Cursed (3 page)

She nodded, not believing a word he said. He knew it too. Sighing, he kissed her forehead and pulled away from her. “Get on the bed.”

“I’m not fucking you.”

“I know.” He reached for her phone on the plush blue down comforter. “I just don’t want you practically standing on top of me when I call the police station.”

She sat on the bed and watched him use her phone to dial the number. He waited for someone to answer then put him through to the detective on the case. The one-sided conversation was the pits. Tank didn’t say much and his frown gave little away.

“So you do have a face? Someone on the cameras?”

Josslyn
stood and went over to him to listen. He pulled back slightly but she grabbed his shirt and leaned in.

“We’re trying our best to find a match. The picture is grainy but it’s all we’ve got right now. If the father picked the kid up with court documents, then there is really very little we can do.”

“I want to see the court documents.” Tank commented. “I want to see the name on the paper.”

“I can tell you right now. Hold on.”

Josslyn
stared at him. “They have a face?”

“Yes. It’s grainy.”

“I want to see it.”
Josslyn
went to her closet and pulled out a pair of sweats. “I might know him. You may know him. That will cut down so much work.”

Tank nodded and waited. She pulled on the sweats and went back to him.

“The name on the papers is Ryland
Monsen
. It matches the name listed on the documents provided by the mother when she enrolled the kid in the daycare.”

Tank frowned at her as
Josslyn’s
eyes went wide.

“Well, I’m telling you that’s pretty fucking impossible considering that’s me and I don’t have my son with me right now.”

****

Tank drove
Josslyn’s
car to the police station with her in the passenger’s seat. They not only pretended to be the kid’s father but they forged his name. Someone knew he was the fucking father of the kid.

“Who knows, Joss?” He asked when they’d stopped at a red light. “Who knows that I’m the father?”

She shook her head. “My dad. His club. You. Your club. Me. My mom. I listed you as an emergency contact if
me
or my mother couldn’t be reached. I put on the papers that you were his father.”

So anyone could have read that. “Are the papers electronic?”

“Yes.”

Even worse. How difficult would it be to hack? Especially if they were following
Josslyn
. That juicy tidbit of information would be like finding gold in a coal mine. He parked her car in the front parking lot and got out.
Josslyn
walked with him inside and they requested to see the detective in charge.

“So you’re Ryland
Monsen
?” The detective asked him. “That saves me from having to call you.” He led them back to a small office so they could talk. “I take it that you two get along so there’s no need for paying her back for not letting you see the kid or something?”

Tank licked his lips. “I wouldn’t take my kid from her if that’s what you’re asking.”

He nodded. “How did you get that busted lip?”

Tank smiled.

Josslyn
glanced between them. “Can we please see the footage?”

The detective nodded and pressed a button on a computer to bring up the footage on the larger screen hanging on a nearby wall. Tank watched the grainy footage. Big guy. Could easily be mistaken as him. He wore leather. No cut. He was with a few others who remained outside. It showed him walking the kid out to a car and putting him in it. The bastard didn’t even take time to strap the little guy in.

“Recognize anything?”

The car looked familiar. White older model Cadillac. The driver was a woman with dark brown hair. He definitely remembered the woman and the way that soft hair felt draped over his thighs.

“Not really.” Tank didn’t dare look at
Josslyn
. “I’m just not entirely sure why a staff member of the daycare wouldn’t call the mother first, to let her know what the fuck was going on before they let the kid go. Papers or not. Clearly, they’ve been forged.”

The detective leaned forward to look at the papers inside the folder before him. “The daycare worker is Casey Hill. She gave an inconsistent statement to the police about the incident. At first she said she knew the guy was the kid’s father and then she said she’d never seen him before.” The detective leaned back. “Have you ever been in to pick up the kid?”

“No.” Tank met the detective’s eyes. “I didn’t know he existed until today.”

The detective wrote something on his paper. “The guy on the footage could easily be you. Big bulky biker. How many of those will I find if I start digging around?”

“A lot.” Tank leaned back. He knew his size put him in a different category than the others. His six-six stature with pounds and pounds of muscles made him more than just the average Joe. He was easily recognized and often remembered.

“You have a record don’t you? I pulled your file and it says you were in prison for a few years on dope charges.”

Tank stared at him. “Your point?”

“Did you make any enemies that could have recently gotten out? Wanted to hurt you by taking your kid?”

“I have plenty of enemies. Nobody knew about him though.”

“Somebody did.” The detective glanced over at
Josslyn
. “Did you screw around with one of his friends? The motorcycle club world has a reputation. Maybe one of your brothers felt like sending a message.”

Tank narrowed his eyes and
Josslyn
gripped his arm. “I think we’re done here.”

“Actually, we’re not. I have questions for you about David Riley.”

Tank glanced over at her.
Josslyn’s
face blanched as she sat back in the seat, pulling away all contact from Tank.

“What about David Riley?”

“Information provided to me suggests that you and David Riley had a romantic relationship.”

Tank couldn’t hold back his shock. One of the cities biggest drug kingpins fucked
Josslyn
? What the hell?

“Where did you get that information?”

“Doesn’t matter. I want to know if it’s true.” The detective wasn’t budging. “If it’s true, then we possibly have a bigger situation on our hands.”

Josslyn
glanced over at Tank. “Yes. It’s true. A few years ago we were romantically involved.”

“My information says four years.”

Four years ago they were together. Tank stared at the table, keeping his temper in check.

“I don’t remember exactly.”

“You don’t remember?” He pulled out a photo of her and David Riley with a time stamp on it. “Four years, am I right?”

She nodded.

“So I’m guessing, your ex-boyfriend wasn’t exactly thrilled about your new boyfriend. David Riley is known for not sharing.”

Josslyn
didn’t say anything. Tank glanced over at her and she looked like she was about to crumble. The detective lifted the photo up and put it in the folder.

“I think this is the man that has your kid. And I hope to hell I’m wrong, because if he doesn’t get what he wants within a reasonable amount of time, he will shoot him.”

“I couldn’t hear what he wanted.”

The detective closed the file. “My intelligence is going to see if he can find out any information. You need to sit tight and let us do some digging. We’ll call you when we’ve got something.”

“You’ll call me?”
Josslyn
shook her head. “My son is out there in the world with God knows who and you’re going to call me when you have some information. Bust down the fucking doors to his place and get my kid out of there.”

“It doesn’t work that way.”

“Yeah.”
Josslyn
stood and grabbed her purse. “If it was your son, I bet you would.”

She left the room and Tank followed behind her. Once they were safely inside her car, he glanced over at her. “You were fucking around on me with a notorious kingpin?”

“It wasn’t like that. The MC life isn’t like that and you know it.”

“What was it like then,
Josslyn
?”

“Matthias pawned me off for the night. He didn’t want club pussy. He saw the photo of me on the bar wall with one of the other girls and he wanted me. My dad said okay. It was only one night. It didn’t mean anything and I wish it didn’t happen, but I can’t really erase my past. A lot of shitty stuff went down and now it’s coming back to haunt me.” She combed her fingers through her hair. “Fuck.”

Tank didn’t like her answer but let it go. Matthias was a sick bastard. It didn’t surprise him one bit that he gave his daughter to lowlife scum to play with. They drove a while before Tank finally said something to her.

“I know the woman driving the car.”

She glanced over at him. “Who is she?”

“I’m not going to say, but I don’t think they are associated with David Riley.” Tank glanced over at her. “I strongly believe this is a club rivalry thing. And it’s all about your father.”

She ran her fingers through her hair. “What are we going to do?”

“You’re going to keep your hot ass at home. I’m going to take care of it. Hopefully by this time tomorrow, the kid will be tucked in his bed safely.”

He pulled in her drive and killed the engine. He grabbed his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Deuce. “Hey, I know who has the kid.”

“Who?”

“Skanky bitch with the Cadillac.”

“Oh, shit.”

“I’ll meet you at the club.” He hung up.

“Can I ask you something?” She stared at him. “Why don’t you call him by his name? You call him ‘the kid.’ He’s a human being. He’s your son. You can call him Jeremy.”

He blew out a breath. “You picked out that stupid name when you found out you were pregnant.”

“It’s not a stupid name.”

“Did you give him Ryland and
Monsen
too? Or just my first name?”

“He’s Jeremy Lee Maverick.”

“Lee as in your grandfather? The one you stayed with during the summer?”

“Yes.” She almost looked shocked that he remembered that about her. Truth was, he remembered a lot about her. Every single detail she ever shared.

“You really shouldn’t have named him after me.” He walked over to his bike. “The kid deserves better than that.”

She watched him get on the bike and start it up. There had been so many times when she’d climb on the back and they’d go riding. He wanted to hold his hand out. To help her onto the back of his bike. He wanted to feel her thighs squeeze him while they rode down the road.

Before he could stop himself, he held out his hand.
Josslyn
took it and climbed behind him. Her arms wrapped around him as she laid her cheek against his back. He’d never grow tired of the feeling of having her wrapped around him.