Cary

by Jessica Gadziala

  That said, I was leaning toward one of the “would kick someone’s ass just for looking at them wrong” princesses. I felt more comfortable with that.

  Which left me with who?

  Ferryn, but she was always busy.

  Hope, but she was married to her job most days.

  Maybe Layna or Violet if they were in town.

  I went ahead and shot of texts to all of them with a short rundown of the situation, and my need for some coverage just for a couple of hours.

  “Do you have to go now?” Abigail asked, voice tight, when my phone beeped a couple of minutes later.

  “I’m not going anywhere until someone else is here with you,” I told her.

  As I figured, Ferryn was out of town.

  But, to my surprise, Hope, Layna, and Vi were all around and ready to head over. In fact, I found myself in the middle of their back-and-forth conversation about who was bringing what and speculation about Abigail and me.

  “Alright. You’re about to be invaded,” I told her, wincing a little. “I fucked up and texted everyone at once, so three of the girls are heading over. Hope, Layna, and Violet.”

  “Hope is the private investigator,” she said.

  “Yeah.”

  “And Violet is a, ah, skip-chaser?” she half-asked.

  “Yeah,” I said, nodding, not remembering telling her that.

  “And Layna is a gambler.”

  “Among other things,” I agreed. “Did we talk about them?”

  “Dezi did,” she told me.

  “I know they might sound intimidating,” I told her, “but they’re all nice. You don’t have to worry about that. You okay?” I asked when her gaze seemed far off.

  “Yeah. I just… I’ve never really been around a lot of women,” she admitted. “I mean, aside from when I was young. The women at church. But other than that…”

  “I think you’re going to like it. And they’ll probably be more helpful about decorating than I am,” I told her.

  But that was a bald-faced lie.

  Because Hope wasn’t home long enough to decorate her own place. Violet was never in one place very long, so she preferred to crash at family members’ houses instead of having her own place. And Layna, well, I wasn’t sure what her living situation was, but she didn’t seem to keep a place all the time either.

  But they would be a fun distraction for Abigail. Whenever the princesses got together, there was always a lot of laughing and fun to be had. I wanted that for Abigail. Especially since her life had been so full of men for so long. And she’d scarcely ever had a friend in sight.

  The princesses were good with just… pulling the new girls into the fold. You got wrapped up in the whirlwind of them. And, soon enough, you were one of them.

  Abigail could use some badass, strong women in her life. I figured that maybe it would help her slowly start to realize her own worth and her own strength.

  Not half an hour later, there was a clatter on the floor below, sets of shoes on the creaky stairs.

  Across from me, Abs tensed a bit, clearly feeling a little out of her element, not sure what to expect from these strange women.

  It was Layna who burst in first, carrying two boxes of pizza and a six-pack of soda.

  Layna was willowy like her mom—Lenny—with these big, gorgeous chocolate-brown eyes that were surrounded by long, lush lashes that most people could only have if they got fake ones glued on. Her face was soft and round, very hyper-feminine. She offset that hyper-femininity with almost masculine clothing—jeans that were neither loose nor tight, a cream-colored tank, a brown leather jacket that was creased with age, and matching brown combat boots.

  “How’d you get pizza that fast?” I asked, shaking my head.

  To that, Layna’s lips twitched.

  “It helps when you take a mafia dude to the cleaners at a poker game. And that said mafia dude owns a string of pizza places.”

  “You’d think Lucky would put your order to the back of the list for taking all his money.”

  “I gave him his watch back with the agreement that I get priority when I place a pizza order. So, you’re my protection detail,” she said, glancing over at Abigail who seemed to actively be trying to make herself appear smaller.

  “You’re in good hands. I am armed and very, very sick of the male species, so I would be quite happy to stick a bullet—or fifty—in one should they show up with bad intentions. Honestly, even if they just say hello the wrong way. That’s the point I’m at with his kind,” she said, shooting small eyes at me. “I’m Layna,” she said as she put the pizza and soda down on the stove and counter.

  “Abigail,” Abs said, giving her a wobbly smile.

  “Shit’s about to get loud and weird in here,” Layna warned. “That’s Vi,” she said as we heard more footsteps on the stairs.

  “How do you know?” Abigail asked.

  “Vi takes her time. Hope charges. You get used to shit like that when you grew up with them. Hey, bitch. Nice eye,” she added when Vi walked in sporting a shiner around her honey-brown eye.

  Vi, like Layna, was tall and long-legged. She had a soft face with a cleft chin and strong brows.

  “Can you believe this shit?” Vi grumbled, waving up at her face. “I’ve taken down mountain-sized men without a scratch. But some scrawny-ass nineteen-year-old with a mullet and a pathetic excuse for a mustache did this?”

  “Did his face accidentally collide with the doorjamb of the car when you hauled him in?” Layna asked.

  “No, but the ground must have reached up and grabbed him, sending him face-first into a gravel driveway.”

  “Good girl. Alright, go,” Layna said, shooing me. “We have it from here.”

  And, well, they did.

  I noticed on my way out that not only was Layna strapped, but Vi had a gun under her jacket as well as one in an ankle holster.

  Hope, when she arrived, would be armed as well.

  “Don’t leave, okay?” I asked, looking at Vi, trying to get her to see how serious I was about it.

  “Yeah yeah yeah. Get.”

  So, yeah, I got going.

  I was pulling away from the curb when I saw Hope’s car pull up and park.

  She was in good hands.

  Great ones, even.

  Still, I was uncharacteristically anxious as I sat through the church meeting, listening to everyone’s assignments, getting the details about a new, valuable shipment coming into the port in a couple days.

  Luckily for me, Brooks—whoever had likely worked out the schedule—only put me on a guard shift for a few hours near the end of the week.

  Brooks wasn’t known for being accommodating. He was strict about the rules, about everyone needing to pull their own weight. So I felt like it said something about his opinion of me that he let me have a bit of a break to spend my time on Abigail’s issue.

  Which, admittedly, I’d barely given any thought to. I’d been too wrapped up with her general wellbeing, with getting her settled, with trying to work through my increasingly complicated feelings toward her.

  “Hey, yo, Cary,” Niro called, making me turn back to face him.

  “Yeah? What’s up?”

  “Fallon was telling me about your situation with your girl. That still going on?”

  “I’ve barely had a chance to get her settled, let alone figure out how to fix the problem,” I admitted with a shrug.

  “I might have a suggestion for that,” Niro said, leading me over to the bar. “So, don’t remember if you were around for it, or if you remember it. I swear to fuck, it is a new disaster every couple months around here. But, yeah, back when Andi first came home, she’d accidentally gotten herself wrapped up with a new cartel that moved into town,” he told me, recapping what had been a complicated situation a while back.

  “Yeah. A, right? Andres, I think?”

  “Yeah. But the way I hear it, A is from the general area that your girl was in Mexico. The way I’m thinking, maybe A could
help you figure out how to handle that shit.”

  “Why would he do that?” I asked, shaking my head.

  A was a major player in the area who also happened to be an almost complete enigma to most of our organizations. But what mattered to most of us was that he minded his own business, and his problems didn’t spill over onto our turf. Which had been the way of things since he’d come into town.

  “He’s inclined to help sometimes. I mean, he helped Fallon and Danny hide a body a while back. For no reason and without any expectation. Think maybe you could get him to at least give you some information that might be valuable. Doesn’t hurt to try,” he added, shrugging. “You got nothing to go on now, right?”

  “Right,” I agreed, nodding. “I’ll call him for a meeting.”

  “Bring dog treats,” Niro suggested before clamping a hand on my shoulder and moving away.

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about involving one cartel leader to try to take down another. But Niro was right. I had nothing else to go on.

  It was worth a try.

  So I added a trip to the pet store to my list of shit I needed to pick up before heading back to the apartment to talk it over with Abigail.

  Who would probably be dazed from her little get together with some of the club princesses…

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Abigail

  I felt a little dizzy.

  That was the best way to describe it.

  It was like these women came in and knocked the world a little off-kilter.

  Maybe it just felt that way because it had been so long since I’d been around any women, let alone a group of them. And I wasn’t sure I’d ever been around a trio like Layna, Violet, and Hope. All of whom were strong and opinionated, who were connected in a way I wasn’t sure I’d ever actually connected with another woman before.

  I was instantly jealous of their bond.

  “So, wait,” I said, interrupting Vi. “You’re not actually related?”

  “No,” Layna said. “Well, I mean, some of the cousins are related. Like Andi is actually related to Luna because their fathers are blood brothers. But most of us are just honorary cousins. Club cousins, if you will. We all grew up together.”

  “One giant, loud, badass family,” Layna agreed as she grabbed another slice of pizza.

  “So, Hope,” Vi said, and something in her tone made Hope immediately tense. “Care to tell us why you were suddenly available to come hang out with us when none of us have been able to see you in over a month?”

  “She did take the time out to scream at Fallon,” Layna interjected.

  “I mean he needs to get his cocky ass scolded from time to time, so that doesn’t count,” Vi said, shrugging.

  “I’m just not busy right now,” Hope said, and even I could see that something was off with her, and I’d barely known the woman for half an hour.

  The three women were very similar in their style choices. They were almost utilitarian with their clothing that neither clung nor hung too loosely. You could tell they had womanly curves—including Layna’s enviable ass and Vi’s impressive chest—but didn’t overly advertise any of it.

  Hope was a little more petite than Layna and Violet with black hair that, oddly enough, almost seemed to have little highlights of red in it somehow.

  Where Violet and Layna seemed a little more extroverted, more open, Hope seemed to like to play her cards close to her vest, and didn’t go out of her way to share too much personal detail. It was possible that was just because I was an outsider, but I got the feeling it was just how she was.

  The way she looked away from a direct question like that further confirmed my suspicions.

  “Come on, Hope,” Vi said, head cocking to the side. “You can tell us. We won’t tell anyone else.”

  “I’m on suspension,” Hope admitted, a muscle ticking in her jaw from clenching so hard.

  I didn’t know Hope, but I knew from what Dezi said about her that she was a workaholic, and that she was trying really hard to prove her worth at her job. It must have been gutting to be put on suspension.

  “What?” Vi snapped.

  “Alright, whose balls am I chopping off?” Layna offered.

  “It’s my fault. I couldn’t get the information we needed. The case went cold. We lost a big contract.”

  Layna and Violet shared a long look before Layna looked back at Hope. “Is that actually the case, or is it that your asshole boss gave you an impossible job just so that he could shove it in your face that you couldn’t do it?”

  “No job is impossible,” Hope insisted. “I could have done it. I should have done it.”

  “Your boss is a fucking asshole. I don’t understand why you are trying to stick it out there. You’re good. You could open your own agency,” Vi insisted.

  “They’re going to respect me,” Hope said, her voice so fierce that it was almost uncomfortable to hear. “But we’re done talking about me. I want to know more about your problem,” Hope said, looking at me.

  “Zaddy said not to grill her,” Layna said, shaking her head.

  “Zaddy knows better than to expect us not to,” Hope said, shrugging.

  “I, ah, I was sort of, I guess… held prisoner by my ex for years. God, that sounds so insane,” I said, wincing.

  “Babe, this is Navesink Bank,” Layna said, shooting me a smirk. “You’re going to learn real quickly that we have a different definition of insane than the rest of the country does. I got my pizza from a member of the New Jersey mafia,” she reminded me.

  “Our favorite bar is run by a family of loan sharks,” Violet piped in.

  “There’s an actual paramilitary survivalist camp on the hill,” Hope added. “Shit is a different shade of crazy around here. So, you have an asshole ex.”

  “He’s, ah… he’s a cartel—“

  “Oh, Jesus,” Hope cut me off.

  “Let her tell her story,” Layna said, kicking her cousin with her heavy combat boot. “And you got away?”

  “Yes. Just barely.”

  “And you came here because?” Hope asked.

  “Because I know Cary from a long time ago,” I admitted.

  “Bated breath over here, babe,” Layna said. “How did you know him?”

  “I was sort of his, ah, pen-pal while he was in prison.”

  “No way,” Vi said, looking confused. “People actually do that? I always thought it was kind of bullshit. Aside from the crazy chicks who fall in love with serial killers, anyway.”

  “I was part of a church at the time. And it was a sort of community outreach.”

  “Trying to save the sinners,” Hope said.

  “Yeah, sort of. But we corresponded for years. Until I went down to Mexico on a mission.”

  “And met your future tormentor,” Hope said, sighing. “The cartel,” she said, shaking her head. “That’s not good news.”

  “The woman is already in hiding and clearly scared,” Layna said. “No need to freak her out more. Don’t worry,” she went on. “You’re super safe with us. And Cary, for that matter.”

  “But, I mean, is he actually doing anything for you?” Hope asked. “Aside from hiding you out? Which isn’t a long-term solution.”

  “You’ll excuse Hope,” Vi said, rolling her eyes. “She’s always in work-mode. Maybe they’re too busy banging to get a plan in motion right now.”

  “No!” I squeaked. “I mean, no. It’s not… you know… it’s not like that.”

  “Oh, bullshit,” Layna said, smile knowing. “What? You don’t see the way that man looks at you?”

  “You saw them for like five minutes, how do you know how he looks at her?”

  “Well, firstly, because I saw it. Secondly, Dezi texted me with the scoop.”

  “Dezi?” I asked.

  “Oh, Dezi is practically an honorary member of the girls club,” Vi said, shaking her head.

  “What did Dezi say?” I asked, heart pounding in my chest.

  “That you two were
clearly into each other, but too stubborn to say anything,” Layna said, shrugging. “Seems pretty accurate to me.”

  “No, it’s… it’s not.” Except, of course, it was, wasn’t it? At least a little bit. Before Dezi had interrupted, things had definitely started to take a turn in the romantic direction.

  “Is it because he’s old?” Vi asked.

  “He’s not old,” Layna insisted. “He’s older. And fine as freaking hell. Who cares if there is a little age difference?”

  “He’s a good man,” Hope said, seeming to surprise all of us. When my gaze slid to her, she shrugged. “In case you were worried about your taste in men,” she clarified. “You don’t have to worry about Cary. He’s one of the good ones. All the Henchmen are,” she added.

  “Well, the jury is out on the grumpy one,” Layna said.

  “Voss,” I said, knowing instantly who they were talking about.

  “Yeah, him,” Layna agreed. “I’m not saying I wouldn’t fuck that man through a wall, but I don’t know if I’d want to hang around afterward, if you get what I mean.”

  “You can’t fuck the prospects,” Hope insisted.

  “I believe the rule is that they can’t fuck me,” Layna clarified.

  “Same end result,” Hope said.

  “Where is Billie when you need her? She would fully support me and Mr. Grumpypants going a round or ten,” Layna said.

  “Maybe Billie’s judgment when it comes to sex isn’t the one to trust,” Hope said.

  “Whose should I trust? Yours? When’s the last time you had a cock in your henhouse, babe? A year? More? I think it’s probably more at this point.”

  “I’m busy,” Hope insisted.

  “We should cancel her birthday party and just hire her a male escort for some stress relief,” Layna suggested.

  “When has a man ever been stress relief?” Vi said, snorting.

  “Well, you've got me there,” Layna agreed, shaking her head.

  “Weren’t we supposed to be trying to help Abs decorate?” Hope asked, clearly wanting to change the topic.

  “Right. Yeah,” Layna said. “Two chicks without their own apartments, and another whose apartment is still eighty-percent in boxes. We’re a real crack team when it comes to home decorating.”