Custom Love by Chantal Fernando

Chapter Five

When I show up at Taylor’s work the next morning, the busy clothing store is bustling. The manager informs me that Taylor was fired months ago and she hasn’t seen her since. I’m about to leave when I notice one of the staff members watching me, so I stop and decide to ask her if she knows anything. She nods, and tells me that she has her number, and is more than happy to share that information if I make it worth her while. I’m not amused, but I remember my first job in retail and how much they get paid, so I slip the little hustler a twenty dollar bill and take the number down.

When I get into my car, I dial the number, and someone answers right away. “Hello?”

“Hello, is this Taylor?” I ask.

“Depends on who’s asking,” she replies, suspicion in her tone.

“I’m a friend of Damon’s and I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind answering a few questions for me.”

“Damon who?” Damon isn’t too common a name, so it has me wondering if she’s playing dumb.

“Richard.”

She’s silent for a second or two, and then she simply hangs up.

“I guess that’s a no,” I mutter to myself.

Fair enough. I guess she doesn’t want to talk to a stranger, or maybe she just doesn’t want to talk about Damon, period. I mean, she could just be sick of the whole thing and want to move on with her life now that Damon is locked away.

And I’m going to find out what that life is.

“Do I want to know what you’re doing?” Trade asks quietly, making me jump.

I put my hand on my chest. “Holy shit, you scared me. And no—you don’t.”

He smirks and ducks behind my car with me, where I’ve been hiding for the past ten minutes waiting for Taylor to leave the shopping center. Who knows how long she’s going to be, but her car is parked near mine.

After getting hung up on, I found her address online by using her name and cell number. I called Decker and asked him to see if she had a car and he grudgingly gave me the make and model, along with the license plate number. As I was pulling up to her apartment, which is surprisingly close to where I live, I saw her car coming out of the parking garage, so I followed her here.

“What are you doing here?”

“Came to grab some new game AJ wanted, and then I saw you. Who are we watching?” he asks, amusement in his tone.

“Just a shady woman,” I reply without looking him in the eye. Instead I nudge the bag of party supplies in his hands. “Getting ready for AJ’s birthday, then.”

“Yeah, I want to go all out. He deserves it—they all do,” he replies, smiling sadly. “I’m glad you’re coming. AJ keeps talking about you. I think you made quite the impression on him.”

“Me or my loaded fries?” I tease, opening my car door. “Want to take this conversation inside?”

He laughs and gets in on the other side. “Why were you waiting outside in the first place?” he asks.

“I followed her inside at first, but then I realized my best bet would be waiting here. I’ve been torn between just approaching her or following her, but the latter has won out,” I explain. “I don’t think she’s the type who is going to make this easy.”

“Okay, why are we following her?”

He’s asking questions that I don’t want to answer, but I refuse to lie to him. I may be a lot of things, but I’m not a liar. I have to get creative with what I tell him. I’m not ready to tell him that I’m working with Damon. Heck, he doesn’t even know I’m a family friend of his. I chose to keep that a secret when Damon was arrested, only telling Bronte.

“I just need to ask her a few questions about the case I’m working on,” I admit, guilt hitting me. Of course I had to run into him while working on this case, as if I don’t feel bad enough.

This is my karma.

“You can’t tell me any more than that? Is it a cheating wife? Or someone who bounced checks? Wait, wait, I got it. She stole the tip jar from her job?” He starts to chuckle.

I playfully hit his shoulder. “Laugh all you want, but my job is not just about catching cheaters or small petty crimes.”

“Oh yeah? What other type of cases do you work on?” he asks with genuine interest, all humor gone from his voice.

People rarely ask me about my work or my cases. Part of me thinks that they think being a private investigator is a silly job. But I chose this even though I didn’t have to. I went to the police academy—hell, I was doing well in my class. But when it came time to start my job as a patrol officer, I just was bored. I wanted more and I didn’t want to kiss political ass to become a detective.

So I went to work for a private investigator who annoyed the crap out of the police. She was feisty, but good at her job. Chelsey taught me everything I know. She lives abroad now, but I’m grateful for her taking a chance on a rookie.

“Remember the case about the kidnapping of that little girl? Susie Thomas?”

His eyes bulge a bit. “Yeah, that was all over the news. She was last seen walking home from school and then vanished. Then five days later she—”

“Just walked into her home as if she never left. Yup, that’s her. I worked with the family’s attorney. The police didn’t do much since Susie wasn’t injured and had no memory of the events. Her story kept changing. But I worked with her and was able to retrace her steps home. We found out that her mother’s sister had her. After her mother died, Susie’s father didn’t let her see that side of the family. She was with them.”

“Wait, I didn’t hear about that. Why wasn’t that on the news?”

I shrug. “The family didn’t want it to get out.”

“Your life sounds interesting,” he admits, glancing over at me.

“Sometimes. But a lot of the time it really is just following cheating spouses.” I smile and he starts laughing. “But a girl has to do what a girl has to do.”

“Are you cynical about love? If that’s what you spend most of your clocked-in time doing...”

“A bit, yeah. Usually it’s obvious that those couples shouldn’t be together in the first place. But then I have people like Bronte and Crow, and Cam and Orion, around me, so there is hope for the rest of us,” I reply.

And Trade and Ariel, of course, but I don’t want to bring her up unless he does.

“Chains has started seeing someone, too,” Trade admits, chuckling. “And if he can find someone there is hope for everyone, trust me.” Chains is a member of the Knights of Fury MC, and also works under Trade at Fast & Fury as a mechanic. He’s kind of the dark horse of the MC, so him dating someone is a big thing. He’s been single as long as I’ve known him. In fact, I don’t think he’s had a girlfriend since he joined the MC.

“Good to know. I can’t even remember the last time I went on a date...”

Or had sex, but that’s a whole different story. My love life is extremely boring and, in fact, depressing. Especially when I hear all the stories from my friends and the women in the MC. But I don’t know, maybe I was just meant to be a woman who focuses on her career. I don’t really have an interest in dating at the moment. I suppose it will happen for me when fate decides.

Either way, I want it all or nothing at all; I’m not settling for less. I want the Crow and Bronte love. The trust, the commitment, and just knowing that person will always have your back no matter what.

Trade goes silent, and I realize he’s probably thinking about his last date, which would have been with Ariel.

Shit. I need to think before I speak. So I try to change the subject to cheer him up. “Do you have anywhere to be right now?”

“Not until school pickup. Today is my day off. Why?”

I start my engine. “Because there she is and it looks like you’re coming with me.”

“Oh fuck,” he whispers, but doesn’t object. He puts his bags in the back seat of my car and braces himself, seatbelt secured tightly. “Okay, I’m ready. This is my first stakeout.”

“Didn’t you used to be a member of the Knights?”

“Yeah, for a brief time, but I never got to do stakeouts or anything like that.” He has a faraway look as if he’s remembering a different time fondly.

“Do you miss it?” I ask, wondering if someone can leave a life like that so easily. I know he’s still friends with everyone—his brother is the president—but I heard he quit when he had to raise his kids alone.

“No, I chose my kids and did what was right for them,” he says with confidence, and turns to give me a wide smile. “Let’s go get this woman.”

He’s clearly a very brave man and has accepted his fate. I laugh. “What exactly do you expect? That we’re going to catch her red-handed and jump out going ‘ah-ha’?”

He laughs. “Maybe. Definitely not your first time following someone then, huh?”

“Nope, this is my job. It can be very hands-on at times.” I let two cars stay in between us to not make it obvious, and we follow her little black Honda Civic.

“So who is this woman exactly?” Trade asks.

“She’s the ex-girlfriend of a client in prison,” I say, realizing how stupid bringing him with me was. What the hell was I thinking? I enjoyed his company so I got lost in our conversation.

Trade was never supposed to find out about this unless I could prove that Damon was innocent—that way he wouldn’t get unnecessarily hurt. But that plan isn’t going to work if he’s here with me, helping me without knowing it.

Please don’t ask about who my client is, or what they did.

I don’t know how I got myself into this mess. I should have said bye to him and gone on my merry way instead of inviting him to follow a lead having to do with a case that’s personal to him. But I missed having someone on a stakeout with me. Bronte and I used to have the best time together. Nothing like working with your best friend every day. And if I’m being completely honest with myself, I like Trade. I enjoy his company and he’s easy to talk to.

“Before you say anything, I tried to call her but she wouldn’t speak to me, so I just want to see why she is being so shady. Have to follow every lead, you know?” I explain.

“She’s speeding,” he comments, shaking his head as we watch her weave in and out of traffic.

“I know. I don’t think she’s seen us. I think she’s just reckless. I just wanted to speak to her. I need to cover all my bases. This is what I have to do when I have no good leads. I have to make some.”

“You should have let me drive,” he suddenly says, staring at her car. “We’re going to lose her.”

“Are you a pro at high-speed chases?” I ask in a dry tone. “I would have brought Cam along if I knew I was going to need someone good at that.” Cam used to steal cars, and therefore is good at driving away without getting caught.

Trade barks out a laugh. “I’m going to tell her you said that.”

My lip twitches as I turn right, low-key wishing he was driving because this shit is stressful. “I’m perfectly capable... Oh, she’s turning into that driveway with the blue house.”

Trying not to be obvious, I slow down and park across the street in front of a playground, where other vehicles are also parked. “It is weird to stop here without kids?” he asks.

“Yeah, damn, we should have brought one of yours along,” I mutter, my eyes on Taylor as he laughs. She gets out of the car, with her bag, and goes inside the blue house.

“Now what?” he asks, sounding a little excited. “Should we go in there and see if she will talk?”

I turn to him, and sure enough, his deep brown eyes are filled with eagerness. He taps his fingers on his jean-clad thigh and looks at me in anticipation.

He’s a handsome man, there’s no denying that. He’s also a father, he’s a business owner, he runs a household, and he has a dash of bad boy to him. He’s just all-around attractive. He’s confident, and he knows who he is.

“I don’t know, I’m kind of winging it,” I admit, smiling when he laughs again. “I could go in there and try to get her to talk to me, or if I don’t, bide my time and wait until I can find something on her and use that to my advantage.”

“Remind me never to piss you off, Nadia,” he murmurs, ducking his head and staring at the house. “How do we know whose house she’s visiting? Is it her house?”

“No, I went by her house earlier—that’s how I followed her to the shopping center. Let me take down this address and I’ll look into it later.” I grab the pen from out of my bun and write it on my hand. “Oooh, she’s on the move again.”

We both watch as she gets back in her car, and then share a look.

“Can I drive this time?” he asks, flashing his straight white teeth at me with a grin. “Please?”

“Okay, fine, but we need to hurry or we’re going to lose her,” I reply, jumping in the back so he can get into the driver’s seat, limbs flying everywhere without getting out of the car.

Once he’s settled, he starts the engine while I move to the passenger’s side and quickly put my seat belt on. And just in time, because Trade drives like a fucking Formula One racer.

I hold on tight and give him a narrow-eyed look. “I do not want to die today.”

“We won’t,” he promises, turning right and almost sending me through the window. “But she’s speeding, and if we go too slowly, we’re going to lose her. We aren’t speeding right now. I mean, maybe we are, but only a little. Your call.”

“It’s not only a little if you drive like a Formula One driver.”

“Formula One drivers win,” he replies.

“Fuck it, let’s get her,” I tell him, keeping my eyes on her car.

We follow her for the next fifteen minutes, and when she makes a left turn toward a warehouse, Trade and I share a quick glance.

What the hell?

“Why the fuck is she heading to Fast & Fury?” I ask.