Dark Fall (Back Down Devil MC #3)(31)

Miller smiled. “You already did.”

Miller walked away and Kaity turned. She was shaking with fear. Erik looked at her and gritted his teeth.

I’m not the bad guy… please…

Erik touched her arms for a second and then nodded. “Go write.”

Kaity turned and walked to the table. She saw the severed finger again and gagged. Erik moved to her right side and turned, blocking her view of the finger.

“Write it down.” Gaige tossed a pen and paper to the table.

Kaity closed her eyes and pictured the car again. Her lips moved. She thought of the sentence her mind instantly created when she looked at the car. A few seconds later she opened her eyes, wrote down what she had seen on the license plate, and then lifted it to Miller. He tore it from her hands and said it out loud. Kaity’s finger sizzled with pain from a paper cut thanks to Miller being so aggressive. She wanted to ask why he was so angry. It wasn’t his finger, right?

“You’re sure about this?” Miller asked.

“Positive,” she said. “I wouldn’t lie. I’m just trying to help.”

“Save the help bullshit,” Miller said. He turned and asked, “Where’s Griffin?”

“Inside,” Gaige said.

“I want a meeting with Griffin and Gaige. We’re calling Chief Jerry and figuring this out.”

“What about the rest of us?” Blaine asked.

Miller jumped up on the table. It moaned under his weight. He reached down and grabbed the finger. “The rest of you get something to eat and drink. Be ready for the call when it comes. This shit has to stop.”

“I’ll take the finger,” Blaine said. “Keep it safe.”

“He’ll stick it up his ass,” Jace said.

Everyone started to laugh, including Miller. He tossed the finger in the air. Blaine got under it and caught the finger in one hand. It, again, made Kaity feel sick.

Erik took Kaity by the hand. “Let’s go back inside. We need to talk.”

To talk.

Kaity wondered what that meant. Maybe they’d go right back to the bedroom and pick up where they left off again.

Inside, the clubhouse was filled with the smell of food. A small kitchen behind the bar bustled as two men wearing white aprons and ball caps on backwards cooked with music blasting.

“Go to the room, I’ll be in with food,” Erik said.

His voice was suddenly soft. Perhaps he regretted how he spoke and acted.

Yeah, right.

Kaity went back to the bedroom and found herself standing at the edge of the bed. The sheets were a mess. Kaity wasn’t even sure what had happened between them. It wasn’t sex as much as it was f*cking. Even still, even if Erik simply used her, it was still damn amazing.

Erik came to the bedroom with two plates of food and orange juice. He put a plate down on the nightstand and nodded to it.

“Eat.”

Kaity took the plate and tried her best not to think about the severed finger. She nibbled on some bacon, trying to hide her disgust.

“It’s time we be a little honest with each other,” Erik said. “You give me some information and I give you some.”

“Okay. What do you want to know about me?”

“Why are you here?” Erik asked without hesitation.

“You know why I’m here. My car…”

“Bullshit. You’re telling me your car just broke down in this town?”

“No. On the highway. Well, kind of before that. I sort of almost crashed it when I thought someone was chasing me.”

“You crashed your car and then kept going?”

Kaity felt uneasy. She couldn't confess everything. She barely knew Erik and he had shown quite a bit of hatred toward her.

“I had to keep moving,” Kaity said. “Okay?”

“And seeing that plate? What was that about?”

“Nothing.”

“I’m going to ask this once. If you lie…”

“What?”

“Are you a cop?”

Kaity shook her head. “No. I’m not a cop. I swear.”

I worked with a crooked cop for a while… he took advantage of me… but he’s dead now… well, sort of… he haunts my dreams…

“You better not lie or f*ck with us,” Erik said. “This shit going on around here is pretty serious.”

“Like a severed finger being delivered?”

“Yeah.”

“You said you were going to tell me something now,” Kaity said.

Erik finished his food and nodded. “Just to make sure you understand how serious this is… that finger out there wasn’t the first one.”

“What?”

“We received another finger in a package not too long ago.”

“Do you know whose fingers they are?”

Erik nodded with a solemn look on his face. “Yeah. Friend of the MC. He’s been kidnapped.”

Kaity stood up and put her plate down. “Then call the police. You have to help him.”

Erik put his plate down and walked to Kaity. He took her by the arms. “Look at me. That’s not how it works in this life. It’s deeper than that. I won’t say more though.”

“Because you don’t trust me.”