Guts & Glory: Hunter (In the Shadows Security Book 3)

by Jeanne St. James

  Maybe he shouldn’t have told her that, but he needed her to take him seriously and let him in the door.

  It had worked.

  “I’ve got a friend,” was all he said.

  She lifted her gaze and the worry behind her expressive brown eyes pierced his chest. “Taz has friends.”

  The dread in her voice made that pain even sharper. “Not like mine,” he reassured her.

  Her throat worked before she asked, “How do you know?”

  “Trust me.”

  “I don’t trust anyone,” she whispered.

  “You trust those cops.”

  She took a long sip of her pop, put her glass down and said, “I came home so I could surround myself with people who could be trusted.”

  “Then what you said wasn’t true.”

  “I don’t trust strangers,” she corrected.

  “Fair enough,” he murmured and sat back to give her some personal space before asking, “Did you come home after your stint in the hospital?”

  Her eyes met his and became guarded. “You’re looking for Taz. I don’t know where he is. I’m not sure why you’re asking questions about me.”

  He ignored that. “Do you think it was smart coming back to where you grew up?”

  She hesitated as if she was considering his question. This was a pivotal moment, whether she would trust him enough to reveal some of her secrets. He just needed her to crack open the door so he could shove his boot in it. Once he did that, he could work on getting her to trust him some more.

  “He didn’t know a lot about me because he never cared enough to ask, and I didn’t bother to tell him.” She let her gaze circle the kitchen. “This was the only place I had to go. Maybe I’m stupid to come back home, but it was one place I felt safe.”

  “Do your neighbors know what your real name is?”

  “Was,” she corrected him. “Some. Not all. The police know, of course.”

  He nodded. It was good that the local cops knew her situation. It didn’t keep her perfectly safe if Taz wanted to find her, but it was better than nothing.

  He watched her carefully when he said softly, “The medical records stated you miscarried.”

  Color drained from her face. As she shoved her chair back to escape, he reached out, snagged her wrist and tugged her back down into her seat.

  “Sit.” Fuck. He pushed too soon. “Part of your restitution is to answer my questions.”

  “I’m not sure why you are interested in me if you’re only trying to find Taz for whatever reason you are, which you still haven’t told me why.”

  Her temper was returning, which was evident by the spark in her eyes and the tenseness of her body.

  She already put her guard back up, so he had no choice but to push forward. “You were pregnant when he put you into that hospital. Was it his?”

  Her jaw got tight and she closed her eyes to avoid his.

  He no longer needed the answer to that question. She answered it without words.

  “Did he know?”

  Those thick black eyelashes parted, and her eyes held a pain so deep Hunter felt it himself.

  “Yes, that’s why I ended up in the hospital.”

  He did his best to stay in his own chair, not rush out of that kitchen and out of that house to find the motherfucker and beat the life out of him, if he even was still alive. At that moment Hunter hoped he was, so he could be the one to exact revenge on his ass. He had to take a deep inhale before he could manage, “I’m sorry.”

  “Not as sorry as I was for getting pregnant. It was careless and stupid, and I should’ve known better. But then everything I did with Taz was careless and stupid. A hard lesson learned. One I swear I’ll never forget.”

  Yeah, Taz had stomped her fire out, but after seeing how she acted earlier, he hoped it had been only temporary.

  “Where did you meet him?”

  “Is this really necessary?”

  “Yes. I’m trying to piece together where he’d been. You weren’t his only... victim.”

  She sank her teeth into her bottom lip before saying, “That doesn’t surprise me.”

  “But you were his last that I know of.”

  She nodded once. “He did time.”

  “Right.”

  “Then I got notice they were releasing him.”

  “And that worried you.”

  Her brows furrowed. “Of course.”

  “But he’s had no contact with you.”

  “No, and I want to keep it that way.”

  The opening of a door toward the front of the house made her jerk her head in that direction and her eyes widen.

  Fear.

  It filled her expression.

  He surged to his feet, his hand automatically reaching to the small of his back where his waistband holster held his Sig. As he went to pull it, she surged forward, grabbing his arm with a speed that surprised him.

  “No!” she hissed, giving his arm a hard tug.

  Before he could demand an explanation, he heard a female voice yell, “Frankie!” then footsteps of more than one person coming closer. He kept his fingers wrapped around the Sig’s grip.

  “Leo was hungry after the park, so we stopped at—” The older woman who stepped into the kitchen came to a screeching halt, her grasp tightening around the toddler’s hand and yanking the little boy behind her, as if she would be able to shield him. “¡Dios mío! ¿Es este él?”

  “No, I’m not him,” Hunter answered quickly. The woman looked nothing like Frankie. She was short and squat, her eyes a light blue. Her Spanish was good, though she didn’t look Hispanic at all. He glanced over his shoulder at Frankie, who was once again chewing on her bottom lip as she stared at the little boy clinging to the back of the older woman’s leg. “Who is this?”

  “My mother.”

  Bullshit. That lie slipped out way too easily from her lips. “Your mother was Camila Hernandez. This is not Camila.”

  Frankie’s mouth dropped open and before she could say anything, the older woman spoke first. “Frankie, who is he?”

  “I’m still trying to figure that out,” Frankie said behind him. She pushed past Hunter and rounded the older woman, to pick up the little boy and clutch him against her.

  “Momma,” the toddler said, wrapping his arms around her neck and his legs around her waist.

  “Yeah, baby? You have fun today with your abuela?”

  The boy nodded and said very seriously, “Yes. An’ we had ice cream.”

  Frankie gave him a big smile, even though Hunter saw it was forced. “You did? What a lucky little boy you are.” She turned her gaze from the boy to the older woman. “How would you like to spend a little more time with your grandmother? Your momma has to take care of a few things. Then, if you’re a good boy, we’ll get pizza for dinner. Okay?”

  “Pizza!” he yelled, then turned his attention to Hunter. “Hi.”

  Hunter shook himself loose. “Hi. What’s your name?”

  “Leo.” He held up three fingers. “I’m tree.”

  Hunter’s heart thumped heavily. Children trusted people, including strangers, way too easily. “You’re very grown up for three.”

  Leo nodded again.

  “Mom, can you take Leo with you? I’ll pick him up later after I grab the pizza.”

  “Is everything okay? I can feed him dinner if you need me to.”

  “I want pizza!” Leo yelled, scrunching up his face.

  “Well, excuse you, little man!” Frankie scolded him. “Since when do you get to demand things?”

  “Since forever,” he stated firmly with a sharp nod.

  Frankie rolled her eyes. “Uh huh, I don’t think so. But I said pizza, so I’ll get you pizza.”

  “Pizza!” Leo crowed again.

  “But you have to be a good boy, understood?”

  Leo nodded dramatically and said, “I’m always good.”

  “What did I say about fibbing?”

  Leo threw his head ba
ck and laughed. Frankie handed him back to her “mother,” who took the boy, put him back on his feet and snagged his hand tightly as she eyed up Hunter. “Let’s go, Leo. I’ll play Legos with you.”

  “Legos!”

  When the woman gave Frankie a pointed look, Frankie gave her a slight nod and her “mother” headed back in the direction where she came from. She threw, “Call me immediately if you need me,” over her shoulder.

  Hunter waited until he heard the front door close. He took one breath. Two. “Wanna explain what that was about?”

  “Not really.”

  “How about you do it anyway.”

  “How about no,” she echoed his own earlier words.

  Leo wasn’t any of his business. Hell, she wasn’t any of his business. She didn’t care if she did a million dollars’ worth of damage, she was not cutting open a vein to appease him.

  She still didn’t know who he was, why he was looking for Taz and why he thought she might know.

  In fact, him searching for Taz and then showing up at her place might put her back on Taz’s radar. Something she’d been wanting to avoid.

  She learned her lesson from getting involved with a man like Taz and she now considered herself fully educated in that matter. No more lessons needed.

  She also didn’t want her son caught up in anything that Taz, or this man standing in her kitchen, could bring.

  “I’m not giving you a choice.”

  In the past she preferred men like him, ones who could handle her strong personality.

  Until she no longer did.

  “Will my debt to you be fully paid if I tell you everything you want to know? And if I tell you, will you leave?”

  She knew the answer before he said it.

  “No. But if what I’m thinking is true, then you aren’t as safe as you think you are. I’m willing to help you in that regard.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I read your medical report. I’m assuming that wasn’t the only time he put you in the hospital.”

  “That was the only time he put me in the hospital,” she answered flatly. Only because the previous times Taz put his hands on her weren’t as bad and he brushed it off as being her fault.

  She knew it wasn’t and had begun to separate herself from him quietly before finding out she was pregnant.

  And when he guessed she was, he wasn’t happy about it.

  To put it mildly.

  Though she wasn’t happy about it either, she refused to take any other measure—like the abortion he insisted she have—instead, choosing to disappear. Unfortunately, he caught her in the midst of trying to do that.

  Which made him even more unhappy.

  There was “no fucking way” she was getting a dime from him. He wasn’t going to be saddled with “one bitch” and her kid for the rest of his life, either.

  In fact, he was enraged.

  To the point where he ripped out a handful of her hair from her head and threw her down the stairs after punching her in the face and breaking her cheekbone. Then at the bottom of those steps, he kicked the shit out of her in his attempt to cause her to miscarry.

  Luckily, her son was as stubborn as his mother.

  Also, luckily, the doctor was willing to fudge her medical record to say she miscarried when she didn’t, but only after she begged and pleaded with her since not only Frankie’s life, but her unborn child’s life depended on it.

  Leonardo Francis Reyes was a miracle.

  A miracle Frankie would do anything to protect.

  How either of them survived she didn’t know. But they had and she was determined to not let anyone change that.

  Not anyone.

  Including the man before her. “Why are you searching for Taz?”

  “You didn’t answer my questions.”

  “I need to know why you’re searching for Taz. I have something precious to protect and he comes first. No, I not only need to know why but what you have planned once you find him.”

  “What would you have me do?”

  The way he asked that made her heart beat a little faster. She moved back into the small kitchen and stood behind a chair, holding onto the back of it. “I don’t know you. I don’t know what you’re capable of.”

  The man studied her, his head slightly tilted. “No. You don’t.”

  That answer sent a chill sliding down Frankie’s spine. “Did he hurt someone you know?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who?”

  He didn’t even hesitate when he answered, “You.”

  Oxygen fled her lungs and she frowned. “You don’t even know me.”

  “I knew you the second I read your medical report. I knew you the second I read about your mother. I knew you were strong, brave and a survivor.”

  Impossible.

  She wasn’t strong or brave. She only had a temper.

  But she was a survivor. Leo was her motivation the second she saw those double lines on her pregnancy test. She knew she would do anything, anything, for him.

  Including getting away from a man like Taz.

  If Leo hadn’t survived, she wouldn’t have either.

  “Did the doctor alter the report to hide the fact that you didn’t lose the baby?”

  “Yes.” Why was she even talking about this? He needed to leave. He was bad news. Anyone connected to Taz was bad news.

  This man was probably no different.

  But his questioning continued. “And then what did you do?”

  If she gave him some information, maybe he would leave. She had no money to pay for the damage to his vehicle, and words were free. For the most part. “Once he was in custody and I was released from the hospital, I hid.”

  “Did he know you were pregnant?”

  “Yes.”

  “You told him?”

  She shook her head. “He guessed.”

  “Would you have told him?”

  Once she saw that positive test, she knew she couldn’t. “No.”

  “Why were you with him?”

  She ignored that question. One she didn’t want to answer because she didn’t have a good enough reason. One that made sense. Instead she said, “Having Leo was the hardest decision of my life. I knew if Taz found out the baby survived, he might try again, or he might take him from me. Then I might have to deal with his ass for the rest of my life. And if that happened, my son would not have a good fatherly figure in his life. I missed out on having a father. I don’t want my son to do the same.”

  “Try what again?”

  “To make me miscarry.”

  “That’s why he knocked you around? To make you lose the baby?”

  “Yes. He was pissed I wouldn’t...”

  Hunter nodded his head, pushed away from the wall he was leaning against and moved to the other side of the small kitchen. He stopped in front of the sink, braced his hands on the edge, leaning forward and staring out of the small window above it. The one with her homemade curtains that overlooked the patch of grass that was her backyard.

  “None of this is your business.”

  He turned his head and his brown eyes were ice cold. “It is now.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I was searching for Taz for one reason. Now I’m searching for him for another.”

  “And you just saying his name scares me enough that he’ll appear out of thin air. If you can find me, so can he.”

  “Doubt that. I’m pretty good. And I think he’s in hiding.”

  “Why?”

  His expression became blank, which made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. “He was a Shadow Warrior.”

  Every muscle in her body turned to stone.

  Taz had hidden it from her. Hidden it until he couldn’t. The first night they spent together, she didn’t notice those tattoos because they were on his back. But the next morning when he climbed from her bed...

  When he walked across the room to “hit the head,” as he called it, she couldn’t miss
those words, those “rockers” he called them when she asked him about it.

  She knew nothing about motorcycle clubs. Nothing about bikers or their way of life. She had no idea what that “1%” diamond-shaped tattoo above his heart meant, either.

  None of it. He had hidden all of that from her for weeks. For the time it took him to convince her he was interested in more than just sex.

  Though, in the end that wasn’t quite true.

  Because as it turned out, she wasn’t the only woman he was sleeping with.

  Even so, Brandon “Taz” Bussard liked a challenge and Frankie was one to him. She had turned him down night after night when he came into the bar where she waitressed. But he was persistent. Determined.

  And, at first, a charmer.

  He wasn’t going to quit until he got what he wanted.

  Which was her.

  She also thought his nickname Taz was just that. A fun nickname that matched the cartoon character tattooed on his right forearm. She mistakenly thought he got that tattoo because he had a sense of humor.

  He was handsome under the roughness. His longish brown hair he sometimes wore in a ponytail, his brown eyes, his smile...

  It was genuine, until it wasn’t.

  She didn’t mind men with tattoos. And while she wasn’t a big fan of facial hair, she didn’t mind Taz’s longer beard. It fit him. She also thought it was kind of cute that his nickname was short for Tasmanian Devil.

  But she did mind once he showed his true colors.

  And not just the ones on his back.

  Chapter Six

  Hunter couldn’t tell her why Taz went into hiding. And he wasn’t sure how much she knew about the Warriors. He also wasn’t about to admit to what he and his fellow teammates had done to take out that outlaw MC.

  That would just be plain fucking stupid.

  Her face, when he mentioned that club’s name, had frozen and her fingers gripped the back of the chair even harder than they had been.

  “You knew that, right?” he asked her.

  “Yes. It was hard to miss the ink on his back.”

  “But he didn’t tell you in the beginning? He wasn’t wearing a cut when you met him?”