Page 56 of Raw Honey
Chapter 22
About fifteen minutes later, Ice comes back into the house and says, "Let's get to the bottom of these notes." Emma begins to speaks and he adds,
"Let’s take this discussion downstairs." He looks at Emma and says, "You and Honey come, too."
Once we get downstairs, everyone grabs a seat at the table. He says to his brothers, "So, I bet you all are wondering why the girls are here."
Doc speaks up and says, "Well, the thought did cross my mind, but I wasn't gonna ask." He laughs. "Not my business, man," he adds.
"Me too," says Ryder. "I figured that was between you and your old lady."
"Well, for the record, it's not a thing between me and my old lady, Ryder. This is more pressing and fucking serious, so cut the laughter."
"What's up, boss?" Doc asks, the smile disappearing from his face.
"Well, it appears that we have another situation back home: threatening notes and a fucking stalker. This guy—I assume it's a guy—is after her as well as me. My first thoughts go directly to Grayson, but … shit, I don't know. I have nothing on this."
He continues, "I want to call Hawk and get his take on this, but I also want you all here when I do. Who knows, maybe he's gotten more info since the girls left the States." He turns toward Emma and says, "But before we call Hawk, why don't you get the boys up to speed on what you know?"
She nods and proceeds to tell them about the threats, the rose, and the rattlesnake.
"Fuck, Emma! A rattlesnake? Did anyone get hurt?" Rebel asks.
"No, luckily we heard the snake before it was able to bite anyone. Spike shot it."
"You got anything else, sweetheart?" he asks. "Maybe something that you might have overlooked?"
She shakes her head. "No, that's everything that I know."
"Ok, I'm calling Hawk now."
He dials and the phone starts ringing. He sets it down on the table and puts it on speaker—after three rings, Hawk answers. "Ice, man, listen before you say anything. You need to know that I had no fucking idea that she was going to Ireland. She left no clue until she was at the airport boarding a flight. I couldn't stop her, man. I tried, but I found out about her leaving too late. I'm sorry. I fucked up."
I can't help but laugh. It's a quiet laugh because I don't want to be disruptive, but … the poor guy. He's beside himself over this. Suddenly, I feel bad for him and hate that he is so upset. Hopefully, Ice won't come down on him too harshly.
"Hawk, stop." Hawk keeps talking and finally, Ice has to speak over the top of him, "Hawk, I know. It's ok.”
"What?" he says. Another giggle escapes me.
"Emma told me everything. It's ok," he says, then adds, "I've got the girls, Rebel, Doc, and Ryder here. You're on speaker." He waits for him to say something, but he doesn't, so Ice keeps on going. "Emma filled the boys in on everything that she knows up to the point when she left the States. You got anything to add? Anything happen since?"
"Possibly. I've had Dbag doing some digging and I think we might have an idea who's doing this."
We're all expecting him to continue, but when he doesn't Ice prods him along. "And?"
"My initial gut feeling told me that this had something to do with Grayson. So I had Dbag poke around Grayson's aunt first since he lived with her. Then I had him look into the Graysons themselves, the family who adopted him."
"Anything?"
"It looks like Mark isn't their only kid. They adopted three other children—two boys older than Mark and a younger girl. Both adoptions happened after Mark was adopted."
"So, he has siblings. Do you really think they could be involved in this?" Ice asks.
"Not these siblings."
"He has others?"
"Well, I believe that the Grayson family is clean. But, if you remember, he spent his earliest years with his mother's sister. She couldn't keep him and after a year put him up for adoption."
