Page 4 of Cooper

“I’m so sorry sweets. You haven’t had an easy life at all.” I say as I kiss her forehead. “Who gave you the red hair and blue eyes? I bet it was your dad.”

Bexley smiles at me, “Yeah, he was Irish through and through. Lachlan Thomas. He talked with an Irish brogue, I loved it. He moved here from Ireland when he was eighteen. There’s one more thing I want to ask tonight, and then we can watch our shows or whatever.”

I nod at her as I finish off my sub, to let her know it’s okay. “Saige mentioned something about her going undercover once. Can you tell me about that? Is it something that she or any of you do a lot?”

I take a huge drink of my soda, “That’s another thing I can only tell you what I was told. See, Cotton and I had just been sent overseas with our platoon. Saige and Loki were seventeen and had just graduated high school. She was in love with Cotton even then, so she never really dated. She might go out to a club with Lynch, he taught her a lot of dances, or Pyro. They knew the deal, friendship only. Barq, the Black Forest chapter Pres bought the strip club in Hampton. He kept the manager there, she was a nasty work of art. She was efficient at her job, kept the girls in line, so he let her stay on. After a while, he noticed a turnover in the girls. So, he asked Lynch and a few of the nomads to come in as bouncers. Lynch talked them into having Saige come in as a maid type girl. She was too young to bartend, but she could clean the tables, floors, the changing rooms, and could keep an eye out in there, talk to the girls. And to keep suspicion down, Lynch and Saige pretended to be dating. From what I heard; Lynch fell for sis. Then one night they heard a bunch of noise behind the building. Saige took a bag of trash out back. There was a van with someone behind the wheel that couldn’t really be seen, the manager woman, a man holding one of the Charmers. Sis said she was sorry for interrupting their argument that she was going to go back inside. Lynch came around the side of the building and stopped Sis at the door, saying loud enough that he was gonna steal a kiss before she went back in. He pushed her against the door, and they whispered to each other about what was going on, he told her he had a gun in his waist band, the van took off, so they actually started kissing, kinda making out, when that woman came up and put a gun to Lynch’s head. Sis grabbed the one from his waist band, hid it in hers, and the woman told Lynch to turn around and get on his knees. He did. Sis was begging the woman to stop, that they had no idea what was going on. They were just stealing a moment of time to be together. The woman raised her gun towards Sis, Crow saw what was going on in the surveillance room, went around the side of the building, but he tripped, the woman turned towards the noise, Lynch went to move, she turned back towards him, whipping her gun around, and Sis shot her right in the middle of her forehead. Neither she nor Lynch will talk about it much. Sis will say it is something that happened, she protected her family, and if you want to know more, ask Lynch or Barq. Both are tight lipped about it. What I know, Crow told me. Dad was against her doing it, but she did it anyways. They found a couple of the girls. There was several arrested, but I don’t think the ones that was over it was caught. But going undercover isn’t something we do a lot, but if we need to, we do.”

Six

Bexley

I lookat Cooper in almost disbelief. No wonder Saige seems older than she is. She has an old soul to begin with, and then going through everything she has. She really hasn’t had it easy either, lately. I get up to throw my plate away, my food only half eaten, so I put that in a container and in the fridge. “I won’t mention it again. I bet it was hard for both of them.”

“It was, but they did what they felt they had to do to protect each other and those girls. Are you okay?” Cooper asks me.

“I’m okay. Just tired. It’s been a long day, and then to hear all that…. well I now understand Saige more, and I know why she and Lynch are close. I’m gonna change into my night clothes. Do you want to watch “Who’s Line is it Anyway” or something else?”

Cooper throws his plate away and grins at me. “Yeah, I got that new Annabelle movie, I thought we could watch it if you want to.”

I grin really big, “Yes, that sounds great to me.” I go into the bathroom and shut the door. I hurry to change into my tank top and shorts, brush my teeth, use the bathroom, wash my hands, and put my clothes on the counter for tomorrow. I only wore them for a few hours today, nothing dropped on them to get them dirty. I head out to see Cooper looking at his phone, and the look on his face scares me, I haven’t ever seen him that mad. “Coop is everything okay?” I ask tentatively.

He turns to look at me and smiles a little. “Yeah Foxy, it’s all good. Just got a message that I didn’t like.” He turns back to his phone and types something, then heads over to me. He’s already changed into his shorts. He kisses my forehead, then laughs. “You didn’t say anything about that nick name.”

I shrug, smiling I tell him, “I kinda like that one.”

“Okay then, Foxy it is. It suits you, ya know? Come on, I popped some popcorn, and have your favorite candies on your side of the bed. I already set you a huge cup of sweet tea on the table, and I think that’s all we need.”

I smile as I get in the bed, he already had the pillows propped up, and pull the blanket up over me some. Coop turns the overhead light off and climbs in beside me. He starts the movie, and I snuggle into his side, as he puts his arm around me. He laughs as I jump or hide my head during the movie. He never jumps, just like Saige, I think. Once the movie is over, I go to the bathroom again, rebrush my teeth, use the restroom, wash up. He gets up to go do the same, as I lay down. I fall asleep before he comes back out to bed.

Cooper

I can’t believe the texts that I had gotten from Saige, to know that the son of a bitch raped Bex the whole time they were together, no wonder she pushes away when it comes to intimacy. I have to figure out a way to let her know that it isn’t like that in a loving relationship. I don’t know how anyone could treat her that way, but I damn sure know that I will kill someone if they ever try again. I need to get up with Tech after I go with Dad tomorrow to see Tonya. I watch Bex walk out of the bathroom and lay down. I go in and do my business. When I walk back into the bedroom, she is already asleep. I lay down making sure I delete the texts from Saige, plug it up to the charger, and curl into Bex. I kiss her forehead, then close my eyes.

I look at Bex laying in the bed, as she is starting to stir. I’ve been up for a bit, and I’m about ready to head out with dad.

“Mornin Foxy. I’ve got to go meet dad, and head out. Are you going to be okay? You have your regular guys to take you to work and hang out. I’ll come by and bring you some lunch.” I kiss her slowly, then nip her bottom lip. When she gasps, I deepen the kiss. I end it before it gets out of control. Bex is trying to catch her breath. I smile as I head out the door.

I walk into the common room to see dad ready to go. “Tires, do you have your phone so that we can facetime Saige while talking to Tonya?”

“Yeah dad, I have it. You ready to go now?”

He sighs, “As ready as I’ll ever be.” We walk outside and get on our bikes, then head out to the jail.

We get to the jail, and dad stops me by putting his hand on my shoulder. “Son, you are going to meet someone, that I’ve known for a very long time. He’s been undercover for a long time, and he had to do what he could to stay there. If he had been found out, he would’ve been killed, and not in a very pleasant way. Keep your mind open when we get in here. I know your first instinct is going to be to kill him.”

I look at dad, see the weariness in his face. “Yeah, okay dad. Does Sis need to be on the phone when we meet him too?”

“Yes, she most definitely needs to be on the phone.” He says as we walk into the jail. Commander Thomas meets us at the door. He and dad chitchat for a minute, and I pull up the facetime on the phone, calling Saige. “Hey sis, how are you?’ I ask when she answers.

“I’m good. Are you okay? You look like you are trying to figure out a really hard puzzle.”

I laugh, “Dad just said that we were gonna meet someone, and that you had to be on facetime before we go talk to Tonya. And he said that I have to keep an open mind, that this guy has been undercover for years. That I’m not to try to kill him.”

Saige looks at me thoughtfully, “I wonder who it is?” I shrug my shoulders as dad leads me into a room. I turn the camera so that Saige sees what we see. I don’t know who this man is. He is tall, thin, has brownish hair. It isn’t until Saige gasps and whispers “Rancor?” that I finally realize that it is him.

Dad goes over to the table where the chairs are and indicates that he wants us all to sit down. “Duke, it’s been awhile. How are you? Does she really believe that you are dead?”

Seven

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