UNDYING: A Bad Boy MMA Romance (Midwest Alphas) (Book 3) (3 page)

“I love you, too, Mom.”

As we walk back into the living room, I hear Charlie’s voice. “Yes, I know…” He looks at me and holds a finger to his lips, signaling for me to keep silent. “Will you be coming home tonight?”

Tobias.
I can just barely hear his voice on the other side, a light muttering on the wind.

Charlie eyes me again. “I would strongly recommend you do,” he says into the phone. “I’ve got something waiting for you.”

I listen closely, hoping to hear Tobias’ response, but I can’t make out any words.

“All right,” Charlie says before he hangs up.

“You didn’t tell him,” I note.

He gently shakes his head and chuckles. “Oh, I’m staying out of this one…” he says. He points to my suitcase. “That all you need?”

“It’s all I have.”

“Let’s get going then. We have a long drive home.”

***

I step into the dark barn and fill my lungs with the familiar scent. When I first arrived here, a bruised and broken city kid of seventeen, I hated this smell. It’s quite putrid and stale and that’s never changed, but after several weeks of milking the cows and falling for Tobias Eastwood within its walls, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest anymore.

My eyes scan the shadow-covered walls, each one home of another memory of my time here. I smile at the hay bales, stacked in every corner, the site of quite a few of mine and Tobias’ secret trysts. The three cows — Doris, Betty, and Gloria — sit in their pins against the back wall. I step over to them and take turns petting the hair behind their ears before I glide over to the punching bag hanging from the ceiling in back corner. The rubber is smooth and cold from the incoming winter. I curl my fingers into a fist and playfully tap it with my knuckles. A warm sensation crawls up my arm. I’ve forgotten how much I missed this.

Tobias’ motorbike is missing. Charlie said he’s been gone for two nights, but he’s stayed in touch via text messages until the call he received before we left Kansas City. I try to imagine what he’s doing, but I haven’t been able to get a clear picture of that in months. Not since the day I last saw him, right in the spot I’m standing in now.

I reach out and pull my small, black helmet off a hook near the door. It’s still shiny and new, without a scratch on it. Not even a speck of dust. I smile. Tobias must be keeping it clean for me, waiting for the day he’ll come find me. I push up onto my toes and hang it back on the wall.

I climb the ladder to the loft with freezing fingers. The nights have gotten colder, but that never stopped me before from climbing to the top and watching the orange sunsets last year. The sun is long gone now, leaving the moon to do its work, but I wrap my coat a little tighter around me and sit down on the fragile hay bale near the window anyway.

Home.

That’s what this feeling is. I felt it the moment the farmhouse came into view. This is my home. It feels good to be back now, even if it is only temporary.

I reach into my pocket and grab my phone to turn it on for the first time in six months. Once again, I’ve grown accustomed to not having this thing on me and I don’t even think I missed it. Charlie kept it for me here during my absence and I asked for it back as soon as we arrived, although I’m not quite sure why. The screen lights up and five missed calls pop up, each one with a voicemail from Rick. I swipe my thumb across the screen and delete each of them one-by-one without listening.

My ears twitch at the distant growl. It grows louder with each passing second, inching closer and closer up the driveway.

Tobias.
He’s back. I could go a hundred years without hearing his motorbike and I’d still recognize it if it suddenly whooshed by me. My heart starts racing in my chest. I want to stand up and rush down the ladder, but I can’t bring myself to move. He’s here. I’ve pictured this moment every day for months, never really knowing exactly how long I’d have to wait. That unending time line has now been drastically reduced to thirty seconds.

The motorbike stops just outside the barn and I hear the sound of Tobias’ boots on the gravel driveway below. I sit still, shaking quietly to myself, as he pushes his motorbike through the open door and flicks the light switch on above him.

He wanders in with his head down while he leans the bike against the wall. I say nothing, absolutely frozen in the moment. He lifts his helmet off his head and his jet black hair tumbles free. It’s grown at least an inch since I last saw him and sits just above his eyebrows. He lays the helmet down on the bike’s seat, completely oblivious to me. I watch him, my tongue tapping the roof of my mouth, entranced by those stunningly handsome features that almost faded from my memory. There’s a bright, red bruise healing just above his left eye. I see it on his knuckles, too; those familiar juts of purple and black remnants of a fight.

“Where’d you get all the bruises?” I ask.

Tobias jolts and exhales a heavy breath. His eyes dart upward to look at me. “Claire?” His voice cracks, full of relief and surprise and anger.

I stand up. “Hey, Tobias.”

He rushes forward and climbs the ladder, pulling himself up to the loft in no more than a second.
“Claire—”
He pulls me closer and embraces me, holding me hard against his taut body. I cling to him with quivering hands, refusing to let go. I feel his heart beating in his chest, a rapid pace to meet my own. “What the hell are you doing here?” he growls in my ear, still holding me close.

I open my mouth to answer, but I can’t speak as every single one of my senses overloads. My vision blurs. His voice turns into a distant echo. My skin tingles. My nose twitches as the memory of his scent finally comes back to me.
“Tobias…”
I whisper, barely holding in my ecstatic tears.

He pulls back and lays his hands on my cheeks. “You can’t be here now…”

“I had to—”

“You need to get out of here, Claire.”

I shake my head in his hands. “No.”

He begs me with his green eyes. “Why did you even come back?”

“I had to,” I say again. “I saw what happened to Lillian—”

“And you wanted the same thing to happen to you?”

“No,” I argue. “I didn’t want the same thing to happen to
you
.”

He furrows his brow. “You—”

“Sorry to interrupt your little reunion…” I look down to see Pike standing in the barn doorway.
The Punisher
himself. I never thought I’d see him anywhere near Charlie’s farm, but here he is. He leans against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest. “Hello, Claire.”

I cringe at the sound of his voice. Tobias drops his hands and takes a frustrated step away from me. “Hello, Pike,” I greet.

“You picked a heck of a night to come back…” he notes.

“She’s not staying,” Tobias says, his voice firm and final.

I look at him and my heart breaks.

“Well, it’s not all bad,” Pike says, pushing off the wall. “You arrived just in time for the big meeting.”

“What big meeting?” I ask.

“You’re not going,” Tobias says, staring me down.

Pike tilts his head. “I actually think a special appearance from Claire would do the Dames a bit of good, Tobias.”

“I don’t care.”

“Well, it’s the twenty-first century and she
is
still
an Alpha Dame, so I’d say it’s up to her.” Pike grins back at Tobias before shifting his eyes towards me. “What do you say, Claire? Want to get the band back together?”

I look to Tobias, but he avoids my gaze. It’s not the reaction I expected out of him. I thought he wanted to see me again. I thought he wanted me back in his arms. I guess I was wrong. I turn away from him and climb down the ladder. “What kind of meeting?” I ask Pike as I reach the bottom.

“A gathering of minds,” he says, a shadow crossing his face. “It’s obvious what happened to Lillian wasn’t random.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell him. “I know how close you two were.”

He nods with sincerity. “Thank you.”

Tobias climbs halfway down the ladder before taking the rest of the trip with a short jump to the ground. He passes around us without saying a word and I push forward to have to his ear.

“You’re just going to let Pike into our house?” I ask him. He doesn’t answer. “Does Charlie know about—”

“No,” Tobias says, barely glancing back at me. “And he never will.”

“Tobias, that’s—”

“The way it is.”

I pause my stride, shocked by the sudden force of his words. Pike walks around me, following Tobias up the porch stairs and into the house. I stand still in the cold, dark air, watching the two of them walk together. It’s almost as if they don’t have a brutal history. Here they are, working together like nothing ever happened; like Pike wasn’t involved in the death of Tobias’ sister, like Pike didn’t stab Tobias at the request of my stepbrother and, if he is to be believed, the late Lillian Tombs.

Tobias never would have fallen into this situation if it weren’t for me.

At least now I have the power to end it.

Chapter 3

Our Fearless Leader

“Claire?!”

Amy runs through the living room and throws her arms around my neck before I have the chance to take a breath. She squeezes me tightly and I feel the last of my air expel from my lungs. “Hey…” I wheeze. I catch sight of Ryan walking in behind her and I smile. No contact with anyone meant no contact with Amy. I’d hoped the two of them would find a way to make their star-crossed relationship work, and by the looks of it, it seems they have.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming home?!” she screams in my ear and pulls back to look at me. “How long have you been back? Are you okay? You look great! Are you dieting? Tell me
everything.
”

“Okay—” I laugh, taking a quick breath to keep from passing out. “One question at a time, please.” I glance her up and down, taking note of everything that’s changed about her. She’s obviously been experimenting with a curling iron, as her long, blonde locks lie about her head in perfect spirals. “I’m fine. I just got back a few hours ago.”

“And your mom?” she asks. “How is she?”

“She’s good,” I answer with a nod. “She’s still back in—” I bite my tongue, “where we were.”

Her eyes grow wide. “Are you back for good? Please tell me you are, because I miss you like
crazy.
”

I chuckle and my eyes fall on Tobias across the room. He stands near the front door with his arms crossed and his head down, although it’s obvious his ears are laser-focused on us. “We’ll see,” I answer.

Ryan takes a closer step in and extends his hand. “Good to see you, Claire,” he says. I offer my palm and he gives it a delicate shake. “And she’s not lying about that last part. She’s been miserable without you.”

I look at her and smile as she nods her head up and down. “I missed her, too,” I say as I pull her back in for another hug. I gaze over her shoulder at Tobias and we lock eyes. It would have been nice if our reunion went like this one, but Tobias is determined to make this as horrible as possible for some reason.

Pike travels in from the kitchen and sits down near the coffee table. “Now that Amy has decided to show up, we can get started,” he mutters with bite towards her. “As you all have heard; Lillian Tombs is dead.”

It’s sudden and blunt, but that’s Pike for you. I look around the living room at the other Dames. Each of them sit on the brink of tears, especially Veronica. She stands up from her seat next to Pike as soon as the words fall off his lips. Kimi and Lisa sit on the couch together, wrapped together under a blanket to fight the cold. Ryan towers above Amy with his arm draped around her. Heather, for obvious reasons, was not invited tonight. And then there’s Charlie, the watchful guardian leaning against the kitchen doorway. My entire life is in this room, with the obvious exception of my mother. Rick knows that and he’ll surely use them to get to me.

Veronica paces in front of the fireplace, drawing her long, white coat tighter around her. “And we’re sure it was the Kings?”

“The cops are keeping the details quiet,” Pike says, “but I’ve got friends in low places.”

“How did she die?”

I cringe.

He clears his throat. “She was stabbed — in the back.” A tear falls from Veronica’s cheek, but she quickly wipes it away. “But that’s not the worst thing…”

“What else could there possibly be?” Amy asks.

“Well… during their search of the club, they easily stumbled upon a rather odd-looking venue…”

“They found the arena,” I say.

“Along with every record Lillian kept on every single fight in Midwest Alpha history.”

“So, that means they know who
we
are.” Amy says, her voice shaking.

Pike shakes his head. “No,” he answers. “Lillian had the foresight not to include names, just code words that only
she
knew the meaning of, but we can safely assume all arenas have been outed — so stay away from them. The cops on her payroll won’t help us none. They’d just deny they knew anything and we have no way of proving otherwise.”