with my father, come from Lock’s mouth has my anger turning in to fury.  “What the fuck was Cash calling him for?”

“He told Marcus that he knew where the package was.”

I jump from the bed and shout, “Fuck! How in the hell does he even know who Marcus is?” 

I hear a whimper and look down to see Shay still laying there with her legs spread, totally exposed.  I watch as panic spreads across her face, and can feel the fear radiating from her; it’s filling the entire room. “What did I tell you about being afraid?”

”What are you talking about?” she questions as she scoots up, so she is leaning against the headboard with her arms wrapped tightly around her bare legs.  

“I’m right here, Shay.  Nothing can hurt you while I’m around, not a damn thing.”

“But…” she starts to say, but I reach down and cup her jaw. 

“Don’t say something that’s gonna piss me off.  I already told you that your fear is an insult.  Believe me, right now is not the time to be pissing me off.”

She stares at me a moment then takes a deep breath.  “Okay, Bowie.”

Turning away from her, I walk over to the window and ask Lock my question again.  “How do Cash and Marcus even know each other?”

“I don’t know.  That’s the first call I’ve caught between the two of them.  I haven’t been able to listen in on every phone call he’s received, but I’ve listened to my fair share.  It looks like I would’ve known if they’d been in contact before. Still, there’s no way this is the first time they’ve talked, not unless someone else has been relaying messages.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck!  “When will he be here?”

“He’s either already there, or he’ll be in Kentucky tonight.”

“Are you sure?”

I can hear him light a cigarette before he replies.  “Not sure, but another call came through a few hours ago, telling him that he needed to be in Kentucky tonight.  My guess is he flew out right away.”

Fuck. Cash must have called Marcus the moment he left the clubhouse.  This is all my fault.  Shay is in danger because I didn’t put a bullet in my father’s head.  I won’t make that mistake again.  “I’ll take care of it.”

His voice sounds strained as he says, “There’s more.”

What more can there be? “Tell me.”

“During the last phone call, Cash gave him an address.”  He goes quiet for just a second before continuing. “I don’t think it’s to your house.”

The only other place I can think of Cash sending him is to the club, but, surely, he isn’t that much of an idiot.  “If that motherfucker shows up at the clubhouse, those boys will bury his ass.”

“I’m not sure, haven’t been there in years, but I think he gave him Nina’s address.”

“That bastard is a dead man walking,” I roar out, causing Shay to let out another whimper.

I turn my head and let my eyes meet hers.  Instinctively, I move to her. I can see the tears spilling over her lashes, and each one that falls feels like a knife to the gut.  Not knowing how else to comfort her, I turn away from her again.  Then, I ask Lock another question.  “Why the fuck would he send him there?”

He’s quiet for a moment before he finally responds.  “It makes no sense to me, unless Cash thinks Laura’s still living over there.”

“He knows Shay lives here,” I growl out, reminding him that Laura is gone and Shay is his sister now.

“Then I would say he’s cleaning house.”

The chill that was already in my blood reaches my bones.  “What are you talking about?”

“Cash may not know exactly how fucked up Marcus is, but he has to know he’s a deranged motherfucker to make his woman hide from him.  He probably thinks he’ll take out anyone that gets in his way of getting his wife back.”

My anger turns into pure fury as I listen to him talk. In other words, my father is hoping that Marcus will hurt Nina.  He’s hated her since the day she quit letting him fall in and out of her bed.  When I moved in with Nina, his hatred only grew.  He probably doesn’t care that Priss could be there when Marcus shows up and she could get hurt too. 

Lock lets out a cough before adding his own thoughts. “At this point, I think Cash is right.  Marcus would hurt anyone that got between him and Shay.”

“I’ve got Priss here, but I’ll have to send Tin after Nina. We’ll keep them safe,” I reply.

Shay climbs from the bed and walks to me.  She grabs my arms and looks up to me with questions in her eyes.  I merely shake my head for her stay quiet, and mumble to her, “I said, they’ll be safe.”

“There’s something else, man,” Lock says, and I can hear the fury in his voice.

“What?” I bark out, not sure I can handle much more. 

He hesitates before answering.  “Marcus said payment would be made after proof the thief had been taken care of.”

I shake my head in confusion, even though I know he can’t see the movement. “I have no fuckin’ idea what you’re talking about.”

“I’m assuming you’re the thief, Bowie.  You took his woman, and he wants you to pay.”

A slow smile creeps across my face.  “Good, that means Cash will be focused on taking me out.”

He tries to say something more, but I cut him off.  “I gotta get busy, brother.  I’ll call you when I have an update.”

“I’m flying out in about an hour.  It’s the earliest flight I could get,” he replies.

“No, man, this shit isn’t going to be legal, so you need to keep your ass where it is.”

His voice is hard when he says, “I guarantee that when I get my hands on that bastard, nothing I do to him is going to be legal.” Before I can respond, he ends the call.

I pull in a deep breath, trying to control my anger, then look to Shay. “Get your ass dressed.  We gotta go.”

“I need to go away.  I can’t let anyone get hurt because of me. Just let me go, please,” she pleads with me. 

I ignore her words and pull away from her.  I grab my jeans from the floor and start to pull them up my legs.  By the time I have them on, Shay’s grabbing her own clothes.  Tears are streaming down her face, and her words come out on a choked sob. “I can’t let Rachel or Nina get hurt because of me.  Please, just let me go.  Marcus won’t bother them if I’m gone.”

“You don’t have to worry about him anymore.” I shake my head, denying her wish. “I’m about to make you a widow.”