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“Do you know who it is?” she asked.
“I’m assuming one of Dante’s men, but I can’t be sure. You stay here and I’ll go up,” he insisted.
“Not a chance,” Trista whispered. “You stay here, and I’ll go up. They obviously want you since they are at your house.”
“Right, so if you go up there, they’ll just kill you to get to me,” Joel insisted.
“How many men are there?” she asked.
“No clue,” he whispered.
“Fine, we’ll go up together and figure it out from there. You go left and I’ll go right,” he said. Trista was sure that Joel was sending her straight into a closet or bathroom, but she didn’t care. At least he was letting her participate. They walked up the stairs, side by side, and when they got to the top, she went left, just as Joel ordered. She cleared a spare bedroom and a bathroom, as well as the hallway closet.
“Trista,” Joel called, “you’ll want to see this,” he said. She quickly walked down the hallway to what she assumed was his master bedroom.
“All clear?” she asked.
“Yeah, but someone was here. They left me their calling card.” She looked inside the box that he held open to her and almost gagged when she saw a hand with a note that said, “You had a hand in what happened to Dante. You’re next.”
“Shit,” Trista breathed. “I told you that they were going to come after you, Joel. You need to come with me,” she insisted, tugging at his arm.
“Not a chance,” he said. “If they want to come for me, they’ll know where to find me here. Listen, I got a notification that someone was in my house before I even pulled into my driveway. I say we beef up my already good security system and you and I stay right here. We need to be close in case something happens with Dante, and we need to move our teams in. Plus, I don’t want to run. I don’t want to constantly be looking back over my shoulder to see what’s coming for me. Do you?” he asked.
“Damn it,” she grumbled. She didn’t want to run either. She was never one to run away from a fight, and now, she was planning on doing just that. Joel was right, she wanted to know who was coming for her and when. “You’re right,” she agreed.
“I’m sorry,” Joel said, cupping his ear to her. “I couldn’t quite hear you. What did you say?”
“I said that you’re right,” she hissed. “I don’t like having to say it once, please don’t make me repeat myself, Joel.” He chuckled as he holstered his gun.
“I say that we get this place secured and then, you and I can work on getting my security up to what it will need to be to take on Dante and his men when he makes good on his promise to come for me next. I think we’ll need a bit of help with that part. You mind if I call over a few buddies who can help us?” Joel asked.
“As in your MC friends from that bar Melody had me meet you at?” Trista asked. He didn’t seem like the MC type. Hell, Joel seemed as clean-cut as they came, and meeting him at that biker bar tonight kind of threw her off of her game.
“Yeah, if you don’t mind them coming over here. Some of the guys specialize in security and the faster we do this, the faster we can get some shut eye.”
“All right,” Trista agreed.
“Great—you can take that room at the end of the hall. You cleared it when you came up here,” he said.
“I know the one,” she said, “thanks, Joel.” Trista wasn’t sure if staying at his place was a good plan, but there was safety in numbers, and she knew that Joel seemed like the type of guy that would have her back, no matter what was coming for them. She needed someone in her corner like him if she was going to bring down the Gemini Brothers and avenge her little brother’s death.
Joel
Joel calledSavage and filled him in on what was happening. Savage promised to round up a couple of the guys and be over within the hour to help him upgrade his security. He asked Joel if he was sure that he didn’t want to disappear, that he had some guys who could help with that, but Joel assured him that he was good to stay put.
After he got off the phone with Savage, he gave Axel a call to let him know what was happening. He and Melody both insisted on coming over to help out with the security, and he had to admit, he was grateful. Melody was a damn good cop and knowing that she’d have his back helped put his mind at ease a bit.
“Everything set up?” Trista asked as she walked into the kitchen. She had been unpacking up in his spare room and he was kicking himself for not giving her his bed. The spare room’s bed was a bit uncomfortable—something that he had always planned on fixing, but he never got around to it. Joel never really needed to since he didn’t get many overnight guests.
“Yeah,” he said, “Savage is bringing over a few guys. He’s the club’s Prez and knows what he’s doing when it comes to security. I also called Axel and he and Melody are coming over too.”
“Great,” Trista said, “that way your partner can mean mug me some more and call me a liar.”
“Well, she’s not wrong,” Joel countered, “you did lie to her, right?”
“I did, but I told you that I had no choice. You were in danger, and I needed your help getting Dante freed from prison. If you didn’t admit to screwing up during his arrest, he would have never gotten out. By the way, I don’t think that I’ve said this yet, but thanks for taking one for the team. You were great.”
He hated having to lie about the arrest. He did things by the book and having a black mark on his record sucked. “Whatever,” he mumbled. Trista giggled and he shook his head at her. “Shut up,” he grumbled.
