A Desperate Man

by Tia Fielding

  When they were six and seven, Quinn had accidentally broken a part of Jimmy’s fancy Hot Wheels garage. After raging a while, Jimmy had said he forgave Quinn, and Quinn had thought that was it. A few days later they played with the cars again and the bit Karen had taped together for them wobbled and broke. Like a snake, Jimmy pushed Quinn over and punched him in the face.

  Of course, being seven, he’d pulled away and looked horrified at himself. When Karen came into the room, it had been Jimmy who needed comforting more than Quinn, who’d had a black eye for a week. But Quinn had never forgotten.

  And now, as he put his grocery bags into the backseat of his car, he wondered how this would all end. As if on cue, when he closed the door, his gaze landed on a familiar small figure trudging up the opposite side of the street toward the diner.

  Lennox. As much as Quinn tried to rationalize away the fact that Lennox wasn’t his son, not in any meaningful way, he was still Quinn’s flesh and blood. And Lennox needed to be safe, just like his mom and Aaron needed to not get caught with all that was going on.

  Sighing, Quinn tried to muster some patience from somewhere. He wouldn’t suggest uprooting a child even from a place as shitty as Spruce Creek was just on the possibility that something was about to happen. Besides, he knew Charlie, or at least the girl Charlie had been, enough to be sure that she wouldn’t leave her dad without a good enough reason.

  * * * *

  In the next few days, nothing changed.

  Each evening, Quinn went to have dinner with Ian and Karen, and on two of those nights, Jimmy and Caroline joined them.

  When Karen not-so-subtly joked about it being nice to see the young couple join them for change, Quinn realized that it was Jimmy keeping an eye on him. At some point, he’d stopped going to dinner at his parents which most people did after moving out of the house, and then he’d mysteriously reappeared on two nights in a row after he’d gotten suspicious of Quinn.

  That felt…exhausting. Quinn felt emotionally drained after each dinner, and ended up going to Aaron’s every night. They didn’t fuck each time, just once when it was Aaron who’d had a bad day after doing more of the renovations and needed that kind of release to get to sleep.

  The undercurrent of “fight or fuck” was there still between them. The fact that they had had that one perfect summer and while they’d never thought it was forever, they hadn’t thought it would end like it had, with a gunshot. Quinn figured they were both still more angry about it than either of them would ever admit aloud, so “fight or fuck” it was. There were times when Quinn came close to admitting to Aaron that he was more hurt than he was angry, but there was always that challenge in Aaron’s eyes, and Quinn was always too proud to admit his weakness.

  Quinn met Charlie at the diner too, and they talked some when she had a moment, but never about Lennox. It was a discussion that would have to wait. Every time before Quinn left the diner, Charlie would touch him. Squeeze his arm or hand, and on the third day, she hugged him. He’d missed it.

  * * * *

  By the next weekend, Quinn felt an itch under his skin. He could feel something brewing even more now. And then Day called him again, late one evening when he was trying to decide whether he should go to Aaron or not so he could sleep.

  There were no pleasantries exchanged.

  “I have confirmation that your cousin has had contact with Burned Skulls for at least three months, if not longer,” Day said in lieu of a greeting.

  Quinn started to pace the length of the trailer. “Shit. Okay, so they’re definitely planning something once Ian dies.”

  “Yes, but you said it’s months still, right?”

  “Yeah, Ian is more tired now than he was last week, but he’s still holding court and taking care of stuff. It’s not like he’s done yet.”

  “Which is probably why they’re not taking risks yet.”

  “As ruthless as the Skulls are, they don’t want a fight,” Quinn murmured.

  “No. They want to swoop in and make sure the town knows they’re there. They’re all about control. It’s just that if anyone objects, they’re quick to cut down that objection.” Day sighed and groaned. “I wish I was somewhere closer, Q. I’m just held up with the thing with the Snakes and I can’t—”

  “I know. Thanks, though. If you hear about them actually making a move, let me know as soon as possible. Even into my main phone if the situation calls for it.”

  “Yeah, of course. Stay safe. And start thinking about getting your people out of there, just in case.”

  “Yeah.”

  They ended the call there, and Quinn felt a slight panic pull at his heart. He needed to make a plan, but he couldn’t do it alone.

  * * * *

  He ended up getting a few hours of restless sleep and the next morning, and then he sent a group text to Charlie and Aaron, asking if they could all meet at Aaron’s as soon as possible.

  He still wasn’t sure if he was doing the right thing, but he needed to do something to feel like he wasn’t watching his friends stand on the tracks in front of a runaway train. He couldn’t be sure if they’d have time to jump off those tracks, but he could do his best to let them know when the train might be on its way.

  Charlie texted them, saying that she’d be by with late lunch and that she could leave Lennox with his friend. Aaron agreed to the plan, and with his heart in his throat, Quinn went to his car and drove the few minutes it took him to arrive at the parking spot across the road from Aaron’s.

  He sighed. It was time. He opened the trunk of his car and popped open the bottom of the trunk. He reached his fingers under the spare tire and felt for a screw there in the divot where the tire wrench rested. He pulled the screw and heard a faint pop when the side panel of the trunk loosened.

  Quinn glanced around and when he didn’t see anyone, he grabbed the item he needed from the hidden compartment and closed it.

  Then he closed everything again and waited for Charlie to park next to his car.

  “Help me with this stuff,” she called to him and he went to take the containers from her.

  “Did you cook for us?” he asked when she got out of her car and grabbed a case of bottled water from her back seat.

  “Yeah, it’s nothing much, just healthier than the junk from the diner, you know.” She shrugged, and they walked across the road together.

  Aaron opened the door before they got to it, and frowned at them.

  “I can’t believe you two have a kid,” he said, making a pang of guilt reverberate through Quinn once again.

  “She has a kid, I was a sperm donor,” he corrected automatically.

  Charlie just snorted and shook her head.

  She served the food on paper plates and they took it to the living room. She sat on the floor and once Aaron and Quinn had taken a seat on the couch, she looked at Quinn.

  “So, why the summons?”

  “Can we eat first? I’m starving and…” Quinn stalled. He was hungry, but he wasn’t sure he could actually eat with how nervous he felt.

  Aaron’s eyes narrowed and for a while, Quinn felt like he was under a microscope.

  Then he squeezed Quinn’s thigh. “Okay.”

  They ate and Charlie launched into a story of Lennox being a brat at school at a stupid teacher. Her words, not Lennox’s, or so it seemed.

  “I just don’t know how a teacher can you know, teach a subject that the nine-year-old he’s teaching actually knows more of than he does, you know? Like, if Lennox, smart as he is, can debunk something the guy is teaching, how much trust am I supposed to have that there aren’t other teachers like that in there?”

  “To be fair, they pay them peanuts so….” Aaron smiled wryly and put his empty plate on the coffee table.

  “He’s not wrong,” Quinn quipped, making Charlie smile and roll her eyes.

  Too soon, Charlie had taken their plates into the trash can in the kitchen and came back to sit on the floor. “Now talk.”

  Quinn
took in a deep breath and everything he’d thought he’d say in this situation evaporated from his mind.

  “You both know now that Ian’s dying and everyone thinks it’s either Jimmy or me who is going to take over, right?” He watched both Charlie and Aaron nod and sighed. “Well, when I say I’m not here to take over, it’s the honest truth.”

  Aaron frowned. “But you’ve said yourself that things will go all fucked if Jimmy does, so…”

  There was an accusation in those words; if Jimmy took over, people would be in danger, if Quinn did, well, Quinn supposed people including his friends thought he’d be the lesser of two evils? That was what made the final decision for him.

  He rubbed a palm over his mouth and looked from Charlie to Aaron and back. “This is…this is the moment I need to ask you to leave if you don’t want to know something that’s potentially dangerous.”

  Aaron’s frown deepened, but Charlie just looked concerned.

  “Whatever it is—”

  Quinn interrupted her. “No, Charlie, you need to think about Lennox. This is…this is plausible deniability here.”

  She looked at him for a few beats, then asked, “But it’s also something that will let me keep him safe?”

  “Yes. Absolutely.”

  “Okay then, I want to hear whatever it is.”

  Aaron was tense next to Quinn, but nodded in agreement.

  “So…Have you guys heard of the Burned Skulls?”

  “That biker gang, sure. Every now and then a couple of them come through town and I think Ian’s guys run them off or something,” Charlie said thoughtfully. “I’ve seen some news stuff, that they’re a big operator on the human trafficking that’s happening around Vegas. Why?”

  “Because my dad never wanted to do business with them,” Quinn said, ignoring the way Aaron jerked next to him. “Neither does Ian. It’s never been something that the MacGregors are willing to partake in. Drugs and guns, sure, people, never.”

  Aaron snorted bitterly. Then he tensed. “Wait, you’re saying Jimmy’s going to change that?”

  “Yeah. I heard from a reliable source that he’s been in contact with the Skulls for months now, just waiting for Ian to give him the reins.”

  Charlie looked scared for the first time. Then she steeled her spine and nodded. “What does this mean for us?”

  “Yeah, I mean, I don’t think you would do that. So what’s going on, Quinn?”

  Quinn wished he didn’t have to do this, but he looked at both of them again. “And this is the part where I tell you something that can’t leave this room.”

  They both glared at him, but it was Charlie who said, “What the fuck Quinn? You think you can’t trust us now?”

  To his surprise, Aaron exhaled loudly and shook his head. “Charlie, none of us really have any idea who the others are at this point. We were one unit ten years ago. Sure we’re friends again, but trust isn’t easy. Not when it’s about actual safety.”

  Quinn nodded. “Exactly.” Then he leaned toward Aaron awkwardly to pull his explanation out of his own back pocket. He tossed it on the coffee table.

  “What the fuck?” Aaron breathed out the words.

  Charlie’s eyes widened, and she leaned closer to the table, then reached to hover her hand over it.

  “So yeah, I’m a cop,” Quinn said slowly. His badge glinted in the overhead lights and suddenly his friends were both staring at him. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner, but those were my orders; to not disclose that to anyone.”

  Aaron’s voice was tight when he asked, “Why now?”

  “Because I think shit will hit the fan and he’s going to get the Skulls in town and when that happens, there’s going to be cops swarming in.”

  “You’re afraid that there’ll be crossfire,” Aaron stated. It hit Quinn again that Aaron was a soldier.

  “If it comes to that, will you be in the front lines?” Charlie’s voice was quiet and she couldn’t hide her worry.

  Quinn grimaced. “I hope not. I’m here to keep an eye on the situation, although this wasn’t the situation I was expecting.”

  “What do you mean?” Aaron looked at him, the frown etched on his face now.

  “I thought I was here to keep an eye on the family, which really made very little sense, but I took the job because, you know, it’s still my family. But now I realize it wasn’t that at all.” He scratched the back of his neck with an agitated movement. “I’m here because my bosses want to get to the Skulls.”

  Aaron huffed. “Wait, you’re saying your bosses want to catch as much of an outlaw biker gang they can on a more neutral territory instead of their own, so they sent you here to keep an eye on the town?”

  “I don’t know for sure. I can’t go asking, because my handler who has given me the info I have hasn’t actually gotten it in the ways he should. He’s a great guy, but he’s on another job because this was supposed to be easy. So someone somewhere is holding back information from both of us.” Quinn spat out the words.

  “You can’t trust anyone,” Charlie concluded. “There’s a potential fucking battle coming into town, and you can’t trust even your bosses?”

  Quinn let out a mirthless laugh and nodded slowly. “I got out of fucking rehab and thought I could go visit my mom or something. Instead, I’m sent here, because this was ‘my town’ once. Because this is ‘my legacy’ and they wanted to use the inside information to make sure Jimmy wouldn’t fuck things up.”

  “So the rehab thing is real, then,” Aaron murmured.

  For some reason the fact that that was what Aaron was most bothered about tickled Quinn’s funny bone and he started to laugh a bit hysterically. And then he couldn’t stop.

  Chapter 12

  Aaron exchanged a dubious glance with Charlie as Quinn sprawled on the couch, laughing like he’d heard the world’s most hysterical joke. None of it made any sense to Aaron—or it made perfect sense, because Quinn had been born fucking contrary, and what was more contrarian than a MacGregor deciding to become a cop? It was just that it was the last thing Aaron would have imagined too, because Quinn had hated authority when they were kids; cops, teachers, adults of all stripes—the only adults Quinn had listened to had been the adults in the MacGregor clan, but at least half of them, and Aaron had always suspected maybe more than that, had beaten that compliance into him.

  He reached forward and picked up Quinn’s badge off the coffee table, part of him expecting it to be some cheap Halloween costume piece. But it was heavy and real. Aaron held it in his palm and brushed the shield with his thumb. “Okay, so that’s why you want Charlie and Lennox safe. Because there’s a good chance people will do the math and realize Lennox is your kid.”

  Charlie pressed her mouth into a thin line, but she didn’t say anything.

  “Why me?” Aaron asked, feeling a flutter in his stomach. “Does anyone know about us?”

  Quinn’s laughter faded and his smile vanished. “No, but I’ve got the eyes of the whole town on me right now, Aaron. And it feels like you’re written all over my face.”

  That flutter again. Aaron raised his eyebrows. “If that’s true, then you must be shit at undercover work.”

  Quinn’s mouth twitched in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it grin. “Or maybe you’ve always been my weak spot, Aaron Larsen.”

  “Or maybe it’s the perfect job for you because you’ve always been full of crap,” Aaron shot back.

  Quinn’s grin lingered this time, but it didn’t reach his eyes. This was a dangerous situation, and they all knew it. “So that’s the deal. My being here is going to seriously stir shit up with the clan. Except I’m not here to take over, or to challenge Jimmy, I’m here to get intel on the Burned Skulls. Maybe even get an in with them. But I can’t trust that Jimmy’s not going to flip out, you know? Which means that anyone I care about, or anyone Jimmy thinks I care about, is in danger.” He looked between them. “I want you guys to leave town.”

  Aaron blinked at him. “Leave town
?”

  Charlie snorted. “Yeah, if I was able to just pack up and leave, do you really think I’d still be here, Quinn? You think I want my son to grow up in this shithole?”

  “I’m not bullshitting, Charlie. This is serious.” Quinn held her gaze, the muscle in his jaw ticking.

  “Yeah,” Aaron said. “I mean, I’ve got the house, but Uncle Will has said he can take care of selling it for me. I wanted to get it fixed up some more, but…” He shrugged. “I don’t need the money.”

  Charlie raised her eyebrows. “Must be nice.”

  Aaron exhaled. “My point is, I’m here because I’ve got nowhere else to be right now. I came here to figure all this shit out. Where the hell am I supposed to go?”

  Quinn’s brow furrowed. “Jesus, Aaron. When someone tells you to get on the lifeboat, you don’t ask where it’s headed. This isn’t just Jimmy I’m talking about, though he’s enough of a psycho. This is the Burned Skulls. Do you guys know what they do to people who cross them? Or people they’re making an example of? By the time they’re through cutting pieces off you inch by inch, you’ll be thanking them when they make you dig your own graves out in the desert.” His voice hardened. “And Lennox’s.”

  Charlie blanched.

  “Okay,” Aaron said, reaching out to touch the back of Charlie’s hand. “That’s enough, okay? You don’t need to paint us a picture.”

  Quinn raised his eyebrows. “You sure about that?”

  “My dad lives here,” Charlie said, her voice soft. “And I know he’s a piece of crap, but he’s still my dad, and Lennox loves him. Even if I could leave, what the hell am I supposed to do about him? He can’t manage on his own.”

  “I don’t give a fuck about your dad,” Quinn said. “I’m sorry, but I don’t. I care about you, and I care about my son.”

  Charlie’s eyes blazed. “He’s my son. He is not your son. You’re the sperm donor, remember? You didn’t even know he existed a week ago.”

  Quinn lifted his chin. “That’s low, Charlie. How the hell was I supposed to know?”

  “Stop,” Aaron said firmly. “Both of you, okay? But Charlie, if Quinn says that he’s worried about our safety, then that’s what we need to focus on right now. So maybe it’s time to cut ties with your dad and—”