Jagged: A Standalone Bad Boy Romance (7 page)

The chirping birds outside woke me from my blissful sleep. I rolled over to find Carter, naked and inked, sleeping next to me with the covers kicked off. The memory of last night rushed back to me—Carter taking me in the alley, going back to his place and fucking in the shower. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep with a towel still wrapped around me.

I lay there and admired his shredded body and watched him rest. Carter deserved it after all the hell he'd been through. Was everything he said really true about my father? I couldn't fathom that he would send the man I loved to prison just to keep him away from me. My father was everything to me. I had to get to the bottom of it. Maybe he had a good reason? I knew I was fooling myself but the only way to find out was to straight out ask my dad.

I didn't want to wake Carter so I got dressed quietly and left him a note by the bed that I was out doing errands. I walked through Carter's one-story house and it was exactly how I remembered it—sparse furniture, stained carpets, and broken drywall. Nothing had changed because Carter had been imprisoned.

I went to the kitchen and took the keys to his Ford truck that he only used to haul stuff. His Harley was parked next to it and was tempting to ride. Carter had never let me drive it before and he'd freak if he found out I took his bike without asking. The truck would do fine to get me to my apartment.

My phone rang as I started the truck. The screen read Ivy.

“I'm so sorry, I totally forgot to call you last night,” I blurted out.

“What the hell happened last night?” Ivy replied.

“There's too much to talk about over the phone. I went home safe and sound with Carter.”

“Want me to come over and we can talk?”

I desperately wanted to spill my guts to Ivy but my father took priority. “I have a couple things to do but I promise we can talk soon.”

“You sound different, Taylor. Is everything all right?”

I didn't even know how to answer that question. Carter and I were back together but my father was probably the reason he was in jail for all those years. “I'm fine, Ivy. Just have a lot of things on my mind. I'll talk to you later.”

I hung up the phone and raced over to my apartment to change. I tossed the red dress into the laundry hamper and put on jeans and a black blouse. I needed to look respectable if I was going to my father's building to interrogate him.

Kyle Enterprises took up almost an entire city block and was the pride of Saint Marks. My father provided jobs to more than seventy percent of the town's population. Over the years I'd only visited him a handful of times at his office. My dad was a busy man and I normally needed to make an appointment.

But today was different. He was going to speak to me no matter what.

I pulled up to the security booth and showed the guard my driver's license. “I'm Mr. Kyle's daughter.”

He took off his sunglasses and looked at me and then my license. “Good to have you back here again, Ms. Kyle. I'll ring up and let them know you're coming.”

I took a special elevator that went straight to the top of the highest tower. The doors opened to an enormous lobby with a tiny desk at the far end. A blonde woman—younger than me—sat behind the desk, her nails clattering against the keyboard.

“You must be, Ms. Kyle,” she stated. “Your father is in a meeting right now that could take a couple hours. You can come back if you want?”

I didn't care about some stupid meeting. Nothing was as important as this. “No, my father will see me now.”

The secretary tried to stop me but I reached the door to my father's office before she could get her hands on me.

My father's office was as big as my apartment. Expensive paintings covered the walls and floor-to-ceiling windows showed off an impressive view of the town. His huge oak desk stood at one end with a long rectangular table surrounded by office chairs on the other end.

My father sat at the far side of the meeting table and almost every chair in the room was filled with business suits. Everyone turned their attention to me.

My dad stood up in his chair.“Taylor, I'm in the middle of a meeting right now. If you could wait until it's over and then we can talk.”

“No Father, we're going to talk right now.” I rarely ever crossed him so he knew it had to be serious.

“Gentleman, if you would please excuse me. It seems a family emergency has come up. We'll reschedule for tomorrow.”

I waited by the door until the entire office emptied out.

“Taylor, this is most unusual. That was a very important meeting.”

I walked over to the opposite end of the meeting table. “Cut the shit, Daddy.” I hadn't been this angry with him since before Carter went to prison. I set both palms face down on the table.

“What's the matter, Taylor?” he asked.

“I want you to tell me the truth. The whole truth. And don't lie to me.”

“Taylor, I always tell you the truth,” he interrupted.

“Are you the reason Carter was arrested?”

My father sighed and slumped back into an office chair. “I never wanted you to find out about that.”

So it was all a lie. Carter was telling the truth.
Rage boiled in my stomach. I would have slapped my father across the face if he was close to me.

“How could you, Daddy? I loved him.”

“That was exactly the reason why. Carter wasn't the right man for you. I could see you going down the wrong path and I had to do something to stop it.”

“By ruining a man's life!” My palms on the table had formed into fists.

“By saving yours, Taylor,” he said softly.

I pounded against the table, taking my frustration out any way I could. “I didn't believe you were capable of something like that.”

“I was only trying to protect you.”

My voice began to waver.
Hold it together, Taylor.
“You went too far. I don't want your money anymore and I don't want to see you again.”

“You'll see it my way eventually. Carter is a bad guy and he will only hurt you in the end. Please stay away from him.”

Tears formed in my eyes. My father meant the world to me. But I never knew how evil he was. I turned around and ran for the office door before I started to sob.

My father called to me but I ignored him. I closed the door behind me and fell to the ground, letting it all out. I didn't care that the secretary was right there, watching me cry my heart out.

I picked myself up and went for the elevator, wiping my nose. The doors closed just as my father opened the office door and looked at me one last time.

Anger and sadness stormed through my soul. I didn't want to believe my father could do anything that insane. But he did. And it wasn't right.

Carter went through so much hell and it was all for me.

I woke up the next morning and reached my hand out to feel for Taylor's warm naked body. But the bed was empty.

I shot up and saw the note sitting on the nightstand. My heart calmed and I read it. I was glad she went out because there was some business I needed to tend to and I didn't want Taylor finding out about it.

I never told her about my meeting with the mayor. If I had to do something drastic to Taylor's father, it would be better if she never found out that it was me.

I had the Prez call an emergency meeting at the clubhouse. My problem with the mayor and Mr. Kyle needed to be dealt with. My brothers could give me advice on what my next move should be.

We gathered around the MC table that had Dark Souls and Saint Marks engraved on it. Diesel, the Prez, sat at the head of the table. The rest of the members were seated around.

Diesel slammed the gavel down. “Everyone is here today because Carter has a problem.”

“He get his cock stuck in his zipper again?” Pike said, pressing his round glasses to his nose. Pike was the MC treasurer and thought he was the funniest man alive.

“We can't help you with all those STD's, Carter,” Juice chimed in.

I smiled at Juice and gave him my middle finger. “Too bad I got 'em all from your mom.”

The veins in Juice's neck popped out. Stone was sitting next to him and had to hold him down.

Diesel glanced at me. “Carter, explain the situation for everyone.”

“I had a meeting with Mayor Trump.”

“I'd like to ring that motherfucker's neck,” Cannon, our Sgt-at-Arms, said. Cannon still had hair unlike Pike but Cannon chose to shave right down to the scalp.

“Mayor told me that he was the reason I got out of prison. But he was also a part of the reason I was put there in the first place.”

“Did you kill the bastard?” Piggy asked. He was the MC prospect and his enormous weight was the reason for the nickname.

“Almost couldn't stop myself. But killing the mayor would send me right back to prison.”

Diesel calmed everyone down. “What does the mayor want?”

“Wants me to take down Taylor's father and Kyle Enterprises.

“That's a tall order,” Stone said, running his fingers through his hair.

“If it was anybody else, I wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet in their skull. But I can't kill Mr. Kyle without hurting Taylor.”

Cannon rubbed his bald head. “So you have two options. You do the mayor's dirty work and take down Kyle Enterprises. But lose your girl in the process. Or...you kill the mayor and get sent to prison again.”

“You forgot the third option,” Piggy said. “Kill 'em both. They deserve revenge for what they did to you.”

Revenge did sound sweet. Those two men had torn Taylor and I apart. They deserved to die.

“You definitely have a predicament,” Diesel added.

“Is there any way we could kill the mayor without getting caught?” I asked.

Pike took his glasses off and rubbed the lenses on his shirt. “Next to impossible. The mayor is surrounded by security twenty-four hours a day. Even if you were able to get close to him, you'd have a dozen witnesses and guards that would shoot you down.”

I tried to imagine the different scenarios and in every one, I was either caught or killed. “What if we take him out from far away? Cannon is pretty good with a sniper rifle.”

Cannon nodded in agreement. I'd seen him shoot cans from a thousand yards away.

Pike shook his head. “Also impossible. The mayor travels in a bullet-proof limo. He also only goes out in public when he needs to.”

“I hate to say it, but what if you went to the cops?” Juice asked. “They might actually believe you.”

The table turned to Juice like he had uttered the worst words known to man.

“Sheriff Buckley is bought and paid for by the mayor. I can attest to that. The cops can't help us here,” I said.

“That leaves you with one choice,” Diesel began, “You have to do what Mayor Trump wants. Take down Kyle Enterprises without killing Mr. Kyle.”

“Well how the fuck do I do that?”

“You're going to need access to his office. He's no doubt hiding records of his various meetings. There's bound to be some info in their that will put him away and destroy Kyle Enterprises. Get the documents and bring them to Pike. He can get them to the FBI anonymously.”

Pike nodded. “That seems to be the only choice you have left.”

“Worry about the killing later,” Stone added.

The MC was right. Killing them for revenge would have to wait. My only option was to take down Mr. Kyle in a way that I wasn't accustomed to—using my brains.

“How can Carter get access to Mr. Kyle's office? That place is a security compound.” Pike asked.

The light bulb in my head went off. “Taylor can help me get in. She can distract her father long enough for me to get the documents.”

“How many of us can she sneak in?” Stone asked.

“It's only going to work if it's just Taylor and I.”

Diesel raised the gavel. “Looks like our work here is done. Meeting adjourned.” He slammed the gavel down.

The only problem was how to get Taylor to betray her father? She might hate him right now but not enough to destroy him.