Blazing Hot Bad Boys Boxed Set - A MC Romance Bundle (58 page)

Chapter Six

Sierra had completely put the matter with Chad Pender out of her mind. Her stalker-guards had not made any more moves to contact her – although now that she knew what her stalker-guards looked like, she was seeing them more often. They seemed harmless enough and didn’t make any move to try to interfere with her life in any way, so she let them continue with their…whatever. If it made them happy and she didn’t get interfered with in any way, then everything would be fine.

But then she got a letter.

From Chad.

Chad Pender.

What the hell? Did those goons give him her
address
? He could just show up at her home any time he felt like it? Corner her at her home and tell her what to do and how to do it? What sort of horrific situation is this? She would just ignore it. It didn’t mean anything. This was just some desperate attack on her emotions to make her…do something. Who knows what. Didn’t matter. None of it mattered even remotely. Nope.

A day passed and she ignored the letter.

Then another and she put the letter in a drawer.

The letter ended up in her pile of bills.

She put it in a different drawer.

She found it somewhere else.

It stalked her across the house for most of a week until she had enough. She threw it in the trashcan. She wasn’t sure why she had kept it this long for that matter. What was she hoping to accomplish exactly? To just make herself feel more miserable than she already was by seeing it around the house all the time? Well mission accomplished. Now it was time to throw it out and move on…

...but before she went to bed, she fished it out of the trash. She held it for a while. Then tapped it against her fingertips. Then she opened it. She couldn’t let herself do this anymore. She just had to find out what he wanted and what this was all about. There was no reason why she had to keep herself miserable with curiosity. She could read it just to laugh about his stupidity in even thinking she would ever do anything he asked of her.

It was handwritten on two pages of one those little notepads left in hotel rooms. The handwriting was very masculine – edgy and hard to read, but she made it out and was slightly shocked by what she found.

Dear Miss Hall,

I’m sure you don’t want to hear anything from me. You only know me as the weird guy who is trying to contact you through any means available, but I would really appreciate having a chance to speak to you. You see, I knew your brother and maybe that annoys you more than anything. Since you don’t know who I am and have no frame of reference for this entire situation, I should tell you that I was there with your brother in those last days, actually at the moment of his death. I was the only one there.

Please don’t take this as a plea to your emotions so that I can connive you into meeting with me. I just really want to offer you what I have, which is closure. I want you to find reconciliation with your father, because you deserve that. You deserve to be able to live in your home and feel safe. You deserve to know what happened. So please let me tell you what there is to know, okay? Please?

I’ll leave you with my number. Please let me know if you want to meet and talk.

Sincerely,

Chad Pender

Heart in her throat, Sierra dialed the number. She wasn’t sure what she expected to happen, what she wanted to hear on the other end of the line. Part of her wanted to hear Scott’s voice telling her to calm down. He wanted to hear him calling her Little Bird. He wanted to hear him sing his little song. She knew that was crazy to hope for, but that was what she wanted more than anything. She wanted to hear him. Just one more time.

Then he picked up, “Hi. Who is this?”

“Sierra Hall.”

“Oh. Oh! Great. How are you, Miss Hall?”

“No need to be so formal. Sierra is fine. I read your letter.”

“Oh and what did you think? I’m assuming you have at least some questions. I mean, you called me.”

“Yeah. I would like to meet in person, I think. Can you meet for dinner in four days? I have to work every night between now and then, or it’d been sooner.”

“Yeah. Yeah. That’d be great. I’ll still be in town.”

“So, um, why don’t you come by my place and then we can go somewhere.”

“Great. See you around six. Thursday.”

Sierra pulled the phone away from her ear and slowly pressed the End Call button. What had she just done? What was she planning on doing when she met with him? Did she even have anything close to a semblance of a plan?

The next four days passed in a fuzzy blur as Sierra tried to figure out what she was going to do at this dinner…thing. It would be so weird to see this guy. This man who knew Scott, knew everything about him, knew things Sierra didn’t know. Chad knew about her, but she didn’t know about him and it was really strange. This whole situation was completely surreal and crazy and insane. How could any of this possibly be happening?

At 5:30 on Thursday, Sierra stood in front of her enormous closet trying to pick something to wear. She felt so nervous about this whole dinner. This wasn’t even some sort of date. Why did it matter what she wore? She wasn’t trying to impress anyone or prove anything. This was him trying to prove something to her, prove he was worth listening to and prove his story had any merit or worth. Maybe he didn’t. Maybe he was some lying envoy from her bastard father trying to bring her back to California to fulfill his wishes and demands, so she could be a tool for him and his stupid games again. She wasn’t going to go back to California. Not ever.

She hurriedly pulled on a dress and zipped it up the back. It would have to do. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and applied her lipstick. Oh crap. She still had to pick out shoes. It was always wise to go with basic pumps if all else failed – red, in this instance. Yeah, that would be good. She shook her hands, her palms sweaty. Why was she so nervous? She had butterflies in her stomach and her hands were shaking as she put her earrings in. The doorbell rang and she almost screamed in surprise. Her heels clicked across the tiled floor and she paused with her hand on the doorknob. She could do this. She breathed in deeply and opened the door.

“Hello.”

“Hi.”

Chad was not at all what she imagined he would look like. He was tall with sandy brown hair. His eyes were a penetrating blue stare that took her by surprise with their intensity. He had a little red cut under his chin, probably from shaving. He was wearing a blue button-down, dark wash jeans, and leather boots. His shirt wasn’t tucked in and was wrinkled. Bachelor, probably has been his whole life. His left ear was pierced, but he didn’t have any jewelry in it. He was definitely more attractive than she could’ve possibly expected. 

“So, um, you ready to go?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure. Let me grab my purse and we can go.”

She hurried back to her bedroom, heart racing. She was already completely nervous and seeing him with his shy smile and pretty eyes made it worse. She wasn’t prepared for all of this.  It would be okay, though. She took a deep breath and pushed her hair back from her face. She would have only have to get her answers and then leave. She didn’t have to do anything else. That was all. That was everything.

Sierra reemerged. “All right, let’s go.” They walked to his car in an awkward silence before she started again, “So, um, where are you staying?”

“Oh, just some cheap motel. Nothing fancy.”

“Ah. That’s nice.”

“Yeah. I don’t need anything fancy. I’m not very demanding.”

“That’s good, I guess.”

The drive to the restaurant was filled with awkward stop-start conversations, neither one sure how to communicate. They were here for one purpose and anything not related to that purpose just become awkward and uncomfortable. Finally they pulled into the restaurant – a local Mexican place, one of Sierra’s favorites – and were seated.

Sierra couldn’t take it any longer. She put down her menu, “All right. Talk.”

“Talk? About what?” He looked startled.

She spoke more slowly, trying to contain her excitement, anxiety, and frustration, “About my brother. In your letter you said you were with him when he died. What happened? I need to know the truth.”

“Can we order an appetizer first?”

She laughed, “You are worried about appetizers? This is my brother’s life.”

“No disrespect, but he was my best friend. And he is dead now.”

“Fine. Order your damn appetizers.”

He reached out a hand to her and then drew it back. “Look, I think we are getting off to the wrong start here.”

“You think?”

“Can you please just hear me out?” He took in a deep breath, “I just think you should come to California. I don’t think Scott would’ve wanted you living out here all by yourself away from everyone.”

“No. I am not going back to California. I am never going back there. My father is just going to use me to get what he wants for his stupid schemes and his games. He wants to marry me off to someone. I’ll just be a toy in his games and if you are here to get me to go back, I don’t want to hear any of it.”

“I know. I know.”

“If you know so damn much, why did you even start off with that? I just want to know about my brother. If you’re going to hold this information hostage then you can just fuck off now. Let me eat my dinner in peace.”

“Please, just calm down.”

“No! All I came here for was information about my brother, which is what your stupid letter made it sound like you were giving out, but if that’s not true, I’m just going to leave.” She stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder, “Call me if you decide you actually want to talk about Scott.”

Chapter Seven

Chad tapped his fingers against the table, watching Sierra storm out of the restaurant. What had he done? He ran a hand through his hair. How was he going to get himself out of this situation? He had no idea how he was going to do this. She was definitely furious with him and he didn’t know what he could do about that situation, but he would have to come up with something.

The waitress walked over, holding her pad in her hand. “What can I get for you?”

“Fish tacos,” he muttered. He might as well eat dinner while he was here. Eat and think. Maybe some stroke of brilliance would hit him and he would be able to come up with some sort of idea. While he was eating his phone rang. The caller ID told him it was Richard Hall. Really? Now? Of course now would be the moment Hall decided to call him. He answered the phone, “Hello?”

“Hey, Chad. You busy right now?”

“Not particularly. What can I do for you?”

“Well, I was just wondering how things were going with Sierra.”

“Well, actually, I just got dinner with her.” Mostly true. “This was the first time we have been able to have any sort of conversation. She is quite hostile, so this is probably going to be a longer process.”

“Of course, of course, but please hurry as much as you can. I do miss my little girl.” 

“I’m sure, sir. I’m doing everything I can, but I don’t want to turn her against the idea.  I’m just taking things slowly, getting to know her. After all, we are, practically, total strangers. She is a single woman living alone in a strange city. I’m sure she doesn’t want me just charging into her life and telling her what to do and where to go, you know?”

“Of course. That makes perfect sense. I’m sure you are doing the most advisable thing for the situation. You know it better than I do.”

“I’m trying. I’m confident that things will start going in the right direction quite soon. Don’t worry about it. You gave this mission to the right person.”

“Great. I hope to hear from you soon.”

The call disconnected and Chad put his phone down as the waitress returned with his tacos. He dug in with a hunger that could only be fueled by anger. How in the world was he going to get through to this girl? She was furious with her father and viewed him as the great enemy of her life. She wanted to vilify him, make him into some fairytale-style evil king and she as the princess in a tower.

Although, in all fairness she had told him what she wanted. She told him everything she wanted. She wanted answers about her brother – answers that he did have, but he didn’t want to tell her the truth. The truth would turn her against him even more. He could tell her part of the truth, though, a very small slice…and he would have to hope she never found out the actual truth. 

He licked his fingers clean and sent her a text:
We need to talk. I’ll give you want you want
.